Lemon

The cake pans, cardboard rounds, and dowels are available at cake and candy supply stores; or call Jane's Cakes and Chocolates at 800-262-7630.

Don't let the unexciting name of the recipe fool you—this ice cream is unusually good. Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 4 hr

Serve with: Steamed carrots and scalloped potatoes. Dessert: A bakery strawberry tart.

You'll want to get this started a day ahead.

A charcoal grill will give the best flavor.

Traditional Scottish shortbread is baked in molds. In this modern version, the dough is simply pressed into a pan, baked, and cut into squares. Grated lemon peel cuts the buttery richness, and semolina flour adds texture.

In a classic confit, meat cooks (and is then preserved) in its own fat. Here, lemons cook in their own juices to become the basis for an overnight marinade.

Resist the urge to chop the nuts in a food processor — it makes them release more oil, resulting in a heavier baklava. Active time: 1 1/2 hr Start to finish: 12 hr (includes chilling and standing)

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 30 min

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 30 min

Steam sugar snap peas and pour a Chardonnay to go with this dinner.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Whenever you serve this lightly spiced, moist buttermilk layer cake you'll turn dessert into a celebration. The spices in the cake mellow as it stands, so it's even better the day after baking.

Here's our version of Barba Yianni's grilled lamb. The marinade works equally well with lamb chops, kebabs, or butterflied leg of lamb. You can also use it on pork or chicken. Skordalia is often made with mashed potatoes or bread soaked in water, but we feel the yogurt gives it more flavor. Skordalia is also good with grilled fish or chicken breasts.

(MADELEINES) While researching this book, I became fixated, absolutely fanatical, about madeleines, the plump golden tea cakes shaped like scallop shells. They were something to boost my spirits on the days when I walked for miles sleuthing in search of culinary jewels. I tasted dozens of madeleines, but only a few were "just right." The best, freshest madeleine has a dry, almost dusty taste when eaten on its own. One of my favorite versions is made by André Lerch, an Alsatian baker with a bread and pastry shop on the Left Bank. To be truly appreciated — to "invade the senses with exquisite pleasure" as they did for Marcel Proust — Madeleines must be dipped in tea, ideally the slightly lime-flavoured tilleul, which releases the fragrant, flavorful lemon essence of the little tea cake. Special madeleine tins can be found in all the French restaurant supply shops and in the housewares section of department stores. The following is a recipe I developed.