Paprika

This bruschetta tastes best with tomatoes fresh from the garden. This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Active time: 10 min Start to finish: 10 min

This thick, spicy sauce is typically used in Moroccan dishes. Use it as an accompaniment for Shrimp Phyllo Purses with Tomato Chermoula Sauce.

The classic Hungarian dish relies on sour cream both to thicken the sauce and to balance the heat of the paprika.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Using a pastry bag to pipe the hummus onto the pita toasts saved us a lot of time (and made for nice-looking hors d'oeuvres). You can make your own pastry bag with a heavy-duty plastic bag. Just spoon the hummus into the bag and squeeze it into one corner. Then snip off the corner to make a small hole and begin piping.

Whole cumin seeds and paprika add wonderful flavors to roasted potatoes.

Joan Nathan's The Foods of Israel Today is full of intensely flavored recipes, such as this salad. Grab a copy now, while so many fresh vegetables are available.

Alice Marcus Solovy of Skokie, Illinois, writes: "When I was 12 years old, my mother taught me how to make my first pie crust. My father said it tasted just like his grandmother's, and I was very flattered. That's basically the story of how I started cooking. After almost a lifetime in the kitchen, I still enjoy playing around with recipes. I've even been known to go out to dinner, taste a certain dish, and then re-create it at home in a few tries."

Debra L. Warren of Lake Forest, Illinois, writes: "I have often indulged in Jay Lovell's phenomenal cuisine at his Lovell's of Lake Forest restaurant, and the ribs he prepared for an event I attended were out of this world. Could you possibly persuade the chef to share the recipe?" The espresso powder gives the sauce great depth of flavor.

If there is any "magic" to our cooking, it's in seasoning mixes such as this. With this mixture, we try to unmask the depth of flavor in our native seafood, not overpower it. We want every bite to display a full flavor profile, so we liberally sprinkle seasoning on the entire piece of fish. That means both sides. Make a decent-sized batch of this mixture so it will always be handy, then rub it or sprinkle it on the food. Remember, mixtures such as this cost very little to make yourself but quite a lot if you buy them at retail.

Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 1 hr