Seafood

Fresh fennel, fennel seeds and the anise-flavored liqueur Pernod are combined here.

Poisson à la Niçoise Typical Niçois ingredients—including tomatoes, fennel, anchovies and olives—flavor this dish from Auberge des Arts. At the restaurant it's made with red mullet (rouget), which is a local fish. We've substituted red snapper.

In this clever dish from chef Michel Richard at Citronelle in Washington, D.C., fried sea scallops coated with fine strands of phyllo pastry resemble porcupines.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This innovative take on the classic features an intensely flavored olive and raisin tapenade that is also great teamed with breadsticks or spread onto bruschetta. Crispy egg-bread croutons are also a nice addition

At the restaurant Antico Martini in Venice, Italy, they include the scallop coral-or roe-in the dish and use fresh porcini when in season.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Time: 30 to 40 Minutes No doubt shrimp with cocktail sauce is a luxury dish, but it has sunk to the point where too frequently it means a pile of shrimp cooked days in advance, served on a bed of iceberg lettuce with some bottled sauce that always needs more help than it ever receives. There is a better way, however. Cook the shrimp yourself; in the meantime, prepare a simple ketchup-based sauce that has so much flavor, you'll find it becoming a part of your standard repertoire.

Anchovies really perk up plain wax beans, while celery adds a crisp, clean element to the dish. Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 25 min

Great with pumpernickel bread.

(Roasted Potato Slices with Salt Cod Purée and Roasted Red Pepper)

Grilled zucchini adds extra flavor and texture to this light and pretty main course.

This entrée from Chateau Lake Louise at Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada, would be perfect for a dinner party. The fish is especially good accompanied by broiled red onion slices and steamed asparagus. To make this even easier, have the salmon skinned and boned at the fish market.

This delightful open-face omelet is aptly named; it's bursting with flavor and style.