Sour Cream

This was a recipe that came from my mother, Rae Horowitz. She told me it was from my Grandma Sade Lyon's recipe and she learned to make it from her.

A delicate and sophisticated main course. Look for trout fillets with skin or have the fishmonger fillet two whole trout for you.

Here's a fine-textured cake with a luxurious cream cheese and whipped cream frosting.

This soup can also be served chilled.

A big finish for a big celebration dinner.

You'll need a big glass bowl or a trifle dish to show off the salad to its best advantage. An accompaniment to Chicken Chili Verde .

Lovely with clotted cream and raspberry jam.

Mashed potatoes are always a crowd-pleaser at holiday meals. But if you want to mix things up a bit this year, try one of our delicious variations, below.

Many Mexican desserts are topped with cajeta, a thick caramel sauce. Two caramel elements make this cake especially delicious: a syrup that's drizzled over each layer and caramelized sugar stars on top. Use a variety of star-shaped cookie cutters to make the stars.

"I spend as much time as I can cooking," writes Brigette Lyons of Allendale, New Jersey, "and I'm equally comfortable feeding two or two hundred. I thoroughly enjoy giving sit-down meals, including an annual Christmas luncheon I do for about twenty guests. I just like to cook, period. Cooking for two hundred may be different from making weeknight dinners for myself and my husband, John, but organization is the key to both. I try to keep things on hand that are simple and easy to prepare." These rich and creamy mashed potatoes (thanks to sour cream and cream cheese) can be prepared ahead of time.

This sophisticated appetizer from Aqua in San Francisco is nice for a special occasion.

This cake has a crunchy pecan-brown sugar topping and a layer of pears in the middle.

You can also serve blini topped with salmon roe. Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr

Offer steamed new potatoes alongside. What to drink: Chardonnay or Sancerre.