Oven Bake

Chipotle hot sauce and queso fresco can be found at Latin American markets and at many supermarkets.

If you cut up the potatoes ahead of time, keep them in cold water so that they don't discolor.

Active time: 25 min Start to finish: 10 1/2 hr Look for sugar pumpkins and cheese pumpkins — we find they make the tastiest purée for pies, tarts, and cakes.

A twist on old-fashioned garlic bread.

Serve our Sophisticated Stir-Fried Rice with these irresistible ribs and wash it all down with cold Chinese beer. Buy green tea ice cream and fortune cookies for dessert.

In the book American Gourmet, Jane and Michael Stern describe beef Wellington as a "lardaceous dish" that is "rich beyond reason." The pastry-wrapped beef was the ultimate in dinner-party fare in the sixties. In our re-creation, salmon fillets cook in frozen puff pastry sheets, which arrived in the seventies.

Here's a perfect way to have the taste of fried oysters without all the extra fat. If the oysters are very large, cut them in half before coating them with the cornmeal.

Forget the usual chopped liver. This rustic appetizer is an Italian treat. Spiedini are skewers of any combination of foods — bread, cheeses, meatballs, fish — that can be grilled or roasted.

These little toasts make a crisp base for savory toppings of eggplant and roasted peppers , chickpeas and mint , and sweet-and-sour onions . Mix and match as you please — if you prefer one topping over another, the recipes can easily be doubled. Active time: 5 min Start to finish: 20 min

Because they were so abundant, oysters were used as a filler and for flavor in a variety of Colonial New England dishes. They are still the star of traditional stuffings in the region.

Preserved lemons are a staple Moroccan condiment that can take up to 2 weeks to make in the traditional manner. Added to various foods, they impart a tangy brininess similar to that of olives but with the unique perfume of lemon. In most Moroccan dishes only the peel is used, the pulp being scraped away and discarded. However, the pulp is not wholly without value, making a delicious addition to Bloody Marys, and to salad dressings — wherever a salty-sour taste is welcome. The recipe below is an effort to approximate preserved lemons without having to plan a week or more in advance.

One of our favorite convenience products--packaged pizza crust--is put to excellent use in this recipe, which transforms readily available ingredients into a unique party snack or a fast and easy main course.

The following dish was inspired by a gratin served at Mesa Grill in New York City. In that recipe six sweet potatoes are combined with a chipotle chili and a quart of heavy cream for a rich and delicious side dish. In our version a similarly sweet-hot balance is achieved with the addition of enchilada sauce and cheese but no cream.

What northerners call stuffing, southerners call dressing. Oysters and eggplant are a classic Louisiana combination, and the bite of cayenne adds to the authenticity. Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr