Saute

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

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

Filete Mignon con Rajas The mild flavor of the meat is revved up with rich rajas con crema, a traditional dish of roasted poblano strips in cream.

The habanero, reputedly the "hottest chile in the world" has a complex, citrusy aroma and flavor. This salsa from the Yucatan is a classic accompaniment to meat and seafood cooked in an achiote recado a brick-red paste made with achiote, or annatto, seeds. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Toasted baguette slices and some baby greens tossed with marinated artichoke hearts are a wonderful accompaniment to the pasta. (For extra flavor, you can spread the baguette slices with olive paste before servings.) Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

"Because I love to cook, I'll use any excuse to make dinner for my family or friends. Most of the recipes I concoct are partly based on how the ingredients look—presentation is very important to me," Dave Purdy of Hopewell, New Jersey. "Here, I combined celery root with Swiss chard because the colors and textures contrast so nicely." This tangy side dish would be good with roasted poultry or meat.

You can find the black bean sauce in the oriental section of your supermarket.

The poblano chilies can be prepared one day ahead, and the vegetables can be chopped and sliced one day ahead and then refrigerated separately in resealable plastic bags. Then the whole dish just requires a few minutes of cooking time before serving.

Fideua con Láminas de Sepia Salteadas Fideos are a vermicelli-style noodle, sold in nests, that comes in several thicknesses. For this delicate dish, it's important to use the thinnest fideos possible, cabello de ángel (angel hair). Cuttlefish (sepia), a marine cephalopod of the same family as octopus and squid, is widely available throughout northern Spain; fresh squid is much easier to get in this country, however.

Serve this delicious curried chicken dish with steamed basmati rice or Indian flatbreads.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Irish bacon, sliced and packaged, is increasingly available at supermarkets. If you find it at the butcher counter, ask the butcher to slice it into 1/4-inch-thick slices.

If you prep all the ingredients ahead of time, this dish takes only minutes to cook.

Serve this with a basket of crusty bread.