Citrus

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

"I'm hoping to get the recipe for a terrific appetizer I tried at Hamiltons' at First & Main in Charlottesville, Virginia," says Sue Carter of Murieta, California. "The seafood fritters came with lettuce leaves (to wrap around the fritters) and a spicy sauce."

For a prettier salad, we used two varieties of radicchio — the common Verona, with red leaves and white ribs, and Treviso, which can range from pink to red and has narrower, pointed leaves.

A pretty pink dessert that is refreshing and light. Plums with dark purple skin or flesh will give the sherbet beautiful color. Serve a pot of green tea alongside.

Having run the cake table at my daughter's school last year, I can say that there are two types of optimum bake sale fare: small, individual pieces that look cute and fetch high unit-prices and sheet cakes that can be made without effort or dexterity and sliced up easily. This recipe fits the latter category and has the added virtue of appealing to parents and grandparents who feel that something from the sale should be gratifyingly old-fashioned. The fresh ginger is a modern touch, admittedly, but I always keep some in the fridge and wanted to try it in a less contemporary, pan-Asian way one day (it worked.) The lemon icing may not be conventional either, but there is another starkly practical reason for it: brown things — if they're not gooily chocolate — don't sell so well; and the lemon spruceness of the topping is perfect with the musky sweetness beneath it.

A few tips: At several points in the recipe, components need to be chilled for a while before you can proceed, so plan accordingly. In our test kitchen, Philadelphia-brand cream cheese gave consistently good results. Note, too, that the cake can be completely assembled, then frozen for up to one week.

This recipe is an accompaniment for Vanilla-Bean Cheesecake with Guava Topping .

This quick dish gets its flavor from fresh tangerine peel as well as the fruit's juice. To make easy work of grating the peel, choose tangerines with firm skin and store them in the refrigerator. Then use a hand grater or a Microplane grater-zester to grate the peel.

Lime curd and tart cranberries are balanced by a layer of sweet white chocolate cream. For best results, use imported white chocolate, such as Lindt or Perugina. Begin preparing the tart two days before you plan to serve it.

This crowd-pleasing risotto works well as a main course—accompanied by green salad and crusty bread—or as a side dish for leftover chicken. Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 45 min

Although labeled fully cooked, the ham will still need a gentle baking for maximum tenderness and flavor. Be sure the Cranberry Mustard and the Whole Wheat Date Rolls are close at hand and that the ham is sliced thin for those who would like to make small sandwiches.

The streusel here is both a filling and a topping — for twice the crunch and flavor.

Good enough to eat by the spoonful, this curd can be used as a cake or tart filling or served with scones, muffins, or fresh fruit.

Taller, heavier-weight paper molds — typically used for individual panettone, the Italian holiday bread — are used instead of regular muffin papers to create a more elegant look. Vanilla and Almond Frosting is an accompaniment for this recipe.