Fish

(Buckwheat Yeast Pancakes with Three Caviars)

Begin making the coleslaw two days ahead and the whitefish one day ahead. Pour a Chardonnay or Pinot Noir with dinner.

With uniformly sized fillets, the cooking time can be gaged precisely, resulting in the kind of lovely individual pieces of salmon served in restaurants. For four servings, buy one and a half pounds of skinned salmon fillets, taken from the thick (not the tail) end of the fish. Cut across the fillet to make four pieces of equal size. Although the technique is about as straightforward as can be, allowing the fillets to sit for a while after coating will encourage the fragrant seasonings to permeate the flesh of the fish; try fifteen minutes or so at room temperature, or a couple of hours in the refrigerator.

Serve this rustic tomato mixture over pasta or as part of an antipasto platter.

Look for black sesame seeds in the Asian foods section of a specialty market. If you can't find them, use white seeds instead.

This tuna sandwich is all about olive oil. Use the French stuff if possible; otherwise, any mild olive oil will do—save that fancy super-Tuscan for something else. The tuna and the bread are crucial, too. Forget about tuna packed in water. It's flavorless. You want the kind packed in olive (not vegetable) oil. We thought ortiz's Bonito del Norte, newly exported from Spain, was the closest thing to Ni‧oise tuna, but it can be tough to find. (We ordered ours from Citarella; 212-874-0384.) Of the brands commonly available in the United States, we preferred Progresso light tuna. Other brands of canned light tuna that we are fond of are Genova and La Giara. This last is very expensive—about $10—and is available at many specialty foods shops and by mail order from Citarella.

With boiled potatoes and grilled vegetables, you have an easy dinner. Lemon sole or red snapper could be substituted for grouper. The sauce—our take on a Spanish classic—can also be used as a dip for vegetables or to spread on grilled bread.

Roasted fries complete this quick take on fish and chips.

Wrapping the fish in foil enhances its flavor and keeps it extremely moist. In summer, it can be cooked outdoors on the grill.

A lovely do-ahead pasta salad for spring.

Besides the tacos, try the Pico de Gallo on scrambled eggs, grilled chicken or instead of sour cream on a baked potato.

The chef at Kristina's makes this dish with haddock; we call for sea bass, which is more readily available.

At The Great House at Villa Madeleine in St. Croix, they often use a native fish called wahoo for this interesting dish, but swordfish is another nice choice. They also make the chutney with the very hot Scotch bonnet pepper. A serrano chili produces a slightly milder version.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.