Fish

"At Highland's Garden Cafe in Denver, Colorado, I had an unusual and delicious lunch entrée of fish with sambal vinaigrette and wasabi cream," says William Starret, Jr. of Washington, D.C. "I would greatly appreciate it if you could get the recipe for me."

Traditional fish cakes are made with salt cod and potatoes. To create a lighter, more delicate cake, we used fresh cod and left out the potatoes. Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 40 min

Wasabi powder is fiery-hot, so adjust the proportion in the butter according to your heat tolerance. An Asian noodle salad from the deli, blanched sugar snap peas sprinkled with sesame seeds, and a bakery lime tart would be cooling additions to the menu.

Serve this sauce with roasted meat, fish, or chicken. Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 20 min

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 40 min

Start marinating the fish at least four hours ahead so that the spice flavor comes through.

Tom and Pam Kreider of Nashport, Ohio, write: "Our trip to the island of Mykonos inspired the creation of this recipe for fillet of sole. May these flavors transport you to the sunny isles of the Aegean." Don't be tempted to use fresh bread crumbs for this recipe — it won't be as good.

Start with Belgian endive spears filled with caviar of red salmon, golden whitefish or black lumpfish. Serve with your favorite Champagne or Chardonnay.

There's a lot of liquid here, so be sure to use a very large pot to prepare the stew.

Despite many Asian ingredients in this dish, the end result only slightly reflects their presence. Rice and asparagus make good side dishes.

A sophisticated, Spanish-style salad.

Both the tomato coulis and the salsa can be made up to one day ahead.

A specialty of chef Eileen Joyce. This is as deliciously simple as fresh fish gets.