Nut

(BELL PEPPERS FILLED WITH CAPERS, OLIVES, ANCHOVIES, RAISINS AND PINE NUTS) This classic starter highlights many of the distinctive flavors of southern Italian cooking. Pour a rich Taurasi-Campania's best red wine-during the meal, or if you prefer something lighter, try to find a red Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio from a top-quality producer.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Cheesecakes have been popular in Britain for five hundred years. Our version has a shortbread crust, butterscotch topping and a filling laced with Scotch whisky.

"One thing I cannot get out of my head" said Ben Moskovitz, owner of Star Bakery in Oak Park, Michigan. "Was the food better growing up in Czechoslovakia or were the people hungrier there? My mother made a honey cake for the holiday, and it was so delicious. Honey was too expensive for us, so my mother burned the sugar to make it brown. Here I use pure honey, but I still think my mother's cake was better and I know I am wrong. The taste of hers is still in my mouth." Mr. Moskovitz's European honey cake follows, with a few of my American additions. Other European Jewish bakers interviewed for this book also bake with white rye flour and cake flour when we would use all-purpose flour. I have included both choices.

At the fish market, ask them to remove the head, tail and bones from the trout, then to cut each trout into two fillets, leaving the skin intact.

Chewy, candy-like caramel cookies enhanced with orange and crystallized ginger. The leftover orange sugar syrup is a delicious sweetener for hot tea.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Recipes for this dessert, also known as chocolate upside-down cake and hot fudge pudding cake, turn up in cookbooks published by women's clubs and church guilds all around the Midwest. The cake separates into layers as it bakes, making its own sauce.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires additional unattended time.

(GELATO AL PISTACCHIO) Gelato is made from whole milk, egg yolks, sugar and natural flavoring. This version calls for pistachio nuts. Softer in texture and more intense in taste and color than typical ice cream, gelato is one of Italy's great culinary creations.

If you're short on time, you can skip the white chocolate decoration.

Christmas cookie baking starts Thanksgiving weekend for one food editor. Together with her mother, she makes family favorites like the buttery balls below.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.