Seafood

Sautéing scallops and asparagus adds depth to their subtle flavors — and the dish only gets better with the addition of a silky beurre blanc–style sauce.

The light and clean Asian combination of shrimp and mango is treated to a touch of heat from a bit of fresh chile.

Fish is a good choice for a quick meal, and preparing this sprightly dill sauce from the pan juices (rather than using a stock) will really save you time.

In the South, you'll usually find this delicate spread — not a smooth paste, but slightly textured, to play up the flavor of the shrimp — on "benne wafers" (sesame-seed crackers). Spooned onto buttery toast points, it makes for tiny little bites with big sea flavor.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from A Year at Ballymaloe Cookery School, by Darina Allen. To read more about the book, Ballymaloe, and Allen, see the related Daily Dish. We can sometimes get lovely fat pink trout about 2 years old, which have a wonderful taste — much better than the smaller ones. This is a horrendously rich-sounding sauce, but it's delicious and the flavor is sublime.

This recipe, from nutritionist Karen Fisher at Deerfield Spa, provides ideal amounts of carbs, fat and protein. If you're going to be active, simply add 1/2 cup more pasta.

Treat your taste buds to meals that incorporate all six flavors, like this one from Teresa Long, in-house nutritionist at the Chopra Center for Wellbeing.

If you wish, feel free to make these hors d'oeuvres on a regular charcoal or gas grill instead of a grill pan.

Editor's note: This recipe was created by chef Einat Admony for an Israeli Passover menu. Carp, a common ingredient in traditional Ashkenazi Jewish cooking, has become something of a rarity in the United States as cooks have stopped making dishes such as gefilte fish from scratch. In Israel, says chef Admony, this variety is still popular, used to make everything from Tunisian fish balls to Moroccan spicy fish. In this recipe, Admony riffs on classic gefilte fish, transforming the boiled dumplings into pan-fried cakes served with a creamy, piquant sauce.

In this dish, the mint pesto says spring every bit as much as the carrots do.

A party-perfect entrée — ready in less than half an hour.

For an even easier preparation, buy already-chopped onions and bell peppers; they're available at many supermarkets.

This works as a first course or as a side.

This dish is finished with a delicious (and super-easy) basil and tarragon butter.

Asian ingredients update this Italian appetizer. Specialty foods stores and Asian markets carry ponzu.

Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from chef Paul Flynn of The Tannery in Dungarvan, Ireland. The French regard rutabaga as animal feed, but the Irish know better and use it in numerous beloved dishes. In this recipe, the root vegetable's sweet starchiness is the perfect foil for smoked mackerel, another ingredient for which the Irish have great respect.

Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from chef Paul Flynn of The Tannery in Dungarvan, Ireland. Wild salmon, once so plentiful in Ireland that domestic servants could stipulate in their contracts that they should not have to eat it more than three times per week, has now become a luxury item on both sides of the Atlantic. However, when top-notch fish is available, this simple preparation is a great way to showcase it. The compound butter, with its use of raisins, harks back to the dried fruits popular in the Middle Ages, and the capers show the fondness of contemporary Irish cooks for Mediterranean flavors. Irish butter, with its high fat content, will add a particularly rich flavor, but regular American butter can be substituted.

At street stalls, fish kebabs come in various forms, but when prepared at home, says Kiran Desai, they are not grilled on skewers but fried and served on plates with a little chutney drizzled on top.