Seafood

Chiles Anchos Rellenos de Atún con Papas This is more sweet than spicy, because the chiles are softened in brown sugar and vinegar before stuffing.

This can be served immediately as a warm salad or made ahead and served chilled.

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

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Stitt likes to use rock salt — the kind used for old-fashioned ice cream churners — as a bed for these oysters because it keeps the shells from tipping and sliding around in the pan and on the plates. Rock salt is sold at many supermarkets, but kosher salt is a good substitute. At the restaurant, Stitt makes this recipe with local Apalachicola oysters, though he also likes the flavor of East Coast varieties such as Blue Point, Pemaquid, and Malpeque, so feel free to use your favorite.

A classic of the Balearic Islands, where lobster is found in abundance, this stew (known as caldereta) is intensely flavorful and fun to eat. Live lobster is essential, since the tomalley (liver) is a key ingredient. Serve the stew with plenty of crusty country-style bread.

The early Yankees often cooked local shellfish in milk-based chowders with potatoes. True to their English heritage, the colonists planted kitchen gardens with as many herbs as they could cultivate, which they put into all kinds of dishes, including chowders.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

The dinner menu at the Terrace Dining Room in Phoenix includes this elegant selection. Orechiette, which means "little ears," is a small, round pasta that resembles-little ears.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Though Rose Pascale always uses fresh octopus (sold as pulpo in many Latino markets), we found that it's generally sold frozen. You may need to special-order or reserve octopus from your local fish market several days ahead.