Seafood

The salty nut topping provides a nice contrast to the sweet mashed turnips.

Active time: 25 min Start to finish: 25 min

To make this recipe even easier, prepare the toast points two hours ahead and store them in an airtight container at room temperature.

This recipe is an accompaniment for Fish Cakes with Caper-Parsley Sauce This versatile sauce, which can be made one day ahead, also complements roast beef, hard-boiled eggs or potato salad.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Dijon mustard and lemon peel give the dressing lots of zip. This salad can also be spooned into pita halves.

Fresh mint, cilantro sprigs and strips of orange peel make a nice garnish for a platter of these Asian-accented skewers.

Tuna would also work well in this recipe. Use a combination of black and white sesame seeds for dramatic contrast. Don't forget to provide a bowl for the toothpicks.

Cooking the sea bass in parchment paper is a great technique — it keeps the pistachio topping in place and allows you to brown both the fish and the topping in the skillet (the parchment becomes translucent so you can see the browning. Since Gras is on the West Coast, he likes to use Dungeness crab when he makes this dish. We've substituted jumbo lump crabmeat because it's available year round nationwide.

This dish combines aroma and flavor in a unique fashion: Bowls of steaming rosemary vapor accompany the luxurious main course. The piney fragrance of fresh rosemary adds another dimension to the taste experience.

"On a recent visit to Charleston, South Carolina, I was greatly taken with the grits served at the restaurant Slightly North of Broad, on East Bay Street," says Charles C. Gordon of Ontario, Canada. "Is it possible to get the recipe?"

Andrew Engle is the chef at The Laundry in East Hampton, N.Y. This eatery has been a Long Island classic for years. How great that striped bass is available year-round! "If the fish is thinner than 3/4 inch, do not turn it," Andrew says. "Just cook it skin-side down."

Start with pear slices wrapped in prosciutto; offer a radicchio and fennel salad and breadsticks alongside the pasta, and rich tiramisè to end the meal.

Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr Created at de Jonghe's restaurant in Chicago, this dish is a memorial to a time when we were afraid of garlic but not of butter. The amount of garlic in it was considered outrageously racy.

For this simple—yet boldly flavored—entrée, tuna or sea bass can be substituted. Chilies in the sauce add nice heat.

These burgers are easier to handle if they are chilled for one hour before grilling. They would be great with rice salad and cucumber slices. Grilled pound cake topped with crushed sweetened strawberries and whipped cream makes a luscious finale.

Grilling the salmon with the skin on protects the delicate flesh.