Starter

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Cooking the curry powder over low heat for a short time eliminates any raw taste and sweetens the spice.

Chef Lionel Lévy uses black olives in this unusual clafoutis but still serves it as a dessert, along with a mâche salad drizzled with lemon-honey vinaigrette. We like that combination in place of an after-dinner cheese course, but we also think it makes an excellent (and surprising) first course.

Add eggs and fruit for a nice menu.

FANESCA Maricel Presilla, chef-owner of the restaurant Zafra in Hoboken, New Jersey, first offered fanesca — a more elaborate rendition of the streamlined dish here — during Holy Week. Now it's one of the restaurant's most popular weekend specials year-round. Traditional accompaniments include bolitas de harina (flour fritters), fried plantains, and bottled hot sauce.

(Salt Cod Fritters)

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

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

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

In this recipe, two British gastronomic classics are rolled into one: the traditional duo of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and the Christmas dish of spiced beef, a joint of cured meat that is eaten in slivers.

Chipotle chilies are the secret to this sassy cocktail sauce.

John serves the peppers as an appetizer with toasted country bread.

Because they were so abundant, oysters were used as a filler and for flavor in a variety of Colonial New England dishes. They are still the star of traditional stuffings in the region.