No-Cook

You can make the salad with roast chicken if you prefer. Offer purchased sesame noodles as an accompaniment. For dessert, serve sugared sliced plums, topped with vanilla ice cream and chopped crystallized ginger. Look for the Thai fish sauce in the Asian foods section of the supermarket.

Light, refreshing and beautiful.

This simple side dish from River's End Restaurant is terrific with grilled fish. For a pretty presentation, serve the slaw on radicchio leaves.

This dip is also nice with raw vegetables.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

For an even more elegant presentation, make a design in or swirl the two soups.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Use leftover cooked chicken, or buy a cooked chicken at the market or a take-out place. Serve the salad with warm tortillas, or try the chicken mixture (without the lettuce) as a sandwich filling.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This recipe is from my favorite grandmother, DeeDee. According to my mother, it has many variations, and my grandmother always served it with great presentation at parties, family dinners, and ladies luncheons. The recipe has high stakes: You get but one chance when you unmold it. Just recently I recall overhearing my mother exclaim "Damn!" as she was getting the salad ready for yet another meal. It was runny — not enough time in the refrigerator.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

The Mexican mash came from a shiva call! Aunt Lee was paying a condolence call on a friend when in Chicago and someone had made the dish. She asked for the recipe and I stole it from her. Now it's going to the Super Bowl!

A nice hors d'oeuvre teaming fresh vegetables with a simplified version of rouille, the spicy red pepper and garlic sauce that typically accompanies French fish soups.