Saute

Market tip: All rainbow trout sold in markets are sustainably farm-raised.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Sortilège is a blend of Canadian whiskey and maple syrup. Here it infuses the chestnuts with maple flavor and picks up the sweetness of the green beans. Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 1 hr

Huevos Tirados One of Gran Café de la Parroquia's specialties is this unique omelet, made with black beans and served inside out. Make the omelets one at a time and serve them immediately (they will dry out and lose their tenderness if you try to keep them warm in the oven). If you don't have time to prepare dried beans, canned will do just fine (see the cooks' notes for black beans, this page). Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 2 3/4 hr (includes cooking dried beans)

Serve this zesty Cajun-flavored hash with a big salad (like a romaine mix with herb croutons) and a New Orleans-inspired dessert such as broiled bananas with butter pecan ice cream.

Pommes de Terre Chateaubriand Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 45 min

An easy and innovative first-course salad.

This midsummer fare is adapted from a dish I enjoyed at 192, our favorite wine-bar-restaurant in London's Kensington: its inspiration is, I am sure, from Spain. You can buy a whole chunk of chorizo sausage — or a string of smaller ones — to slice yourself. Most good gourmet stores stock chorizo (mild or spicy), and many supermarkets do, too.

Spoon some of the sauce over noodles that have been tossed with Parmesan cheese; serve with a salad of balsamic-dressed mesclun and with crusty bread. Almond cookies and grapes are a simple finale.

When fresh wide rice noodles are stir-fried, they are called fun. Fresh rice noodles have to be pulled apart and fluffed before cooking.

When adding the diced vegetables to the flaked salmon, fold the ingredients together gently so that the salmon doesn't break up.