African

The North African hot sauce called harissa lends this soup its beautiful brick-red color, as well as a deep, spicy warmth that isn’t the least bit aggressive. For a supper that’s both robust and rejuvenating, chard, chickpeas, and noodles go into the pot, too.

A fragrant and exotic dish.

In Morocco, toasted cumin is served right beside salt and pepper as a standard seasoning at every meal. Judging by the way it amplifies the taste of the roasted eggplant in this dish, the Moroccans have got the right idea.

While traditional couscous with its exotic spices is the stuff of cold winter nights, I love that the same spices—ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, and cumin—can make a cool couscous salad that's perfect on even the sultriest days. My favorite go-along is grilled chicken, but the salad is also good with grilled fish. When I've got leftover couscous, I spoon it onto a bed of lightly dressed greens, surround it with slices of tomato (and sometimes hard-boiled eggs), and call it lunch.

Preserved lemons are perhaps most at home in Moroccan dishes, but we love their complex, bright flavor and aroma in all kinds of soups, stews, and salads. We've adapted Mediterranean-food authority Paula Wolfert's quick method and made it even faster by blanching the lemons first. If you manage to find Meyer lemons, this is a great way to capture their unforgettable taste and perfume.

This well-balanced stew is intense yet mellow. The prunes soak up the fragrant spices, and long, slow cooking turns the lamb fork-tender.

These savory pies are filled with fish instead of the traditional squab.

Merguez, the spicy lamb sausages of North Africa, are popular throughout France. These nearly labor-free patties are a quick way to re-create them in your kitchen. The sweetness of the raisin couscous contrasts nicely with the meat's deep spice.

"Anyone who has spent time in any North African country has stories about mint tea so sweet that the glass sticks to their lips," says Zadi. His version, though a strong tea, is light on the sweetening.

Like cinnamon in this country, cardamom plays a starring role in Algerian sweets. Paired with star anise in a gingery syrup, it gives clementine slices an irresistible aroma, but the syrup would be just as wonderful over any kind of sliced fruit.

Each of these incredibly tender golden puffs is like a warm little gift—break one open and be rewarded with the aroma of oranges and rose water. They're typically a yeast-leavened street food; Zadi's use of a choux paste "is a special touch, more for home cooking," he says. "And almond sugar belongs in the Algerian pastry lexicon."

Not your typical chicken pot pie. Cumin, cinnamon, and paprika add an aromatic spiciness, which is balanced by briny green olives and sweet golden raisins.

Cumin, coriander, and cinnamon give this dish its exotic flavor.

Try this with the Moroccan-Style Roast Chicken .

Ground lamb is a natural choice for a barbecue—its distinctive taste really stands up to the smoke of the grill. These burgers get an extra boost from charmoula, a North African spice mixture.

The strong aromatics in this dish infuse the potatoes with a spirited Moroccan style.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Dinner After Dark: Sexy, Sumptuous Supper Soirées by Colin Cowie. A bredie is the typical slow-cooked stew of Cape Malay cuisine, which is best prepared in a heavy-bottom cast-iron pot or potjie. I've adapted it in a recipe that takes just over an hour to cook. Traditionally, this type of dish would probably have been made with just the lamb knuckles, but I've added the shoulder to provide some additional meat. The sweet and savory flavors are wholly authentic; the dish is like a curry with an extra measure of sweetness to balance the hot spice. You'll taste the delightful hint of cinnamon, which speaks unmistakably of the Orient. It's great with aromatic basmati rice, flavored with chicken stock, turmeric, garlic, and raisins.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Dinner After Dark: Sexy, Sumptuous Supper Soirées by Colin Cowie. For more about Cowie, click here. I can't remember a Christmas back at home when we didn't sit around the family table and enjoy my sister Anne's wonderful tart at the end of the meal. It's heartwarming and incredibly convenient: It can be made days in advance and frozen, with no effect on the delicious result. For Christmastime, add 1/2 cup glacéed cherries to the batter; these holiday treats are the red and green cherries, preserved in jars.