Caviar

I always choose a fresh salmon caviar over lumpfish when price is a factor.

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 30 min

(Buckwheat Yeast Pancakes with Three Caviars)

My mom ate a lot of things — frogs' legs, escargots, sweetbreads — that horrified me as a child, but I took to caviar right away. She didn't use the good stuff, but even made with supermarket roe, this dish makes an elegant impression. Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 30 min (includes making pancakes)

Using a pastry bag to pipe the hummus onto the pita toasts saved us a lot of time (and made for nice-looking hors d'oeuvres). You can make your own pastry bag with a heavy-duty plastic bag. Just spoon the hummus into the bag and squeeze it into one corner. Then snip off the corner to make a small hole and begin piping.

A sophisticated yet simple dip that is wonderful with toast triangles, crackers or some assorted raw vegetables.

Here's a modern spin on blini, the buckwheat pancakes that are a classic for caviar. Also topping them with smoked salmon is a delightful way to gild the lily.

The pasta and sauce cook simultaneously (so two cooks can divide and conquer), for a total of about ten minutes, start to finish. Serve with your best bottle of bubbly.

The bright green of the fried asparagus with the yellow egg sauce and the orange salmon roe topping makes a colorful display.

It's important to note that the pumpernickel used in this tart should be very dense. Although we prefer the light-brown Danish pumpernickel, the dark German-style variety works just as well. For the filling we've suggested lumpfish caviar, which is readily available in the States; in Sweden, the fish roe called lojrom would probably be used. It comes from bleak, an ocean fish from the Baltic Sea.

Barquettes are small, boat-shaped pastry shells that can be filled with sweet or savory ingredients.