Jalapeño

This recipe was created to accompany Poached Loin of Lamb . Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Serve this Indian condiment with grilled chicken, curries or sliced tomatoes.

Serve the dressing on shrimp salad, chicken salad or mixed greens; add diced jicama and fresh cilantro leaves to the salad for even more flavor.

With some warm corn bread, this chili is a meal in itself. You wouldn't know there was chocolate in the recipe, but it adds a subtle depth of flavor to the dish.

Happily, this fish dish can be made a day ahead. Simply remove it from the refrigerator and arrange 2 hours before serving. Even better, the sauce also can be made 2 days ahead and kept, well covered, in the refrigerator. It's from Mexico, One Plate at a Time (Scribner), by Rick Bayless, the celebrated Chicago chef and cookbook author.

Peg Isherwood of Libertyville, Illinois, writes: "While in Christiansted, St. Croix, we dined at Kendrick's and had the most interesting gazpacho — it was spicy but not too hot, with lots of chopped vegetables. I met the owner, David Kendrick, the next morning and found him delightful. Would you ask him for the recipe?" This gazpacho has a chunkier texture than most (almost like a salsa). To chop the vegetables in a processor, cut them into quarters and process in batches, using on/off turns.

Draining the yogurt overnight makes this low-fat guacamole extra-creamy.

Use leftover roast chicken for this, or buy a cooked chicken at the market. For an extra-special treat, top each baked slice with a dollop of sour cream and sliced avocado.

When sweet, succulent jumbo crabmeat comes into season, this is an incredibly simple, light, and refreshing first course that requires no cooking. It can also be used as a main course for a summer luncheon.

"I run my own salon, and I’m an instructor at a cooking school," writes Sandy Ercolano of Ridgewood, New Jersey. "It seems that I’m always in the kitchen. At home I cook meals and come up with recipes for my classes. My son Andrew appears to have inherited my culinary interest. He likes to lend a hand with the cooking, especially with desserts. Unfortunately, he’s not as interested in helping with the cleanup."

The test kitchen used wonton wrappers instead of homemade pasta to simplify this.

Unlike most tamal recipes, which use dried corn (masa harina), this one is Cuban-style, made with fresh corn kernels. I've also added a different touch by replacing the traditional pork filling with conch. The flavor and texture proved very popular at Yuca, and it remained on the menu as a fixture. These tamales are very convenient for entertaining. They can be made ahead of time and frozen, or kept in the refrigerator and then popped in the microwave. In fact, it's not worth making a smaller batch, so you'll probably want to freeze some of them. Likewise, the pesto can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated.