Mascarpone

Start with a spread of smoked salmon, bread, crème fraîche, lemon wedges, and capers. Then serve this satisfying yet light soup as the first course.

Coarsely ground black pepper lends a spicy note to this dense, moist brownie cake studded with dried cherries and chocolate chips. Cherry Preserves are thicker than cherry jam and give the Black Forest Torte more body. Look for cherry preserves in supermarkets.

You'll feel positively Continental after your first taste of these tartlets, made with the thoroughly French combination of prunes and Armagnac. The creamy Italian mascarpone filling is just the thing to mellow out the sophisticated flavors.

The heady flavor of almond is threaded through this lovely dessert. The combination of Amaretto and warm pear juices creates a fragrant syrup, and a crisp, nutty topping adds welcome contrast to the tender roasted fruit.

This rustic dessert is great served with a glass of Vin Santo, a sweet Italian white wine.

Mascarpone is an Italian cream cheese sold at many supermarkets and Italian markets.

This dessert is easy and indulgent.

Editor's Note: This recipe was originally part of a menu by Bobby Flay for a backyard barbecue. For the complete menu and Flay's tips on throwing a party, click here. Ripe pineapple, with its plentiful natural sugars, is ideal for grilling, and it screams "tropical" like nothing else. This makes a great dessert after spicy Latin, Indian, or Caribbean food. Make sure to let the slices brown; you want lots of those caramelized, almost burnt edges. Mascarpone is a smooth Italian dairy product with a texture somewhere between whipped cream and cream cheese. It's used in tiramisù and available in many supermarkets and gourmet stores, but if you can't find it, good-quality vanilla ice cream will taste just fine.

This bubbly dessert gratin is a variation of the one I learned to make at Al Forno in Providence, Rhode Island. We baked it to order in the infernally hot pizza oven (700-plus degrees) until the berries popped open in the cream and the top glazed to a golden brown crust. But you don't need a pizza oven yourself. Your home oven set to 450°F is just fine. It just takes a few minutes longer.

Topfenknodel A distant relative of mine, originally from the Polish-German-Czechoslovakian border area (previously part of the Austrian Empire), was an exceptional cook but refused to share her recipes, claiming that either the dish would not turn out as good as hers did, in which case she would be blamed, or it would be as good or better, in which case her own cooking skills would be diminished. Among her repertoire were light, slightly tangy cheese dumplings. No one, however, ever wrangled the real recipe from her. Fortunately, I found a number of cooperative cooks who were more than willing to share their recipes with me. These popular dumplings are called topfenknodel in Austria and Germany, turos gomboc in Hungary, syrove knedliky in Czech, and kluski in Poland. Topfen, also called quark in German, is a thick, slightly tangy central European curd cheese popular for making dumplings, spreads, and toppings. Since topfen is generally unavailable in America, a little cream cheese is added to the pot cheese to approximate the original texture and flavor. You can substitute farmer cheese for the pot cheese, but first wrap it in several layers of paper towels, then let it drain for about 10 minutes to extract some of the excess moisture. Do not use cottage cheese, which contains too much liquid and is too firm. My grandmother served savory cheese dumplings on Shavuot as an appetizer, accompanied with sour cream or browned bread crumbs (2 cups fresh bread crumbs sautéed in 6 tablespoons butter until golden), or a sweetened version as dessert.

IMPROV: Instead of tarragon, try dill; sub bacon for the ham.

Prepare this a day ahead so all of the elements can meld and the ladyfingers to soften fully.

No other vegetable signals spring like asparagus. In this recipe, it makes for a rich, creamy side dish that's beyond delicious. We love it with a simple roast chicken.

Jonathan Waxman makes his polenta using stone-ground grits because he prefers their coarser texture. You will, too.

Chef Michael Presnal of The Federal Restaurant in Agawam, Massachusett, writes: "The recipe here was featured on one of my first menus as a chef, before I got into the kind of complex cooking I do now at The Federal. That was over ten years ago, but I still love making this dish at home. It calls for just a few fresh ingredients and takes only a couple of steps." A French country dessert that's like pudding and tender cake all in one.

Chef Sal Passalacqua of Dimaio Cucina in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, writes: "My father's family is from Sicily and I spent my teenage years there, so that's where a lot of my culinary influences come from. At first glance, Sicilian cooking seems very simple, but that simplicity depends on using the freshest ingredients and often the combination of sweet and tart flavors. The anchovy pasta and the ricotta and mascarpone cream puffs here are perfect examples." These can be served for dessert, tea, or brunch. Mascarpone, an Italian cream cheese, is sold at many supermarkets and at Italian markets.

Limoncello can be found at most supermarkets and at liquor stores.