Pistachio

I have always loved the combination of lemon and pistachios. Maybe it's the idea of yellow and green or the fact that the acidity of lemon perfectly tempers the richness of pistachios. Be careful on the second baking of these biscotti — if they get a little too dark the pistachios will turn brown and you'll lose their lovely green color.

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 45 min

These are based on the wonderful pecan pralines of noted cookbook author and columnist Marion Cunningham.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

The 1970s saw perhaps the biggest change in cooking in this century. That's when a group of talented young chefs in France came up with "nouvelle cuisine," emphasizing fresh ingredients, elegant presentation, and interesting and unusual combinations of foods and flavors. American chefs quickly imported it and made it into something uniquely their own. For our take on this landmark in contemporary cooking, we've shaped purchased puff pastry into individual tartlet, filled them with pistachio frangipane and sliced pears, and topped it all off with a sweet-wine glaze.

This dressing is best cooked in a dish of its own, which also allows the top layer of bread to brown to an appealing crisp.

(Haj Pesteh) Peeling the pistachios really enhances the green color of these cookies—pistachio skins can be dark purple and may muddy the resulting color. Active time: 1 1/2 hr Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr

This recipe makes more phyllo crisps (the building-block wafers of the napoleons) than you'll need—they can replace any that break along the way and are delicious on their own.

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr

Active time: 1 1/4 hr Start to finish: 6 1/4 hr (includes chilling)

Tah-dig—the crunchy crust of rice on the bottom of the pot—is considered by many to be the prize of Persian rice. Here it is rivaled by the surprise of pistachios, whose natural sweetness is brought out by the dill.

(Pistachio Wafers Layered with Strawberries and Cream)

Rich chocolate cookies get some Mexican flair when spiced up with cinnamon, cloves and cayenne pepper. Blanched almonds or pistachios can be used instead of cherries.

Grand Marnier gives an extra kick to the frozen orange mousse, and pistachios make the crust crunchy. Start preparing this at least a day before you plan to serve it.

Called om Ali, which means "mother of Ali," this slightly sticky and unusual dessert flavored with orange flower water is currently the most popular pudding in Egypt. In the villages it is made with bread, while in the cities a more sophisticated version is made with phyllo pastry. Orange flower water is a flavoring extract available at liquor stores and in the liquor or specialty foods section of some supermarkets nationwide.

This cake, also called fraisier (French for "strawberry plant"), is usually made with almonds, but pistachios are used in this rendition. The delicate cake is layered with fresh strawberries and a mousselike white chocolate buttercream and then topped with marzipan.