Pumpkin Seed

(Three Generations of Squash) Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 2 1/4 hr

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 1 hr

As the story goes, the Maya served this dish to the Spaniards, calling it papadzules, which means "food for the lords."

Steaming couscous may be a bit more time-consuming than the usual boiling method, but we feel the results are well worth it. Steaming makes the grains fluffier and much more tender. You'll need a bowl-shaped steamer, such as a basket steamer, or you could set a metal sieve into the saucepan.

"During a vacation in Scottsdale, Arizona, my brother-in-law took me to his favorite restaurant, Cowboy Ciao," writes Linden Avery of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. "It serves a very colorful, delicious chopped salad called a Stetson. Could you get the recipe so I can re-create it at home?" This main-course salad is presented with the ingredients lined up in rows. For convenience, you could just toss the salad instead.

You'll need six baby loaf pans for this recipe. Look for disposable ones at the market.

Party alert: This spicy snack is perfect with chilled sparkling wine or ice-cold beer.

Pan-roasting or toasting in a dry cast-iron skillet is a cooking technique used often in Mexican cuisine. We use it here to bring up the flavors of corn, onion, and pumpkin seeds. We created this salad as a main course, but it's also a terrific side dish. Active time: 50 min Start to finish: 1 hr

Spicy and sweet, this unusual salad would be ideal with grilled chicken or fish.

Chicken in Pumpkin-Seed Sauce

At the restaurant, the lamb is served with cilantro-corn mashed potatoes.

Chef Lisa Ahier likes the flavor of Key limes or Mexican limes, which she can buy locally and year-round, for the marinade below. But even if you use regular lime juice, you'll love this chicken, which is as delicious at room temperature as it is hot. In fact, Gourmet's food editors couldn't get enough of it.

Mole Poblano Mole is very time-consuming to make, but you can begin up to three days ahead. The results are well worth the effort. In Mexico, this is served with rice or unfilled tamales.