Capellini

New York City's Italian impresario Mario Batali likes to use Sun Gold tomatoes—a sweet, slightly tannic variety of cherry tomato—to make this dish. Any good cherry or grape tomatoes, or a chopped large tomato, will work, too. Be sure to cook the tomatoes down until they've released all of their juices.

Fresh ricotta cheese (available at some supermarkets and at Italian markets) and good-quality olive oil are the keys to this great salty-sweet dish.

The addition of the sweet vermouth here punctuates the natural sweetness of the canned tomatoes, making this quick sauce taste as if it's been simmered for hours.

This dish focuses on the goodness of ripe tomatoes, letting them be just what they're meant to be — wonderful.

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 20 min

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

(Arrossejat de Fideus amb Llagosta) This Catalan specialty could be described as a pasta cooked like a rice dish. Arrossejat is Catalan for "golden" and refers to the technique of sautéing noodles in oil until golden brown before simmering them in fish stock. The dish is usually prepared in a glazed earthenware casserole known as a cassola, but you can substitute an ovenproof skillet or saut0an with great results. The base of our intensely flavored dish is a sofregit~©on slow-cooked with tomatoes and often garlic and herbs'% foundation for almost every sauce and stewed dish in the region's cooking. Active time: 1 1/2 hr Start to finish: 2 hr

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Editors note: This recipe was written in 1991, before Southeast Asian ingredients were widely available. For a more authentic take on the dish, substitute rice noodles for the capellini or thin spaghetti. (To cook: Soak the rice noodles in a large bowl of cold water for 15 minutes, then drain the noodles, and boil in salted water until tender, 1 to 2 minutes. Drain the noodles, rinse under cold water, and drain again.) You can also replace the dried hot red pepper flakes with an equal amount of sambal oelek, and use 1 1/2 tablespoons (or more to taste) fish sauce in place of the soy sauce and anchovy paste. Also: Feel free to use flank or skirt steak in place of the shell steak, adjusting the cooking time as necessary.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less

Harira Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 12 1/2 hr

At Geronimo, located on eclectic Canyon Road in Santa Fe, this is served with a mixed green salad and roasted corn on the cob. The idea here is to dip the lobster meat into the spicy vinaigrette.