Food Processor

Begin preparing this a day before serving.

Sarah Lockerbie of Indianapolis, Indiana, writes: "When I visited my sister, Jessica, in Los Angeles, she showed me a fabulous time. One of the highlights was dinner at her favorite French restaurant, La Cachette. She's visiting me next month, and I'd like to surprise her by making the delicious dessert that we shared — okay, fought over."

This dish is inspired by the marriage of ricotta and walnuts that makes Ligurian pansotti (triangular "pot-bellied" ravioli) with walnut sauce a timeless favorite. Serve the artichokes as a plated first course or quarter them and offer as part of an antipasto platter along with prosciutto, roasted red peppers, and marinated olives and mushrooms.

A whiskey-spiked variation on classic pecan pie. Serve the tartlets with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, if desired.

A classic combination of tender shortcrust pastry and soft, candy-like caramel filling.

This sauce accompanies Ginger, Fig and Cranberry Semifreddo . It's also great drizzled over vanilla ice cream.

A delicious alternative to gefilte fish. Have the fishmonger fillet the whitefish.

Catalan chicory, or puntarelle, is the green of choice for this salad dressing, although Belgian endive can also he substituted. Arugula and most other full-flavored salad greens also pair well with the dressing. As regards anchovies, whole ones packed in suit are more work to cook with but taste best; bottled anchovies are a good second choice; canned (and therefore hidden from inspection) are the last decent option. Anchovy paste is made from leftovers and not really worth buying. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires additional unattended time.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This easy pie is the perfect marriage of apple crumble and apple pie, because you shouldn’t have to choose.

Three classic heartland ingredients — corn, smoked sausage and wild rice — combine to give this appealing first-course soup its sweet-spicy flavor and interesting texture.

Lime curd and tart cranberries are balanced by a layer of sweet white chocolate cream. For best results, use imported white chocolate, such as Lindt or Perugina. Begin preparing the tart two days before you plan to serve it.

Ground almonds create texture and thicken the sauce of pollo almendrado—our homage to New York's large Mexican and Central American population.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are reprinted from Andreas Viestad's book Kitchen of Light: New Scandinavian Cooking. Homemade fish dumplings are an important part of Bergen Fish Soup. The goal is to make them as light as possible. The dumplings can also be served on their own, or with a dill-flavored béchamel sauce.