Garlic

Complete the main course with buttered sweet potato chunks (they can roast alongside the chicken) and sautéed Swiss chard. Serve purchased éclairs for dessert.

Mustard greens, increasingly common in supermarkets today, cook as quickly as fresh spinach. Their assertive taste is terrific here in a warming winter soup.

For best results, use a grill basket. It should be big enough for the fish but snug enough to keep the fish and lemon slices from moving around. The one we used in the Bon Appétit test kitchen was 17 by 6 inches.

These can be enjoyed on their own, added to recipes or used to embellish a Martini.

(Garlic Roast Beef) My husband's Aunt Enza has played an important role in my life as a born-again Tuscan. We often dine at her home on Sundays for a traditional family lunch. The main course is usually what Enza calls magro, which can actually mean meatless but in Enza's lexicon signifies merely a lean or fatless choice cut of beef, sliced thin, lightly sauced with meat juices, and topped with golden brown cloves of garlic. Because Italian home cooks in cities rarely had ovens until the postwar period, meats were often cooked on top of the stove, as is Enza's. It's faster than oven-roasting and a perfect technique for people who love rare "roast" beef.

Hummus, a dip/spread traditional in many Middle Eastern countries, is usually made with chick-peas (garbanzo beans), but we use white beans for a change of pace. It is delicious with steamed potatoes and artichokes as well as blanched broccoli, cauliflower and green beans.

This dough is moist, so it should be made in a heavy-duty electric mixer.

This clever combination of tastes and textures features hominy, cilantro, jicama, jalapeños, lime juice and cumin.

The grill-and a dash of roasted garlic oil-give the asparagus terrific flavor without adding much fat.

Skillet cakes make from grains are popular at reatautants across the country. This recipe has a great do-ahead hint - the cakes can be prepared hours before they're cooked. And they are a good way to use leftover risotto.

Thai red chilies are used at Keo's, but a sliced jalapeño chili will work just as well.

This chicken is nice for an outdoor meal — grill some corn alongside, and set out a bowl of coleslaw. Or broil the chicken, boil the corn, and serve it all indoors. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less, but requires additional unattended time.

This recipe was created to accompany Sauteed Sea Bass.