Garlic

Rodolfo Lagua, a thirty-year California barbecue veteran of Filipino heritage, was the inspiration for this recipe. Lagua learned this way of preparing tri-tips from his friend Sammy Ariola, one of the area's first Filipino immigrants. "I have no money for you to inherit," said Ariola, as he lay on his deathbed, "but I'll give you the recipe for my marinade." Since then Lagua has won numerous barbecue contests with his Filipino-style tri-tips, raising thousands of dollars for Filipino community charities. He's now working on bottling the sauce commercially, once again as a fund-raiser. The interplay of salty, sweet, and sour is pure Filipino, and the lemon rind adds an intense blast of citrus flavor. I've adapted my approximation of Lagua's recipe to London broil; in the Tips [below] you'll find instructions for making tri-tips with this marinade. Lagua would serve the meat with boiled rice.

This beautiful pasta dish features a classic trio of Italian ingredients. Bottled roasted chestnuts make preparation surprisingly quick.

This mackerel, which pairs well with the fennel endive salad , was inspired by our trips to Southeast Asia, where dishes are commonly served with whole sprigs of fresh herbs for diners to pull off the leaves and eat as desired. Incidentally, this means less chopping for the cook. Also, to save time, we minced the ginger and garlic in a mini food processor.

Salmone Sockeye al Forno con Peperoni e Capperi Fresh wild salmon, including the late-season ones from Alaska, would be the best choice for this preparation. What to do when the season ends? Well, there are always available steelhead trout and Arctic char and, of course, farmed Atlantic salmon.

The Spanish eat salt cod often and, given the excellence of their cod, it's no wonder — the dried fish is snowy white, delicate, and, once rehydrated, tender enough to eat raw. Though you can't get the same thing here, the salt cod from the Spanish specialty store La Tienda is very good (they sell lomo — the center cut — which we prefer over the chewy, skinny end pieces), and its turnover is high, so there's no concern that the fish has been sitting on the shelves too long.

This quick and easy tomato sauce is the base for two meals: spaghetti marinara and steamed mussels with tomato broth. We call for canned tomatoes because most of the fresh ones available in the wintertime have a bland flavor and mealy texture. Sugar will help round out the flavor if your tomatoes are too acidic. You can also add a pinch of red pepper flakes if you like your sauce to have a bit of heat. The leftover sauce also freezes well for future meals.

Fresh black truffles are worth the splurge. They are available at some specialty foods stores and from Urbani Truffles (215-699-8780; urbanitruffles.com). Black truffles in jars are sold at specialty foods stores and Italian markets; the most flavorful are European winter black truffles.

Lauren Beal of San Rafael, California, writes: "When it comes to making dinner, my husband, Stuart, and I have the perfect system. He's in charge of our backyard garden, and I'm in charge of cooking with what he harvests — things like basil, onions, lemons, and even apples. It's our favorite way to create a meal together."

Cooking the garlic inside the skin not only saves time but also mellows the harshness of its flavor and results in tender cloves that can be peeled easily. Squeeze the cloves out of their skins and eat them with the chicken and the bread.

We prefer the taste of organic canned tomatoes in this particular recipe, as they tend to be sweeter. If using other canned tomatoes, you might want to add a bit more sugar to balance their acidity.

These mushrooms take the place of snails in a play on classic escargots.

Thinly sliced garlic is simmered in olive oil until it is so tender that it nearly melts.

This recipe is an accompaniment for Broiled Polenta Sticks .

The secret to this dish is perfectly golden garlic. Pale garlic won't crisp properly while cooling, whereas overcooked garlic will be bitter.

Inspired by Jamón Jamón In a desolate area of Spain, the fortunes of two families become intertwined through sex and a mutual longing for acceptance. In this 1992 black comedy, ham becomes a metaphor for life and death.

The mushrooms that top this pizza are simmered in a white wine reduction, which gives them a zippy sweet and acidic bite.