Starter

This looks like sushi, but it's really a new way to present the familiar Passover fish course.

Avocado, Belgian endive and spinach are combined with oranges and radishes in this gorgeous seasonal salad.

Other varieties of sweet yellow-fleshed winter squash-such as acorn squash-are perfect for this soup. Nonfat milk and vegetable broth keep the soup low in fat, but also give it a surprisingly velvety texture.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Chinese bean thread noodles (also called cellophane noodles) are often used in Moroccan dishes, like this starter. Their use stems from the influence of a small Vietnamese community in North Africa.

The seeds of the Mexican tabasco chili were planted on Avery Island, Louisiana, in the mid 1800s, and in 1868, former New Orleans banker Edmund McIlhenny be gan experimenting with them. He created Tabasco sauce by mixing mashed chilies with salt, letting them age in oak barrels, then adding vinegar. Tabasco is so popular today that it often appears on restaurant tables right next to the salt and pepper. A good dose of the stuff puts the devil in these eggs.

Serve this beautiful starter with Champagne or sparkling wine.

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 35 min We recommend you use only fresh local corn when making this soup. The supersweet corn on the cob sold in plastic-wrapped packages in supermarkets yields an unpleasantly sweet soup. To make this soup vegetarian, simply omit the king crab.

Gregg Thompson of St. Joseph, Missouri, writes, "A good many years ago, my wife and I enjoyed a beefy curried mousse at Snaffles restaurant in Dublin. The recipe was published in You Asked for It in your January 1972 issue. It's a wonderful dish that I have continued to enjoy through the years, and I believe it should be resurrected." Active time: 5 min Start to finish: 8 hr This is a great hors d'oeuvre to make the night before it's served, and it's best when made with the freshest garlic you can find.

We've called for live lobsters in this recipe, but, to save time, you could use 1 pound (about 3 cups) cooked lobster meat from your fish market.