Brunch

You can serve this dish—a cheese and fruit course in one—in lieu of dessert. Half a pear with some greens also makes a nice first course or light brunch.

This breakfast treat tastes decadent but is really quite low in fat. It's topped with maple-spiked yogurt.

Nicola, Steve's wife, likes this dessert more than any of his others, mostly because you have to eat it with yet more Pedro Ximénez sherry. If you don't want to splash out on the real McCoy, use another good, sweet dark sherry.

"You should tell your readers about Bistro Banlieue in Lombard," writes Judith Gill of Chicago, Illinois. "The smoked salmon, goat cheese, and leek tart alone is worth the short drive from Chicago." A slice of this rich tart served with mixed greens makes for a perfect starter.

Serve with: Crusty French rolls and steamed new potatoes tossed with butter and chervil. Dessert: Meringues filled with purchased lemon curd and sprinkled with blueberries.

This creamy mixture of spinach, cheese and basil is an unforgettable side dish.

I discovered Pot Stickers at about the same time I was introduced to Scallion Cakes. Pan-fried on only one side, the dough for these dumplings is at once crisp and chewy. When I was about eleven years old, I could sometimes devour a dozen of these fried dumplings at one sitting. It was such a sweet pleasure to eat as much as you wanted and still be a skinny child. Filled with pork, cabbage, and a rich broth, every bite was heavenly. The secret of these pot stickers is to reduce the Homemade Chicken Broth until it is concentrated enough to jell when refrigerated. The broth should then be roughly chopped and stirred into the filling mixture right before the dumplings are formed. The Pot Stickers are pan-fried only on one side a few minutes until golden. A little water is added, the lid is placed on the pan, and then, as the dumplings steam-cook, the broth melts. To eat, place a pot sticker in a deep spoon (traditionally, a Chinese porcelain spoon) and sprinkle with a few ginger shreds and a little red rice vinegar. Gently bite into the dumpling and the delicious broth that has now melded with the flavors of the pork filling will burst forth.

This dark, moist cake gets its deep flavor from blackstrap molasses, which may not sound appealing on its own but is wonderful in this cake.

Hearty breakfast fare from Rick & Ann's in Berkeley, California.

My mother learned to cook this bread during the Depression, when nothing was wasted — especially overripe bananas. We clamored for this treat so often that she frequently bought extra bananas and let them get almost black. I've discovered that overripe bananas can be peeled, mashed, and frozen, then defrosted whenever I want to bake up this memory.

Hash browns are deceptively simple. Most people can turn out a so-so version. Loftier ambitions, however, will be rewarded by following this recipe precisely.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.