Brunch

See how to <epi:recipelink id="">devein shrimp</epi:recipelink>.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Today, Mexico's best coffee is ripened and dried along the roadways in the cloud-blanketed highlands of Chiapas and over through Veracruz and Oaxaca. The prime beans are usually roasted a little darker than ours — almost a Viennese roast — and they brew a nice, medium-bodied liquid with some spunk. They tell me it's the second-class beans that get roasted darker, to a mahogany black with a shining sugar coat. The steam-powered espresso machines in the city cafeterías extract a trio of ethnic brews: espresso, straight, foamy and Italian; café con leche, mixed with hot milk, French-style (but so common one would mistake it for purely Mexican); or americano, simply diluted with water. The more rural brew leans toward the Spanish, the history books say, but it seems like a Mexican-flavored campfire version to me. Café de olla at its best is pot-boiled in earthenware with molassesy piloncillo sugar and spices like cinnamon, anise or cloves. These days, many traditional city restaurants offer the dark, delicious drink more regularly, served in old-fashioned earthenware mugs at the end of the meal.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Miniature Tourtières Every French-Canadian home serves a version of tourtière during the holidays. Various thickeners (such as flour, crushed crackers, or even oats) can be used to bind the filling. Our version is made with flour, and the filling is enclosed in a tender biscuit crust. We decorated our pies with a maple-leaf-shaped cutout.*

A light and pretty treat with intense fruit flavors.

The fennel seeds add a nice dimension to these tender scones.

Try this as part of a barbecue buffet.

This dish from Hotel d'Urville in Blenheim makes delicious use of New Zealand's green-lipped mussels.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

If time is short, omit the streusel topping.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. These tender biscuits are especially light when made with cake flour.

You can serve these with bacon for breakfast, but they're also a nice side dish with steak or other meats.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.