Seafood

Make this the centerpiece of an hors d'oeuvre platter that includes crackers, breadsticks, cornichons, and olives.

Offer this main course with plenty of crusty bread to soak up the delicious saffron broth. A crisp Sauvignon Blanc is good here, too.

Finnan Haddie Gratin Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 2 1/4 hr

This soup can be pureed by pressing it through a strainer or a food mill. It can also be pureed in a blender and then strained.

If you’d like to serve a sauce alongside, strain 1/4 cup of the cooled pickling liquid, and whisk it with 1 cup of mayonnaise. For ease, the shrimp are left unpeeled; if you peel them before cooking, leave the tails on.

We have given no-boil lasagne noodles as an alternative to fresh because regular dried lasagne noodles often have curly edges and are too thick. Active time: 1 3/4 hr Start to finish: 3 1/2 hr

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 40 min

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 40 min

If you don't want to cook a live lobster for this recipe, buy 2/3 pound cooked lobster meat from your seafood shop. Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 2 3/4 hr (includes chilling)

Cajun seasoning spikes this soup with heat, so adjust according to your taste. Serve with: Jalapeño corn bread and carrot sticks. Dessert: Cheesecake topped with thawed sliced frozen peaches.

After opening anchovies, always keep them refrigerated, or they become mushy. Use as necessary. Freshly grated cheese may be frozen until needed.

Caesar Cardini, the Tijuana restaurateur who originally served his namesake salad sans utensils, obviously knew what generations of romantics have always known — food eaten by hand is sexy. Start things off with the best caviar you can find. What to drink: A brut, or dry, Champagne or sparkling wine (the 1995 Domaine Carneros Le Rêve Blanc de Blancs is an excellent choice if you want to splurge).

Serve these clams with some crusty bread for sopping up the sauce, or spoon them over linguine or rice.

On Maryland's Eastern shore, watermen make a living pulling the "beautiful swimmers" (blue crabs) out of Chesapeake Bay. This recipe was given to me many years ago by a waterman's wife — pre-food-processor. Note: This one's for the mini food processor because amounts are small.

A terrific way to finish off the cranberry relish. Make full use of your oven — and your time — by roasting small red-skinned potatoes alongside the fish, then tossing the potatoes with butter and parsley to have as a side dish. Boil slim green beans or haricots verts to complement the main course. End the meal with slices of marble pound cake ("toasted" briefly in the oven) topped with chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

The Ginger Fried Rice with Shiitake Mushrooms is a perfect side dish for this salmon.

Cooking doesn't get much easier than this, but it still took me a while to catch on. Being a northerner, I didn't realize that everyone south of Baltimore knows spiced shrimp like New Englanders know maple syrup. I tried spicing up my shrimp and crabs with a spice mix called "Shrimp and Crab Boil." I took the cue from the name and added the spices to boiling water to boil the shellfish. Not until I moved to Maryland crab country did I find that you douse the shellfish with spices and steam them over boiling water. Perhaps someone should market a spice mix called "Shrimp and Crab Steam" for us literalists. The shrimp are cooked with their shells on, so provide lots of napkins for spice-coated hands and beer or lemonade for spice-coated throats.

You can form the sweet-potato pancakes up to six hours ahead, leaving only a quick frying before serving.