Soup/Stew

Serve Champagne with this starter.

Chilpachole de Jaiba This typical dish is adapted from a recipe given to us by our official guide, Ricardo Muñoz. Although picking the crabmeat is time-consuming (enlist a friend to help), you will be rewarded with a truly exceptional soup.

"My daughter and son-in-law spend their summers on Stuart Island, one of the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington," says Ann Ayres of Santa Barbara, California. "On my way back from a visit, I planned to stop in Victoria, British Columbia. My daughter suggested that I try Paprika Bistro. The beet soup I ordered there was delicious."

Here's a robust main course for those April days that seem to belong to winter.

Mrs. Alvin Schreiner and her mother, Mrs. Lackner, were old-time German cooks. Everything they made was a work of art. This pea soup recipe came from them and is one of our favorites. Do not omit the bacon fat; it is the secret ingredient.

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.

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.

Posole is a thick, hearty stew typically containing corn and pork that originated in Jalisco, Mexico. Since I wanted to make this recipe vegetarian anyway, I decided to take it in an entirely new direction. The dried cherries may seem a little odd at first, but they lend a pleasant sweet-tartness to the dish while the pecans take it a bit deeper into the South. In the United States, we call the dried posole "hominy."

Capers lend tangy contrast to the sweet bell peppers. Serve the stew over egg noodles