Chipotle

At the restaurant, this dish is served with cilantro mashed potatoes. The pork has to marinate overnight, so begin preparing the recipe a day ahead.

"Here is a simple dish I came up with that is especially good during the cold months, as the chipotle chiles can be pretty fiery," says B. Fairbrother of Chicago, Illinois. "My Mexican neighbors were the inspiration."

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

With a hint of smoky chipotle chile, this relish is a delicious departure from the usual cranberry sauce.

This recipe originally accompanied Tex-Mex Turkey Meat Loaf and Chipotle Mashed Potatoes .

Serve with: Shredded lettuce and radishes tossed with lemon vinaigrette, and Spanish rice. Dessert: Lime sherbet.

Shredded iceberg lettuce topped with ranch dressing is the perfect side dish. End with scoops of lime sorbet drizzled with tequila and sprinkled with lime peel. Canned chipotle chilies are available at Latin American markets, specialty foods stores, and some supermarkets.

Serve with: Black bean salad from the deli and salad toppings like sour cream, shredded lettuce, grated Monterey Jack cheese, and salsa. Dessert: Double-dip dulce de leche and chocolate ice cream cones.

Add cooked shrimp to transform this salad into a light main course.

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 15 min

Traditional flavors (honey and orange) and contemporary ones (cumin and chilies) come together in the glaze, which also gives the gravy some heat and zip. See how to carve a turkey.

Sautéed radishes give a nice kick to this dish, an easy version of fajitas.

(Chipotle-Marinated Grilled Pork Ribs) The Caribe Indians on the island of Hispaniola taught the Spanish how to use green wood lattices to make barbacoa — or what we now know as barbecue. A staple of the islanders' diet was the wild hog. The locals called the animals boucan, and that French word eventually came to be applied to many of the wild seafaring island men: buccaneers. Barbecue has become one of the world's favorite foods; few culinary subjects stir such rabid debate, from Texas to Memphis to South Carolina and on down to the Caribbean and South America. Barbecue as we have come to love it — using marinades and/or sauces and carefully slow-cooking — was perfected in the Caribbean. But some food scholars theorize that barbecue may have originated by accident in China many centuries ago, when a devastating fire burned down a barn, and the pig farmers, who had previously never cooked meat in a fiery fashion, smelled solace in their loss and as a consequence ate well that night. No less an authority on food than Waverly Root stated that cooking in this fashion was "so natural under primitive circumstances that it would practically invent itself everywhere, especially in societies accustomed to living outdoors most of the time." If you aren't familiar with country ribs, this recipe will introduce you to the cut, also known as split blade chops. You'll love them for all manner of dishes calling for pork ribs, barbecued or otherwise. This is a very easy recipe, though you need to allow the ribs to marinate overnight.