Crab

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Look for Gold or Strawberry papayas. Their sweet flavor complements this tangy crab salad beautifully.

This Italian-style stew — called cioppino — makes a hearty supper. Serve it with a green salad, garlic bread and a crisp white wine.

We topped these rolls with a combination of plain tobiko (flying-fish roe) as well as seasoned and wasabi-flavored tobiko and golden whitefish caviar. The specialty tobiko and caviar are available from the mail-order source given below.

This springtime dish would go nicely with sliced red and yellow tomatoes drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette; offer corn muffins, too. End the dinner with wedges of chocolate mousse cake.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

These sophisticated crab quesadillas need only six minutes of stove time. Citrus, green onions and Monterey Jack cheese provide delicate flavor; when teamed with a salad, the quesadillas make a light and lovely meal. Pour a dry Gewürztraminer, and finish with melon accented with fresh mint.

Serve this lovely dish with Champagne.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Cooking the sea bass in parchment paper is a great technique — it keeps the pistachio topping in place and allows you to brown both the fish and the topping in the skillet (the parchment becomes translucent so you can see the browning. Since Gras is on the West Coast, he likes to use Dungeness crab when he makes this dish. We've substituted jumbo lump crabmeat because it's available year round nationwide.

We recommend using a sturdy food mill (available at cookware stores) to help produce a thick stew base from simmered vegetables and fish. Alternatively, you can use a large heavy-duty mesh sieve to strain the seafood broth. Then push through enough fish and vegetables to make 13 cups of stew base. Serve cioppino with sourdough toasts.

"While vacationing in Vero Beach, Florida, I had a magnificent meal at Tangos," writes Peter Colley of Silver Creek, Colorado. "The food presentation was superb, and the outdoor patio made for a very romantic dining experience. I would like to have the recipe for the divine baked crab, Brie, and artichoke dip."

If you make the components of this hors d'oeuvre ahead, stir together the filling ingredients just before serving the first batch. Keep the remaining filling chilled, covered, and spoon it into the remaining cucumber cups as platters need replenishing.

A star starter from Hubert Keller at Fleur de Lys in San Francisco. A good mold for the timbale is a six-ounce tomato-paste can that has the top and bottom removed.

Soaking the crabs in milk helps plump them up when cooked. Combining butter and oil results in crispy crabs.