Onion

Happily, this fish dish can be made a day ahead. Simply remove it from the refrigerator and arrange 2 hours before serving. Even better, the sauce also can be made 2 days ahead and kept, well covered, in the refrigerator. It's from Mexico, One Plate at a Time (Scribner), by Rick Bayless, the celebrated Chicago chef and cookbook author.

Quickly sautéed shrimp over rice is a very old, traditional breakfast in the Carolina Low Country. But it would also make a nice quick-and-easy luncheon or supper dish, rounded out with a salad and maybe cornbread.

Mashed potatoes or squash side-dishes would be perfect with this.

The first African dish I tasted and truly enjoyed was Senegal's Chicken Yassa. The chicken marinated in lemon and onion was served with rice in a brightly decorated enamel basin. The thrill of eating in Senegal in the open air and the delicious gustatory counterpoints of lemon, chile, onion, and chicken combined to make my first taste of this dish one of my favorite culinary memories. Later, I served the dish in a modified version on the "Today Show." It has become my trademark dish, and many of my friends, if they haven't had a Yassa in a while, will ask for it. I've gotten so bold about my Yassa, that I've served it to my Senegalese friends. It's relatively simple to prepare and a perfect introduction to African food.

Mary deMuth of Rowlett, Texas, writes: "Because my husband is in a graduate program, we've been able to meet people from all over the world. It has been a great experience for our three children — and a chance for me to add to my recipe collection. We frequently have other students over for dinner, so I'm always learning new dishes. Next year our family will be moving to southern France, and we're very excited about the food we'll have there. We hope to make many new friends who will share their Provençal specialties. " Try these on grilled buns for a "burger" variation. Panko is available in the Asian foods section of most supermarkets.

If you can't find fresh lobsters, frozen lobster meat can be used.

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 45 min

This is a wonderful way to experience onions and it is reminiscent of the Alsatian specialty, flammekeuche. Combined with the cream, the onions (Rose de Roscoff, if you can find them) create a sweet, succulent foil for the bacon and the pizza dough. I like to serve this as a first course, with a lovely Gewurtztraminer.

Complete the menu with a tomato and red onion salad, sourdough bread, and poached pears (or canned) with raspberry sauce.

This recipe was inspired by a dish that a group of our food editors enjoyed at Chez Maître Paul, a Paris bistro. As the name suggests, poulet à la fermière contains a farmwife's bounty—chicken, cheese, vegetables, and herbs.

(Churrasco de Sao Paulo a la Parilla con Chimichurri Rojo) Churrasco is a very primitive form of cooking meat. The gauchos, or cowboys, of Brazil would kill and butcher the animals out on the pampas, build a big fire, and barbecue the meat on a spit of some sort, basting it with a vinegary liquid. As cities developed, however, this recipe too became more civilized — I do ask you to prepare it the way they do in many Brazilian steak houses, with cebollas fritas (otherwise known as onion rings).