Seafood

You'll want to use the best Scottish smoked salmon and salmon roe, available at specialty foods shops, for these pretty nibbles.

This satisfying stew just may be the essence of Cajun cooking: shrimp with onion, celery, and green pepper, all given depth by brown roux and livened up with cayenne.

This dramatic first course won't soon be forgotten. Chunks of sweet lobster meat bound by a shimmering jelly of fennel-and-tarragon-scented lobster stock promises the most pristine lobster salad you'll ever taste.

Just a small amount of precious saffron turns this weeknight supper into something out of the ordinary. We prefer cultivated mussels because they require less cleaning, making them a cinch to prepare.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Feast: Food to Celebrate Life, by Nigella Lawson. While I love a shrimp cocktail, this I think has a slight, elegant edge. The hot, green mustardy horseradish, the wasabi paste, is not so hard to find these days but you could always substitute a small dollop of Colman's English mustard in its place I suppose. Similarly, you could shred some little Boston lettuce should you have difficulty locating the Chinese leaves.

Editor's note: This recipe is from Ming Tsai's book, Ming's Master Recipes.

The sweet grapes and tangy capers work beautifully with the fish.

The flavors of gravlax are used in a new and different way here. (For safety's sake, buy only the best-quality frozen fish, which may need to be ordered ahead.)

If crawfish are hard to find, shrimp make a good stand-in.

Also great with salmon or mahi-mahi. Rewarm the mashed potatoes in the microwave before using them in this recipe, adding more warm milk as needed if they are too thick.

Looking for an elegant entrée to serve on Christmas Eve? You just found it.

Dallas chef Kent Rathbun created this recipe for Epicurious's Wine.Dine.Donate program. It makes an elegant first course for Thanksgiving dinner.

Sherry lends a nutty note to a big-flavored and colorful sauce.

A deconstructed romesco sauce adds great texture to hake. Pacific cod also works well.

Three southern favorites—tender catfish, mellow roasted okra, and sweet corn—are united by an irresistible butter sauce.

Arctic char, a cousin of salmon and trout, lends itself well to almost any cooking method. We particularly love this versatile fish paired with roasted fennel.

Part of what makes this luxurious dish so delicious is that the spinach, artichokes, and oysters have a similar texture and the same soft, gentle flavors.