5 Ingredients or Fewer

Browned butter is butter cooked to a browner, nutty-tasting stage. It adds lots of flavor to the steamed squash.

These vegetables would complement not only lamb chops but roast chicken as well.

Pillsbury test kitchen home economists have heard it all. When they told me some people were adding melted ice cream to a cake mix, I couldn't believe it. Well, that's precisely what I did with this fun recipe. Choose your flavor and let the ice cream melt. The only trick is that you must have 2 cups of melted ice cream. For super-premium ice creams with little overrun, that's 1 pint frozen. But for less expensive brands with a lot of air piped in, you'll need to begin with more than a pint. I made this cake with several flavors of ice cream and our favorite was a super-premium from Ben & Jerry's — Cherry Garcia. With cherry and chocolate pieces and the cream and the eggs in the ice cream, you need little else. Your liquid, your fat, and your flavorings are all in the melted ice cream. This recipe works well, too, in a 13- by 9-inch pan.

A gratin is the golden, epicurean crust that forms on the surface of savory baked or broiled dishes. Pungent Gruyère makes a genial topping that acts as a protective layer, preventing the potatoes from drying out.

This is a light and elegant update of the San Francisco original that was invented at the Hotel St. Francis by chef Victor Hirtzler. Though it is often served topped with anchovies, we love the way it tastes without them. Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr

If you can't get sorrel at your local market, arugula leaves or large basil leaves are a good alternative.

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 20 min

This bread is slightly sweet, like some corn breads, and works well as an accompaniment for the island pork tenderloin salad . It also makes a nice island-style tea bread when served in the afternoon with lime marmalade and hibiscus tea.

So good — and no cooking required. Prepare the relish at least a day ahead, and add more cardamom before serving if you'd like a stronger flavor.

These delicate, crisp capers make a flavorful garnish. Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr

Active time: 25 min Start to finish: 25 min

"Out of necessity, I've developed a love for quick cooking," writes Judy Wilkins of Tyler, Texas. "Between my musician's hours (nights and weekends as an accompanist for local choral groups) and teacher's hours (daytime piano lessons), my schedule can be nuts. When I do have the chance to cook dinner on a weeknight, whatever I make can't take too long — and it has to taste great."

Most vegetable gratins need to be bound with a white sauce. This is not true of gratins made from starchy vegetables, which will release enough starch to thicken the liquid around them. Here the sweet potatoes are baked first to concentrate their sweetness and then cooked a second time with just enough cream to mellow them out. This dish is an ideal accompaniment to roast poultry or pork.

Another name for this kind of creamy caramel fudge is penuche ("puh-noo-chee"), derived from panocha, a Mexican raw sugar. We think the texture of this one is most unusual: the combination of confectioners' sugar and brown sugar results in a particularly smooth, lush, velvety quality. We adapted a recipe from Pinkie's Bakery, in Souris, Prince Edward Island; the writer Marialisa Calta brought it back from a trip to the Canadian Maritimes.

In Italy, coffee granita is served in tall glasses filled halfway with granita and topped with whipped cream. We've added some white chocolate and anise-flavored liqueur.

Drained nonfat yogurt—rather than mayonnaise or sour cream—provides the creamy texture. Start making this dip a day ahead, and try it with apple or pear slices.

Offer a colorful side of steamed broccoli with slivers of red and yellow bell peppers and a lemon dressing. Finish lavishly with chocolate pecan pie à la mode.