Scallop

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 20 min

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

What to drink: A crisp Pinot Grigio.

Here's a light, fresh-tasting soup-stew from Hotel Château Erenstein in Kerkrade, the Netherlands.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Believe it: One-percent milk helps create the rich sauce for the entrée. Team the scallops with steamed red potatoes, Spring Peas with Lettuce and Mint and iced tea for a lovely meal.

Even though Aux Delices des Bois left Tribeca, Thierry and I still love Zutto, the sushi bar that was near our warehouse. It dates back to when Tribeca's cast-iron canopies cast their shadows on silent streets at night. Its metal loading dock held two tables, the precursor to the neighborhood's current profusion of loading-dock cafes. One evening the sushi chef, Albert Tse, made us this special dish, using a fish from each of the seven seas. Kind of like a Japanese version of the ancient French dish Coquilles St-Jacques, it combines fin fish and aromatic oyster mushrooms with the scallops and sharpens the flavor with rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, and seaweed. If scallop shells aren't handy, use any ovenproof baking dish.

This elegant first course from American Seasons is topped with parsley oil, which is easy to make and could also be drizzled over roasted fish or steamed potatoes, and other vegetables.

Cappe Sante con Mandorle Venice and nearby Trieste are two Italian cities that know how to use scallops well. After all, the shellfish is abundant in the northern part of the Adriatic. In this recipe, from Venice's Fiaschetteria Toscana, almonds add texture to an otherwise soft dish, and the brandy playing off the natural sweetness of the scallops gives the sauce a Sherry-like flavor.

"Before we got married, my husband, Gregg, and I were working at a small restaurant, and it kept us ridiculously busy," writes Anita L. S. Eberhardt of Beverly, Massachusetts. "Now that we have both left the restaurant business, we have a much saner schedule, although raising two kids certainly keeps us busy. My experience as a professional cook makes it easier for me to throw together a quick meal, which is good because I'm not a convenience-food mom: I try to limit fat and salt, emphasize fruits and vegetables, and use a minimum of prepared foods." Serve with rice to soak up the flavorful sauce.

Veracruz-style mixed seafood is the centerpiece of a festive meal that's rounded out with rice and vegetables. To present it as pictured, mound the seafood salad over the Mexican Rice and surround with the Tricolor Vegetable Sauté . A piquant dressing is drizzled over the seafood and mixed into the rice.

The salsa is also delicious made with diced ripe mangoes.

Anthony Bourdain I will always associate the smell of this dish with my first imaginings of France — and with the imminent arrival of guests. When I smelled this dish cooking downstairs, I knew company was coming. My mother made it for special occasions only. I remember being terrifically impressed that she served it in scallop shells. I yearned for this dish — knowing it only by smells — and was delighted when I finally turned old enough to sit down to eat with the adults. This was the reward.

Round out this menu with a salad of snow peas, cherry tomatoes, and bean sprouts dressed with a rice-wine vinaigrette. For dessert, sliced kiwis splashed with rum would be good. Look for the curry paste, coconut milk, fish sauce, and jasmine rice in the Asian foods section of your supermarket.

This preparation can be served in scallop-shell dishes for an impressive main course.