Scallop

This is a great pasta dish to serve for company. Chances are good that you'll find the Asian ingredients— increasingly carried by everyday food shops—at your local supermarket. We used the Thai Kitchen brand, which is widely available.

The tofu in this chowder provides a richness surprisingly similar to that of cream but without the fat and cholesterol. Your guests will never know the difference; our tasters didn't. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Herbed rice and sautéed cherry tomatoes are suitable accompaniments for the delicate main course.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

We tried this recipe with several brands and varieties of beans, and Goya's small white beans held their shape the best.

Smoky andouille sausage is the perfect counterpoint to the delicate scallops.

Creamy on the inside and crunchy on the outside, these are fragrant with Indian curry and cilantro. Scallops are a less expensive alternative to crab, and they make a moist, plump little cake. Prepare the scallop cakes ahead and simply reheat right before guests arrive.

Active time: 1 1/2 hr Start to finish: 5 1/2 hr In an April 1975 article titled "The Phenomenal Food Processor," Gourmet introduced the Cuisinart to the world. More than 25 years later, no American kitchen seems well equipped without one. Early on, the food processor dazzled us with mousselines and silken brioche dough; pulverized parmesan cheese; shredded, sliced, and puréed vegetables; pulsed pie dough, and spreadable pâtés. It was even easy to clean. Here, the processor transforms a dinner party standard — coquilles St.-Jacques — into crisp little hors d'oeuvre puffs.

New England has a large Portuguese population. Their numbers are most concentrated in Massachusetts fishing centers, such as New Bedford, Glouchester and Providencetown, where they've had an important influence on the cuisine. One of their specialties is fried scallops, Portuguese-style--a sauté of bay scallops in butter with garlic and parsley. We've elaborated on the basic dish by adding shrimp, mushrooms, green onions and a white wine sauce. Serve it over rice, and offer buttered peas or broccoli on the side.

If you're feeling extravagant, try replacing the scallops with half a pound of lobster. Or substitute a pound of cubed chicken for the seafood and chicken broth for the clam juice.

Serve these pastries as the first course of a special-occasion supper — maybe with a bottle of chilled Champagne.

Pair this dish with white rice pilaf made with chopped dried apples.

Quick, light, delicious—a spring supper in thirty minutes, including chopping and peeling. I added a little pasta to the pan stew to give it substance. You want the scallop and pea flavors to dominate, so make sure the pasta shells are thin not thick. (Names, sizes, and thickness vary from brand to brand.)And you want shells, because they will catch the juices. You can, of course, omit the pasta if you prefer.

We have given no-boil lasagne noodles as an alternative to fresh because regular dried lasagne noodles often have curly edges and are too thick. Active time: 1 3/4 hr Start to finish: 3 1/2 hr