Soy Free

Eggs are a staple of the Turkish diet. An ingredient in many dishes, they are also prepared on their own as a main course for lunch or as an appetizer for dinner. Here they are poached, set on a bed of yogurt (another staple) and drizzled with a red pepper-sage butter. The red pepper that fires up Turkish cooking - a cross between paprika and dried crushed red pepper - is much more popular than black pepper, especially outside the large cities.

Try these for both dessert and breakfast. They're great with their pan juices or the Apple Custard Sauce.

Tender, biscuit-like dough is formed into a lattice atop this easy treat.

The more succulent the berries, the better. The cake layers absorb the juices, which is why this cake must be assembled at least 8 hours before serving.

Turn-of-the-century cooks thought the original of this dense, chocolaty cake was so wickedly rich and sinfully delicious that it just had to be bad. So they named it after the devil himself. The first recipe for it appeared in 1905, and it's been around ever since. We've freshened up the devil with a little lift of mint.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Frieda Caplan, doyenne of the produce company Frieda's, introduced the U.S. to the kiwi in the sixties. It took a few years, but in the seventies, the green fruit with the fuzzy brown skin really took off.

Kalmi Shaak Following Bengali tradition, Chitrita Banerji's mother presented this vegetable dish as a first course — delicate yet spicy, it gets the appetite going. But you could serve it as a side dish with the mung beans and the eggplant fritters. The original recipe called for mustard oil, but because it's so hard to find an FDA-approved brand — many bottles are labeled "for massage only," though Indians find that they're fine to cook with — we have substituted vegetable oil.

A fresh and simple dessert that's quick to put together. The flavors develop better if it's made one day ahead.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

More confections than cookies, really, meringues accompany ice cream well and add a festive dimension to the table. They are best baked on a cool, dry day.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Aioli, the garlicky Provençal mayonnaise, is accented with chives and Dijon mustard.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

The recipe calls for purchased roasted chicken, which eliminates a step.