Onion

This salsa is chock-full of sun-loving ingredients like tomatoes, olives and capers. It's a splendid accompaniment to grilled halibut steaks, pork chops, sliced eggplant or sourdough bread.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less, but requires additional unattended time.

Active time: 1 1/2 hr Start to finish: 18 hr (includes chilling)

Avgolemono, a classic Greek sauce flavored with lemon juice and thickened with eggs, adds richness to the tender stewed chicken in this outstanding main course. Pour a chilled Chardonnay, and offer purchased baklava for dessert. See how to joint a chicken.

Consider this delicious dish as a vegetarian main course, too.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

We could describe the comforting qualities of this dish, which brings to mind creamed spinach. We could tell you how we especially love that it takes only minutes to prepare. But Edna Lewis's own comments from In Pursuit of Flavor really do the job much better: "Growing up, we would sow onion seed in the garden and then thin a lot of them out before their bulbs got too big. We chopped them up, sautéed them in bacon fat, poured in heavy cream, and ate them for breakfast. This recipe is not quite as rich as that, but uses scallions in a way that tastes just as delicious. In my opinion, they are an underused vegetable and taste almost as good today as they did years ago. I buy scallions that are about the size of a pencil but if they are a little thicker they still taste good."

Lane Crowther, a contributing editor at Bon Appétit, says, "Every year, I try to get my tradition-bound family to eat something new at Thanksgiving. This year, I'm hoping everyone will accept this dish in place of yams with marshmallows. It will take a lot of convincing, but I think they'll be pleasantly surprised. The orange juice gives the acorn squash a nice sweetness. Besides, Asian ingredients have become such an important part of American cooking lately that I thought it would be nice to fuse Pacific Rim flavors with a classic of the American table in autumn."

In the following recipe, scalloped potatoes, often soaked with cream and cheese, are combined with parsnips and cooked with broth and low-fat milk instead. Though lighter, they are still delicious.

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr

Crisp, golden onion rings have never been so pretty or so simple to make.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.