European

Eggs and fat were once forbidden during the 40-day Lenten fast, so on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent, Irish bakers would make pancakes to use up their stores of those ingredients.

The parfaits can be made a day ahead.

This recipe was created to accompany Spiced Beef in Mini Yorkshire Puddings with Mustard Dressing.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Italian fruitcakes with Frangelico chocolate sauce If you don't have the mini Bundt molds called for, oversize muffin cups (about one-cup capacity) can be used instead. Begin preparing this at least a week ahead.

Bucatini al Fuoco, from Basilicata The ingenuity of Basilicata's kitchen is embodied in this simple pasta: three ingredients, easy to come by and inexpensive, are combined to make a formidably tasty sauce. The method of pounding garlic and chili peppers into a paste, then cooking the paste in olive oil, is common to Basilicata and Calabria and elevates the ordinary aglio, olio e peperoncino of central and southern Italy to new heights of piquancy.

The divine lamb dish featured here is a perfect example of the excellent food served at El Olivo. This romantic restaurant, in a restored olive-oil mill, is a great spot to wine and dine someone special — the many wax-drenched candelabra are very nice touches. Service is impeccable, friendly, and attentive, including a sommelier at the ready to pair Spanish wines with the delicious local cuisine. El Olivo is one of three restaurants located in La Residencia, a beautiful resort in the western Majorca town of Deià. Serve this refined Spanish dish as they do at the restaurant, with sautéed purple potatoes, mushrooms, baby carrots, and broccoli.

Traditional potato latkes are spiced up with hot paprika and enhanced with earthy porcini mushrooms. They are especially good with roasted meats, poultry, or fish. This recipe will serve four to five as a side dish.

Gregg Thompson of St. Joseph, Missouri, writes, "A good many years ago, my wife and I enjoyed a beefy curried mousse at Snaffles restaurant in Dublin. The recipe was published in You Asked for It in your January 1972 issue. It's a wonderful dish that I have continued to enjoy through the years, and I believe it should be resurrected." Active time: 5 min Start to finish: 8 hr This is a great hors d'oeuvre to make the night before it's served, and it's best when made with the freshest garlic you can find.

Serve this dish at the end of a meal — it's a fruit and cheese course in one. Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 25 min

Rightfully this cake belongs in the chapter with the other cakes that contain dried fruit, but to me it is the quintessential coffee cake. It is a quick and easy version of a cake that I remember from my childhood, made by the mother of my school friend, the late Noel Giles. Noel and I consumed about a ton of this cake per year between the ages of twelve and eighteen — a taste of it still makes me feel like a teenager.

Jean-Yves Jaulin's Mojhettes au Jambon

Salmorejo Cordobés In Córdoba, gazpacho is reduced to its most basic elements, with no cucumbers or peppers, and is known as salmorejo. It takes on a saucelike consistency but is still considered a soup and is served in small portions. It is scattered with chopped hard-boiled egg and julienne strips of serrano ham, both indispensable to achieving salmorejo's fullest flavor. Salmorejo is sometimes used as a dip.

Ajo Blanco Malagueño This gazpacho from Málaga gets its pure white color and creamy consistency from blanched almonds. Sweet green grapes are the essential counterpoint to the tang of garlic and vinegar. The addition of shrimp comes from chef Bartolomé Rodrigo Lucena.

Uncork a bottle of hearty Chianti to go with the great Italian flavors in this new twist on a traditional tomato-sauced pizza.

(Tartelettes Feuilletées à la Rhubarbe et au Ricotta) At La Bastide Odéon, these are served with almond ice cream. Begin making the dessert one day ahead so that the rhubarb can drain overnight.

Cranachan is Scotland's traditional harvest-time pudding, a blend of Crowdie (an artisanal cottage cheese), cream, toasted oats, berries, whisky, and honey. Here, it's updated with crème fraîche (instead of the Crowdie), toasted hazelnuts, and grated chocolate, and served parfait-style in individual goblets. To allow the flavors to meld, assemble the parfaits ahead of time and chill them overnight before serving.