European

Trude Reder of Long Branch, New Jersey, writes: "My mother's recipe for linzertorte is one of my favorites. It brings back memories of my childhood and of my mother and grandmother busy baking in the kitchen, the delicious aroma of cinnamon and cloves filling the whole house. I've been baking this dessert for family and friends since my husband and I came to this country from Austria over 45 years ago. Now, I've started teaching my own grandchildren the recipe, hoping they will love it as much as I do." Don't substitute jelly for the jam in this recipe — it might leak from the crust. Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 3 1/4 hr

This terrific combination is very nice with baked ham.

Strong beef broth and garlic, not sugar, make a true Ukrainian borscht delicious. Fresh root vegetables and roasted beets provide plenty of sweetness which is balanced by an acid edge of lemon.

Fideuà is the Catalan name for a favorite baked noodle dish.

This moist sweet corn bread is a nice addition to breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

To complement this Provençal-style entrée, sprinkle torn radicchio with oil, vinegar and Niçoise olives, and mix chopped chives and grated Parmesan into pasta. Finish with a purchased lemon tart. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

For this recipe you will need three mini-muffin pans, each containing twelve 1 3/4-by-1 inch cups.

The people of Tuscany are known in Italy as mangiafagioli, or bean eaters, and when I was in Florence as an art history student and then in Lucca as a teacher I learned the reason why. All the trattorie served fagioli all'uccelletto for only a few lire. I was fortunate to find an Italian friend in Arkansas who had a recipe.

This free-form Italian tart has a tender and buttery crust; in the filling, Asian seasonings enhance the apples and pear, classic French dessert ingredients.

In this great dessert, luscious custard tops a thin layer of mocha ganache.

This is a fine dish for a cold day, and one that cries for ice-cold akvavit and beer. So popular is this soup with all the Nordics that it is said that the King of Sweden eats it every Thursday.

This recipe is used to prepare Grilled Tuna and Roasted Peppers Sandwiches on Thyme Focaccia and Presciutto, Mozzarella, and Olive Sandwiches on Parmesan Focaccia . If you need only one focaccia, freeze the other for later use. Focaccia keeps, frozen, 2 weeks.

This soufflé-like tart makes a nice lunch or light dinner with a salad of mixed baby greens.

A sophisticated, Spanish-style salad.

(Chicken with Preserved Lemons and Olives)