Fish

Pla Phad Phrik Khing The pummelo salad makes a nice first course with this dish.

This piquant Indian marinade adds depth of flavor to the sturgeon's meaty white flesh. Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 1 3/4 hr

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 2 hr

This recipe is based on a technique to marinate shrimp with lemons, learned from Barry Morgenstern, a friend who trained at the famous Cordon Bleu in Paris. The marinade quickly infuses deeply into the hot shrimp, imparting bright flavors deep into each morsel. Once all the ingredients are assembled this is an extremely easy recipe, in which all the work can be done in advance.

We adapted this recipe from Big Bowl Noodles and Rice, by Bruce Cost with Matt McMillin (HarperCollins). Cost likes to stuff dried black Asian"flower" mushrooms. Because these can be expensive and hard to find, we asked if we could try fresh shiitake mushrooms instead. Cost agreed, and we loved the results. Look for shiitakes with caps that have rounded edges to better hold the stuffing. Active time: 25 min Start to finish: 1 hr

You can make this stock with a variety of fish carcasses (from nonoily fish) or with just one type — whatever your seafood market can give you.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Fries, coleslaw and lemonade are the requisite accompaniments. Complete the menu with watermelon wedges and sugar cookies.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

It's important to note that the pumpernickel used in this tart should be very dense. Although we prefer the light-brown Danish pumpernickel, the dark German-style variety works just as well. For the filling we've suggested lumpfish caviar, which is readily available in the States; in Sweden, the fish roe called lojrom would probably be used. It comes from bleak, an ocean fish from the Baltic Sea.

Despite its name, the "hot ajvar" called for in this recipe from Zov Karamardian, of Zovs Bistro and Bakery in Tustin, California, is fairly mild. If you cant find ajvar, a substitute can be made by pureeing a seven-ounce can of drained roasted bell peppers with two tablespoons of tomato paste and two tablespoons of purchased chili-garlic sauce, which is available at most supermarkets.

Flounder Rolls with Herbed Butter Filling

Candida Sportiello writes: "As owner and chef of Il Giardino restaurant, I've been cooking professionally for twenty-five years — but I've been cooking for pleasure for a good fifty years. As is the Italian way, most of my favorite recipes were handed down from my mother and grandmother, so they date from the early 1900s."

Portobellos make this simple dish shine. It's from Alfred Portale's 12 Seasons Cookbook written with Andrew Friedman (Broadway Books). Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 45 min