Jalapeño

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

"For my birthday," writes Cynthia Black of Kansas City, Missouri, "my husband took me to Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale. One night we ate dinner at Top of the Rock, a restaurant at the resort. As a side dish, they served incredible cheese and jalapeño grits." This colorful side dish would be delicious with roast chicken, steak, or pork.

The salsa has a nice balance of sweet and spicy flvaors and is a perfect compliment to purchased frozen spring rolls or egg rolls.

These can be made one day before serving.

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 45 min

Steamed jasmine rice is all that's needed to turn this into a meal.

Serve with jicama sticks, radish slices, peeled cooked shrimp, and corn tortilla chips.

Serve this Indian condiment with grilled chicken, curries or sliced tomatoes.

(Layered Corn Tortillas, Tomato Sauce, and Cheese)

This recipe is an accompaniment for Panfried Pressed Poussins .

Carnitas is a traditional Mexican dish of fried pork. In this version, the meat is braised with vegetables and spices. For best results, use large, meaty ham hocks.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Janet and Travis Kuhl of Cranford, New Jersey, writes: "We recently went to chef Ming Tsai's Blue Ginger restaurant in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Our entire meal was top-notch, but the shrimp cocktail was our favorite." Poured carefully side by side into a cocktail glass, tomato puree and avocado puree make a colorful dip for the lightly battered and quickly deep-fried shrimp.

This delicious salad is from Johannes.