Red Skin Potato

If you can't find haricots verts--thin French string beans--buy the slenderest green beans you can find. Pack the prepared potatoes and beans separately, then arrange them on a platter when you reach your destination.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Hummus, a dip/spread traditional in many Middle Eastern countries, is usually made with chick-peas (garbanzo beans), but we use white beans for a change of pace. It is delicious with steamed potatoes and artichokes as well as blanched broccoli, cauliflower and green beans.

Round out this collection of sophisticated hors d'oeuvres with oysters on the half shell and purchased chicken liver pâté accompanied by crackers. Chilled Champagne and dry Martinis are perfect with these easy appetizers.

In this easy dish, the sage is at its best, partnered with shallots.

The stew does need to bake for a couple of hours, but it's very easy to put together.

Reflecting the cuisines of Israel and the surrounding Mediterranean Middle Eastern countries, this meatless stew is seasoned with mint and lemon. Serve it with sesame seed rolls and a tomato and cucumber salad; have pistachio ice cream for dessert.

This is known as chilpachol in Mexico. Don't forget to add a squeeze of fresh lime juice to each bowl.

These barbecue-flavored potatoes, from Rudy’s Country Store and Bar-B-Q in San Antonio, Texas, are terrific with grilled ribs, chicken, or beef.

Buttermilk and lemon juice add some tang; carrots and celery add crunch.

The Mediterranean fish soup bourride is something like a bouillabaisse but has a consistency more like stew. Instead of putting the aïoli directly into the soup, as is traditional, Adams likes to dollop it onto toasts.

Active time: 25 min Start to finish: 1 1/4 hr

Beets and potatoes team up in this simple, slightly spicy Ethiopian salad from Meskerem Restaurant in Washington, D.C.

Neither peas nor potatoes are indigenous to North America. Peas were introduced in the seventeenth century and flourished over time. While sweet potatoes were popular with the settlers, white potatoes took getting used to; they had to cross the Atlantic twice (from South America to Europe, then from Ireland to the colonies) before they were widely grown.