Root Vegetable

Great with: Grilled rib-eye steak.

Adobo is the spicy tomato sauce that comes in the can with chipotle chiles. Look for canned chipotles at supermarkets, specialty foods stores, and Latin markets.

The skewers grill above the flames, suspended between two bricks to keep them from touching the grates of the barbecue. No bricks handy? Substitute disposable foil mini loaf pans (found on the baking aisle at the supermarket).

Tony Matranga of Los Angeles, California, writes: "When I started cooking, the process was a mystery to me. I would try to re-create other people's dishes but couldn't get them quite right. After working in an Italian bakery and several restaurants, and observing chefs, I began piecing together recipes and finally came up with some great results of my own."

This light and refreshing slaw is best eaten the day it's made, chilled or at room temperature.

We like to serve this fresh salsa with grilled fish, chicken, or pork, or as a dip for tortilla chips.

Annuska Angulo Rivero of Mexico City, Mexico, writes: "This recipe was originally for besugo, a fish popular in Bilbao but not easily found in Mexico. I use red snapper instead. Be sure to eat this with lots of good bread to mop up the sauce. Using a fruity olive oil makes this dish incredibly flavorful.

If you get a package containing two tenderloins of uneven size, you may have to cook the larger one a little longer than the smaller one. Prepare all the sauce ingredients before grilling the pork, then cook it while the pork stands.

London broil comes in different weights and thicknesses; it may be necessary to use two pieces to get the proper amount for this dish. One of the great things about this recipe is that the steak's marinade is also used in the soy citrus mayonnaise, so you get double the flavor.

Gambas al Ajillo Mamá Pepa I received an e-mail from María Jesús Davis, who resides in Washington, D.C., but is inordinately proud to be a native of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalucía. Writing in charming Andalusian colloquial Spanish, she says, "I am Jerezana to the bone, and I hope you like my mother's recipe, which is very simple to understand — because I get bored when cooking gets complicated." Gambas al ajillo, a staple in most tapas bars, takes on a new twist and a haunting flavor with the addition of medium-dry amontillado sherry, which also comes from María Jesús's hometown. She advises, "Be sure to provide plenty of bread to sop of the sauce. It's to die for!"

This healthful vegetarian dish would be perfect for a picnic. To speed prep time, use trimmed sugar snap peas with the strings removed (find them in the produce section of many supermarkets).

Alexis Watson of Irvine, California, writes: "You could say I'm a bit obsessive when it comes to cooking. Often I'll take a particular recipe and spend months perfecting it, as I've done with the Caesar salad here. My wife wanted an easy do-ahead dressing that was creamy but didn't use egg yolks. Now we make this salad several times a week, so it was certainly well worth the effort."

Leigh Vickery of Tyler, Texas, writes: "Even though my weeknights are mostly filled with baseball and soccer practice and helping my kids with their homework, family time at the dinner table is still important to me. To avoid the trap of fast-food restaurants on hectic nights, I keep plenty of recipes on hand that don't take too much time to pull together."