Oven Bake

Here's an easy but impressive dish from the Admiral's Inn in St. John's Antigua. When ordering the whole snapper from the fish market, have them clean and scale it. If you cannot find whole red snapper, use fillets and bake them about 25 minutes.

Serve these onions with pan-browned veal rib chops or roast chicken.

For the opener, spread butter and prepared horseradish on thin baguette rounds, and top them with bay shrimp. Boil small red potatoes and green beans to have alongside the seafood.

Quince paste has a texture somewhere between that of stiff jelly and gumdrops.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

A staple of Milanese cuisine, polenta is delicious here teamed with tomatoes and spinach, two other ingredients typical of the Lombardy region. The combination of Parmesan and Gruyère cheeses adds richness to the dish. If you prefer, the eggs in the center can be replaced with more spinach. Simply sauté ten ounces of fresh spinach leaves in one tablespoon olive oil, then divide the spinach among the cups. Serve these with Dolcetto d'Alba, a mild red wine from the neighboring Piedmont region.

This strata is ideal for Christmas morning — it is assembled a day ahead and baked just before serving. Mimosas are a nice addition to the menu.

One could cook this on the stove and reduce the time by 10 minutes, but oven baking gives the chicken time to thoroughly absorb the flavors of the pepper and garlic. See how to joint a chicken.

Sour cream can be substituted for the mascarpone, but the polenta won't be as rich.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Most of the work on this dish is done the day before, leaving plenty of time in the morning for opening presents or simply sleeping in.