Condiment

Saturday snack. From Golden Door in Escondido, California. Adapted from The Golden Door Cooks Light & Easy (Gibbs-Smith), out in May, this dip sheds calories by subbing asparagus for some avocado.

You can stuff five or six healthy vegetables into salsa (tomatoes, peppers, scallions, garlic, corn, whatever else is left in the crisper bin) then use that salsa five or six different ways (on fish, on chicken, in a burrito or, of course, on a delicious corn chip. You can make salsa in minutes. It keeps forever. It is the antidote to any of your vegetable woes!

This is the national condiment of both Argentina and Uruguay, and there are hundreds of versions. The sauce is also great with vegetables, especially grilled or fried tomatoes.

This Mediterranean dish can be served with bread or crackers as a meze (appetizer), and it's also great as a sandwich filling.

A filling of lemon curd folded into whipped crème fraîche gives this tart its billowy and ethereal texture.

In addition to its traditional role on the Seder plate, this charoset is delicious as a condiment for duck or roast beef.

More elegant than jam but just as handy, this compote goes with almost everything.

Editor's note: This recipe was included with two others from our roundup of great cookbooks for Dad. Use this fresh, spicy salsa to top grilled steak tacos or as a dip for tortilla chips.

We ran many jelly recipes in the 1940s, but this one impressed us the most. Sophisticated and subtle, it makes a light, delicious alternative not only to the shocking-green mint jelly that often accompanies lamb but even to gravy: Try it with any roasted or grilled meat. It's also an indispensable condiment for blue cheese.

This fresh side is a delicious alternative to cranberry sauce.

Although this orange butter takes only 5 minutes to prepare, it makes the Orange Cinnamon Sweet Rolls even more spectacular than they already are.

The bright, tender fruit of Fuyu persimmons mellows the intensity of cranberries while lending this sauce a beautiful jewel-like hue. Using Fuyus, which can be eaten hard or soft, removes the guesswork of finding ripe fruit.

This sauce, a mix of everyday and exotic, provides a sweet and tart contrast to rich meat or poultry.

This sweet-tart chutney is great alongside lamb or pork chops, atop goat cheese and crackers, or on biscuits with sliced ham.