Basil

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Healthy bonus: Bone-building magnesium and calcium from arugula

This recipe is an adaptation of a rolled omelet from Gostilna Devetak, a trattoria in Friuli, Italy, which we featured in our October 1997 issue.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This dessert is based on an old-fashioned Russian kissel—traditionally a sweetened fruit purée thickened with potato starch, which gives it a puddinglike consistency. We've left the berries whole in order to achieve a more interesting look and texture and substituted cornstarch for the thickener as it's more readily available in the States.

In the Today's Gourmet series, I wanted to create dishes that were elegant, modern, original, light, and reasonably quick to prepare. TV demanded that the dishes be visually attractive, too.... Partially drying the tomatoes in the oven concentrates their taste, giving them a wonderfully deep flavor and great chewiness. The red of the tomatoes, the white of the cheese, and the green of the basil make this dramatically colorful salad especially enticing. Serve with good crunchy bread.

This salsa is best made a few hours ahead so the flavors have a chance to develop.

Just serve any of these dishes with a salad and some bread and you've got an easy, complete meal. You can find good-quality prepared pesto in the refrigerator section of your supermarket.

This relish is best at room temperature. Note that the nutritional numbers following the recipe are for the relish only.

These lightly baked tomatoes are served with brunch at Sarabeth's restaurant in New York.

Look for rice vinegar in the Asian foods section of your market.

The combination of herbs, the rice noodles, and the garlicky lime sauce mark this pasta salad as Vietnamese.