Tuna

Our tuna salad has a Mediterranean twist: olives and roasted red peppers. Have this sandwich for lunch at home or work or on a picnic, served with a tomato salad. Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 20 min

Begin with chicken soup enriched with tiny pasta and fresh spinach leaves. Thick slices of country bread are perfect with the tuna salad, and tiramisù is the dessert of choice.

This is one of my favorite sauces: Its deep, purpley, cranberry color is reason enough for that designation, but then again so is the bright strawberry/kiwi/watermelon flavor, with its hints of the unbridled tropics. And the fact that you can tell your guests you're serving them cactus fruit (and that it is delicious) gives you a decidedly exotic edge. The puree is very watery, like watermelon juice, so in order to give the sauce some body but not take away all the fruit's freshness, I've directed you to rapidly boil down part of the puree with sugar, then cool it and add the remaining uncooked puree. This method works well with watermelon puree, too, should you not be able to find prickly pears. You will need about 3 cups seeded, pureed watermelon pulp.

Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr Don't use water-packed tuna for this recipe — it's too bland for the filling. Tuna packed in olive oil, however, will make for empanaditas that taste genuine. Especially with a glass of Fino Sherry.

Onioned Tuna Soup I first tasted this soup at La Canoa, a restaurant in Guayaquil, Ecuador. They prepared the tuna in the popular style of leaving it mostly rare, then they added it to the soup right before serving. When we serve the soup at the Patria, we use all the meaty trimmings from the tuna steaks we've served as full portions.

Chiles Anchos Rellenos de Atún con Papas This is more sweet than spicy, because the chiles are softened in brown sugar and vinegar before stuffing.

Tuna, which is hearty enough to stand up to strong Spanish flavors, is particularly popular on the Iberian Peninsula. Dusted with paprika and served atop a sauce of tomatoes with bell peppers and ham, the kebabs make outstanding summertime eating. Pour a Spanish Rioja throughout, and present a caramel flan with berries to finish.

A colorful, delicious dish from Lantana's Restaurant, Grand Cayman, West Indies.

A country-style Italian bread and a hearty salad of romaine with roasted peppers and black olives would be great with this pasta dish. Pears with walnuts and Gorgonzola cheese would be a nice dessert.

For some reason, small tunas like the bonito are not as popular fresh as the large yellowfin and bigeye tunas. Bonito has a delicate yet rich flavor. In this recipe, the fish is highly seasoned, grilled, and then broken up into pieces with the tines of a fork and used as the filling for tacos. The slight bitterness from the grilling combined with the smoky richness of the seasoned fish is a perfect excuse to experiment with several salsas as accompaniments. I particularly recommend Charred Tomato Mint Salsa. Don't forget to have plenty of soft, fresh tortillas on hand.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.