Sea Bass

An easy dish that uses some traditional Japanese ingredients, including miso. Made from fermented soybeans, miso paste comes in various shades, with the darker ones being stronger in flavor. This recipe calls for white miso (also called shiro-miso), which is sweeter and more delicate.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Serve the baked fish with rice and a salad of tomatoes, cucumber and green onions.

Marsha also uses this versatile sauce (based on the Spanish sauce called romesco) as a pasta sauce, as a dip and on garlic toasts as an hors d'oeuvre.

Both the tomato coulis and the salsa can be made up to one day ahead.

Mint, orange peel, cinnamon and raisins give this dish the distinctive flair of North African cooking, which has become so popular. Couscous with minced green onions would be a delicious accompaniment.

(Cacciucco) This seafood soup, called cacciucco (meaning "mixture"), is a specialty of Livorno, a fishing port that is Tuscany's second-largest city. It has been made for hundreds of years, and variations of it appear all along the Tuscan coast. Traditionally, at least five types of fish and shellfish are included (one for each "c" in the name). If you like, do as the Italians do, and place a slice of toasted bread in each bowl before ladling the soup over.

Sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, capers and thyme add Mediterranean flavor to the fish.

This delicious entrée takes just minutes, making it perfect for a quick weekday supper.

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 1 1/4 hr

If Chilean sea bass is unavailable, any sea bass is fine to use. Score the fish on the skin side, so it won't curl.