Pickle & Preserve

This recipe is an accompaniment for Grilled Steaks with Red Chile Sauce.

Spooned atop fresh goat cheese on crostini, these piquant preserves make a great hors d'oeuvre. They are also delicious with scones or muffins at teatime. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

The trick to pickling today is to find fresh herring or fresh salted herring. Once you've pickled it, use the herring in any favorite recipe, or just mix it as I do, with sour cream, red onion, and dill, to break the fast of Yom Kippur. It will keep for weeks.

I love these preserves because they're both tart and sweet. For the best color, choose true-red sour cherries. Darker varieties — those that resemble Bing cherries — will make darker preserves, which will also be delicious. The cherries are steeped overnight in sugar, which deepens their flavor and helps them to stay plump. Kernels from the cherry pits (tied in a cheesecloth bag) add an almondy note to the preserves. Active time: 2 1/4 hr Start to finish: 1 day (plus 1 day for flavors to develop)

Start this at least one day before serving.

Start the gravlax at least two days in advance (the sauce can also be prepared ahead of time, leaving just quick assembly on the day of the party). What to drink: Champagne (or sparkling wine) is a classic aperitif, and versatile enough to pair nicely with the salmon's slightly sweet mustard sauce as well as with the rich Foie Gras and Cream Eggs .

When you're ready to slice these eggs, be sure to wipe your knife clean between every cut or you'll get the pink pickling liquid smeared on the yolk.

The recipe below is excerpted from restaurateur Jenny Kwak's book, Dok Suni: Recipes from My Mother's Korean Kitchen.

Accompany this light main course with Buttery Rice Timbales.

Around the Gulf and other coastal regions of the United States, African-Americans revel in shrimp. In this recipe, the shrimp are spiced twice, once while cooking and a second time in an overnight marinade. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires additional unattended time.

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 45 min (includes cooling onion)