Bread Crumbs

I thought I had tried every variation on the quintessential American crab cake, but a few days ago while dining in Northampton, Mass., I sampled yet another version. This particular crab cake was like no other I had tried. The outside was crisp and golden, while the texture inside was as light as a feather. But the taste was the most alluring feature. There was a perfect spiciness to complement the sweetness of the shellfish, and a delectable sauce, piquant yet not overpowering, made a fine accompaniment.

Some folks -- most likely staunch meat and potato eaters -- say you can't mess with a burger. That usually means it has to be made solely from ground beef. Then there are the garnish enforcers who regard anything other than a lettuce leaf and one slice of tomato as sacrilege.Oh, come on -- lighten up.As far as I'm concerned, any kind of ground meat formed into a patty can be a hamburger. Take, for example, the Grilled Lamb-Chicken Burgers With Feta Cheese: It's made from ground lamb and chicken, fresh herbs and capers, and is stuffed -- not topped -- with a slice of feta cheese.

* Item: Gorton's Homestyle Baked Fillets* What you get: 2 fillets* Cost: About $4* Preparation time: 21 to 23 minutes in oven* Review: From the outset, let me say that no one will ever mistake these frozen pollock fillets for fresh fish. But on a busy night, faced with a choice between these fillets with their homey toppings and the plain old breaded fillets that often seem to be more breading than fish, I'd pick these hands down. We tried the Garlic Butter Crumb and the Broccoli and Cheddar flavors.

Sun-ripened tomatoes are a hot item at farmers' markets and produce stands. From bite-sized cherry varieties to beefy, 2-pound slicers, nothing completes a cool, refreshing salad or tasty sandwich like sweet, juicy tomatoes.But roast a tomato in the oven or on the grill, or broil it, and you have almost an entirely different vegetable, the dry heat concentrating flavor and deepening color. Lightly charring the skin adds even more to the taste and visual appeal of a roasted tomato. For the hot tomato dishes below, pick very fresh, ripe but firm tomatoes with solid, meaty flesh.

Roast chicken with savory stuffing is a favorite of nearly everybody but the cook, who has to juggle the roasting time and temperature so that the stuffing is sufficiently cooked but the tender breast meat isn't overdone and dry.A simpler (and safer) solution is to bake the stuffing separately, in a covered dish, but this method doesn't suffuse the meat with the flavor of the stuffing. Here's an alternative that provides the benefits of stuffed poultry without the disadvantages. It can be used with a whole bird or with turkey or chicken breasts: Insert the stuffing just under the skin rather than in the center of the bird.

If asked to choose my favorite shellfish, without hesitation I'd pick scallops. These sweet, succulent morsels were a discovery I made as a young adult. My family indulged in shrimp and crab dishes and, for occasions, we ordered lobsters, but scallops never graced our table.I was in my 20s on a visit to France when I tasted these sublime mollusks for the first time. I've been a fan ever since.Today, when entertaining, I love to include scallops in my menus. I offer as appetizers skewered scallops wrapped in prosciutto with seasonings of lemon and rosemary.

Sweet treat contest at the state fairThe Maryland State Fair will have a new recipe contest this year, a parent-child competition focusing on after-school sweet treats. Three winning teams will get prizes of $200, $100 and $50. Judging will be based on originality, taste appeal, ease of preparation and appearance.For information on entering the Sweet Treat Team Championship, call 410-252-0200 and ask for the Maryland State Fair entry department.Easy chicken dish features mustardTerry Blonder Golson, author of "1,000 Low Fat Recipes" (MacMillan, $29.95)

It's time to gear up for the annual parade of parties, presents and celebrations that won't end till the ball drops in Times Square on New Year's Eve.Naturally, your first question is: What can be made that's easy, delicious and portable for all the outings sure to crowd your calendar?The answer: bar cookies.The best ones layer chewy, crunchy, smooth textures with a sweet, buttery counterpoint. They please young and old. And they travel like platinum frequent fliers, oblivious to wear and tear.

These rolled, stuffed chicken breasts make a perfect midweek dinner. Gussied up and wrapped in phyllo or prepared puff pastry, they can also serve as elaborate-entertaining fare. The boneless chicken surrounds a filling of tangy dried apricots, nuts and mushrooms.Fresh strips of red bell pepper along with green beans make a colorful and tasty side dish.Make your own deluxe coffee ice cream by purchasing a store brand and stirring in crunchy crumbled chocolate biscotti cookies.Apricot stuffed chicken breastsMakes 4 servings4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, 1 pound totalsalt and pepper1 tablespoon olive oil1/2 cup diced onion3/4 cup coarsely chopped mushrooms2 tablespoons sherry1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts or pecans, toasted1/4 cup chopped dried apricots1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs1/2 teaspoon fines herbesPreheat oven to 375 degrees.

As a recent Maryland transplant, I have been fascinated by the idea of hard-shell crabs but afraid to try them because I couldn't eat them like a local. But recently, my sister and I went to Cantler's Riverside Inn outside Annapolis and I took a chance.I ate voraciously, dipping the crab meat alternately in salty Old Bay seasoning and tangy vinegar, all the while avoiding the drawn butter. And while I made a mess of myself, my daintier sister ate small bites of two lump crab cakes.My decision to go for the hard shells wasn't easy, however.

Tuna Noodle Casserole is a comforting family classic. This made-over version from a new EatingWell cookbook shaves calories and fat and speeds preparation. As a one-pot meal, it also fit our budget for a family of four, with some left over for another night. shopping list Egg noodles: $1.36 Olive oil: 17 cents Onion: 50 cents Mushrooms: $2.29 Wine: $1.28 Flour: 8 cents Milk: 52 cents Tuna: $2 Peas: 64 cents Cheese: $1.74 Bread crumbs: 40 cents From the pantry: salt, pepper TOTAL: $10.98* Note: Prices are calculated based on the amounts used in the recipe.

I find myself paging through my mother's recipes when I'm stumped for an economical meal these days. This meatloaf, with its sweet-spicy glaze, evokes pleasant memories, and the price is right, especially when ground beef is on sale. (When it is, buy ahead and freeze the meat.) Leftovers make great sandwiches on pieces of toasted whole-wheat bread. shopping list Wine: $1.25 Ground beef : $5.88 Bread crumbs: 50 cents Onion: 50 cents Eggs: 33 cents Ketchup: 61 cents Brown sugar: 36 cents Vinegar: 27 cents Dry mustard: 25 cents From the pantry: salt, pepper TOTAL:$ 9.95* *Note: Prices are calculated based on the amounts used in the recipe.

Gratins have a bit of seasonal affective disorder. They turn up in fall and winter but disappear when the sun comes back out in springtime. That is surprising considering how well everything at peak of green right now goes with cheese and sauce, and how easily a quick pass through the oven makes them all rich and bubbly together. Asparagus, artichokes, green garlic, dandelions, even not-so-green new potatoes can be transformed by the gratin treatment. The super-fresh aspect makes gratins especially tantalizing once you start to feel a little bored by the vegetables that tasted so new just weeks ago. A steamed artichoke is always a thing of satisfying beauty, but if you pare it to its heart, combine it with many more and bake them with green garlic and cheese, you get a whole new taste sensation.

Herb-crusted lamb steaks served on a bed of creamy spinach is a perfect dish for any weeknight. Tender, juicy lamb steaks are cut through the leg to make a piece of meat 3/4 -inch to 1-inch thick with a slice of bone in the center. If you don't see it in the meat case, ask the butcher to cut it for you. Lamb goes best with Spanish rioja. Florentine Lamb Serves 2 3 medium garlic cloves, crushed 2 teaspoons chopped dried rosemary 2 tablespoons plain bread crumbs salt and freshly ground pepper olive-oil spray 2 (6- to 7-ounce)

A recent lunch with my former Italian instructor led to talk of good food and her memory of a favorite dish made by her mother. The dish sounded like a great candidate for a quick weeknight dinner, so I immediately asked for the recipe. Susan Pezzino said her Sicilian mother used to make this pasta dish using beefsteak tomatoes. The tomato is partially cored, stuffed, then baked. It then forms the sauce for pasta. She would serve it in individual baking dishes doused with olive oil and sprinkled with bread crumbs before baking.

The Flexitarian Table By Peter Berley with Zoe Singer Vegetables By the Culinary Institute of America Lebhar-Friedman Books / 2007 / $40 Vegetables, the latest cookbook offering from the Culinary Institute of America, is a beautifully illustrated compendium of recipes chock-full of vegetables. It is not strictly vegetarian, but it celebrates vegetables and legumes. Besides basic information (what is bok choy) and advice (how to trim an artichoke bottom), it includes delightful dishes such as fennel-and-potato chowder and hazelnut romesco sauce (to accompany grilled vegetables)

The Best of Gourmet Sixty-Five Years, Sixty-Five Favorite Recipes Good Food for Good Times By Jamie Gwen with Lana Sills Powerline Publishing / 2007 / $24.95 This homespun book from Los Angeles-based chef Jamie Gwen, who has appeared on the Home Shopping Network and written two other cookbooks, is organized around celebration menus - sort of. Some of them, like the Birthday Bash Brunch - with gazpacho, ginger pancakes, the "Very Best Dutch Baby,"...

I have a problem with crab cakes. I have been using the recipe on the back of the Old Bay Seasoning container, and the cakes always fall apart. I've tried more/less eggs, more/less bread, more/less crab, etc. Crab cakes present all sorts of frying problems because of their moist constitution and irregular surface. I am ever mindful of the sage advice of my cooking idol, Marcella Hazan: "Wet things won't brown." To that, I add: "Wet things won't allow the formation of a sturdy enough crust to keep the thing from falling apart."

You know it is the dead of winter when your weeknight entertainment is playing with cauliflower. That is how I recently spent a few nights. One evening, I pressed a crown of blue cheese and bread crumbs onto a head of roasted cauliflower. Another night, my diversion consisted of slicing the vegetable into pieces, cooking them with curry and yogurt, then tossing on cilantro and lime juice. Finally, for kicks, I took a cauliflower apart, cooked it and put it back together upside down. Then, in a real showstopping move, I flipped it over so it appeared on the table whole and right side up. These endeavors entertained me -- but as should be apparent by now, I am easily amused, especially during these dark months.

Eggs By Michel Roux The Good Egg By Marie Simmons Houghton Mifflin / 2006 / $15 Marie Simmons won a James Beard cookbook award for The Good Egg when it was first published in 2000. Now, six years later, this comprehensive catalog of egg recipes is available in a newly released paperback version. Few books cover so much territory with one ingredient. With more than 200 recipes, the book offers the basics, such as Spaghetti Alla Carbonara, but also more complicated dishes, such as a fresh fig and prosciutto frittata with Asiago cheese.