Cumin

This low fat casserole has a Mexican flavor. It takes about 20 minutes to prepare.Turkey-Tortilla Casserole1 teaspoon olive oil1 small onion, peeled and minced2 medium cloves garlic, peeled and minced1 pound ground turkey2 teaspoons chili powder1/2 teaspoon ground cumin1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, crushed1 tablespoon vinegar1 15-ounce can black beans, drained, rinsed and drained again1 16-ounce jar mild or medium-hot salsa3/4 cup...

My 30-something son is a self-professed football fanatic, who at any given moment can reel off the latest rankings of teams all over the country. Imagine his excitement as the Super Bowl approaches. This year, as in many past, I've sent him a recipe for some wonderful appetizers to serve during halftime. These cumin-scented shrimp and chorizo skewers are simple to assemble, yet packed with robust flavor. The rosy crustaceans, the sienna-tinted chorizo and the crimson tomatoes combine to make a striking trio of colors, and the hearty taste of each melds together perfectly.

Several months ago, while dining at a seafood restaurant in midtown Manhattan, I ordered a first-course crab and avocado salad and was stunned by the simple ingenuity of the dish. Typically, crab salad is mixed with mayonnaise and rarely includes a spicy accent, but this version was bound with creme fraiche and seasoned with cumin. For entertaining, I love traditional recipes that have been reinterpreted with bright new tastes, and this dish certainly falls into that category. Using creme fraiche (the thick French cream that is a cross between heavy cream and sour cream)

Rubs can rub a lazy cook the right way. There usually are ample ingredients in the pantry (after all, how much ground red pepper or cumin can a person go through in a decade?) and they add plenty of zip to meat and seafood. Here we're adding a rub to quick-cooking steak kebabs. You can tailor the rub to accommodate your heat quotient; use less of the chili and ground red pepper (or none at all) if you prefer a tamer kebab. Renee Enna writes for the Chicago Tribune, which provided the recipe analysis.

When a bag of kale showed up on the doorstep, courtesy of our neighbors departing on an unexpected trip, it raised the age-old question: What to do? What to do? Somehow Asian flavors came to mind, a departure in our house where almost everything has a Mediterranean influence. With ginger root and a few other flavorings, this dish quickly came together. Pork chops were in the fridge, so they became the protein - but chicken would be a delicious substitute. Joe Gray writes for the Chicago Tribune, which provided the recipe and analysis.

Ambassador Dining Room Indian Palace 35 Cranbrook Road, Cockeysville -- 410-628-6800 Hours --11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Mondays-Fridays; 12:30 p.m.-3 p.m., 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays Restaurant's estimate: --20 minutes Ready in: --15 minutes This order, $11.50, skipped the sauce and included four pieces of moist-to-the-bone meat instead. It came with lots of soft, nonsticky rice dotted with cumin seeds. Indian Palace forgot the utensils, but that's a small mistake considering the food was so good.

* Item: Bush Chili Magic* What you get: About 5 servings* Cost: About $1* Preparation time: About 15 minutes* Review: If you don't have time to tinker to come up with just the right amount of ground cumin or chili powder, you might have considered this canned chili starter. Combine a can of Chili Magic, Bush's concoction of beans with chili spices, with a 14 1/2-ounce can of tomatoes and a pound of browned ground beef. Let it simmer for 10 minutes, and you've got a lazy cook's batch of chili.

According to the calendar, summer doesn't officially begin until around June 21, but I, like others, consider Memorial Day weekend the launching pad for this warm weather season. By the end of May the temperature is finally warm in New England where I live, so we celebrate this American holiday with an annual ritual of pulling out the grill and moving our cooking outdoors. For this year's festivities, I am planning to grill hamburgers and top them with white Cheddar cheese and some chunky guacamole salsa.

It's supposedly good for you to eat pork or cabbage or black-eyed peas at New Year's, and for my last post of the year I offer you this recipe for “caviar” made with black-eyed peas. It's a variant of a recipe for the 1970s in a Time-Life book that The Sun published in 2000. It has been quite serviceable for the holiday in our house. Here are a couple of things to consider. Dried black-eyed peas are better than canned, because you can have more control over whether they get mushy.

The history of corn stretches back some 7,000 years. Today corn figures prominently in the hearts of cooks and diners throughout the world.Cornmeal Blini With Smoked Salmon and Creme FraicheServes 41/2 cup all-purpose unbleached flour1/2 cup fine yellow cornmeal2 teaspoons baking powder1/2 teaspoon salt3/4 cup milk1 egg2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted8 ounces sliced smoked salmon1/2 cup creme fraiche or sour creamcapers, pickled onions, nasturtium petals,...