Smoked Salmon

Today's lesson: Of all the flavors that return to us from the spring garden, there is nothing quite like the sweet taste of the Vidalia onion. Most of us don't associate sweetness with a member of the onion family, but the Vidalia breaks all the rules. Today, we will prepare one of my favorite dishes with these sweet onions: Vidalia Onion and Smoked Salmon Tart. It's perfect for summer entertaining.What are Vidalia onions? The Vidalia onion is an ordinary yellow onion that develops an extraordinary sweetness.

During the many years I lived in Ohio, I always looked forward to summer, when I could prepare picnics to take to outdoor concerts in Columbus.Occasionally, my husband and I would travel to Blossom, an outdoor music festival near Cleveland, and enjoy a picnic on the sprawling lawns there, or we'd share a picnic supper with friends while en route to the Cincinnati opera.Now that I live in western Massachusetts, I continue this summer ritual and pack food in baskets to enjoy at Tanglewood, where the Boston Symphony plays from June to August, or at the Mount, Edith Wharton's former home, now the site of summer Shakespearean productions.

When I learned that friends who live in Paris would be bringing their son back to college in our town, I invited all three for dinner. Although I envisioned a small, casual meal, my husband insisted that we ask other guests because our pals are so interesting and such good mixers.I called two couples, and both were delighted to be included. The day of the party, more out-of-town friends, who were bringing their daughter to an area college, telephoned to ask us to join them for supper that night.

Don't get me wrong -- I adore a lovely dinner out. But hungry hordes hamper intimacy. Besides, jammed eateries can mean inferior food served by a stressed-out staff.I'd rather stay at home and prepare a menu with a little south-of-the-border fire. A grown-up menu for two, served at a leisurely pace.The key is to keep it simple. Very simple. Plan a menu with little or no last-minute hassles. If you like, slip some store-bought, prepared food into the meal -- perhaps an appetizer or a dessert.

I think appetizers are often afterthoughts for many who entertain. Cooks concentrate on main courses and desserts and then think of what might begin a menu. But the truth is that hors d'oeuvres whet guests' appetites and often set the tone for a meal. So, whenever I have friends for dinner, I always offer some type of pre- dinner treats.In years past I thought nothing of preparing homemade pates and terrines, or baking individual savory tarts as openers, but today, like everyone else, I don't have time for such complicated creations.

Eating a meal at Metropol reminds me of Jim Carrey's character in "The Mask." For those who haven't seen that movie, Carrey turned into a green creature every time he put on a mask he had found. At any particularly pleasant turn of events, the green creature would exclaim "Smokin'!" At Metropol, the specialty of the house is smoked fish and poultry, and it's all, well, "Smokin'!" in Carrey's sense.Owners Odessa Dunson and Barbara Lahnstein began by selling their smoked fish, game birds and goat cheese pies at the farmers' markets in Waverly and downtown.

The very thought of throwing a holiday party can turn even the merriest elf into Scrooge.Some hosts pull out the stops for a blowout they're ultimately too pooped to enjoy.But holiday entertaining doesn't have to be glitzy to be good. Guests will remember an intimate party centered on an activity -- like a tree-trimming -- long after the holiday feeding frenzies are forgotten.In this menu, the food is secondary but in no way second-class. Make two or three easy recipes such as layered cheese torta, mulled wine and chocolate Grand Marnier balls.

What conjures up thoughts of a New Year's celebration more than caviar? The mere mention of it sends images of status, wealth, elegance and luxury dancing through our heads.Christian Petrossian, whose father and uncle introduced Russian caviar to Paris in the 1920s, says, "It is more than a food -- it is a dream."Even now I can easily relive an experience years ago when I was a line cook. The chef came up from the storeroom with a box of Belgian endive. He called me over and opened the box. There, tucked in with the perfect white heads, were a half-dozen miniature black jars.

Jewish food from the world overOne of the more intriguing books to appear recently is London-based writer Claudia Roden's "The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York" (Knopf, $35). The work, which contains more than 600 pages, is part cookbook, part travelogue, part history lesson, part cultural immersion -- and all completely fascinating. There are familiar, traditional recipes, such as bagels, knishes and chicken soup, and less-familiar traditions, such as savory pies called sambousak (Arabian)

"A good party is 25 percent inspiration, 10 percent perspiration and 65 percent organization," says Kate Hays, who runs Global Bite Catering (with partner Sandy Morris) in Burlington, Vt.But Hays knows that ease of preparation and proper planning are equally important to a smooth event.Here is a sampling of her diverse signature recipes.Smoked salmon and spinach rouladeMakes 24 slices1 10-ounce package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley1/3 cup flour1/4 cup reduced-fat sour creamdash of Tabascosalt and freshly ground black pepper to taste2 large egg yolks6 large egg whitesFILLING6 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese3/4 cup low-fat (1 percent)

St. John's College, the school that studies Great Books, and its neighbor the U.S. Naval Academy, the school that studies great sea battles, combine each year for an unlikely triumph - a really great lawn party where the annual croquet match takes a back seat to the elegant picnic food. Each year, in the spring, the two schools meet on the campus of St. John's - just steps away from the walls that surround the Naval Academy - for a lopsided competition. (St. John's leads in the series, 22-5.

International Food Market 7004 Reisterstown Road, 410-358-4757. Open 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday You don't have to speak Russian to buy food at the International Food Market, a combination deli and grocery in the Colonial Village shopping center on Reisterstown Road, but it doesn't hurt. Most of the signs and the conversation in the store are in Russian. When I visited, I simply smiled and pointed. There is a huge meat counter, with more kinds of salami than there were states in the former Soviet Union.

What are the differences between smoked salmon, Nova Scotia salmon, lox and gravlax? All of these foods are examples of preserved, or cured, salmon. You could call salmon "the ham of the sea" because, as with the hind leg of the pig, this fatty, flavorful fish has been subject to all manner of preservation methods. Lox is simply salmon that has been soaked in brine. The result is, predictably, very salty. "Belly lox" refers to the trimmed midsection of the fish, the fattiest part. Lox, whose name derives from "laks," the word for salmon in German and Yiddish, is not for the faint of heart, though it stands up admirably to a bit of cream cheese.

The sun moves over the Saturday Pico farmers' market in Santa Monica, Calif., filtering through the canopy that protects the delicate herbs and baby lettuces at the Kenter Canyon Farms stall. The salad of market lettuces that we take for granted on the menu these days, an edible bouquet that tastes as good as it looks, effectively began in owner Andrea Crawford's garden. To be more accurate, Alice Waters' garden. Twenty-six years ago, Crawford began growing lettuces and herbs for Chez Panisse, literally in Waters' backyard.

On separate occasions during the past few weeks, I have tasted two stunning appetizers. Both were simple yet sophisticated, and each was composed of unexpected but complementary flavors. While we were in Paris last month, friends invited us for wine and appetizers. The generous spread included crisp toasts topped with smoked salmon, thinly sliced avocado and ruby-red grapefruit segments. The salty smokiness of the fish paired with the creaminess of the avocado and the bracing accent of citrus formed a delicious trio.

My husband, a quintessential extrovert, never met a stranger, so after several decades of living with him, I'm no longer surprised when he mentions that he's invited friends over for wine and appetizers. He often asks a group of his fellow professors who are working on a project together to meet at our house for drinks, or he'll arrive home from work, announcing that he's met some new people I am certain to like, and that they can stop by for cocktails on such and such a day. He reasons that having guests in for sips and nibbles is not the same as a dinner party, so he can be spontaneous.

The space at 204 E. Joppa Road in Towson has become a black hole for restaurants. I'm not sure why so many places have struggled here. After Dici Naz Velleggia's closed in the early '90s, it was followed in rapid succession by Enrico's, Hampton's of Towson and then Rigatoni's. After being dark for a very long time, the place has reopened as JJ McBride's, a moderately priced steakhouse and pub. The location should have a built-in clientele -- it's in an apartment house -- and there's plenty of free parking for everyone else.

Wolfgang Puck, one of the most recognizable chefs in America, has taken readers inside the kitchens of his Spago and Chinois restaurants in previous cookbooks. In his sixth book, Wolfgang Puck Makes It Easy (Rutledge Hill Press, 2004, $35), he takes readers inside his home kitchen. The result is a collection of 150 recipes that rely on fresh, yet readily available, ingredients that can be assembled fairly quickly. California-style pizza and panini, which made the Austrian-born chef famous in Beverly Hills, are here, but so are breakfast dishes, side dishes and meats.

Roederer Estate Brut Rose, Anderson Valley ($26). This is without question one of California's best sparkling wines and a terrific splurge for the holiday season. It's a pale pink, almost white, bubbly with subtle strawberry and yeast flavors. Where many California sparkling wines can be aggressively fruity but disappointing in the finish, the Roederer rose is elegant, intensely penetrating and long on the palate. I'd serve this at a classy party, with smoked salmon and caviar.

It's opening, it's opening. Cheeburger, Cheeburger, that is. The popular restaurant chain is debuting a franchise in the Baltimore area this Sunday. The '50s style diner has a spot in the Timonium Shopping Center - right across York Road from the Maryland State Fairgrounds. Krista Bedford - who owns the franchise with Rick Pannoni - describes the restaurant as offering "fun, casual, family dining ... with all fresh food, cooked to order." That includes fresh beef - formed into burgers varying in size from 5.5 ounces to 20 ounces - with your choice of more than 30 toppings, french fries cut in the kitchen, and onion rings battered and cooked to order.