Lime

This recipe requires some advance preparation: The yogurt needs to drain for 12 hours. This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires additional sitting time.

Offer some crusty bread with this lovely main-course salad.

Jícama spears with lime juice and chili powder are a popular street snack in Mexico — crunchy, sour, and spicy all in one bite.

Key lime pie, with its tangy custard filling and pastry crust, was popular in the Florida Keys at the turn of the century. The pie eventually evolved to include the graham-cracker-crumb crusts created in the thirties. We’ve layered all the components in wine goblets.

Set out black beans, rice, lettuce, salsa and hot flour tortillas to go with the chicken.

The filling is wonderfully creamy, like ice cream, but is made without using an ice cream machine. Be sure to have plenty of extra fruit to go along with the torte.

Be sure to brush the grill clean while it's hot before adding the fruit.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Green papaya salad in all its regional variations - often flavored with pork, beef, or shrimp (as below)-is hugely popular throughout Southeast Asia. The dish is made from unripe Southeast Asian papayas, which have firm white flesh and white seeds. The current popularity of Vietnamese and Thai food in the United States has increased these papayas' availability, although it is still generally limited to Asian markets. Such papayas can grow to the size of cantaloupes or larger and range in shape from oval to round. Look for rock-hard dark green fruit without a trace of pink or yellow blush. If you don't see any, ask (some shopkeepers do not display them). Those who can't find the right kind of papaya might skip the salad or substitute seedless (European) cucumbers despite the repetition with the main course. Those who can find Southeast Asian green papayas will be treated to a salad that our food editors found irresistible.

In the state of Yucatán in southeastern Mexico, lime soup is served on even the hottest days. The fresh taste of the cilantro and the sourness of the lime combine to give the soup plenty of zing.

A real winner: Delicate "purses" of phyllo pastry hold a banana and hazelnut filling. They're served with white chocolate sauce and a crunchy hazelnut crumble.

Serve buttered noodles, potato salad or rice pilaf alongside this entree.

Aromatic spice and herb blends can quickly turn an ordinary soup recipe into something extraordinary. Here they transform a basic carrot soup into a special concoction you'll crave again and again. So start utilizing the "cook once, eat twice" theory; just freeze half of the recipe or make a double batch whenever possible.

While the cheesecake has been around for centuries, it was perfected in the 1920s by New York delicatessens. It first appeared at Arnold Reuben’s eponymous restaurant on East 58th Street and soon was featured at Lindy’s on Times Square and at Junior’s in Brooklyn. Marmalade tops this luscious cake; it also has citrus peel in the filling.

An adaptation of a recipe from Mexican Light Cooking by our friend Kathi Long, a chef and author in Santa Fe.

(Vietnamese Lime Sauce) This recipe is used to prepared Grilled Lemongrass Beef and Noodle Salad. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.