5 Ingredients or Fewer

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Here is a light and festive way to introduce a holiday meal. This elegant soup goes very well with Champagne.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

A potato dish for dedicated garlic lovers.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Sweetening the mousse with honey adds a Provençal touch to a classic French dessert.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires additional unattended time.

Choose beets and potatoes of about the same size.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Makes use of the microwave oven.

Russets and sweet potatoes combine in this hearty yet low-calorie soup.

A few years back, I renewed my romance with Galatoire's restaurant. The reacquaintance was arranged by my friend Kerry Moody, who is one of New Orleans's black Creoles. A frequent visitor to the restaurant, he led me through the menu and introduced me to such off-the-menu delights as fried eggplant lightly dusted with confectioners' sugar. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've returned to Galatoire's many times since. Now when I arrive at the restaurant, I feel like a regular when my waiter, Imre, remembers me after any length of absence and brings the eggplant to the table unasked. The combination of eggplant and sugar sounds strange, but the dish is delicious, a perfect beginning to a Creole feast and a subtle reminder of the African traditions of New Orleans cooking. The eggplant on which the dish is based may have originated in Africa, and the frying in deep oil is one of the major African culinary methods brought to this country by slave cooks.