Recipes with white pepper

Vegetarian tofu hot and sour soup with dried mushrooms, bamboo shoots, peas, and silken egg ribbons. A restaurant-style Chinese classic spiked with white pepper, vinegar, and sesame oil.

Easy to pack and perfect as crudités for that favorite dip, the crunchy texture and sweet taste of carrots is popular among both adults and children. Although they are shipped around the country from California throughout the year, locally grown carrots are in season in the summer and fall when they are the freshest and most flavorful.

One of my favorite things to do with garden peas is to make a pea purée. Think of mashed potatoes only with peas instead.

Shredded Brussels sprouts sauteed in butter over high heat with a squeeze of lime juice. A fast, crisp-tender side dish that converts sprout skeptics.

Dilled cucumber salad with shredded cucumber, green onions, and fresh dill in thickened yogurt. A cool, creamy low-fat side dish similar to tzatziki.

Cajun-style blackened burgers crusted with cayenne, fennel, white pepper, and garlic. Cooked in a screaming-hot cast iron skillet for a charred peppered crust and finished with a Worcestershire pan sauce.

Butter-sauteed mushrooms simmered with sherry and white pepper, tossed with fluffy rice and mushroom liquid. A simple, elegant side dish ready in 30 minutes.

Cream of asparagus soup with a butter-flour roux, fresh dill, and tamari, pureed smooth with whole asparagus tips floated on top. Made from scratch.

A flexible cream of fresh vegetable soup template: simmer your chosen vegetable in chicken broth with onion, blend smooth, then enrich with a quick milk béchamel. Works with broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, and more.

Asparagus cornet with lemon dressing wraps puff pastry into golden cones, fills them with crisp-tender asparagus spears, and serves over a homemade lemon-mustard mayonnaise. Restaurant-grade plated appetizer for special occasions.

People who do not like ordinary pate seem to love this one. Vary the herbs and substitute the vegetables as you wish. Serve with water crackers, thick slices of crusty French bread, thin slices of whole wheat bread, or unsalted whole wheat crackers. May be frozen.

Cajun prime rib roasted with a thick crust of black pepper, garlic, and onion, then chilled and sliced into steaks for blackening in a screaming hot cast iron skillet. A two-day showstopper.

Luxurious crab bisque with Scotch whiskey, butter, and heavy cream. Chunks of flaked crab meat swim in a velvety, boozy broth that comes together in just 30 minutes. Pure indulgence in a bowl.

Iowa chops stuffed with brandy-soaked apricots, pecans, currants, orange zest, and fennel. Seared, baked, and finished with flambeed brandy for a tableside showstopper.

Bubbly, cheese-topped casserole packed with sauteed mushrooms and chopped chestnuts in a rich cream sauce. Hearty vegetarian comfort food in every forkful.

Crispy wonton stack with herbed goat cheese, mixed greens, hearts of palm, and cherry tomatoes tossed in Dijon vinaigrette. Restaurant-style composed salad starter.