141 plate recipes

Melrose plates: chicken and pasta salad with mandarin oranges, water chestnuts and a honey-mustard poppy seed yogurt dressing. A lighter chicken-pasta luncheon salad served on lettuce.

Traditional Welsh plate cake cooked on a bakestone with dried fruit, nutmeg, and brown sugar. Teisin Lap is a rustic griddle cake with a golden crust and tender, fruited crumb, no oven required.

Award-winning shortbread with just butter, sugar, flour, and salt pressed into thick cutouts: crisp edges, melt-in-your-mouth crumb, adorable sheep shapes with chocolate eyes optional.

Award-winning thumbprint cookies with buttery dough rolled in finely chopped nuts, pressed with your thumb, and filled with ruby raspberry jam: elegant holiday baking that won first place.

The 2nd place winner in the Chicago Tribune's 1996 Annual Holiday Cookie Contest, a simple brown-sugar shortbread from Sandra Petrille of Naperville, Illinois.

Rustic French plum tart with cinnamon-dusted fruit and buttery pâte sucrée crust brings Alsatian bakery magic to your kitchen for elegant summer desserts or brunch centerpieces.

Wild mushroom and foie gras stuffing for veal medallions with four varieties of mushrooms, shallots, white wine, and chives. French bistro cooking at home.

Kipper pate slices layer creamy smoked fish on golden puff pastry, finished with a cool cucumber-mint dressing. A British appetizer that handles a dinner party with quiet confidence.

A vibrant Vietnamese-style banh mi stuffed with sliced pork, pate, grated carrots, cucumber, cilantro, jalapeno, and a punchy fish sauce and chili garlic dressing. No cooking required.

Huevos rancheros stack sunny-side-up eggs on warm corn tortillas with refried beans, green chili, and melted cheddar. Mexican breakfast plate ready in 20 minutes.

Quick and easy way to make a plateful refreshing and flavorful salad. Mixed greens, cucumber, and radish are mixed with basil balsamic dressing, topped with shaved parmesan.

Cayenne and chocolate make a nice combo in this cookie from Paula Tuchscherer-Jones of Milwaukee; they would provide an interesting complement when plated with more traditional cookies.

German braised red cabbage with bratwurst, simmered low and slow with Granny Smith apples, caraway, and a sweet-tart hit of vinegar and currant jelly. A classic Oktoberfest plate of silky ruby cabbage and juicy sausage.

This flavorful Indian rice is cooked with chopped cilantro, mint, garlic, onion, cumin and raisins, there are lots of flavor on this simple rice plate, and it is an easy recipe to follow!

Along the coast of the Southern US eating Hoppin' John on New Year's Day is thought to bring a year filled with luck and prosperity. The beans symbolize coins or pennies. Sometimes a penny is added to the pot or can be left under the bowls of Hoppin' John. Greens such as Collards, chard or kale can be added and symbolize the color of money and are said to add to ones wealth in the new year. The day after New Year's Day the leftovers are called "Skippin' Jenny," and further demonstrates one's frugality. A common tradition in the south US is each person at the meal should leave three peas on their plate to ensure the New Year will be filled with Luck, Fortune and Romance. Another tradition holds that counting the number of peas in a serving predicts the amount of luck (or wealth) that will be collected over the next year.