Pear

Honey and mint are the special ingredients in this lovely lamb dish.

Many dessert menus include a colorful sorbet plate-light and refreshing after a rich meal. Offer elegant cookies alongside. For the pink grapefruit sorbet recipe, we prefer Essencia, a dessert wine with the unique flavor of orange muscat grapes. It's made by Quady Vineyards in central California. If you cannot find it, use a Sauternes or a late-harvest Riesling.

The chef bakes individual tarts in small cast-iron pans, but he suggests that the home cook make one large tart. He serves each tart with a scoop of his own vanilla-bean ice cream and a "barber pole" of dark and white chocolates.

Here's a delicious example of an Eastern spice used to complement a Western dish.

Serve this quick treat with heavy cream or vanilla ice cream.

A simple aquavit-spiked version of the classic French sausage and sauerkraut dish.

This dense, moist chocolate cake, made with dried pears, is stunning when decorated with gold leaf. Of course, you can always simply top it with chocolate curls.

This is a terrific fall dessert. Soft, syrupy pears and tart sour cherries are nestled under a nutty, spiced topping, which is baked until crunchy and golden brown. At the restaurant, the topping crumbs that fall from the crisps onto the baking tray are one of my favorite snacks, and my staff and I can't resist nibbling on them whenever the crisps come out of the oven. Be sure to bake the crisps until the juices bubble up thickly; otherwise, not enough of the moisture will evaporate and the fruit will be soggy.

Croustades are toasted shapes or shells of bread or baked pastry crusts used as bases for serving various mixtures, either sweet or savory. Here they're made with slices of toasted pound cake and topped with wine-poached pears and ice cream. It's a dessert that's easy to make and a perfect conclusion to a county-style, French-inspired menu.

The secret to the light and flaky crust is cream cheese. For an extra-special presentation, cut out decorative shapes from the dough scraps, and arrange them on the pie after glazing it; brush cutouts with glaze and bake.

For a light alternative to traditional Thanksgiving pies, tequila-poached pears (above) provide a southwestern twist. Popular in Mexico and Central and South America, prickly pear jelly is paired with raspberries for the sauce. Serve with the Lemon Bizcochitos and dessert wine, such as Muscat.

This is a classic French preparation that is easy to prepare and quite light. Once you have mastered the base, you can add any fruit that you have on hand. It is a great brunch dish since it is not quite an entrée nor is it sweet enough to be a dessert. One omelette is just enough for two people, and since I think that it is almost impossible to make an attractive omelette large enough to feed six, it is best to make one recipe at a time when feeding more than two people. You can keep the finished omelettes warm in a preheated 300° oven while you make the necessary number.

An easy cake to make, this is lovely topped with spice-scented sautéed pears and sweetened cinnamon-spiced whipped cream.