Pumpkin Seed

A bright citrus flavor and crunchy texture make this salad truly refreshing — a delicious balance of savory and sweet with the bonus of a little heat.

Known as pepitorias, these tasty caramel-filled wafer "tacos" embellished with toasted pumpkin seeds are a regular offering at Mexican markets and sweets shops, especially in the city of Puebla, which is famous for so many confections. The wafers are traditionally brightly colored, but we chose to stick with a more seasonal white-and-gold motif. Since tinted edible wafer paper is hard to come by in the United States, we used precut white Back-Oblaten, imported from Germany, and we explain how to color them. Painting them with food coloring or water softens them enough to fold around the caramel.

Pumpkin seeds are available at many supermarkets and at natural foods stores and Latin markets. The pumpkin seed oil can be found at specialty foods stores and at surfasonline.com.

These spicy snacks taste even better than nachos, plus the avocado and tuna add a hefty 10 grams of heart-healthy fat.

Here's an idea: Save a few of the toasted pumpkin seeds to use as a garnish. That little bit of extra crunch will complement the sweet, succulent squash beautifully.

For a pretty garnish, sprinkle this light and refreshing salad with hulled, toasted pumpkin seeds.

Papadzules con calabacitas We added zucchini to the eggs in this favorite from the Yucatán Peninsula. It's one of Mexico's great vegetarian dishes.

If there is one dish that could be considered Mexican haute cuisine, then Mole Poblano is surely it. Legend has it that the voluptuous sauce — a blend of chiles, spices, and chocolate — was created by the European Catholic nuns of Puebla to honor a visiting bishop. There are no shortcuts to making a true Mole Poblano: It takes time and patience to develop the layers of flavor that make this sauce fit for royalty. Miguel adapted the restaurant's recipe from one he learned from Diana Kennedy. At Fonda San Miguel, this mole is served with chicken and rice and as a sauce for enchiladas. It is also wonderful on roast turkey and pork.

Because it's one of the easiest vegetarian dishes, soulfully satisfying rice and beans can eventually become, well, tedious. Jazzing it up with colorful toppings transforms it into an exciting meal, chock-full of varying textures and flavors. Not only is this a staple for my family, it's become my default party dish for a crowd.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from White House Chef: Eleven Years, Two Presidents, One Kitchen by Walter Scheib and Andrew Friedman. This is the snack mix President Bush brought with him from the Texas Governor's mansion. It's a Texas twist on an old American favorite, and we had to have it on hand at all times. In addition to eating it at the White House, the President never traveled without it.

From chef Robert Del Grande of Cafe Annie in Houston, this recipe for fish baked in corn husks is one of country singer Clay Walker's favorites. Pipián is a classic Mayan sauce made from pumpkin seeds.

Unlike many store-bought granolas, this luxurious blend of oats, green pumpkin seeds, and exotic dried fruit is preservative-free and not overly sweet. Sprinkle it on yogurt, pancakes, or waffles—or simply enjoy eating it out of hand.

Talk about convenient! Baking a whole sweet potato takes about an hour, but sautéing the grated potato takes only fifteen minutes from start to finish — and you end up concentrating the flavor to boot. This recipe dresses up your potato with Southwestern ingredients, but there's no reason not to go Asian (add ginger and soy) or Italian (add sage, brown butter, and pine nuts) as the mood strikes you. For that matter, you could swap out the sweet potato and use butternut squash instead.

Using frozen winter squash purée makes putting together this soup extremely speedy; then just let it simmer while the turkey roasts. The lime juice may seem like an unusual Thanksgiving ingredient, but its tart flavor gives a lift to the sweetness of the squash and tempers the spicy toasted pumpkin seeds. The seeds themselves are addictive, so if you think you might want to have extra around for noshing, consider doubling that recipe. They will keep for at least a week or two in an airtight container—if they last that long!

A bite of this flan, fragrant with traditional pumpkin-pie spices, is very comforting despite the dessert's modern looks; a topping of pumpkin seeds, seasoned with cayenne, creates a play of sweet and heat.

This spicy, pumpkin-infused cocktail would make a delightful aperitif from Halloween through Christmas. It was created by Felix Albano, manager of the bar at Fifty Seven Fifty Seven in New York City.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. The chef at Cafe Diablo uses 6- to 8-ounce local trout fillets from Road Creek Trout Farm. We have adapted the recipe for smaller fillets.

Party alert: This spicy snack is perfect with chilled sparkling wine or ice-cold beer.

Often used in southwestern and Mexican cooking, the crunchy, green hulled pumpkin seeds called pepitas add delightful texture to this smooth soup. Uncork a Gewürztraminer.

At the restaurant, the lamb is served with cilantro-corn mashed potatoes.