Instructions: More often than not, it is the seasonings that give recipes a national identity, not the main ingredients or cooking technique. If you need convincing, here it is, in the form of a simple shrimp and tomato dish.

If you saw it, you would immediately take it for Italian, or more specifically, southern Italian or even Italian-American. It is nothing more than shrimp in tomato sauce, a combination served over pasta all the time.

But if you tasted it, you would give a different answer. The main ingredients are standard, the technique and appearance are standard, but the seasonings are from the other side of the Mediterranean - North Africa.

Thats the lesson here: by varying the spices, you can transform the common into the exotic. Instead of garlic, red pepper, lemon and parsley, you use ginger, cumin and coriander, lime and cilantro. The difference, as you can imagine, is striking.

Fresh lime leaf, which adds a mysterious fragrance to this dish, is difficult to find outside of specialty stores, and dried lime leaf is a poor substitute.

If you cant find fresh lime leaf - or even if you just dont want to be bothered looking for it - use minced lime zest, which works well. The difference is real but quite subtle; given the strength of the other spices, it is far from critical.

The cooking process is exactly as it would be for making the usual dish of seafood in tomato sauce. Sizzle the spices in oil. Add tomatoes and simmer until theyre saucy, then cook the shrimp in the sauce. Its a technique that works equally well for scallops or squid, either of which will cook in the same time as the shrimp.

Though you might serve the Italian-style preparation over pasta, this one is better with mounds of soft white rice.

La Cadiere melon soup with mint
Serves 4-6

1 large ripe orange-flesh melon, flesh cut into bite-size pieces 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup dry sherry
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons creme fraiche 1 bunch mint
1 lemon, cut into paper-thin rounds

In a large glass bowl, combine melon, orange juice, sherry and creme fraiche. Stir gently to combine. Stir in 5 sprigs mint, then cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Remove and discard mint. Stir, then spoon melon mixture into chilled serving bowls. Garnish each serving with a lemon round and sprig of mint. Serve immediately. This dish is perfect at the start of the meal or at the end.

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