Skillet

Dear SOS: I'm crazy about the fajitas served at the El Torito restaurant chain. Is there a chance for the recipe? READER Dear Reader: El Torito complied with two recipes--one using beef and the other chicken, and good recipes they are, too. Chicken fajitas are basted with achiote sauce, made with achiote powder, which can be found at any Mexican grocery store or Mexican products counter of supermarkets.

  Total time: 1 hour, 5 minutes Servings: 4 Caramelized onions 4 slices applewood-smoked bacon 2 onions, sliced (about 4 cups) 1 teaspoon sugar 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 1 teaspoon ketchup 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce 2-3 drops liquid smoke 1/4teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the bacon until crisp, 5 to 6 minutes, then remove to paper towels to drain. Crumble 1 slice and set aside; reserve the rest of the bacon for another use. Measure 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat into a medium heavy skillet.

  Kitfo Total time: 10 minutes Our recipes, your kitchen: If you try this or any other recipe from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen, we would like to know about it so we can showcase it on our food blog and occasionally in print. Upload pictures of the finished dish here. Servings: 4 Note: Niter kibe (Ethiopian butter) and mitmita powder (a spicy red pepper powder) are available at Ethiopian markets and online. 1 pound finely ground low-fat beef, such as top round, ball tips or rib-eye 4-6 tablespoons niter kibe, or more to taste (ghee is an adequate substitute)

  1 hour, 15 minutes, plus cooling time. Serves 6 to 8 4 cups fresh dark cherries (about 1 pound), stemmed but unpitted 3 eggs 1/3 cup sugar 1/2 cup flour 2/3 cup milk or cream or a mixture of the two Vanilla bean, scraped Pinch of sea salt Powdered sugar for dusting 1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Arrange the cherries in a single layer in the bottom of a 9- to 10-inch baking dish or cast-iron skillet. 2. In a bowl, lightly beat the eggs with a fork or whisk, add the sugar, flour, milk or cream, vanilla seeds and salt.

  1 hour, 15 minutes, plus cooling time. Serves 6 to 8 4 cups fresh dark cherries (about 1 pound), stemmed but unpitted 3 eggs 1/3 cup sugar 1/2 cup flour 2/3 cup milk or cream or a mixture of the two Vanilla bean, scraped Pinch of sea salt Powdered sugar for dusting 1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Arrange the cherries in a single layer in the bottom of a 9- to 10-inch baking dish or cast-iron skillet. 2. In a bowl, lightly beat the eggs with a fork or whisk, add the sugar, flour, milk or cream, vanilla seeds and salt.

Marion Cunningham's so-called plain and simple burger (The Home Cook, Aug. 30) evolves, after 11 paragraphs, into a gloppy version of another fast-food specialty sandwich. Here is my version: Put one tablespoon of a mixture of melted butter and olive oil into a hot skillet. Place one-half-inch-thick ground beef patty (sirloin is too lean) into skillet just after adding one half clove crushed or chopped garlic. Cook 60 seconds, turn, cook 40 seconds. Remove burger to sturdy warmed bun. Add small handful of chopped parsley to skillet and cook 20 seconds.

Sheriff's deputies shot and killed a suspected burglar who they said "brushed away" barbs from an electronic Taser gun and attacked them with an iron skillet. Deputy Dave Tellez said the suspect, Eliberto Saldana, 20, of Los Angeles was discovered trying to break into the rear window of a grocery store in the 3600 block of Blanchard Street in East Los Angeles.

What's a pan? Lots of things--the shallow round frying pan, the deeper rectangular loaf pan, the even deeper round saucepan. About all you can say is that a pan's likely to be shallower than a pot, though a lot of people wouldn't be able to tell you the difference between a saucepan and a stewpot. What's a skillet? A frying pan, but properly speaking, it's a frying pan with three or four short legs on it.

  Dutch baby Total time: 35 minutes Servings: 8 to 10 Note: Adapted from "The Lost Art of Real Cooking" by Ken Albala and Rosanna Nafziger. Dutch Baby can be served with such toppings as cinnamon, yogurt, maple syrup, honey and/or marmalade. Show us your photos: If you try this recipe, send us photographic evidence: Click here to upload pictures of the finished dish. 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter 4 eggs 1 cup (4.25 ounces) flour 1 cup milk 1/2 cup sugar, preferably brown 1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees.

Active Work Time: 30 minutes Total Preparation Time: 45 minutes My friend Pastora Ruano may make a delicious asadura or callos, but I prefer a more "common" cut of meat. Another one of her specialties is this delicious dish, typical of her village, Colomera (near Granada, southeast Spain) that is known for its almond trees. In Spain, they use a clay flameproof casserole dish instead of a skillet. 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided 5 to 6 cloves garlic 1 onion, diced 1 (2-inch-thick)

Dear SOS: I enjoy reading your column, and it occurred to me that you might be able to answer my request. "It was a dark and stormy night," like many we've recently had, when friends and I happened into Smitty's in Pasadena after the theater. Not being Pasadena locals, we didn't realize our good fortune. It was a perfect night for their signature chili and corn bread specials. Not your ground beef variety, the chili seemed to be prepared with flank steak and the corn bread was the best ever.

  Kitfo Total time: 10 minutes Our recipes, your kitchen: If you try this or any other recipe from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen, we would like to know about it so we can showcase it on our food blog and occasionally in print. Upload pictures of the finished dish here. Servings: 4 Note: Niter kibe (Ethiopian butter) and mitmita powder (a spicy red pepper powder) are available at Ethiopian markets and online. 1 pound finely ground low-fat beef, such as top round, ball tips or rib-eye 4-6 tablespoons niter kibe, or more to taste (ghee is an adequate substitute)

I admit it. I've had a lifelong love affair with French toast. When I was a kid, there was a simple magic to it: The way the soaked bread would puff in the pan, the toast crisping to a rich, golden brown in the hot fat. Fresh out of the pan, the dish was topped with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, like a dusting of fresh snow. This was dessert for breakfast ? it almost felt wrong. With each bite, the crisp, almost brittle crust would give way to a tender, soft-as-a-pillow interior, subtle with hints of cinnamon and nutmeg and fragrant notes of vanilla.

  Dutch baby Total time: 35 minutes Servings: 8 to 10 Note: Adapted from "The Lost Art of Real Cooking" by Ken Albala and Rosanna Nafziger. Dutch Baby can be served with such toppings as cinnamon, yogurt, maple syrup, honey and/or marmalade. Show us your photos: If you try this recipe, send us photographic evidence: Click here to upload pictures of the finished dish. 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter 4 eggs 1 cup (4.25 ounces) flour 1 cup milk 1/2 cup sugar, preferably brown 1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees.

One of the rarest and most sought-after fruits, the Australian finger lime, has started showing up in significant quantities at the Santa Monica farmers market, creating a minor sensation. The fruit's appearance is enough to excite wonder: from the outside it looks like a little gherkin, but when sliced in half, the round, pearlescent juice vesicles ooze out of the fruit, like citrus caviar. The clean, fresh, tart lime-lemon taste is enticing enough, but the texture, crunchy and juicy, like citrus Pop Rocks, is even more prepossessing.

Fluffy, white broiler chickens pecked around the backyard while a group of two dozen people — a set of knives laid out before them — eyed them warily. Jordan Dawdy, his arm bearing tattoos of chickens and other farm animals, gave the crowd the run-down: Snap the neck, cut off the head, drain the blood, pluck, gut, done. He has the whole process down to seven minutes. The group shifted uneasily and prepared to dive in. Dawdy's "Yard to Skillet" workshops are booked full in this college town of 100,000.

  Total time: 1 hour, 5 minutes Servings: 4 Caramelized onions 4 slices applewood-smoked bacon 2 onions, sliced (about 4 cups) 1 teaspoon sugar 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 1 teaspoon ketchup 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce 2-3 drops liquid smoke 1/4teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the bacon until crisp, 5 to 6 minutes, then remove to paper towels to drain. Crumble 1 slice and set aside; reserve the rest of the bacon for another use. Measure 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat into a medium heavy skillet.

FOIE gras is notoriously difficult to cook. Most chefs end up searing thin slices or scallops of the fattened duck liver and pairing it with something sweet. At Whist, Tim Goodell and his chef Jeff Armstrong, are so entranced with the luxe ingredient they offer a different foie gras each night. My favorite, so far, is foie gras with roasted pineapple. The texture is astonishing, more like custard than anything else, like a warm version of terrine de foie gras.

IT seemed so unlikely. Three ingredients: spaghetti, pecorino cheese and black pepper. That and a little of the salted water the pasta was cooked in. Toss them together, and you'd have a great dish. How could it possibly amount to anything? But it did, and it was as good as promised. The dish was spaghetti cacio e pepe, the recipe from Lidia Matticchio Bastianich's new book, "Lidia's Italy."

WHEN the esteemed New York chef Mario Batali opened a pizzeria called Otto early this year, it was the talk of the city. Everybody had to try Mario's pizza -- which, with Batali's usual showmanship, was completely different from any other pizza in New York. It was cooked on a griddle instead of in a blazing oven. Night after night, crowds pressed in the door, willing to wait hours for a slice of the superstar chef's new creation.