Demiurge, if I could suggest only one recipe that is elegant, delicious, simple, and relatively affordable, it would be my own version of baked fish in mushroom-wine sauce. This recipe originally sprouted from the mind of Frank Davis, a local Louisiana chef and food personality, but I've made a few alterations. The original may be found in Davis' book, The Frank Davis Seafood Notebook.

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--Fresh fish fillets (Allow between 0.5-1.0 pounds of fish for each person, depending upon how many sides you're serving, and on who's doing the eating. Just about any mild, non-oily fish will do. I like haddock quite a bit, but the following are also fantastic: halibut, red drum (AKA redfish), grouper, cod, sole, sea bass, catfish, flounder, trout, and red snapper. Salmon would also work well, in spite of its medium-high oil content.)
--8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, in all
--2 Tablespoons flour
--1/2 Cup heavy whipping cream (possibly as much as 1 cup)
--8 to 12 ounces of fresh mushrooms, rinsed and thinly sliced
--1 Tablespoon lemon juice (or, to taste)
--Dry white wine (allow ~6 Tablespoons wine for each pound of fish)
--Kosher salt
--Cayenne pepper
--White pepper
--Freshly ground black pepper

1. Place an oven rack in a central position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Melt three tablespoons of the butter. Rub the melted butter on the fish fillets, coating them completely. Use any leftover butter to grease a Pyrex or ceramic baking dish large enough to hold all the fish in a single layer (or as close to it as possible). Add the fillets to the baking dish.

3. Sprinkle each fish fillet with an even layer of kosher salt, cayenne pepper, white pepper, and freshly ground black pepper. Don't be stingy.

4. Melt the remaining 5 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan over low or medium-low heat. Stir in the 2 tablespoons of flour, and keep stirring until the flour is absorbed. Let the roux cook for just a couple of minutes, until it just barely takes on a faint hint of color. Do not allow the roux to brown. Stir in the 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream and heat until completely smooth. If the sauce seems a bit thick, add more cream as desired. Turn the heat down to its lowest setting and stir occasionally so that the sauce doesn't stick or congeal.

5. Scatter the mushroom slices over the fillets and pat down. If you have enough mushrooms to completely cover the fillets, then do so. Drizzle the lemon juice and white wine over the fillets. Place the fillets in the oven and bake uncovered for ten minutes.

6. Remove the fish from the oven and pour the butter sauce over the fillets. Place the fish back in the oven and cook until done, usually about 10-12 minutes longer. To test for doneness, stab the thickest fillet with a fork and twist gently. If the fish flakes apart, it is done. Do not under any circumstances overcook the fish. Serve immediately, preferably with a crusty bread, fresh salad or steamed vegetables, and glasses of whichever wine you used in the recipe.

This one takes about 30 minutes, serves two and usually impresses the hell out of people.

Buy a pound or so of Jumbo tiger shrimp (or the largest size you can afford).
Set the oven on broil.
Boil about half a box of linguine noodles.
Put the shrimp in a broiler-safe pan with a decent amount of olive oil in it.
Sprinkle the shrimp with garlic, cumin, paprika and/or cayenne pepper.
Broil the shrimp for about 5 minutes, but don't overcook ''em. You want ''em pink, not white.
Toss the cooked noodles with a little olive oil (garlic and butter if you prefer).
Serve the shrimps over the noodles with a bottle of wine.
Sex usually follows.

So many recipes so little space.

Herbed Fish from The British Museum Cookbook
This is easy and it got me an offer of marriage the first time I made it. Too bad I was already married to someone else.

1 fillet of fish I have found that salmon trout and bass are best, though it works on any fish
Fresh sprigs of Sage, Mint and Rosemary
Bay leaves
Olive oil or butter

Preheat the oven to 400F

Oil a pan
Put fillet in pan and score the fish in a crosshatch pattern
Alternate the herbs on the fish
Drizzle oil or place thin butter pats on top of the herbs
Cook on top rack in oven for 20 minutes

Enjoy!

sometimes I add a little black pepper, but it doesn't need it. If you live by the Chesapeake Bay, get some Rockfish. That one is my fav with this recipe.

*update*For the herbed fish recipe, if you can't get fresh herbs, dried is fine.

Prawn Salad, for the abominably HOT Prairie summer.

Requirements:
- 2-4lbs of uncooked prawns, 3in. long ones are good, roughly. Shelled or unshelled, it matters not.
- 1.5 uncooked leeks per lb of prawns
- 1 clove of garlic per lb of prawns
- Butter OR olive oil
- Mustard
- Mayonnaise
- Pepper
- Pickle brine
- Cayenne, paprika
- tabasco sauce
- worstershire sauce

To prepare:
- Finely dice ALL the garlic. Put the majority of it in the bottom of your pan with some olive oil or a decent pad of butter.
Fry the garlic until it starts to smell cooked, but before it starts to brown. Add more oil if you need some.

- Add all the prawns to the frypan. Fry them until they're fully cooked (they've all turned nice and orange). There will be a lot of liquid runoff during the cooking. Leave it in the frypan while they're cooking.

- While the prawns are cooking, strip the outside of the leeks, cut off both ends, and slice into rings approximately 0.2inches wide, or 4mm. You should have a fairly decent pile at this point.

- When the prawns are cooked, remove them from the frypan. Place them on to a cookie sheet and place in the fridge (if you expect to wait several hours), or the freezer (1 hour). Leave the juices in the bottom of the frypan.

- Separate the leeks, and fry them in the prawn juices ONLY until they JUST begin to soften. You do not want to cook them, only take the edge off their spice. This will be less than 3 minutes, usually.

- Remove the leeks from the frypan, put them on a similar cookie sheet, and into the fridge/freezer.

- Drain the remaining juices into a cup. Put the frypan away, you're done with it.

- When the prawns and leeks have cooled, shell the prawns (if necessary), and cut them into thirds.

- Put the prawns and the leeks into a suitably large dish. There should be equal portions, roughly, of prawns and leeks in the dish.

- Using a cup of decent size, put two tablespoons of mayonnaise in, with about a teaspoon of mustard, and 1-2 drops of worstershire sauce. Stir, with cayenne, paprika, pepper and tabasco to preference. Add the leftover juices from the prawns, as well as some pickle brine, until the mixture is thick, but pourable.

- Pour over the shrimp and leeks, and mix well.

- Repeat, until all prawns and leeks are fully coated. Ideally, there should be a mild excess, but the mixture should not be runny.

- Serve.

Serves 4-6, with teenage boys eating.
Serve with coleslaw or potato salad.

Ok, this is my last recipe thing for the day, then I'll leave it be, I swear.
Crawfish Dumplings
By the way, Craw rhimes with maw as in "I went to see Mawmaw, and we had crawfish."

This one holds a special place in my heart, since it was the first recipe I ever really derived all on my own (although I got a bit of help from AB). Just a warning, it takes a while to make, but if you have help to do an assembly line thingie it goes much, much quicker.

Hardware)
Fry Pan
large baking sheet
brush (optional)

Software)
Half lb boiled crawfish meat
half an scallions (onion if you don't have any), minced
cup of bell peppers, mixed varieties, minced
1 egg, beaten
2tsp ketchup
2tsp spicy cajun mustard (brown with seeds if you don't have any)
2tsb Worcestershire or soy
1tsb light brown sugar
salt,pepper,cayenne,hot sauce
soy sauce, corn starch (for dipping later)
pack of wonton wrappers
fish or chicken stock

Filling:
Mix the crawfish meat, scallions, peppers, egg, and spices all in a bowl. Mix them up really well.

Assembly:
Lay the wrappers out. Put a spoonful of the mixture in the center of a wrapper. Put a dab of water on one of the corners, and fold it over (so it looks like a triangle). Wet the two acute corners, and fold them together so you have kind of a hat looking shape. This is your dumpling.

Cook:
Heat the pan over medium-high. Brush olive oil over the pan. It should make some fun fry noises. Toss as many dumpling as you can fit, without them touching, in the pan. Cook for about two minutes. Add about a third of a cup of stock to the pan, and cover. Let the steam cook them for two more minutes. Remove the top, and move the dumplings to the baking rack. The oven should be pre-heated to warm (or 200F, whatever you got) Let the dumplings stay warm in the oven while you make the next batch. For the love of God, save the stock somewhere, you'll need it later. Repeat this process until all the dumplings are cooked.

Sauce:
Mix 2-3 tbs cornstarch with about a half cup of water. Add it to the saved stock. Add some hot sauce, some soy sauce, and some herbs you like (I enjoy cilantro here).

Eat:
Dip your dumplings in the sauce. Consume.

Note:
This makes a crapload of dumplings. You can freeze the uncooked ones and make them later. No harm done.

Tuna Salad Sandwich
2 cans of Solid White Tuna (not the chunk kind)
1/2 a basic onion
A bit of Fresh Dill
3/4 cup Almond slices
Mayo
Salt
Pepper
Oregano
Sandwich Bread/Roll

Spread out 1/2 to 3/4 cup of almond slices on an aluminum foil sheet and put in your toaster oven until they're brown, but not black. If you don't have a toaster oven, use a baking pan in the oven, and yell "OVERKILL" while you are doing it. I suggest watching them carefully.
Dice up the onion so that you've got about 1/8 cup of onion. The smaller the better, unless you like surprises. I try to go for 2 mm cubes.
Dice up enough dill so you've got enough for about 8-10 pinches.
Open up tuna cans and drain the water, put in a medium mixing bowl.
Throw in 2-3 tablespoons of mayo.
Mix them together.
Now throw in onion, almond slices, dill, and as much salt, pepper, and oregano as you'd care for.
Mix them together.
Put on sandwich bread, tablespoon or fork works well for this. If you use sandwich bread (the type with 20 or so slices in a loaf) then you can get 2 sandwiches out of this if you pack it in really well, 3 if you don't.