Bread Crumbs

After nearly two decades of operation, the Wainscott Seafood Shop, on the eastern end of Long Island, followed a customer's suggestion and began collecting recipes from its summer clientele. Before long, owner John Haessler found himself waist-deep in recipes for just about everything from monkfish to mussels. These were turned over to Beth Harris, the shop's producer of soups, who combined them with her own recipes and went on to write The Wainscott Seafood Shop Cookbook (Random House, $19.95)

If you want to eat well, you have to be open to opportunity. Who knows when there'll be a sale on avocados or when the fish market will suddenly have fresh sturgeon? Who knows when a request for "whatever you've got in the way of meat," made in the summer to a local organic farmer who raises all her animals without chemical additives or antibiotics, will result in a great many pounds of extremely tasty ground lamb? Of course, if you want to eat well and also do something with your life besides toil over a hot stove, it pays to think along the lines of Big Vat of Something Good That Can Be Frozen in Portions and Modified Into a Number of Dishes.

The virtue of clarified butter is that it can withstand higher cooking temperatures than unclarified butter. That means it will not burn as easily, making it a better medium for sauteing and browning foods. Another plus is that clarified butter keeps longer than regular butter. Though some cooks might miss the buttery flavor that's lost in the clarifying process, an interesting, subtle, nutty flavor takes its place. Clarified butter is made by simply melting butter slowly so that the milk solids sink to the bottom of the pan in the form of a residue.

Derby's Wheel Pump Inn seemingly has been around forever, a popular family restaurant with modest food, affordable prices and semi-friendly service. A Montgomery County landmark since the early 1700s, the inn has become a popular family gathering place on Sundays or special occasions. The Erdenheim restaurant has earned fame since the 1981 installation of an enormous 17th century-style painting of plump, cavorting nudes, spotlighted between massive oak Corinthian columns behind a marvelous Victorian second- floor bar. The downstairs dining rooms for the most part are serviceable but lackluster.

With the party season upon us, it pays to have a repertoire of knockout hors d'oeuvres that can be rustled up well in advance. And quickly. Nothing could be easier - or more elegant - than these two party pates, which microwave to perfection if you follow our directions exactly. One is compounded of beans, nuts, cheese and bread crumbs (vegetarians, take note), and the other is a silky spread buzzed up out of chicken livers. But first, a tip or two about microwaving chicken livers.

It clearly is no accident that the Olive Garden is an enormous success, for with good food, an attractive setting, friendly service and low prices, it can't miss. Open since June, the restaurant across Easton Road from the Willow Grove Park mall serves northern and southern Italian cuisine in a pleasant, vaguely Mediterranean setting. The several informal dining rooms with rough-plastered, whitewashed walls and graceful archways are brightened with tiers of real ferns nestled in Spanish moss.

If you've never tried microwaving artichokes, you're in for a treat. Not only do they cook faster than you would have dreamed possible, they taste terrific. That's because they steam in their own fragrant vapor and don't get waterlogged in a kettle of boiling water. Here's the basic method plus an elegant stuffed artichoke recipe that's perfect for a first course. Choose 6- to 8-ounce globe artichokes, cut stems flush with bottoms, snip off prickly petal tips and rub cut edges with lemon.

If you enjoy cooking from scratch, making your own condiments and preparing the standards of American cooking, then Home-Cooking Sampler: Family Favorites from A to Z (Prentice Hall, $19.95) is your type of cookbook. Peggy K. Glass presents an overview of those classic, everyday family meals, ranging from macaroni and cheese to Boston cream pie. With her guidance, making ketchups and graham crackers becomes more fun than chore. "Family food is the heart of home," writes the cooking school teacher, caterer and food writer.

Have you every been bitten by a chicken? Today we share some prize poultry favorites famous for biting back! These hot and spicy specialties are perfect party-goers - but not for the tender-tongued. Their flamboyant flavor more than makes up for an appealing lack of excess calories, however. All of these dishes are relatively low in fat and far less fattening than the usual party fare. These spicy Italian-inspired chicken bites are ideal for holiday entertaining. Serve them hot, speared with party picks, surrounding a bowl of spicy tomato sauce for dipping.

The rejuvenation of the Downtown Cafe reflects the welcome changes under way in Conshohocken these days. Formerly a neighborhood bar with a limited lunch menu, the renovated Cafe has instituted a delightful dinner menu and offers good food in a charming, friendly atmosphere. Open only a few weeks, the restaurant is decorated in pink and blue pastels. Powder-blue booths are bathed in bright lights from hanging lamps with beautiful tulip-shaped, fringed shades imprinted with spring flowers.