After-Work Gourmet by Lisa Messinger

Kids use picture books as an easy way to follow a story. Exact words and details don't matter as much as getting the gist of what's going on. Surprisingly, food photographs can serve as similarly simple guideposts.

For instance, I don't know Food Network star Bobby Flay's recipe for Grilled Shrimp on Tortillas with Avocado Relish, but have made the delicious dish many times. I was flipping through People magazine and saw the mouthwatering catch swimming in a large golden serving tray; I knew I could easily emulate it with my own ingredients on hand and convenience products.

To imitate the photo, I brush corn tortillas with a little olive oil, heat them until slightly crisp and carefully cut them into triangles. I then top with store-bought guacamole I swirled with a tiny amount of sweet pickle relish or green tomatillo salsa, and then crown with shrimp I've quickly grilled and dusted with a dash of packaged taco or burrito seasoning or seasoned salt.

Sometimes, it's just getting the idea for innovative ingredient combinations from food photos that can inspire while saving many steps. Fine Cooking magazine recently published its 100th issue with a dazzling photo of a colorful corn and blueberry compote topping a sweet corn cake. Their recipe is fairly easy, but I've also just tossed together some fresh corn kernels and blueberries with a dash of maple syrup — a mixture I never would have thought of if I hadn't seen the eye-popping photo — and used it as a crown on corn bread, rice pudding, plain yogurt and even chicken breast.

I also would not have thought to use a dressed olive oil/balsamic vinegar romaine salad as a topping for bruschetta if I hadn't seen it in the new cookbook, "The New American Olive Oil: Profiles of Artisan Producers and 75 Recipes" by Fran Gage (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $29.95). That recipe isn't even in the book — it's just shown in the instructive photograph, where I also saw a caramelized onion bruschetta that had me making similar simple plans.

Our favorite markets and restaurants can also do the trick when it comes to inspirational eye candy that requires no lengthy recipes. I often see the appealing cashew chicken breasts under glass at Gelson's, a gourmet California supermarket chain. It inspired me to paint some cooked skinless breasts with store-bought pesto and roll them in finely chopped cashews.

Serendipity is a New York City institution famous for its ice cream concoctions and other confections. The most known is its "Original Outrageously Divine Frrrozen Hot Chocolate," of which owner Stephen Bruce once wrote, "It's famous, it's infamous, it's notorious. Marriages have been proposed over it, couples have been wed in it, princes have been made from it. People have traveled from all over the world for just one sip of our creamy, dreamy, icy blend of chocolatey goodness.

It'll make you want to blow bubbles through your straw. It makes everyone a child again."

Even before Bruce and his partners started selling mixes and finally published an at-home convenience rendition of the once top-secret blend, an easy version emerged, just from looking at it as you sipped it in their parlor or saw a photo of it online. Chop some of your favorite fine chocolates, melt them and combine with your favorite hot chocolate mix and sugar, to taste. When heated, stir in whole milk, to taste. Whir in a blender with ice until smooth.

Fortunately, for gourmets who are always on the go-go-go, if we take note, there are tasty visual cues that can be copied almost everywhere.

CARAMELIZED ONION AND BALSAMIC VINEGAR BRUSCHETTA

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

2 large onions (about 2 pounds), peeled, halved and thinly sliced

(Preferably fine sea) salt, to taste

Balsamic vinegar, to taste

4 slices grilled or toasted Italian bread

Preferably fleur de sel or salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Yields 4 servings.

Heat 4 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet over high heat until it trembles, becomes aromatic and easily coats the bottom of the pan. Add the onions and turn the heat to very low. Sprinkle with salt. Cook the onions uncovered, stirring occasionally, until they are the color of a polished mahogany table, about 1 hour. They will shrink dramatically.

Carefully transfer the onions to a bowl and let them cool. Add balsamic vinegar drop by drop until the flavor of the onions is complex, but not vinegary. Sprinkle with fleur de sel if needed.

Brush the bread with the remaining 2 tablespoons oil.

Put a generous pile of onions on each slice of bread. Add a few grindings of pepper and serve immediately.

— "The New American Olive Oil: Profiles of Artisan Producers and 75 Recipes" by Fran Gage (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $29.95).

CORN-BLUEBERRY COMPOTE

1 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons dried lavender

1 1/4 cups fresh corn kernels (from about 2 medium ears)

1 cup fresh blueberries

Yields about 8 servings.

Combine sugar and 2/3 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring frequently until the sugar has dissolved completely. Remove from the heat. Add the lavender and stir to combine. Let infuse for 10 minutes, then strain the syrup into a small bowl and let cool. When ready to serve, stir the corn and blueberries into the syrup. Good as a topping for corn bread, rice pudding, yogurt or grilled chicken.

— Fine Cooking magazine

Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the author of seven food books, including "Mrs. Cubbison's Best Stuffing Cookbook" and "The Sourdough Bread Bowl Cookbook." She also writes the Creators News Service "Cooks' Books" column. To find out more about Lisa Messinger and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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