Quick Cuisine: 2easy and Elegant Recipes for Every Occasion

As cooking teacher Clark ( Ann Clark's Fabulous Fish ) relates, ``Years ago, I cut my teeth in the kitchen on the most complicated classic and ethnic dishes I could find in cookbooks . . . dishes that took hours and sometimes days to prepare. They were works of art.'' Difficulty may have been Clark's forte, but simplicity was her preference, she says--and, in this case, simple meant fast. Clark's book is her way of spreading the faith, as well as sharing the food. Here, speed does not require the microwave oven, which tends to change ``the texture of many foods.'' Rather, speed calls for good planning, the necessary equipment and supplies, and (always helpful and in process) experience. Working within those rubrics, Clark cooks up a range of delicious stuff with a decidedly international accent, from Thai cucumber salad to grits, venison Stroganoff, carpaccio with lemon-shallot mayonnaise and whole-wheat Irish soda bread. Author tour. (Mar.)