Green Bean

Offer this hearty and satisfying salad with grilled lamb or tuna.

A pretty and refreshing composed salad that can be made using only one skillet.

The success of this dish depends entirely on the quality of your ingredients. Now's the time to use your best olive oil, freshly ground pepper, and a generous amount of a flavorful sea salt.

I, who struggled for years to achieve perfectly cooked, lively green beans love Aunt Enza's overstewed green beans, soft, almost creamy, tasting of bean, cooked far beyond crunch. Although Aunt Enza cooks the green beans in an onion and garlic-flavored tomato sauce she pointed out that leftover green beans can be subjected to the same treatment. Aunt Enza has a heavy Tuscan hand with extra virgin. I've cut down on the oil but my husband Massimo always adds a little extra at the table.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Active time: 50 min Start to finish: 50 min

This salad was inspired by a classic Salade Niçoise with its fresh anchovies, potatoes and green beans, and one offered to me by Alice Waters, owner of Chez Panisse, who comes to France every year to avail herself of, among other things, the fine green beans of summer.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. If fingerling potatoes are not available, small red potatoes, halved, may be substituted.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Sortilège is a blend of Canadian whiskey and maple syrup. Here it infuses the chestnuts with maple flavor and picks up the sweetness of the green beans. Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 1 hr

Grape tomatoes are smaller than cherry tomatoes. If you’re using cherry tomatoes, cut them in half for this dish.

Colorful, refreshing and delicious.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Ginger and crushed red pepper help round out the Thai theme of this quick dish.

This recipe offers a prime example of cooking à la minute because the entire dish can be prepared and executed very quickly. (It also uses few enough ingredients that you could purchase all of them in the express lane of your local supermarket on the way home from work.) After sautéeing the halibut, the fish is removed from the pan, which is then deglazed with white wine and fresh lemon juice. Butter is swirled in gradually to yield a rich, flavorful sauce — punctuated by scallions, capers, and diced tomato — that is simply poured over the fish; its pleasing citric acidity and buttery richness make it a perfect foil for the halibut.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.