Salad

This is the standard salad-relish you find in every tavern and restaurant in Istanbul. It accompanies grilled meat and especially kebabs. Turkish food is often eaten with a spoon, and so is this salad—all its ingredients are finely chopped. Instead of a simple lemon vinaigrette, which is the most common dressing, I like to add a little balsamic vinegar and lemon zest. Add as much jalapeño as you like, but bear in mind that this Turkish salsa is meant to be refreshing and not overpoweringly hot.

A good bread salad soaks up the juices from the tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar, and all the other seductive flavors that go into a really top-flight panzanella, and I love it! The tomatoes should be at their juicy, high-summer peak and the bread bakery-fresh, with a pleasingly soft crumb and chewy crust. My recipe not only calls for the best tomatoes and bread, but also relies on green, fruity, extra virgin olive oil, zesty red wine vinegar, salty capers, and freshly grated lemon zest. (I use a microplane when I zest citrus fruit and I highly recommend you do the same.) I also add other vegetables such as red onion, bell peppers, and fennel, garden-fresh basil, and some inky black olives for a salad bursting with summer.

Texas cowboys and cowgirls dip their egg sandwiches in this stuff for breakfast, they dunk their fried onion rings in it at lunch, and they cover their broccoli with it at dinner. It's the ultimate dipping sauce for cold pizza, the perfect accompaniment to crudités, and—oh, yeah—it's also a salad dressing. Once you learn how to make your own ranch dressing, you'll save yourself a fortune on the stuff. And it's really easy. You can even use yogurt instead of sour cream to make a low-fat version. Add some minced herbs from your garden if you like. Chives are another great addition.

Salumi refers to all dry-cured Italian-style meats and sausages. Great chefs such as Tom Colicchio, Lidia Bastianich, Mario Batali, and Paul Bertolli are introducing them to a new generation of Americans, who may not realize what an incredible variety is available. Thanks to these chefs for bringing this artisan tradition back to the culinary fore. What an inspiration! One summer when I traveled in Italy, I was served salumi with peaches just about everywhere I went and although it was a combination I had never before tried, it made perfect and delicious sense and stayed with me after I returned to Chicago.

We've been making tabbouleh for years, but when Fran's Iranian friend Parvine Latimore made it for a special party, we both changed our recipes. Parvine used extra lemon juice and more fresh herbs than we were used to. The result was incredible—a delicious taste of lemon with every bite of grain and a burst of freshness from the blend of fresh herbs with every mouthful.

Yes, the paper-thin disks of raw beet will spill their pink color across the escarole and frisée dressed with a lusty vinaigrette, but don't fret—those splashes are part of this simple salad's charm.

Wheat berries are whole wheat kernels that become appealingly chewy when cooked, and bulgur, a Middle Eastern staple, is crushed dried wheat kernels (best known as the basis for tabbouleh). Together they make a nutritious and satisfying salad (the grains are hearty and filling) that can stand alone as a meal or work as a side dish with grilled lamb chops or crispy seared fish. I’ve called for celery hearts because I love their sweetness, but regular stalks of celery work just fine.

Skip the wine—this salad is perfect with a Belgian ale. Saint Andréis a soft, ripened cheese much like Brie or Camembert. Either cheese would make a good substitute.

The bright flavors are a nice counterpoint to rich foods.

A rich meal calls for a crisp salad, in shades of green and white, to cleanse your palate. Radish sprouts add a peppery bite to the crunchy jicama and flat leaves of parsley and celery.

While it may sound unusual, the buttery flavor and texture of avocado really complement robust fish such as mackerel. Pleasantly bitter radicchio, delicate yet deep-flavored parsley, and a mustardy vinaigrette balance the richness.

This spinach salad speaks to all the wonderful autumnal flavors of the Pacific Northwest. The new crop of bronzed Bosc pears is piled high at the farmers' market; the hazelnuts have been harvested, shelled, and bagged for sale; and the cranberries arrive from the Long Beach, Washington, coastal bogs. I buy sweetened dried cranberries from a local producer, but they are readily available at the grocery store (Ocean Spray is a good-quality packager), found alongside raisins and other dried fruits. This salad is a snap to assemble if you buy the packaged prewashed and trimmed baby spinach.

Thinly sliced red onion adds flavor and color to this light tuna salad.

This light salad is pretty enough for a dinner party.

This fall salad balances earthy, tangy, sweet, and creamy flavors.

A great sauce to serve with tongue , this is essentially a mayonnaise, but the egg yolks are cooked instead of raw. I like to make a lot and then keep it in the refrigerator to eat with cold ham too. It's also good as a salad dressing.

This zesty salad is big on beans and packs plenty of protein and vitamins!

Juicy, crunchy cucumbers lighten the starch in a rice salad, and lemony coriander accentuates the citrus in the vinaigrette. So-called Persian cukes seem especially beautiful against a background of exotic purple jasmine rice. This is a party dish for which, no doubt, you will become justly famous.