Salad

Requiring a scant 20 minutes of prep time, chef Don Jakubowski's flavorful starter salad delivers more than a burst of color: The spinach packs beta-carotene and lutein for healthy eyes; the raspberries, oranges, and carrots add fiber; and the red bell pepper offers vitamin C.

Great with: Grilled lobster, shrimp, or filet mignon.

Great with: Grilled hoisin-glazed ribs, pork chops, or chicken satay.

For a main-course salad, add some grilled shrimp or chicken and diced papaya.

To make this fresh American rendition of panzanella (the Italian bread-and-tomato salad), bake the cornbread one day ahead so that it will be firm enough to toast on the grill.

A bold medley of cumin, cayenne, corn, and cilantro ups the flavor here. Great with: Grilled-fish tacos, steak fajitas, or chipotle-rubbed chicken.

Great with: Grilled rib-eye steak.

This light and refreshing slaw is best eaten the day it's made, chilled or at room temperature.

Nothing can beat greens from the farmers market — they're so beautiful, delicate, and fresh, you simply can't help buying some.

The longer you let the vinaigrette stand, the spicier the kick from the chiles. And we know the dressing calls for a lot of thyme, but we loved the result.

This healthful vegetarian dish would be perfect for a picnic. To speed prep time, use trimmed sugar snap peas with the strings removed (find them in the produce section of many supermarkets).

Alexis Watson of Irvine, California, writes: "You could say I'm a bit obsessive when it comes to cooking. Often I'll take a particular recipe and spend months perfecting it, as I've done with the Caesar salad here. My wife wanted an easy do-ahead dressing that was creamy but didn't use egg yolks. Now we make this salad several times a week, so it was certainly well worth the effort."

Known in Asia as Shaking Beef Salad, or bo luc lac, this Vietnamese classic is made by shaking — essentially searing — steak in a very hot pan. Jasmine rice or brown rice would be ideal alongside.