Salads

 

Bitter greens with candied lemon peel, pine nuts, balsamico, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese become a salad destined for the holidays.

This salad is delicious for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It's easy to make (particularly if you have cooked farro on hand), healthy, and satisfying. To add more spice, fold preserved Calabrian chiles or pickled chiles into the farro in place of the Aleppo pepper. If you're an anchovy fan, add some chopped anchovy to the saute pan along with the garlic. In place of the broccoli raab, try toasted broccoli or cauliflower. Or prepare the salad without the eggs and add a handful of tiny cubes of aged or fresh pecorino.

This healthy salad belongs in every summer refrigerator. It’s just right for a light lunch or as a side with summer’s grilled fare. In hot weather, don’t hesitate to open cans of organic beans rather than heating up your kitchen.

Crisp jicama and unripe mango with hot chile and lime are naturals together. And in a salad they refresh like nothing else.

This salad is a natural for buffets because it can stand at room temperature for a couple of hours.

Native to North America, the sunchoke is a tuber with a mild flavor similar to that of new potatoes or chestnuts. In many Native communities, sunchokes, which grow from the roots of a sunflower species, are dug up in fall after the first frost, and are eaten raw or cooked like a potato. Cherokee cooks make sunchoke pickles and preserves.

When we walk in the door in the evening beyond tired and crunched for time, this salad has stepped up for dinner so many times we've lost count. It's made for improvising with what you have on hand: toss in coarsely crushed salted almonds, dried cherries, or Craisins; add slices of leftover chicken breast or grilled shrimp; anything goes.

Few salads are as versatile and rich in antioxidants as this colorful slaw. Since it keeps well, you can make it well ahead and savor its sharp-sweet flavor for several days.