Salads

Forget deep-fried noodles: Miso dressing gives this hearty vegetable meal flavor minus the saturated fat.

This twist on a classic salade Niçoise uses smoked salmon in place of tuna and adds extra vegetables in place of hard-boiled eggs and olives. Lovely served as an untraditional brunch, special weekend lunch or light supper.

Special equipment: 2 (12-inch) wooden skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes 

Buck's tuna salad is made with dolphin-safe dry-pack albacore tuna, which goes into an electric mixer with mayo, onion, and celery. Because it's in a mixer instead of a food processor, you get flakes of fish and it never turns to mush. There's just enough mayo to hold it together, and the celery and red onion seem insignificant - until you taste. It has the right amount of crunch and onion bite. Like Buck's tuna salad at Whole Foods, this is made in a mixer. Make two cans at once, so the beaters can whir the salad properly. The tuna should not be pureed or pasty, but a little flaky.

Fruit salad, often left to the folks at the supermarket, can achieve dressy status with fresh mint, a drizzle of lime juice, and honey. Rather than tossing this salad in a bowl, melons and berries are arranged on a platter and sprinkled with lime juice, honey, and fresh mint.

If the idea of tomatoes and watermelon together sounds odd to you, this dish will be a revelation. There is a saying that what grows together goes together, and in this case it is true. If you think of tomatoes as a fruit, which they are botanically, this combination makes more sense. Seasonality, however, is the key. I make this salad only in the summer, when tomatoes, watermelon, and cucumbers are at their peak of flavor. Rich, creamy Hass avocadoes are included to lend a nice contrast of flavor and texture.

Radicchio is a type of chicory with an alluring bittersweet flavor. The variety called Treviso, so named for its growing region in Italy, has tapering, wine-colored leaves. Its charm increases exponentially when it's cooked—in this case, broiled—and tossed with a sweet balsamic dressing. Fresh basil and a dollop of creamy ricotta round everything out.

Quintessential Greek flavors—feta, lemon and dill—combine perfectly in this hearty salad. To complete the Mediterranean mood, try pairing it with a Greek Retsina or a Portuguese Vinho Verde. 

The cabbage in this dish, which is flavored with ginger, should be sliced thinly into shreds, as for coleslaw.