Bean and Legume

This terrine is a beautiful — and unusual — way to showcase fresh summer vegetables. While there's nothing like truly fresh peas, if what's available seems particularly starchy, use frozen instead.

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).

In Malaysian cuisine, at least one pickled dish (acar) is offered with every meal — it provides a bold flavor contrast to the other dishes. Our recipe isn't traditional, but it serves the same purpose.

If you're making your vinaigrette with white-wine vinegar, use 1/2 teaspoon sugar (instead of 1/4 teaspoon) to balance the higher acidity.

Merluza en Salsa Verde Steaks work best for this recipe, but you can substitute fillets with skin. Slowly cooking the fish over low heat while swirling the pot releases the gelatin in the skin and bones, which emulsifies the sauce.

Be sure to use fresh spring peas for this classic side dish. Save the frozen ones for something else.

Fagiolini in Umido Many versions of this simple, fresh, and flavorful contorno (vegetable side dish) are served in Italy. Lightly braising the green beans cooks them to a pleasingly crisp yet tender texture.

The quality of the ricotta made near Florence inspired cooks there to create these dumplings. Seasonal leeks add their earthiness to the gnocchi, and bright green favas sautéed in butter with sage are the edible garnish.

Ricotta and Asparagus Ravioli with Green Pea Sauce In spring, the Roman markets are vivid with the bright green of the baby peas and young asparagus that grow in the volcanic soils of Lazio and neighboring Campania. Here's a fresh idea for combining both vegetables in a dinner-party-worthy dish.

Pasta and ChickPea Soup with Clams Roman osterias served this dish every Tuesday. It's an unusual way to combine ingredients from land and sea in one recipe. Follow with a green salad for an easy lunch or dinner.

This recipe uses what is known in Indian cooking as a tarka — hot oil seasoned with spices, which are added in sequence to infuse their flavors. The tarka is either incorporated at the beginning of a recipe or poured, sizzling, over a finished dish, as we do here, to impart another layer of flavor.

Pea tendrils taste like a cross between peas and spinach and are used in Chinese cooking, where they are called dau miu. Find them at farmers' markets and Asian markets. Spinach or watercress can be substituted for pea tendrils in this lovely green dish.