Cucumber

Serve the salmon with steamed rice tossed with shelled edamame (fresh green soybeans). Market tip: Choose wild Alaskan salmon, which is abundant and well regulated. Farmed salmon is controversial; salmon farms pollute wild salmon habitats and spread disease to wild salmon stocks.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires additional sitting time.

A Vietnamese-style salad that makes a refreshing accompaniment to any kind of barbecued meat.

If you prefer, you can pile the lamb and salad on top of a larger pocketless pita for an open-face sandwich and drizzle with sauce. Pocketless pitas are sold at specialty foods shops and many supermarkets. Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 45 min

A delicious alternative to gefilte fish. Have the fishmonger fillet the whitefish.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. We used osetra caviar for this hors d'oeuvre, but feel free to substitute your favorite. Any leftover caviar can be used to brighten up a number of dishes, from scrambled eggs to pasta.

Sweet, salty, and spicy, nuoc cham is the indispensable sauce of Vietnam's cuisine. It's a favorite dipping sauce for spring rolls and for fresh rice-paper rolls such as these.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

One of the layers in this delicious salad is lightly pickled sweet-and-sour cucumbers, a favorite throughout Denmark. They do need to marinate overnight, so make sure you start this recipe a day ahead of time.

It's important to use large lettuce leaves (about 6 inches) for this salad, so you may need to buy 2 heads of lettuce in order to get 6 good leaves. Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 45 min

After lingonberry preserves, these pickled cucumbers are the most popular condiment in Scandinavia. They are a traditional accompaniment to Swedish Meatballs, simple salmon dishes, and roasts and other meats. They are even served with frankfurters sold at street kiosks, much like the sauerkraut that often tops the hot dogs sold here.