Leafy Greens

These get a lift from allspice, too.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Though detested on lawns, dandelions are now cultivated commercially and are widely available at farmers markets and supermarkets. Great additions to this salad are red onion and shaved Parmesan.

Here's a terrific salad with the bold tastes of cilantro and cumin. Cold beer is the ideal beverage go-with.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Editors' note: The original recipe calls for Chinese wheat noodles, but we also like this soup made with somen (Japanese thin wheat noodles) or soba (Japanese buckwheat noodles).

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 15 min.

Cold steak from last weekend's cookout would taste great sliced and laid over this salad.

It used to be that beets were sent to the market without the greens, which had been discarded. Now both are sold, often separately. Your best bet is to buy beets that have the greens intact; that way, you can partner this unique sweet and savory pasta with the perfect side dish: roasted fresh beets.

The original recipe for oysters Rockefeller, created at the New Orleans restaurant Antoine's in 1899, remains a secret to this day. The appetizer, oysters topped with a mixture of finely chopped greens and copious amounts of butter and then baked in their shells, was considered so rich that it had to be named after the richest man of the day, John D. Rockefeller. A few years later, no self-respecting restaurateur would be without his own version on the menu. This lighter take features spinach, watercress, green onions and grated Parmesan.

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 45 min (includes cooling onion)

This recipe is a yummy one-pot entrée from The Elements of Taste, by Gray Kunz and Peter Kaminsky. The secret here is browning the meat.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

A simple aquavit-spiked version of the classic French sausage and sauerkraut dish.