Root Vegetable

Serve this no-frills feast with cold beer and bowls of melted butter and steaming broth for dipping. The broth cleans the clams, particularly steamers, of any stubborn grains of sand. To serve 4, halve the recipe and divide ingredients equally between two large (8-10 quart) pots.

Soy Free Tabbouleh, tabouli, tabouleh, taboolee . . . however you wanna spell it, it spells YUM! It has a clean, light flavor that just tastes healthy. If you have a food processor, now is the time to use it.

This is one of my favorite burgers. The charred onions develop a deep sweetness that perfectly counterbalances the earthy, slightly sour character of the rye bread and the nutty flavor of the Swiss cheese. This is a first-class knife-and-fork burger that you will want to eat again and again.

You can find sumac, a lemony spice, at Middle Eastern markets, specialty foods stores, and wholespice.com

Punch up the classic backyard cookout side with sautéed leeks and mustard seeds.

Candy-stripe beets (also known as Chioggia beets) won't bleed into this yogurt dressing as their red cousins would, so they make this summer slaw beautiful. They're available in better supermarkets and at farmers' markets.

Our update of the Waldorf salad has so much crunch, we skipped the walnuts. Serve with grilled pork, fish, or chicken.

Using a combination of red, white, and yellow carrots will make this slaw even more striking.

This dish is truly indestructible because the cutlets marinate in lots of yogurt, olive oil, and salt. That way they stay juicy, briny, and flavorful. Because they're pounded thin, they cook quickly and evenly, so there's not a lot of time spent poking and prodding and stressing about whether they're done.

We love this marinade on Kalbi . Try it for an Asian twist.

Leeks are easy to cultivate, but they do require a long growing season. This soup is one of the easiest to prepare, and it gets a colorful boost with the addition of fresh spinach leaves.

A quick pickle is a shortcut to flavor, a little bit of bite and texture in a jar. Never use aluminum bowls or utensils when pickling; the acid reacts to the metal.

First, tenderize the octopus by simmering it at a low boil for about an hour (ignore the myths about adding vinegar or a cork from a bottle of wine). Then char it on the grill to crisp the skin.

Briny shellfish give this quick bouillabaisse its depth of flavor. Basil rouille (a garlicky Provençal mayonnaise) adds vibrancy.

A bone-in rib eye requires nothing more than salt, pepper, and a hot grill. (Though to make it even more sublime, serve with scallions that have been tossed in olive oil and salt and given a quick char.) These steps can be applied to most cuts; you'll need to cook a thicker steak for more time and a thin one for less, but the principles are the same: Build a two-zone fire so you can sear it over hot embers, then finish cooking over medium-low to keep it juicy. Master this technique, and you've mastered grilling.

Serve this succulent slaw as a side or condiment for grilled chicken or pork. Use slightly underripe fruits, which julienne better than soft, juicy ones.

Enough to marinate 2 pounds of pork (tenderloin, shoulder, or bone-in chops) or fish (firm, white-fleshed fish such as sea bass; shrimp or scallops)

Anthony Ross, executive chef at the Langham Hotel in Melbourne, once took me on a tour of the kitchen. The food there is amazing and so I asked Anthony for his recipe for pork belly tandoori as it is my favorite. He said it was quite funny because in India pork isn't really seen as a popular choice for tandoori, but in Australia it is his bestseller. I have changed the pork belly to loin as it suits the grill better.