Frisée

Buy cooked fresh lobster meat and you can whip this salad together in about 30 minutes. Cooking your own lobster, however, not only ensures the freshest flavor and the tenderest meat, but you get more bang for the buck—you can use the lobster shells to make stock and lobster oil.

Smoked duck adds elegance to this salad. Smoked turkey would also work well.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

The greens for the following salad may be washed and spun dry a day in advance and kept wrapped in paper towels in a plastic bag and chilled. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

At her restaurant, Lynch includes black truffle in the vinaigrette for this salad, but it's so flavorful as it is that we didn't feel the truffle was necessary.

(Green Salad with Roquefort Toasts) Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. The secret to this take on salad lyonnaise is very fresh eggs. If the slab bacon you're using is particularly lean, add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil to the skillet when cooking.

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 15 min

Insalata di Radicchio, Frisée, e Carciofi Including raw artichokes in a salad is an Italian trademark — their flavor is fresher and milder than that of cooked artichokes. Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 1 hr

Judy Rodgers is currently working on a cookbook from her Zuni Café in San Francisco. Grilling the mushrooms for this salad (which will appear in the new book) intensifies their flavor. Active time: 35 min Start to finish: 35 min

Arugula's bold flavor and the texture of curly frisée team up in this simple salad.

When dressing a salad in the classic Italian style, each vinaigrette ingredient is tossed individually with the greens in a specific order, rather than being whisked together. Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 20 min