No-Cook

For the spread on this sandwich, we mix the cream cheese with a full-flavored blue, but you could mix in Major Grey’s chutney instead for a tasty alternative. I like to roast a whole bone-in turkey breast and serve it one night for dinner, then use the rest for sandwiches or salad. However, any good-quality precooked sliced turkey breast will work. I would eat this with a bowl of Cream of Celery Soup (p. 141) for an easy, comforting weeknight dinner.

This refreshing summer salad—a play of sweet and salty flavors—was inspired by some friends of mine reminiscing about the food they ate on a trip to Israel, where the pairing of fresh melon and feta cheese is fairly common. I was never one to sprinkle salt on my watermelon, but somehow with the addition of cucumber and citrus dressing, the contrast is incredibly refreshing.

If you’re making this salad ahead of time, you’ll want to lightly salt the cucumbers, let them sit in a colander to drain for 10 minutes, drain, then pat dry with a paper towel. If you’re going to serve this salad right away, you can skip that step.

Just in case you’ve been wondering what to do with that walnut oil that someone gave you for Christmas …

Caesar salads may be ubiquitous on menus of all stripes, but a truly memorable one can be hard to find. Our version is unique because it pairs the usual romaine with arugula, which adds a peppery bite. I omit the anchovies from the dressing in favor of tossing them with the salad because I like the texture and the intense bites of salty flavor. Feel free to make this salad more substantial (and savory) with the addition of grilled chicken, shrimp, or even fried oysters. Adding a raw egg yolk to the dressing is optional, but it will create a richer, more stable body.

This irresistible combination of pungent and sweet flavors—figs, blue cheese, walnuts, and deeply flavored sherry vinaigrette—explains why this house salad flies out the door at Herbsaint.

Chances are that this irresistible green salad, one of the simplest recipes in this book, will fit into your dinner repertoire several times a week. At Bayona we use a mix of lolo rosso, red oak, frisée, Boston or Bibb, red leaf, watercress, and radicchio lettuces. The dressing, which gets a sweet-tart kick from two types of vinegar, mustard, and honey, really makes this salad sing. A small portion of an assertive cheese, like Grana Padano or crumbled blue cheese, will add an appealing sharpness.

There are two versions of remoulade. French remoulade means celery root remoulade, a beloved bistro slaw bound in a creamy white mustard-mayo dressing. But in New Orleans, classic remoulade is red and more of a vinaigrette, made with two traditional spices, paprika and cayenne, and balanced with plenty of celery and parsley that provide a fresh, clean crunch. This remoulade is my favorite way to eat chilled, boiled shrimp, crab, or crayfish, but the dressing is also great on crabmeat or on a simple boiled egg, sliced in half and served atop crisp shredded lettuce.

Once you master a classic vinaigrette, the variations in flavor—and the things you can drizzle it over—are endless. What follows are my all-time favorite dressings, but feel free to alter the recipes to include your favorite vinegar, citrus juice, mustard, or herb. You’ll find a range of dressing personalities to suit just about every salad under the sun.

This dressing is delicious with a ripe tomato salad, Bibb lettuce, and fried popcorn shrimp or crayfish tails.

If you love mayonnaise as much as I do, you will love this silky Greek fish roe spread, since it’s basically a salty, lemony mayonnaise made with coral-colored carp roe (also called tarama), which is available in most stores that sell Greek or Mediterranean products. It may sound unusual, but this aromatic puree is absolutely addictive. It’s particularly satisfying with bone-dry white wine, Seasoned Pita Crisps (p. 89), and crunchy vegetables such as carrots, celery, and fennel. Or serve a creamy dollop with sliced smoked salmon on toast points. If you’ve never worked with tarama, you’ll find it drier and more firmly packed than caviar, but it crumbles easily in a food processor.