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Toasted coriander seeds and radishes give this salad — a twist on the classic frisée aux lardons — an appealing spiciness. In typical French fashion, the salad is served after the main course and before dessert. Accompany this with fougasse, a large Provençal flatbread, or other French bread.

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.

This salad yields generous portions. Combined with a loaf of crusty bread, it’s easily a meal in itself.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Tossed with your best-quality olive oil, this simple salad needs no vinegar or lemon juice to taste unbelievably good. For extra crunch, mix in tender shoots from the farmers market.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

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.

The rice-shaped pasta orzo is sometimes labeled riso or rosamarina.

When sweet, succulent jumbo crabmeat comes into season, this is an incredibly simple, light, and refreshing first course that requires no cooking. It can also be used as a main course for a summer luncheon.

I just happen to love Pickapeppa sauce, and putting some of it in mayonnaise is easy, as would be adding Indian lime pickle, or mango chutney, plus hot sauce for a bit of heat, or even beet horseradish. For a more surprising visual effect and a more complex dish, instead of halving the eggs, cut off the tops and bottoms, scoop out the yolks without damaging the whites, make the deviled yolk mix, then put it in a pastry bag and fill the eggs by piping the egg mixture back into the hollowed-out whites. Serve them standing up with the mayonnaise spooned over. A whole platter of these eggs for a buffet will pleasantly surprise everyone.

If you'd like to make the jalapeño-lime butter one day ahead, use a broiler or gas burner to char the chiles and save the grill prep for the corn.