Easy

You can dress this salad about half an hour in advance to no ill effect—the hearty greens can handle it.

These hot and sour pickles are great alongside the spread and frittata , and make a perfect garnish for the Bloody Beers .

If you've never bought kohlrabi before, here's a great reason to try it.

This one is cheesy, tangy, and a little spicy. Serve with plenty of crackers.

Strisce means strips—any long pasta will work—and Chiantigiana refers to the Tuscan wine used to flavor the sauce.

A dip that proves collards don't have to be stewed for hours to be delicious.

Mom's Russian "Hamburgers" Kotleti for lunch, kotleti for dinner, kotleti of beef, of pork, of fish, of chicken—even kotleti of minced carrots or beets. The entire USSR pretty much lived on these cheap, delicious fried patties, and when comrades didn't make them from scratch, they bought them at stores. Back in Moscow, Mom and I harbored a secret passion for the proletarian, six-kopek variety produced by the meat-processing plant named after Stalin's food supply commissar, Anastas Mikoyan. Inspired by his 1936 trip to America, Mikoyan wanted to copy Yankee burgers in Russia, but somehow the bun got lost in the shuffle and the country got hooked on mass-produced kotleti instead. Deliciously greasy, petite, and with a heavy industrial breading that fried up to a wicked crunch, Mikoyan factory patties could be scarfed down by the dozen. Wild with nostalgia, Mom and I tried a million times to recreate them at home, but no luck: some manufactured treats just can't be duplicated. So we always reverted back to Mom's (far more noble) homemade version. Every ex-Soviet cook has a special trick for making juicy, savory patties. Some add crushed ice, others tuck in pats of butter or mix in a whipped egg white. My mother likes her kotleti Odessa-style (garlicky!), and adds mayo as binding instead of the usual egg, with delightful results. The same formula works with ground turkey or chicken or fish. Buckwheat kasha makes a nostalgic Russian accompaniment. Ditto thin potato batons slowly pan-fried with onions in lots of butter or oil. I love cold kotleti for lunch the next day, with some dense dark bread, hot mustard, and a good crunchy dill pickle.

Consider this sweet and crunchy dessert a free-form fruit crisp. Be warned: The nutty oat topping is addictive.

Don't be put off by the sugar in this recipe—it's balanced by the vinegar and soy sauce.

Umami-loaded ingredients (tofu and miso) make this the most addictive ranch ever.

Giving the broccoli a head start on the salmon in this one-pan dish lets it get nicely browned, coaxing out its natural sweetness.

Baked eggs are great for brunch, and this version is no exception. But with a salad of leafy greens, it's also hearty and satisfying enough to double as dinner.

Country ham is cured, smoked, and aged. We love Benton's, made in Tennessee.

This dish comes together fast for a simple weeknight meal, and it's also elegant enough to serve to any important guest.

Avocado shells make handy vessels for a bright salad made with the scooped-out flesh. Lime juice, garlic, and a pinch of cayenne flavor the dressing. The salad can also be served as a topping for quesadillas or as a fresh filling for tacos.

This is an American-style Italian frittata or Spanish tortilla, an open-faced omelet that's a great last-minute brunch dish. The potato chips are layered throughout yet still retain their firm texture. (You don't even need to add salt to the eggs, because the potato chips provide the seasoning.) You can enjoy this warm or at room temperature, with sour cream on the side. Or if you're a ketchup-on-your-eggs person, use the San Marzano ketchup. (After I came up with this dish, I saw similar versions done by José Andrés and Ferran Adrià. A good idea is a good idea no matter how many people come up with it.)