Romaine

A colorful salad that is refreshing alongside the lamb chops. Green or red bell peppers can be added to the salad, if you like.

"I often don't have the energy to cook a big meal, but I keep my dinners from being boring by preparing interesting fresh salads," says Terry Kirts of Indianapolis Indiana. "I really like this particular recipe because the salad is so easy to make and the dressing keeps for days."

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This one is delicious made with shrimp and/or scallops, too. If using lobster, garnish the plates with the empty shells.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

For an especially elegant presentation, this salad can be arranged on individual plates instead of one large platter. When trimming the base of the romaine hearts, be sure to leave a small part of each base attached to hold the leaves together.

"Although I’ve been a subscriber for almost ten years, this is the first time I’ve written to request a recipe," writes Danette Laver of Ambler, Pennsylvania. "The honey-garlic dressing on the salad I had at Fork in Philadelphia was so good that I used a chunk of bread to soak up every last drop."

A few years ago, when I was in southeastern Turkey working on my book Mediterranean Grains and Greens, I noticed that the women didn't soak their bulgur in water for some summer preparations. When I asked a Turkish friend about this, she let out a laugh. "In Turkey, no man would marry a woman who just used water! For cold bulgur dishes we always soak in tomato juice, onion juice, or fresh pressed and strained sour grape juice to flavor the bulgur first."

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Pipián is an earthy, pureed seed sauce that is traditional in Mexican cooking. Serve this dish with rice to soak up the sauce.

Look for hearts of romaine near the bagged lettuces in the produce section.

Called fattoush in Lebanon, this colorful dish is offered as a first course at Al-Amir restaurant in Portland, Oregon.

In doubling or tripling this recipe, you can put all the ingredients for the dressing into a blender (cutting the amount of garlic in half) for a quick whirl. Store the dressing in a screw-cap jar until the salad is ready to be tossed. The flavor is the same, but the texture of the dressing is creamy and looks less attractive on the romaine.