Green Bean

Preserved tuna, packed in extra-virgin olive oil, is paired with white beans in Tuscany, a speedy dish to assemble if you've got beans on hand. Canned beans work well and simplify this preparation — open a few cans and chop an onion. Quality tuna makes a big difference in the success of this dish. Leftover grilled or poached tuna can be used instead of canned, but it should be marinated in extra-virgin olive oil. All choices will work better than insipid tuna packed in water. Scallions can be used in the spring, red onions for the rest of the year. Torquato, my farmer and muse, suggested combining green beans with tuna during his glorious green-bean season, a fantastic variation.

Here's a light, fresh-tasting soup-stew from Hotel Château Erenstein in Kerkrade, the Netherlands.

This salad's delicious dressing is popular with my children as a dip for vegetables (I make a bottle of it to keep in the refrigerator). The salad is great for lunch boxes, or as a side dish served warm or cold. Use three-color pasta, if possible. Preparation: 10 minutes/Cooking: 12 minutes Nutritional information: Rich source of beta-carotene, fiber, and folic acid

Components of this salad can be prepared one day ahead, then tossed together at the last minute. Offer white wine spritzers and iced tea with lunch. Colorful ornamental kale can be found at some supermarkets and specialty foods stores.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

The easy tomato chutney is adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's cookbook From Curries to Kebabs. Make the chutney and combine it with the green beans about four hours before serving, which allows plenty of time for the beans to soak up the flavors.

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 20 min

An overnight pickling tames the red onions.

The success of this dish depends entirely on the quality of your ingredients. Now's the time to use your best olive oil, freshly ground pepper, and a generous amount of a flavorful sea salt.

Yukon Gold potatoes cut into one-inch pieces can be substituted.

Pla Phad Phrik Khing The pummelo salad makes a nice first course with this dish.

Serve rice with this dish from Le Colonial, a Vietnamese restaurant in West Hollywood.

This filling is definitely not peas and hard carrots and tough chunks of chicken. Instead, there are sun-dried tomatoes and shiitake mushrooms with flavorful pieces of thyme-seasoned chicken. And best of all, the individual pies can be assembled a day ahead, leaving only the baking to be done before sharing them with the family.

An updated southern side dish.