The chopped salad—typically, but not exclusively, a mix of vegetables chopped up into uniform size and mixed together—is close to perfect summer or warm weather fare.

Keeping it cool, here’s a recipe for one of the more delicious “salads” the world offers, what the Vietnamese generically call “bun,” pronounced “boon” (written more exactly, “bún thit nuóng”). It’s much more than a salad, actually, and in its variations—only one such is given here—easily can stand for the main meal of the day. 

This moves the recipe outside and shows how deliciousness is eminently possible on camping and backpacking trips as much as at the home address’s dining table.

The savory-juicy umami just drips off these lamb chops.

"Tuscan style" means that the steak "sauce" is fruity extra virgin olive oil. Further, in true Tuscan style, serve the steak with a salad of dressed mixed greens garnished with flat-leaf parsley leaves. 

Cutlets are a great way to have something versatile to eat, in various seasons, and that often use cuts of meat that are difficult to prepare in other ways. The difficulty is plain: because cutlets are very lean meat, they’re easily overcooked.

Chorizo, bacon, or another fatty breakfast meat is a welcome addition to this dish.

The simplest of preparations, to deliver a complexity of flavors, especially the play between salt and sweet, a killer combo.

One way to serve smoked and grilled pork belly is in large cubes or chunks.

A serving of Fabada Asturiana, a pork and bean stew from Asturias in northern Spain. Photo from Flavio Lorenzo Sanchez on unsplash

Switch it out on St. Patrick’s Day with this recipe for lamb shepherd’s pie to take the place of corned beef and cabbage at your mealtime table. (Photo by Amy Brothers.)

The word “congee” is originally Tamil (kanji) and the dish goes by many names throughout southeast Asia such as “juk,” “jook,” “zhou” and “khao tom.”

Many culinary folk cite the influence of North African Arabs on the pervasiveness of agrodolce in Sicilian cooking. Photo from Alpha on flickr

Kansas City strip steaks, also known as New York strip steaks but with the bone remaining on one side. Photo from Justus Menke on unsplash

Pasta alla zozzona combines the ingredients of the four pasta dishes for which Romans are famous: amatriciana, cacio e pepe, carbonara, and gricia.

Gumbo is as American a "melting pot" as could be, for it takes in all of us.

A friend asked me to recreate this dish from his time growing up near Minneapolis. So, I did.

Have you heard of Cincinnati Chili?: a red beef chili served over cooked spaghetti and topped with grated yellow cheddar cheese.

This recipe comes from my pal, Jamey Fader, culinary director at Marczyk Fine Foods. It works.

Combine any number of oohs and aahs from everyday roastings past and altogether they do not equal those that grace this recipe and us on Christmas (or Christmas Eve) night.