Salad recipes

Whole wheat pasta with broccolini and radish gets tossed in a sherry-orange vinaigrette and crowned with creamy feta. A bright vegetarian pasta salad equally good warm or chilled the next day.

Sun-dried butterflied kingfish fried until golden and crisp, served with a tangy Thai green mango salad dressed in fish sauce, lime, and palm sugar. Sour, salty, and crunchy in every bite.

Gado gado is the Indonesian salad of stir-fried cabbage, bell pepper, and bean sprouts drizzled with a warm peanut sauce spiked with garlic, shallot, cumin, and lemon. Vegetarian one-bowl meal.

Homemade sun-dried tomato vinaigrette blitzed from oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, shallot, red wine vinegar, and fresh herbs, emulsified with a slow stream of olive oil. Deep, tangy, and umami-rich for salads and grilled veg.

Oxtail is one of the most economical and most flavorful cuts of meat, and one that takes well to marinating for days in a hearty mixture of red wine, herbs, and vegetables. The longer you marinate the mixture, the more flavorful it will be, but be sure it marinates at least 3 days. Oxtail is also a fatty cut -- give yourself plenty of time to allow the stew to cook and then cool, so all the fat can be skimmed off. Serve this with thick noodles in warmed soup bowls, accompanied by a tossed salad, and of course, a robust red wine.

Oven barbecued brisket with a spiced shallot rub and tangy tomato-brown sugar sauce. Braised low and slow until fork-tender. No smoker required for deep, slow-cooked flavor.