Dill

These incredibly simple pickles have just the right amount of garlic and dill and are intensely crunchy and refreshing right out of the refrigerator.

To jazz up arugula salad and give it a slightly Greek twist, Michael Symon tosses it with chopped fresh dill, briny Greek feta cheese and kalamata olives. He finishes the salad with extra-virgin Greek olive oil, which he says has a pure flavor and is generally more affordable than olive oil from Italy.

"Biscuits are like pie crusts in that we assign magical powers to people who can make really good ones," Amber Huffman says. Her grandmother Mimi got her hooked on cream biscuits, which substitute cream for butter, eliminating the tricky step of cutting fat into flour. "They're less fussy, and you can make them in two seconds," Huffman says. "I wish there were a pie crust equivalent."

Pair with a lemon-inflected, herbal Greek white.

The rice is glossy and sticky, and full of tender calamari and mussels. The addition of spices like allspice and cinnamon, plus some currants, gives the dish a slightly sweet edge.

This is a light and lovely way to prepare zucchini, which gets quickly sautéed with garlic, shallots and ginger, then tossed with fresh dill. Padma Lakshmi likes to stir dried pomegranate seeds (called anardana in India) into this dish for a bit of crunchy tang.

Marinated baby artichokes are not a staple of Turkish cuisine in the way that stuffed grape leaves are. But they are a favorite at Karaköy Lokantasi, owned by husband and wife Oral Kurt and Aylin Okutan. The dressing for the artichokes includes a little invigorating fresh-grated ginger, as well as more traditional Turkish flavors, like lemon juice and chopped dill.

More than one tradition is at work here. Dill and cucumber, mated in several cuisines, unite in a Greek-inspired salad, while salmon and dill are a typical Scandinavian pairing.

Although Wolfgang Puck is best known for putting smoked salmon, caviar and dill-flecked crème fraîche on his designer pizzas, he also loves this trio of toppings with his exceptionally crispy potato pancakes, a dish he makes frequently when cooking at home. All three garnishes are wonderfully decadent together; still, you can leave out the smoked salmon or the caviar.

The dill, fish sauce and scallions in this round omelet may seem like an overly bold combination of flavors, but the result is surprisingly delicious. It's also adaptable: Eat it for breakfast or as a quick, light supper.

Stacked high with slices of tomato, onion, cucumber, avocado, and provolone cheese, this is a vegetable sandwich that even confirmed carnivores will love. You can add or substitute other fresh vegetables; radishes, spinach, or grated carrot go particularly well here. When you can't get good tomatoes, don't buy lousy, cotttony ones; use twice the amount of lettuce instead.