Arugula

This fresh, sweet and tangy salad from Diane Cu and Todd Porter gets its pleasant crunch from sliced almonds and bean sprouts.

Instead of the usual stir-fried rice, this one uses cucumbers, salami, arugula and chiles in a spicy, fresh and meaty combination.

The secret to this crispy pizza: giving the dough lots of time to rise so it's pliant enough to stretch very thin.

When he was a boy, chef Fabio Trabocchi loved foraging for mushrooms in the woods around his house. In this elegant salad, he tosses lightly sautéed oyster mushrooms with arugula and tops them with thin slices of prosciutto and Pecorino Toscano.

For this fun cross between a salad and a cheese course, Daniel Humm grills apricots to give them an alluring smokiness, then serves them with goat cheese, arugula and a toasted–pine nut dressing.

Chef Art Smith loves to toss whole grains, like farro, into his green salads to make them more substantial. In addition to farro, try this salad with wheat berries, spelt or barley. Most farro is slightly pearled (the white starch shines through the brown hull), so it cooks quickly. If it's not, it may take longer to cook.

This grilled lamb is paired with a simple, pleasantly tangy arugula-and-Parmesan pesto. The mustard seeds in the lamb's spice coating add alluring crunch.

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.

A quick tomato sauce dresses chewy cavatelli, crisp bacon, and peppery arugula. Be sure to add the arugula at the last minute; if it actually cooks, it may turn bitter.

Paul Virant puts a spin on the classic summer side dish by tossing warm potatoes with a mustardy vinaigrette and handfuls of arugula.

This simple salad has a perfect mix of bitter (arugula), sweet (Asian pear), tangy (lemon dressing) and crunchy (pumpkin seeds). Try it with green apples or Bosc pears if Asian pears are hard to find.

This salad calls for a trio of citrus, including navel oranges, which are meaty and slightly acidic. Feel free to try other varieties such as Cara Caras, which have a lovely pink flesh and delicate flavor. No matter what kind you choose, you'll get a big dose of vitamin C.

As cooked lamb cools, the flavor mellows, becoming sweeter and less gamey. Chef Tim Love combines chilled slices of lamb with greens, then adds a dressing made with both raspberry vinegar and preserves.

Sweet raisins, crunchy nuts, spicy arugula—this couscous salad boasts an interesting array of flavors and textures. The recipe calls for strips of roasted or smoked turkey to make it a meal, but you can leave them out for a meatless salad.

"I don't care if you're sophisticated, with a boatload of money," says Thomas Keller, "roasted chicken makes you feel wonderful." Cooking a whole chicken on the grill can be tricky, but Keller has perfected a method that uses indirect heat; he adds rosemary sprigs to the coals to infuse the smoke and flavor the chicken.

This vibrant dish, layered with arugula, bright white slices of ricotta salata and strips of salty serrano ham, is the sort of composed salad that chef Suzanne Goin uses to showcase seasonal ingredients. Another of her favorite winter salads is made with blood oranges, dates and Parmesan cheese.