Salad

This colorful Asian-inspired salad is great with grilled ribs, chicken or pork chops.

In doubling or tripling this recipe, you can put all the ingredients for the dressing into a blender (cutting the amount of garlic in half) for a quick whirl. Store the dressing in a screw-cap jar until the salad is ready to be tossed. The flavor is the same, but the texture of the dressing is creamy and looks less attractive on the romaine.

Note: To slice the onion and fennel in the following salad into paper-thin spirals, we used a Japanese rotary device known as the Benriner vegetable slicer.

A side dish for grilled chicken, steak or fish.

For a picnic, transport this colorful side dish next to a cold pack in an airtight container.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Dry-toasting the barley adds a nutty taste and helps the barley retain its texture in this excellent meatless dish.

Fermented soybean paste-called miso-is the key ingredient here.

The almonds and crisp green beans lend good crunch. For a light lunch, serve this with French bread and a fruit salad.