Chicory

Tossed in a fabulous country-style dressing, these bitter greens are a wonderful counterpoint to a hearty main course.

It's impossible to overstate just how well the ingredients come together in this beautiful salad. The textural contrast of juicy ripe oranges and crisp endives is enhanced by a surprisingly complex vinaigrette containing sweet, spicy, and smoky flavors.

The simplicity of this pasta dish lets the escarole shine. Excellent as an entrée or as a first course served before roasted chicken or beef.

Poaching fish in olive oil — a popular restaurant technique — is surprisingly easy and well suited to every-night cooking.

A mix of pleasantly bitter and crisp-tender vegetables perfectly complements the Duck with Walnut Sherry Vinaigrette . Some of the nutty, sweet vinaigrette will inevitably end up on the vegetables, enhancing their flavor.

If your Thanksgiving dinner is a formal affair, serve the crostini on small plates with the frisée salad. If your guests like to hang out in the kitchen until dinner is served, offer the crostini as passed hors d'oeuvres topped with a sprig of dressed frisée.

Gerald Colapinto of Corona, California, writes: "My grandparents were born in Italy and were wonderful cooks, so I'm partial to Italian food. I especially love the cooking of Southern Italy. Fortunately, I often travel to Rome on business. Back home, I like to re-create the dishes I discovered."

The hearty greens in this dish retain a bit of their pleasing crunch.

Chef Michael Presnal of The Federal Restaurant in Agawam, Massachusett, writes: "The recipe here was featured on one of my first menus as a chef, before I got into the kind of complex cooking I do now at The Federal. That was over ten years ago, but I still love making this dish at home. It calls for just a few fresh ingredients and takes only a couple of steps." Serve as a side dish or first course.

A fun idea: Paper-thin slices of white vegetables are dressed with an Italian blue cheese vinaigrette.

Because the vinegar is simply drizzled over the radicchio at the end, try to find an artisan-quality balsamic, such as one labeled condimento, if not a premium balsamico tradizionale. Radicchio is also good when grilled on a barbecue or in a stovetop grill pan. Oil the grill or grill pan and cook until wilted and slightly charred, turning occasionally, about 5 minutes.

Ravioli al Radicchio Rosso Stuffed pasta shows up less frequently in Florence than it does in the nearby Emilia-Romagna region. But when it does appear on menus, it's usually dressed simply, like the ravioli here, with a little butter and a bit of grated Parmesan.

Puntarelle are the inner hearts of cicoria catalogna, a kind of chicory — and one of the greatest treats of springtime in Rome. The hearts are trimmed out of the large heads and cut into thin shreds that curl up when immersed in ice water. Since puntarelle are not easy to find in this country, a mix of Belgian endive and celery serves as a wonderful substitute: Together, they have the same addictive bittersweet-crisp quality.

Anchovy and red pepper flakes balance the bitterness of the escarole, giving it a sweetness that goes well with the robust flavors of the Veal Involtini.