Smoked Salmon

More festive than your usual bagel and lox, this jar layers arugula and green beans with smoked salmon and lemony egg salad.

The idea for this sandwich came to me when my mother and I were about to have bagels and lox for brunch. I wanted a more nutritious spread than cream cheese, and I happened to have on hand a ripe avocado, which is rich in beneficial monosaturated fat and organic minerals. Mashed with a bit of lemon juice, it turned out to be the perfect choice. Its mild, delicate flavor provides the ideal balance for the salty lox, and its smooth creamy texture resembles that of cream cheese. Use whatever bagel you like. A whole-grain one has the best nutrition, but the sandwich will taste better if the bagel is not sweet; often whole-grain bagels also contain honey. The lox-and-avocado combination is also good in a whole wheat pita. Whether you're serving it to break the fast or for brunch, the sandwich is good accompanied by a green salad and a few high-quality olives.

A refined rethinking of a bagel-shop favorite provides a no—cook, imaginative way to appreciate the traditional flavor pairing.

Baking the crust first keeps it from getting soggy beneath the toppings.

With sustainability in mind, we taste-tested a variety of domestic caviars. Trout roe had the pop and brininess we were looking for—and it was especially pretty.

Russian blinis traditionally call for yeast, but our mini-pancake version is blissfully easy. Use as much or as little caviar as you like, depending on how indulgent you're feeling.

Tarama (or taramasalata) is a Greek spread traditionally made with carp roe, breadcrumbs, lemon juice, milk, olive oil, and seasonings. Here, smoked salmon adds an extra dose of flavor.

Simple to make and packed with omega-3s, this soup can be an easy weeknight supper or a sophisticated starter at a dinner party. Serve it with oyster crackers for the kids.

The trick to this tasty combo is slicing the tomatoes ultra-thin. For added ease, buy presliced salmon at the supermarket.

This new way with latkes is a delicious main course for brunch, too.

An immersion blender makes the prep time even shorter.

This gorgeous centerpiece dish comes together in three easy steps.

Though Denmark travel guides characterize smørrebrød as an open-face sandwich, food editors Melissa Roberts and Maggie Ruggiero found that this national favorite is somewhere between that and an oversize canapé, with a few carefully chosen ingredients arranged generously on top (often to the point where the bread is no longer even visible). Here, whittled down to bite-size, it's an elegant hors d'oeuvre that retains the Danish spirit; caraway butter complements the classic rye base, and lightly fried beets and sweet onion are an alluring counterpoint to the smoked salmon.

Creamy-tangy gribiche (a fancy version of tartar sauce) and smoked salmon add richness to the asparagus in this first course.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Marcus Samuelsson's book, Aquavit : And the New Scandinavian Cuisine Salads like this one are part of the Swedish smorgasbord enjoyed on special occasions such as New Year's. Called skagen in Swedish, this salad is named for a Danish fishing village across the river from Sweden. It's a very traditional dish that appears on every smorgasbord table in the country. Here is our version, which includes smoked salmon, shrimp, and crabmeat. It makes a great lunch served with crusty French bread or whole-grain crispbread.