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serves 4 • TIME: 10 minutes preparation, 15 minutes cooking

This simple salad packs maximum flavor because the vegetables—just two, red peppers and corn—get heat applied to them to bring out their flavor. We skillet-toast the corn the way we do okra; letting it blister and brown, bringing out the smoky, gentle burnt-sugar character of corn grilled over a wood fire.

When we roast, peel, and dice the red peppers for this salad, we try to preserve as much of their juice as possible because it carries so much flavor. And we serve the salad over slices of avocado, which requires this small but key piece of strategy: wait until you’re ready to serve the salad before cutting into the avocado, so it doesn’t brown by the time the plates hit the table.

3 medium ears fresh corn (about 1 pound), husked

2 medium red bell peppers, or one 9-ounce jar high-quality store-bought roasted red peppers or piquillo peppers, drained

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 1 large lemon)

1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

6 ounces solid white canned albacore tuna (preferably packed in water), drained

Freshly ground black pepper

1 ripe Hass avocado

1 Cut the corn kernels from the cobs; you should have about 1½ cups. Toast the corn in a dry skillet or sauté pan over medium-high heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the kernels just begin to brown in patches, about 8 minutes. Reserve the corn in the skillet, off the heat.

2 If you are using fresh bell peppers, turn on the broiler. Put the peppers in a dry flameproof skillet or broiling pan, and slide it under the broiler. Roast until the skin blackens on the side facing up, 3 to 5 minutes. Using tongs, turn the peppers so that an unblackened side faces up, and repeat. Continue until the skin of the peppers is blackened on all sides. Place the peppers in a medium bowl, cover, and let steam for 5 minutes as they cool. Uncover the bowl. When the peppers are cool enough to handle, pull off their stems and discard them, and upend each pepper over the bowl so that any juice runs into it.

3 At this point, the process is the same whether you’re using fresh or jarred peppers: Transfer the peppers to a cutting board, remove the blackened skin with your fingers, and discard it. Using a paring knife, cut open the peppers, remove the seeds, and discard them. (Jarred peppers tend to have just a few spots of black skin and a few errant seeds.) Cut the roasted pepper flesh into medium dice; you should have about 1½ cups. Strain out any stray seeds that may be in the red pepper juice in the bowl, and then add the diced red pepper to the bowl. Add the corn and toss until the ingredients are evenly combined.

4 In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice with the salt and olive oil. Add the tuna, crumbling it to large flakes as you add it, and stir to coat the tuna with the dressing. Add the dressed tuna to the corn mixture and toss gently until the ingredients are thoroughly combined. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

5 Slice the avocado in half lengthwise and extract the pit (see Notes on Pitting Avocados). Peel each avocado half and place it, flat side down, on your cutting board. Cut each half on the bias into slices ¼ inch thick. Divide the avocado slices among 4 small salad plates, fanning them around the edge of each plate. Place a scoop of the salad in the center of the plate, and garnish with a grind of black pepper. Serve immediately.

CURRIED NEW POTATO SALAD

serves 4 • TIME: 30 minutes

We’ve met few potato salads we didn’t love. Still, that doesn’t stop us from trying to perfect them. Our take on the classic mayonnaise-based new-potato salad distinguishes itself from others you might have sampled in a number of ways: First, we break the salad down to size, cutting the potatoes into small hash-size dice so there’s more surface area for the delicious dressing to cling to. It’s as easy to eat as creamed corn. Second, the dressing gets a tangy kick from a trifecta of pickle relish, lemon juice, and