Warm Potato Salad with Pork Belly and Cherries

Photo: Asa Dahlgren

The Game-Changing Potato Salad
A potato salad that's meant to be served at room temperature already has our vote. The fact that it includes salty, smoky pork belly and sweet, fresh cherries only seals the deal. And there's one more reason we're seriously smitten with this unusual, delicious side from Lisa Lemke's new book The Summer Table: You can make it in just 30 minutes.

Get the recipe: Warm Potato Salad with Pork Belly and Cherries
Olive Puffs with Feta

Photo: Asa Dahlgren

A Reinvented Mediterranean Classic
Store-bought, frozen puff pastry forms the basis for some of the best party appetizers ever (hello, pigs in a blanket). Here's one use for the crowd-pleasing ingredient we hadn't seen before, though: as the base for a Greek-inspired bite that involves feta cheese, kalamata olives and lemon zest. You can serve these puffs, which also appear in Lemke's book, warm or cold; either way, they're great with a glass of wine.

Get the recipe: Olive Puffs with Feta
Bacon-Guacamole Salsa Verde Dip

Photo: Erin Kunkel/Weldon Owen

Reason No. 692 to Love Bacon
Bacon and guacamole are two foods that people tend to get really excited about—so, when you place this brilliant dip, which combines both, on the buffet table, be ready for a stampede. The recipe, which appears in Classic Recipes for Modern People, by Max and Eli Sussman, also features roasted jalapeños, onions, garlic and tomatillos, which give the spread an extra rich and smoky flavor.

Get the recipe: Bacon-Guacamole Salsa Verde Dip
Detroit Greek Salad

Photo: Erin Kunkel/Weldon Owen

The No-Lettuce French Salad
Salade niçoise is a traditional French dish that usually incorporates tuna, green beans, potatoes, tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs and olives—ingredients that have a très bien way of holding up, even when you dress them in a Dijon vinaigrette ahead of time, making the salad ideal for parties. This rendition, from the Sussmans, also includes radishes, cucumbers and golden beets, which are equally hearty and bring this main course salad to the next level.

Get the recipe: Detroit Greek Salad
Ultra Mega Dip

Photo: Erin Kunkel/Weldon Owen

A Brand New Way to Do Sour Cream and Onion Dip
This over-the-top accompaniment for ridged potato chips from Classic Recipes for Modern People proves that sometimes, more is more. The dip starts with the basics—sour cream, mayonnaise, garlic powder—yet goes way beyond the predictable workhorses, incorporating buttermilk, fresh dill and chives, sweet Spanish paprika and crumbled blue cheese, so it delivers a perfect mash-up of sweet and salty tastes. The pièce de résistance is a garnish of fried shallots.

Get the recipe: Ultra Mega Dip
Mango Squares with Coconut Topping

Photo: Asa Dahlgren

The Dessert Squares That'll Take You Away
We love a lemon bar as much as the next potluck-goer, but the idea of swapping in mango for citrus is difficult to resist. Sprinkle the squares with a coconut topping, and we think we may have just met our new favorite dessert. Another perk to these sweets from The Summer Table: You can make them with frozen mango, if you can't find fresh.

Get the recipe: Mango Squares with Coconut Topping
Published 04/13/2015