Salads fall for arugula intensity

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Salad isn't just a hot-weather food. It's the perfect counterpoint to the soups, stews and chilis that grace our tables when the weather turns chilly and bleak.

As the soups, stews and chilis become heartier, the salad can become spunkier, so it can all be well-accompanied by some good, sturdy, crusty bread (or freshly baked corn bread) and a large red wine. All the better to keep us lively on the inside while the cold rain comes down on the outside.

Arugula is my favorite fall salad green. Precisely because it is so peppery and intensely flavored, it works best when combined with softer, sweeter salad greens, like butter lettuce and red leaf lettuce.

Arugula salad with orange vinaigrette

1 medium-sized head butter (Boston) lettuce, cleaned and spun dry

1 medium-sized head red leaf lettuce, cleansed and spun dry

1 small bunch arugula, coarsely chopped (about 3 cups)

10 radishes, thinly sliced

3 tablespoons minced chives (or 1 scallion, finely minced, whites and as much of the greens as seems reasonable)

Orange vinaigrette (recipe follows)