The warm-weather months may be the peak season for salad eating, but when cool—even cold—weather arrives, there’s no need to put the salad bowl away until spring. Fall presents an opportunity to enjoy a completely different but equally satisfying array of salads built from the best the season has to offer.

The juicy tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, sweet corn, and tender lettuces of summer give way to butternut squash, sweet potatoes, earthy mushrooms, roasted roots, and dark leafy greens. Pleasantly bitter chicories are balanced by the sweetness of port-poached fruit and tangy cheese.

Hearty grains paired with roasted squash take salads from a side dish to a satisfying main. And robust kale and Brussels sprouts are the salad greens of the season, enhanced by dried cherries, candied pecans, pickled onions, and goat cheese.

These complex and beautiful main-dish salads take a bit of planning, but they’re well worth the effort and perfectly suited to dinner with company.