In its most basic form, baba ganoush is made with eggplant, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and salt. I found that adding a tiny bit of ground cumin, smoked paprika and fresh parsley takes it to the next level. Baba ganoush is similar to hummus, but it calls for grilled or roasted eggplant instead of chickpeas. Both dips originated in the Eastern Mediterranean, and they’re often served together with pita bread and raw, crisp veggies. You can use baba ganoush like you would hummus—as a dip or spread. Ready to make some?!

Be patient: The goal is to char the eggplants beyond recognition.

Ground Chicken Caprese is our take on Caprese Chicken, but with ground chicken instead of chicken breasts. Easy enough for everyday dinners but also fancy enough to serve on date night or at parties!

I had to sidestep the roti; large flour tortillas make a worthwhile stand-in, but if you can find frozen parathas, feel free to use them. Kashmiri is a bright red chili powder used frequently in India to add color to dishes. It isn’t particularly hot, but it does bring a certain warmth—if you can’t find it, use paprika instead. Toss the cheese and veggies in a mixing bowl with spiced yogurt, scrape the marinated paneer and friends into a sauté pan, and cook until the vegetables are tender. Pile onto tortillas with a garnish of chaat masala and fresh cilantro then—here’s the important part—sear the wrapped tortillas so they get golden and crispy on the outside. Serve with green chutney (this one made with green chiles and coconut is particularly nice, but a store-bought version is fine) for dunking or spooning over each bite. If you want to take them to the park, the beach, or to your next class, Wrap them first in parchment, then in foil to keep all the goodness tucked inside.

These grilled chicken skewers are flavorful, spicy, and full of citrusy pep, all without having to juice a lemon. The secret ingredient? Sprite. I took a note from chicken inasal, a Filipino barbecued chicken dish, and marinated the chicken breasts in the lemon-lime soda along with fish sauce, garlic, and Thai chili sauce to tenderize the meat and infuse it with punchy flavor. The result is succulent, spicy, sweet-sticky chicken skewers. Bonus: You can use up any half-empty bottles of Sprite for this marinade (you don’t need the fizz).

Grilled bok choy is easy to cook and tastes great with steak, burgers, hot dogs, or anything else you might be cooking on the grill. The crispy leaves and tender stalks will have you coming back for more!

A coconut-milk dressing infused with garlic, ginger, turmeric and lime coats fish fillets in this sheet-pan dinner. Accompanying the fish are bright bursts of tomatoes which turn jammy under the broiler and relinquish some of their juices to the pan sauce. This sauce is silky enough to coat a spoon and packed with flavor. It pairs well with anything from snapper to flounder and even salmon, so choose the fillets that look best at the market. You’ll want to sop up the sauce with thick slices of grilled or toasted baguette, or spoon it over steamed rice.

Breaded with a seasoned cornflake mixture then baked, these chicken cutlets are spicy and sweet thanks to a drizzle of homemade hot honey. Making hot honey at home is simple and only requires a few pantry ingredients, but feel free to use your favorite store-bought brand if you have some handy. For the most tender, evenly cooked chicken, start by pounding your boneless, skinless chicken breasts with a meat tenderizer until they are the same thickness all over. You’ll bread the chicken in a cornflake mixture spiced with paprika, onion powder and garlic powder, then bake it on racks set over a sheet tray, allowing air to flow all around the chicken to ensure it crisps on all sides. Enjoy the cutlets on a bun, tucked into a sandwich or on their own with a side of coleslaw or potato salad.

This pickled red onion recipe might be simple, but it has layers. The strategy for making them, as noted by one astute reviewer, is pretty much “mix everything together and wait.” One more bonus? It’s made entirely from pantry staples: The pickling liquid is water, salt, sugar, and vinegar. That’s it! We’ve opted for cider vin here, but white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, sherry vinegar, or rice vinegar would all be fine. This pickled red onion recipe might be simple, but it has layers. The strategy for making them, as noted by one astute reviewer, is pretty much “mix everything together and wait.” One more bonus? It’s made entirely from pantry staples: The pickling liquid is water, salt, sugar, and vinegar. That’s it! We’ve opted for cider vin here, but white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, sherry vinegar, or rice vinegar would all be fine.

This bright and creamy pasta is a weeknight go-to that can be embellished with seared scallops, shrimp or mushrooms to make it something special. Grated garlic, lemon zest and black pepper sizzle and bloom in melted butter to which starchy pasta water is added to create a thick sauce. A hit of lemon juice at the very end keeps it punchy. Linguine, which is not as thin as spaghetti or as thick as fettuccine, works well here, but if you have another pasta shape on-hand, feel free to swap it in.

Serve this creamy chicken dish with buttered pasta, white rice, potatoes, or crusty bread and a simple steamed vegetable.

Popular in Rome, pizza al taglio is a rectangular pizza that’s sold by the slice and is often eaten on the go as a salty, savory snack. The dough tends to be crisp-edged and light rather than chewy, and the toppings, which can vary widely, are often seasonal. This quick, untraditional version can be made on a sheet pan in less than three hours. It has a puffy, no-knead crust that’s imbued with olive oil (like focaccia) and extremely easy to make. Feel free to play with the toppings. Cooked vegetables (thinly sliced potatoes, artichokes, roasted peppers), sliced prosciutto or mortadella, olives, other cheeses, or tinned fish like anchovies or tuna can all be added after the pizza is baked.

TECHNIQUE TIPS: Shrimp patty mixture can be made in a food processor, but I like the hand-chop the shrimp for texture. Be sure to toast the buns on medium-low heat to avoid burning. Use the softest buns you can find. SWAP OPTION: Lime juice for the lemon juice (and vice versa). Shallots for the scallions. Any type of grated cheese for the cheddar cheese. Potato buns for the brioche buns.

The original dressing served in the 1950s at Hidden Valley Ranch, a guest ranch near Santa Barbara, Calif., was made mostly from dry herbs and aromatics. To recreate that taste, this recipe, from the “Ranch” cookbook (Dovetail, 2018) by Abby Reisner, with recipes by Eleanore Park, is made with garlic powder instead of garlic, dried parsley instead of fresh, and so on. It makes enough seasoning mix for about 4 cups dressing; you can mix it, store it, then add dairy as needed. If you don’t like the zip of mustard, try hot sauce or Worcestershire sauce instead — or simply omit for a milder taste. To make a thick dip instead of a pourable dressing, reduce the amount of buttermilk to ¼ cup. —Julia Moskin Wings: Buffalo Chicken Wings

Americans are a wing-loving people. The Buffalo variety, by most accounts “invented” at the Anchor Bar in, yes, Buffalo, is the official food of our most sacred event of the year: the Super Bowl. These can be made on the grill or in the oven. Ranch Dressing: Classic Ranch Dressing

Baba ghanouj is a signature grilled eggplant purée found across the Middle East, enriched with tahini and seasoned with lemon juice and lots of garlic. The dish has a smoky, pungent flavor. Don’t forget to pierce the eggplant before you put it on the grill or over a gas flame on the stove. If you can, for the best consistency, use a sesame tahini that's slightly runny. Also, as tahini sits, the oil separates, so the mixture should be stirred before it’s used.

Swordfish, with its firm, lean flesh, is an ideal candidate for grilling. It's not as forgiving as some fatty fish, like tuna and black sea bass, so proceed with caution. If you remove the fish from the fire when the center is still slightly pink, by the time it gets to the table it should be cooked through. A quick marinade of soy sauce, red wine vinegar, rosemary, garlic, coriander and cumin pairs beautifully with the meatiness of the fish, but do not marinate for more than 10 to 15 minutes, or the acid will break down the flesh and leave it mushy (or the flavor will overpower the fish). If you don't have a grill, this works equally well in a broiler. Serve this alongside a colorful pile of Pierre Franey’s green bean and tomato salad. It's a meal you'll never forget. Why You Should Trust This Recipe The celebrated French chef Pierre Franey first created this recipe

Mushrooms are at their best when cooked over high, unrelenting heat, which makes them ideal for grilling. So that they crisp instead of shrivel, toss them with more oil than you think is required and salt them only after they are cooked. As the mushrooms’ moisture disappears, their earthy umami concentrates and their outsides brown. They can be eaten on their own, added to any dish that you like mushrooms in, or tossed with a sauce that their spongelike texture will soak up. Here, that’s a spicy and silky classic Buffalo sauce. Top with parsley and blue cheese for crunch and coolness, then eat with your fingers or in buns. This method here works with most mushrooms, but avoid larger ones like portobellos, which, over such high heat, will burn before they’re cooked through.

From Sunglow Kitchen

Fiery from dried chiles, tingling with Sichuan peppercorns and studded with peanuts, this kung pao tofu recipe is a vegetarian take on kung pao chicken, the classic Chinese American restaurant staple. Though variations on this dish abound, this version swaps in tofu for chicken, treating the tofu similarly. Pressing the tofu removes excess moisture, leaving more room for flavor to penetrate and giving it a denser, chewy texture. The cornstarch coating helps the tofu brown, makes it crisp and acts as a sponge for the savory, spicy, tingly sauce.

This Mahi Mahi with Tomato Lemon Sauce is an easy to make one pan dish that takes just 20-minutes to prepare with simple ingredients. The mahi mahi is pan seared until golden in colour and then smothered in a garlic, onion, tomato and lemon sauce. This Mahi Mahi recipe is Whole30, Paleo, Grain Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free and Specific Carbohydrate Diet Legal.

This recipe, adapted from Samin Nosrat's "Salt Fat Acid Heat," is inspired by the Southern grandma method of marinating chicken overnight in buttermilk before frying it. You're roasting here, but the buttermilk and salt still work like a brine, tenderizing the meat on multiple levels to yield an unbelievably juicy chicken. As an added bonus, the sugars in the buttermilk will caramelize, contributing to an exquisitely browned skin. Be sure to leave 24 hours for marinating the chicken. While the beauty of roast chicken is that you can serve it anytime, anywhere, try serving it alongside panzanella, which plays the role of starch, salad and sauce.

Butter naan is traditional Indian Naan bread brushed with melted butter after cooking. You can add some minced cilantro (coriander) leaves or minced garlic to make garlic butter naan. It is a yeasted dough rolled into flatbreads and cooked traditionally in tandoor clay. My workaround makes it super easy to create that tandoori flavor and look in a cast iron skillet on the stovetop. The combination of yeast and yogurt give this recipe a complex, delicious bread flavor similar to sourdough naan without needing a sourdough starter. It puffs up on the pan (or tawa, in India) and those charred spots are irresistible. For an even more dramatic puffing up, see my notes in the recipe for finishing the naan over a direct flame (only works if you have a gas stove).

The Devastatingly Tasty Tequila Cocktail

This recipe for roasted brussels sprouts from Mark Bittman is our most popular version and is perfect as a Thanksgiving side dish. If you haven’t yet figured out a go-to recipe, this simple preparation is the answer. It results in sweet caramelized brussels sprouts that will make a believer out of anyone.

The Pornstar Martini looms large. In the 20 years since it was first created at London’s Townhouse by the late bartender Douglas Ankrah, the drink has become not just a modern classic, but the most searched-for cocktail in the world, with nearly twice as much interest as the Piña Colada. But, until recently, you’d be hard-pressed to find one on a cocktail menu stateside.

This homemade hamburger helper is far better than the boxed mix. With fresh spices, and a hint of tomato, it's beefy, cheesy, savory, and has all the makings of a weeknight family favorite.

These Baked Chicken Meatballs are super juicy and full of flavor! Serve these chicken meatballs for appetizers or for dinner. They can also be used in many different recipes like meatballs subs or chicken and rice bowls! Make a double batch and freeze them for an easy meal!

Marinated in a flavorful mixture of sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger, and gochujang (Korean chile paste), these chicken thighs are slightly spicy and slightly sweet. Also Zorba Paster did this recipe.

Instead of Panela, other soft white Mexican cheeses — such as Oaxaca, or those used for making quesadillas — work well in this recipe. If none is available, substitute Monterey Jack cheese. The stuffed chilies can be assembled one day before baking. What to drink: A Napa or New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (or any dry but fruity white wine).

Eggplant in Spicy Coconut Sauce is rich, creamy, and perfect with steamed rice. It's easy to make and sure to be a family favorite! Not only is this eggplant stew so delicious, but it's also super easy to make. It cooks in one pan and readies in under an hour for the perfect busy weeknight dinner! Eggplant pieces are briefly pan-fried and then simmered with fatty pork belly strips to finish in a slightly spicy coconut sauce. The resulting dish is rich, creamy, and absolutely heaven over heaps of steamed rice.