January 2023

Steaming vegetables is a quick way to enjoy their inherent sweetness, and steaming eggs is the secret to perfect-as-possible jammy eggs. In this recipe, you don’t need a steamer basket for either. Cook the eggs in a covered skillet or pot of shallow boiling water, then layer winter squash, broccoli or cauliflower and dark leafy greens. The small amount of water will produce ample steam to cook the vegetables. Eat with plenty of sesame seeds for crunch and a yogurt sauce that is nutty from sesame oil and bright with lemon and ginger.

Like air-fryer French fries, air-fryer sweet potatoes achieve similar success, utilizing less oil and requiring less time than deep-fried versions. While sweet potato fries won’t crisp up as much as their potato counterparts, that’s part of the appeal, offering textural contrast of creamy centers and charred tips. Oomph from any of your favorite spices would work well here, along with the paprika.

Crispy tofu is attainable without frying. In this mostly hands-off recipe, firm tofu is dredged in cornstarch (one of our pantry’s most versatile staples) before being baked at high temperature. The tofu becomes golden, with an enviable crunch that stays crisp even when drizzled with teriyaki sauce. Traditional teriyaki sauce contains just four ingredients — soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar — but this one also has ginger and garlic, which add a bit more punch. In Japanese cuisine, teriyaki refers to any grilled, broiled or pan-fried food with a shiny glaze.

Don’t mask salmon, or cook it to bits in a hot oven. Let it shine by grilling it on a bed of kale. The technique gives you quick, crisp chips, and a soft, perfectly cooked piece of fish that won’t stick to the grill. Then smother it in herbs: basil, mint, dill, cilantro, even sorrel, if that’s what came in your farm box. You can serve this with potatoes, corn, salad or toasted bread, or any simple side you can throw together quickly.

Here’s the thing about tabbouleh salad: Most of the ones I’ve had invert my preferred proportion of bulgur to parsley. What you usually get is a bowl of tabbouleh studded with bits of parsley. I like a salad that is mostly parsley, studded with grains of tabbouleh.

A hearty vegetarian dinner-in-a-bowl, farro is dressed in a lemony tahini sauce spiked with garlic, and topped with charred broccoli florets, thin slices of turnip or radish, and a soft-yolked egg. To streamline the cooking process here, the eggs are simmered in the same pot as the farro. But if you want to substitute leftover grains for the farro (brown or white rice, for example), cook the egg separately using the same timing. Or leave off the egg altogether for a vegan variation.

It may seem silly to give a recipe for avocado toast, but there is an art to it, as with most things that are both simple and perfect. Here, you want to make sure of a few things: that the bread you use is sturdy and has some taste; that there's enough salt and citrus to bring out the avocado's flavor; and that you use a good olive oil to bring it all together. These garnishes, from the Australian café Two Hands in Manhattan, are tasty but unnecessary. —Julia Moskin

While diner-style Greek salads made with chopped romaine, crumbled feta and often grilled chicken have become ubiquitous in American restaurants, a traditional Greek salad, or horiatiki salata, is a simpler affair. An assembled salad of large-diced vegetables with Kalamata olives and sometimes capers, this salad has no greens at all, and the feta is served sliced on top of the salad rather than crumbled and tossed into it. A traditional Greek salad is dressed lightly with olive oil and red wine vinegar; this recipe adds garlic and oregano.

For a vivid take on lunchtime tuna salad, use oil-rich sardines and skip the mayonnaise. Emulsifying the deeply seasoned oil from the sardine tin with lemon juice and mustard makes the salad creamy like mayonnaise does but with flavors that are more intense and pronounced. Add any of the sharp, crunchy, fresh pops you like in your tuna or whitefish salad, such as capers, cornichons, pickled peppers or herbs, and eat this sardine salad over greens, on a bagel or English muffin, or between two slices of toast.

This brothy fish stew gets extra body and heft from the kale and potatoes, and a hint of the Mediterranean from thyme, parsley and bay leaf. The method is straightforward. First make a mirepoix of onion, celery and carrot. Add garlic, anchovies and parsley, followed by the tomatoes and paste, and finally the potatoes and bouquet garni. Simmer for 30 minutes while the kale is cooked separately, then add the fish. Take care not to overcook the fish — it’s done as soon as it flakes easily when you nudge it with a fork.