Recipes & Food

These meatballs harbor a secret: They’re half vegetable, half chicken More than just a surprise, the grated zucchini provides moisture that ground chicken can lack Roast more zucchini next to the meatballs on the sheet pan, then top everything with feta tossed with lemon juice

Loosely inspired by the Korean banchan gaji bokkeum (stir-fried eggplant), this recipe keeps the eggplant in large pieces and sears it over high heat, yielding beautifully cooked flesh and still-violet skin Though gaji bokkeum is traditionally soy sauce-based, my mother uses gochujang, the fermented Korean chile paste, for added sweetness and heat The result is divine: As the sticky red sauce clings to the fried eggplant spears, it caramelizes in the heat of the pan and provides a glossy finish

Raw zucchini deserves to be a summer salad staple With just time and salt, sliced zucchini softens into tender bites that absorb any dressing that graces them This easy salad pairs thinly sliced zucchini coins with sweet, juicy, ripe peaches in a loose, creamy, lime-forward dressing

This dessert is all about deep, sultry flavors: the warmth of rum, the smoky sweetness of muscovado sugar and the buttery richness of caramelized peaches The peaches are pan-roasted until golden and tender, then finished with a luscious cream made from Greek yogurt and mascarpone, topped with a scattering of sugar that slowly melts into a delicate crunch The result is a beautiful contrast of hot and cold, sweet and tangy, smooth and crisp, with toasted sesame and sea salt adding just the right amount of intrigue

This light and refreshing potato salad is the antithesis of the usual, creamy, mayonnaise-based recipes The mint and scallion add a bright, herbal flavor while the sprinkle of chile lends a kick Make this the morning you plan to serve it and let it marinate at room temperature all day long

The cookbook author Kenji López-Alt knows burgers inside and out. Here are his nonnegotiable rules for success.

More of a drink than a soup, served in frosted glasses or chilled tumblers, gazpacho is perfect when it is too hot to eat but you need cold, salt and lunch all at the same time Gazpacho is everywhere in Seville, Spain, where this recipe comes from, but it's not the watered-down salsa or grainy vegetable purée often served in the United States This version has no bread and is a creamy orange-pink rather than a lipstick red

This moist and aromatic sweet cake smells, looks, and tastes like Persian baklava.

A good corn soup is creamy and naturally sweet; an even better corn soup is spicy, refreshing and addictive In this recipe, it’s the combination of shallots, garlic, ginger, chiles and coconut milk, rather than heavy cream or butter, that makes the soup at once cooling and rich It’s a dinner in a bowl (and a vegan one at that), but it would surely welcome a side of steamed rice or salad of leafy greens

When you've eaten your fill of corn on the cob, here's another delightful way to enjoy one of summer's best vegetables: Build it into a quick sauce with shallots, white wine, Dijon mustard and cream, to spoon over butter-sautéed chicken It's a fresh yet luxurious weeknight meal you're going to make all season long.

This large, fluffy pancake is excellent for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dessert any time of year And it comes together in about five blessed minutes Just dump all of the ingredients into a blender, give it a good whirl, pour it into a heated skillet sizzling with butter, and pop it into the oven

Southern fried corn, a dish with deep roots in African American cooking, preserves fresh kernels and their natural sweetness It’s traditionally made with corn shucked fresh from the cobs Reserving the “milk” — the milky liquid from the lining of the cob — makes this dish lightly creamy without any cream

Charred corn is a bankable foundation for a simple and satiating summer meal Just a few minutes in a hot pan will turn the kernels from starchy to sweet, while delivering smoky notes A light dusting of ground cumin and smoked paprika reinforces these scorched flavors

Might be one of the best cakes in the world. Or is it technically a pudding?

Easy to assemble but far from basic, this cucumber salad delivers a riot of flavors and textures with snappy cucumbers, velvety peanut sauce, crunchy cilantro-peanut topping and zingy chile oil The details make all the difference: First, salting the cucumbers mutes the fruit’s subtly bitter notes while heightening flavor Next, the simple peanut sauce adds richness to the cool cucumbers

This colorful and satisfying one-pot dish is a variation on classic arroz rojo and makes it a complete meal by adding juicy chicken thighs Caramelized tomato paste and fresh tomato give the rice its signature reddish hue; the dish is studded with sweet golden corn and black beans for pops of vibrant color, flavor and texture Tossing cubed boneless, skinless chicken pieces with fragrant oregano and cumin before cooking adds another dimension of flavor

This comforting ground-chicken dish is layered with typical Desi spices: cumin, chile powder and garam masala Finished with tender baby spinach, it has all the makings of a satisfying one-pot meal In most keema (or ground-meat) curries from the Indian subcontinent, onions and meat are sautéed separately in two steps, but this recipe calls for cooking them together, along with ginger and garlic, a shortcut that saves time without sacrificing flavor

If you don’t cook tofu often (or even if you do), this unfussy tofu dish is for you: There’s no flour-dredging or shallow-frying, and no marinating at all As long as you pat the tofu dry (a bit fussy, but not by much), the vegetable oil’s high smoke point will yield crisp edges, while the sesame oil imparts flavor, putting you well on your way to making tofu taste great What’s more, a ginger-and-garlic-laced soy sauce coats noodles and tofu alike, giving you chopstick after chopstick of toothsome pleasure

Cacio e pepe is a traditional Italian pasta made with pecorino, Parmesan, black pepper and a little pasta cooking water These cobs borrow the flavors of the traditional dish, but the cheese sauce is not thinned with water, so it’s very rich and creamy Serve the cacio e pepe corn with grilled steak or fish and a green salad with acidic dressing

Chimichurri is lively, with loads of parsley and oregano; bracing, with garlic, crushed red pepper and red wine vinegar; and rich, from buttery olive oil — all attributes that do wonders for meatballs Add a generous amount of the Argentinian sauce to the ground-beef mixture, then roll and sear the meatballs until crispy and browned (You can also broil for 7 to 10 minutes.) Serve as an appetizer, with more chimichurri alongside for dipping, or make the meatballs into a meal with couscous, broccoli, roasted peppers or a kale salad dressed with the chimichurri.

Soba, Japanese buckwheat noodles, are ideal for salads because they taste particularly great when served cold Crunchy vegetables are highlighted here, adding lots of crisp, fresh texture Substitute with any raw vegetables you have on hand, such as cabbage, carrot, fennel, asparagus, broccoli or cauliflower

Keeping pesto on hand (store-bought or homemade and frozen) is one of the greatest kitchen time-savers, since stirring just a spoonful into a dish can add so much herby, garlicky flavor Here, pesto builds on a pan of orzo loaded with zucchini and onions that have been sautéed together until golden brown Cooking the orzo in vegetable or chicken stock bolsters the pasta’s flavor as the broth reduces into a silky sauce

Try something new for your tailgating: make a smoked meatloaf and score big! Using ThermaQ will ensure a perfect end result.

A sandal that’s just asking to go swimming

All the usual suspects found in a vegetarian bean chili appear in this salad — canned beans, tomato, bell pepper, red onion and spices — but there’s no cooking-with-heat required The tomatoes are salted to tenderize and coax out their sweet, umami juices Cumin, coriander, smoked paprika and dried oregano inject smoky earthiness and complexity

One great joy of bulgogi, marinated grilled beef that translates to “fire meat,” is that you can prepare it in advance and, when you’re ready to eat, have dinner on the table in under 10 minutes This stovetop chicken variation, dak bulgogi, provides the same workday convenience and savory-sweet flavors, thanks to soju, an alcohol which tenderizes the meat, and maple syrup, which caramelizes beautifully without burning Apple juice extends those ingredients and allows room for the subtle umami — known in Korean as gamchil mat — from garlic, ginger and scallions to gently season the chicken

To make a halved sweet potato into a more substantial side, load it with black beans and sharp Cheddar, then send it back into the oven until the cheese melts and sizzles Pair it with something a bit lighter, like fish tacos or a green salad, or build it into its own meal by adding sliced avocado, torn cilantro, a squeeze of lime juice, or even a fried egg.

This cleverly named dish, which gets its moniker from the spiky grains of rice that protrude from the meatballs, became popular during the Great Depression, when rice was often added to expensive ground meat as a way to “stretch” it It’s still a useful budget tip — or an easy way to eat a little less meat — and you might find you like these lighter meatballs even better than the traditional sort Some recipes call for uncooked rice, but using cooked rice ensures that you won’t end up with crunchy grains in an otherwise tender meatball

These rice bowls are both a comfort and a thrill to eat They star chickpeas sizzled in chile crisp, a Chinese condiment made of oil, chiles and a variety of textural and umami-packed ingredients, such as fried shallots and garlic, sesame seeds, and preserved black beans You could snack on the electrifyingly tingly chickpeas solo, or make them into a meal with rice and a juicy mixture of tomatoes, celery, cilantro and soy sauce

Pickling celery for just fifteen minutes is a game changer: The acid tames its grassy notes, brings out savoriness and transforms its texture from simply crunchy to crisp-tender Here, celery is quickly pickled with red onion to create a sweet-and-sour foundation for this hearty cannellini bean salad The cumin seeds are optional, but they add a deeply earthy and aromatic edge to the pickles; feel free to substitute or experiment with other whole spices such as caraway, coriander, fennel or star anise