Recipes & Food

While it’s never not a time for beer-brats, I’m putting fingers to keyboard in mid-September, perhaps the beginning of their prime time. Fall, football, and the imminent coming of Oktoberfest all come together to make beer brats the obvious choice for this weekend’s menu. So let’s look at beer brats, what they are, where they...

This sardine rice recipe unites some likely kitchen inhabitants, such as onions, garlic and leftover rice, to make a quick, allium-perfumed weeknight dinner Since fat is an excellent courier for flavor, giving the olive oil time with the aromatics and sardines ensures a satisfying amount of each ingredient's fragrance and flavor throughout the rice Is it fried rice

This is less of a recipe and more of a trick — one that ends with a deeply savory, spicy red oil you’ll want to pour over everything The eggs are fried in olive oil until the whites puff and crisp around the edges, then you scoot them to the side and let sliced garlic, smoked paprika and chile sizzle in the oil What you’re left with is a garlicky, brick-red oil that stains the eggs and perfumes your kitchen in the best way

Shakshuka may be at the apex of eggs-for-dinner recipes, though in Israel it is breakfast food, a bright, spicy start to the day with a pile of pita or challah served on the side (It also makes excellent brunch or lunch food.) It’s a one-skillet recipe of eggs baked in a tomato-red pepper sauce spiced with cumin, paprika and cayenne First you make that sauce, which comes together fairly quickly on top of the stove, then you gently crack each of the eggs into the pan, nestling them into the sauce

You may have once struggled with dry or greasy breads reeking of burned or raw garlic, but it's time to put that behind you This is a versatile recipe, as readily made with thin baguettes, as it is with rustic sourdoughs and airy Italian loaves Cutting the bread like a Hasselback potato keeps the butter from seeping out and allows the garlic to infuse the bread with its flavor without scorching

This is not your average broccoli soup Instead of merely boiling the broccoli to cook it, here, the florets are seared until deeply browned on one side while remaining bright green on the other This gives the soup a layer of caramelized flavor while also preserving the fresh green taste of the broccoli itself

Instead of mixing together a bunch of ingredients to make a just-okay veggie burger, smash portobello mushroom caps with a heavy skillet while cooking until they’re thin but dense with savoriness, then dress them with melted cheese, tuck them into a bun and top them with classic fixings Cooking mushrooms this way forces the water out of their spongy bodies, turning them into something meaty and satisfying Because they’re so thin, you’ll want to stack two mushrooms per bun

This recipe is a promise of warmth on those cool autumn nights Habanero chiles and peanuts both feature heavily in Nigerian cuisine, and this soup is an adaptation of a long-simmered stew common to much of West Africa Don’t be afraid of a chile with seeds: The fragrant oils from these peppers are worth every bite

Sweet, savory, and full of flavor, this easy weeknight noodle soup takes a cue from the warmly comforting northern Thai dish khao soi, with a curry-spiced coconut broth and toppings that offer crunch and contrast First, the butternut squash is simmered in the fragrant broth until very tender Then the squash is mashed, becoming one with the coconut milk before stock and sweet and savory seasonings are added (to keep the soup vegetarian, use soy sauce instead of fish sauce and use vegan curry paste)

A mélange of mushrooms, roasted with aromatic garlic, sweet red onions and warming woody herbs, brings elegance to this easy weeknight pasta Roasting mushrooms is a wonderful hands-off cooking technique, giving them the time to soften and become golden around the edges while staying moist and plump Lemon wedges are roasted, too, which unlocks their sweetness and coaxes out a deeper citrus flavor

This summery, one-pot dish has everything you need: fresh shrimp nestled in creamy coconut rice, with pops of summer corn and basil Lime cuts through the richness and adds some bright tartness To easily shave corn kernels off the cob, lay your cob flat on your cutting board

Like any good chopped salad, the lettuce here is in equal balance with the other ingredients, making this a great choice for those who are less than enthusiastic about leafy greens Creamy feta and avocado mingle with briny olives and capers while cucumbers and finely chopped romaine provide crunch Use this recipe as a template for making the most of ingredients you have on hand; radishes, cherry tomatoes or diced onion would all be welcome here

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