Recipes & Food

Named for the city in southwestern Iran, salad-e Shirazi is found on practically every Iranian table at practically every meal Think of it as an herbier, juicier, more acidic version of Greek salad, Israeli salad or Indian kachumber It should be bright, crunchy and tart, a nice counterpoint to rich, buttery rice and unctuous stews

In the canon of iconic Iranian stews, khoresh gheymeh holds a top spot alongside classics like ghormeh sabzi A seemingly humble dish of gently spiced meat and split peas, khoresh gheymeh can be served as a cozy home-cooked meal or a celebratory dish; in big batches as a means of giving alms to those in need; or during religious ceremonies “Gheymeh” refers to the size of the meat, which should be cut into small pieces

This creamy, cozy chicken stew is fast enough for a weeknight meal yet satisfying enough for a long Sunday dinner Boneless chicken thighs are used instead of  breasts, as they stay juicier longer Simmering them in the stew along with sweet paprika, chicken stock and a touch of apple cider vinegar adds surprising depth of flavor alongside dried herbs and plenty of vegetables for dimension and texture

There’s no excuse for not having cabbage in the fridge at all times It’s affordable, it keeps forever, and keeping it stocked means you can have a perfect dinner side in just 30 minutes You’ll want to sear the cabbage hard on the stovetop until its outer leaves have frizzled and developed a crispy texture and smoky flavor, while the leaves inside steam and tenderize

Epis is a foundational ingredient used to flavor a wide array of Haitian dishes Gregory Gourdet, a Haitian-American chef, uses it to marinate everything from fish to chicken thighs to beef short ribs He encourages home cooks to make extra to use as a marinade or to flavor stews, soups, vinaigrettes, sautéed vegetables or even meatloaf

Amanda Saab, a social worker and home cook who lives near Detroit, riffs on her Lebanese grandmother's recipe for namoura, a cake made from semolina flour, soaked in syrup while it's still warm When she serves it at iftar dinners during Ramadan, Ms Saab often doses the syrup with a little bit of lavender extract

This four-ingredient recipe draws inspiration from carnitas, barbecue pulled pork and Vietnamese caramel pork for sticky, sweet and spicy pulled meat Braising browned pork shoulder in a slow cooker in pickled jalapeño brine and fish sauce tenderizes the meat and adds savory depth Part of the cooking liquid then simmers with brown sugar and pickled jalapeño slices for a glaze to drape over pull-apart, crispy-edged meat

Eddie Hernandez, who runs Taqueria del Sol, a string of easygoing Mexican restaurants in Georgia and Tennessee, considers himself a born-again Southern boy whose food reflects a mash-up of the two cultures He grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Monterrey, Mexico, where a pork roast like this would have never made it onto the table But he came to love the roast’s role in a traditional Southern Sunday supper, and decided to give it his own Mexican twist

Though elite, upper-caste Hindus tend to be vegetarian, most Indians eat meat, and many millions of Muslim Indians eat beef This saucy keema, which can be made with chicken, lamb, beef or a combination of meat, is simple, comforting home cooking — the meat stretched out and made luxurious in a reduction of spiced tomato It can be dinner with a couple of soft, shiny bread rolls, or a chapati and a dollop of yogurt

A simple boiling method doesn’t require measuring or memorization — and you probably already know how to do it.

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)

These sweet and spicy chicken thighs pack enormous flavor using only a handful of pantry ingredients Generously seasoned with salt, pepper, and onion and garlic powders, they’re roasted at a high temperature to maximize the crispiness of the skin Halfway through cooking, the chicken is brushed with a butter-and-hot-sauce blend

These homemade sweets are ready in 25 minutes or less.

If you go to a children’s birthday party in Australia or New Zealand, you may not get birthday cake, but you are very likely to find fairy bread: triangles of untoasted white bread covered with margarine or butter and “hundreds and thousands” (known as sprinkles stateside) Fairy bread is a much-loved treat with fairly murky origins; one variation is hagelslag, a Dutch treat that uses chocolate sprinkles instead of rainbow-colored rounds After one bite of fairy bread, it is clear why the combination of soft bread, creamy butter and crunchy, sugary sprinkles is beloved by so many — and may be soon by you, too.

Cottage pie is a near twin to its sibling, the slightly better-known shepherd's pie The main difference between these traditional dishes, which have roots in Ireland and Britain, is that cottage pie embraces ground beef while shepherd’s pie, fittingly, favors lamb Smothered in a delicious and thick gravy along with carrots, onions, celery and peas, the ground beef filling is covered in creamy mashed potatoes and then baked into a hearty and satisfying meal

With creamy squash, sticky chickpeas and tangy yogurt, this vegetarian sheet-pan feast easily serves a crowd The method here doesn’t bother with cutting rock-hard raw winter squash Instead, roast them whole until you can rip them apart into wedges

This recipe for a delicious raw beet dip comes from Botanica, a vegetable-focused restaurant in Los Angeles run by Emily Fiffer and Heather Sperling The recipe is easy — throw everything into the blender raw — though it requires a little time for the blades to break down the beets with walnuts, olive oil and a few other aromatics Fiffer and Sperling cleverly adapted the dip from muhammara, the Middle Eastern spread made from red peppers

Crunchy and tart like salad-e Shirazi yet sturdy enough to sit out for a couple hours, this salad dresses snappy raw zucchini and salty feta simply, with vinegar and oil But while summery salads can be ephemeral, this one has staying power because its seasonings — a za’atar-like combination of dried mint, sesame seeds and dried chile — bloom in the olive oil for a rich undercurrent of flavor Serve this dish as a side or build it into a whole meal by adding cooked grains, beans or another protein.

Some foods are best served straight out of the oven or right from the refrigerator, but there are many dishes and delicacies that benefit from being served at room temperature.

Bold and full flavored, this beef and root vegetable stew from the Gascogne region of France is country cooking at its best.

This weeknight wonder is for those who delight in turning a modest can of beans into a spectacular dinner Inspired by the flavors of red pesto, this recipe calls for simmering cannellini beans with staple ingredients like onion, garlic, crushed red pepper, tomato paste and heavy cream, as well as sun-dried tomatoes and salty Pecorino, until the results taste complex and rich Top the beans with a lemony arugula salad that is peppered with fried bread crumbs for a dish that is crunchy, chewy, crispy and creamy in every bite.

This quick and easy skillet dinner is somewhere between an easy take on enchiladas verdes (no rolling required) and a complete-meal rendition of chile con queso The base is a mixture of charred green chiles, pinto beans and store-bought or homemade salsa verde, which delivers the brightness of tomatillos, chiles, cilantro and lime Blanket the bean-and-chile mixture with Monterey Jack cheese, then broil until molten

This recipe is adapted from the one that a Louisiana firefighter named Jeremy Chauvin entered into a national cook-off run by Hormel Foods in 2017, and that took home the prize for America’s Best Firehouse Chili It is not really a chili in the Texas sense of the word There is a roux at its base — it’s more like a chili gumbo, a bayou take on the original red

Start the day right with these can’t-miss recipes.

It may strike you as curious, but adding an entire orange to this easy snacking cake, rind and all, imparts a wonderful flavor reminiscent of orange marmalade, pleasantly bitter and sweet A high-speed blender is the best way to process the orange, but a food processor works too You want the purée to be as smooth as possible

With minimal prep and a quick cook time, this shrimp stew feels elegant for such an easy weeknight meal You can also take the dish in a number of directions: Substitute the shrimp with an equal amount of flaky white fish or even seared scallops, or stretch the dish into a meal for six by stirring in some butter and serving over cooked spaghetti or rigatoni A good glug of your best olive oil would also be welcome.

In Singapore, there are countless versions of curry Families have their own formulas depending on heritage, and this recipe comes from Shila Das, a second-generation Singaporean of Indian and Vietnamese descent She makes it as an integral part of her nasi biryani for special occasions, including the Lunar New Year, when she brings the dish to a celebration with her best friend

This quick skillet dinner of spiced, seared ground beef over cooling yogurt combines elements of two Persian classics: kebab koobideh (grilled kebabs) and mast-o-khiar (cucumber yogurt) The creamy yogurt base keeps close to the original, while the ground beef is hard-seared on one side like a scallop for a crisp texture Walnuts and raisins, traditionally toppings for mast-o-khiar, get toasted in the beef fat, adding crunch and sweetness to balance the savory meat and tangy yogurt.

The well-known combo spans cultures and cuisines, and is our favorite way to get dinner on the table. These 15 recipes showcase just some of what the ingredient duo has to offer.

Oatcakes—savory, crumbly Scottish crackers—are delicious on their own, or with several slices of cheese.