Vallery Lomas

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

These fuss-free (no electric mixer needed!) pumpkin doughnuts are flavored with cinnamon and nutmeg, classic spices we associate with fall. But they’re also loaded with pumpkin pureé, which makes them moist and flavorful and gives them their orangey hue. They’re finished with a simple — and forgiving — vanilla glaze that sets beautifully. If your glaze is too thick to dip, just add a little more milk. If your glaze is too thin and runs off the doughnut, add a little more confectioners’ sugar.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Sweet beets meet zingy horseradish and crunchy pumpkin seeds in this dish that will enchant beet lovers and skeptics alike. Roasting the beets concentrates their flavor and makes them easier to peel, while pairing red beets with their yellow counterparts makes for a striking visual contrast. Feel free to use all red beets, or all golden beets, if that’s what’s available to you, and to substitute plain yogurt for the sour cream. If you can’t find fresh, refrigerated prepared horseradish, horseradish cream also works beautifully. Make the most of the beet greens: Sauté them in olive oil and finish with a splash of balsamic vinegar for an excellent accompaniment to this dish.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Whipping up this dessert may be the wisest decision you’ll make in the summer: It comes together quickly and uses only five ingredients. Mashed juicy berries folded into lightly whipped cream results in a simple dish that manages to feel both decadent and light. Macerating ripe in-season blackberries in sugar extracts their natural sweetness and goodness. Serve this dish with shortbread cookies for a buttery crumble to contrast the creamy blend.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Blackening is a cooking technique that uses high heat and lots of seasoning to develop distinctive flavor by nearly charring the food in a cast-iron skillet. It’s particularly good for firm, lean white fish, such as catfish, snapper, trout or redfish. The fish is traditionally dipped in melted butter, then cooked in a dry skillet, but that can create billows of smoke. This smokeless method cooks seasoned fillets in oil to create a lovely texture. The cheese grits cook in just under 5 minutes, but are extra flavorful from cooking in chicken stock and still creamy as a result of added milk and butter.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Bourbon adds a wonderful complexity to budget-friendly boneless beef chuck in this warmly comforting dish. Caramelized tomato paste, maple syrup, thyme and bay leaves provide balance while still highlighting the savory notes. Soy sauce does double duty, adding both salt and flavor. By marinating the meat in acidic lemon juice and cooking it low and slow, this inexpensive cut becomes very tender, proving you don’t need a fancy cut of beef to make an elegant, full-flavored main dish. Leftover braising liquid would make a wonderful base for a French onion soup.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

This casserole is chock full of delicious veggies with a homemade creamy base. Parmesan is mixed throughout the casserole and also melted on top, giving this dish some flair that’s more akin to a creamy risotto. Instead of relying on a condensed soup, this recipe makes a simple cream sauce: Flour is sprinkled on the cooked mushrooms and onions then heavy cream and chicken stock are whisked in just before the Parmesan is folded in. Be sure to season each layer of the casserole — from the spinach to chicken. For a shortcut, the meat from a rotisserie chicken works great here.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Roasting butternut squash at a high temperature helps the sugars caramelize, bringing out a sweetness that pairs perfectly with fall flavors like cinnamon and cayenne. This recipe plays on the duality of butternut squash – its savory and sweet components. The ground cinnamon complements the caramelization, and the chili powder and cayenne play on the vegetable’s more savory profile. The cayenne also adds a kick, though you can omit it if you prefer to keep this dish’s heat limited to the more subtle chili powder.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Court-bouillon is a richly flavored Creole and Cajun seafood stew, and it’s quite different from the more delicate French broth of the same name. The base of this hearty stew is a combination of roux, the Creole trinity (bell pepper, onion and celery), crushed tomatoes and seafood stock. It’s traditionally prepared with redfish, though you’ll find recipes that incorporate a variety of seafood. Here, mild tilapia or cod are poached in the tomato broth, contributing flavor and savoriness. The slices of lemon that are stewed alongside add citrusy bursts that enhance the fish and broth, and are a hallmark of this dish.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

The creamy base of this elegant and flavorful soup is accented with chunks of crab meat, so each bite has velvety bisque and sweet, satisfying crab. This recipe uses a Creole-centric method — a blonde roux imparts a subtle nutty flavor while also doing the work of thickening the soup. Make sure the roux does not darken too much, since you want the seafood flavor to shine and to not be overpowered by a dark, rich roux that’s more typical of gumbo. Using roux to thicken the bisque allows for a more streamlined preparation than the traditional version, since the blended soup does not need to be strained or filtered. A homemade seafood or fish stock is well worth the effort for this otherwise relatively simple soup, but you can replace homemade seafood stock with store bought in a pinch.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Cranberries meet cornbread in this one-bowl fall mashup. A crunchy golden edge forms around the cornbread thanks to the hot skillet the batter is poured into. The mixture crisps in the oven-melted butter that coats the pan, resulting in browning and caramelization that delivers maximum flavor. While baking, the fresh cranberries soften, ensuring a burst of juicy tartness with each bite. Use either fine- or medium-grind cornmeal, as coarse varieties make for an overly gritty bite.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

This hearty stew of white beans, vegetables and sausage is the perfect wintry meal. It’s creamy but there’s no added cream: One can of beans is blended with a cup of stock, thickening the stew’s base. Everything simmers together with a few thyme sprigs, plus a tangy Parmesan rind, which adds both richness and creaminess while packing in savory umami. Use a food processor if you’d like to reduce the prep, blitzing the fresh aromatics at the push of a button. Andouille sausage adds some Cajun flair while the hefty amount of vegetables cook down to create a robust chunky stew.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Here’s a weeknight take on the classic shrimp boil: a shrimp broil. Broiling is a quick, simple way to cook the crustaceans with excellent results. The shrimp bathe in a pool of olive oil and butter, which helps them to cook all the way through in a few minutes without having to turn them and keeps them tender, not tough. Corn and potatoes are typically boiled with the seafood in traditional seafood boils. Here, quick-cooking baby corn is a crunchy, flavorful alternative. Potatoes or bread would be great side dishes, and are perfect for sopping up the seasoned oil the shrimp are cooked in.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Most Louisiana residents keep a container of Creole or Cajun seasoning within easy reach of their stovetop. To many Louisianans, a savory dish is not complete if it hasn’t been seasoned with a blend of sweet peppers, hot peppers, onions and garlic. This version is a blend of dried, ground spices that are likely already in your spice cabinet. Once combined, you get something uniquely and quintessentially Southern. There’s just enough cayenne to add a little heat, but feel free to adjust it to your liking by increasing it or eliminating it altogether. Many commercially-prepared blends use a hefty amount of salt, so be mindful of adjusting the salt to taste. Don’t limit yourself to using this blend in traditional Creole or Cajun fare like shrimp Creole, gumbo or dirty rice; it is versatile enough to go on pretty much any savory dish, from scrambled eggs to sautéed spinach.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

This bread pudding is a cozy dessert that makes smart use of store-bought croissants. Opting for croissants instead of French bread lends an extra buttery and rich base for this dessert. Though bread pudding is traditionally made with leftover, stale bread, which absorbs more liquid than fresh, feel free to use fresh croissants – the soak time should compensate for the fact that they have a little more moisture. The optional rum sauce adds a caramel-like finish to the dessert but a scoop of ice cream would also pair well.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Mustard greens are a delectable option for the simplest weeknight meal or the grandest holiday table. Though they’re from the same plant family as collard greens, mustard greens are more peppery and the cooked leaves are more tender. (They also cook down a lot more, so it takes a lot of mustard greens to make a decent serving amount!) This recipe is generous with the liquid, because as it cooks it becomes something just as delicious as the greens themselves: pot likker. Smoked meats are often used for their flavor, but a small amount of liquid smoke keeps this recipe meat-free. Be sure to serve your greens in a bowl, so you can slurp up the resulting pot likker afterward.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Fill store-bought brioche buns with jammy, caramelized onions and melted Gruyère, for satisfying little sandwiches that make a perfect soup companion or a cozy, comforting meal. Caramelizing the onions takes some time but very little effort, and coaxing out the ingredient’s sweet side is well worth it. The butter used to caramelize the onions adds flavor, and the extra-virgin olive oil allows the onions to tolerate higher heat without burning. (However, if you find the onions are browning unevenly, turn the heat down to low.) Prepare a big batch of these balsamic caramelized onions ahead of time and lunch can be on your plate in 10 minutes.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Less sugary than traditional candied yams, these sweet potatoes rely on the natural sweetness of pineapple juice, with just a hint of brown sugar to form a syrup that’s flavored with vanilla and cinnamon. The pineapple adds some tangy acidity that further balances the sweetness of the potatoes and the syrup that coats them. By parboiling the sweet potatoes before baking them in this recipe (which can be done a day or two ahead), you’re cutting down the cook time — and ensuring that you’ll get fork-tender spuds. This dish is finished on the stovetop, which helps the syrup to thicken and come together quickly.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

This weeknight dinner is the perfect homey and rustic dish. Quick-cooking grits become extra flavorful because they are simmered in vegetable stock and get a creamy bite from the combination of milk and sharp Cheddar that’s stirred in once the grits are tender. Using both collard greens and Swiss chard lends more interesting and varied tastes and textures. Because the leaves are cooked just until wilted, apple cider vinegar is added at the end to help balance out any bitterness. A little hot sauce splashed on just before serving helps tie the entire dish together, awakening the flavors in both the greens and grits.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

This super-simple tropical cake contains a hefty amount of mashed bananas and crushed pineapple. Often associated with the American South, where it is believed to have adopted a cream cheese frosting, it most likely originated in Jamaica, where it was called a Doctor Bird Cake. (“Doctor bird” is the nickname of Jamaica’s national bird, the red-billed streamertail hummingbird.) Some say this cake is sweet enough to attract even hummingbirds, while others say the name derives from how bananas, a key ingredient in the cake, resemble the bird’s beak. The end result tastes similar to banana bread, but with the moistness and flavor of a spice-filled carrot cake.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

King cake, a sweetened, yeast-raised bread eaten throughout the many weeks of Carnival season, is rolled and twisted like a cinnamon roll. Traditional king cakes are flavored with cinnamon and sugar, but today the flavor combinations are seemingly endless; this version pairs strawberry jam and cream cheese. The cream cheese filling is flavored with lemon zest and a little sugar; a spoonful of flour adds structure. Dollops of strawberry jam contribute a concentrated fruity bite; if you want more fruit presence, opt for canned strawberry pie filling. The whole pastry is bathed in a lemony glaze before being topped with green, gold and purple sugar, a visual cue that identifies this wreath of baked dough as a king cake.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

This tangy, creamy lemon icebox pie hits all the high notes, and it couldn’t be easier to prep. Using lemon curd provides a ton of lemony tartness and flavor, and means that you don’t need to fuss around with juicing and zesting fresh lemons. The cream cheese balances out the tart citrus notes, while also making this recipe super creamy. And you don’t even need to turn on your oven. Be sure that your cream cheese is super soft so that there won’t be lumps in your pie. This pie can be served straight from the freezer for a semifreddo-like texture. Plus, it cuts precisely when it’s very cold. You may also opt to let it rest at room temperature to soften a bit before serving.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

This creamy stew is a cross between an oyster gumbo and an oyster bisque. Similar to a gumbo, flour is used for its thickening properties without overwhelming the delicate oyster flavor. And much like a bisque, a combination of milk and cream is stirred into the base, lending an extra rich and satisfying element to this minimalist stew. Sweet shallots are a natural complement to oysters, but you could swap in onions in a pinch. Store-bought seafood stock gets an upgrade: One pound of oysters gets blended into it, making a superbriny base for the broth. And there’s no oyster-shucking needed — look for pre-shucked fresh oysters in your grocer’s seafood department.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

In this one-pan gratin, inspired by a favorite appetizer at Mosca’s, an Italian restaurant just outside of New Orleans, fresh oysters are covered in a garlicky butter sauce, topped with a mélange of breadcrumbs and freshly grated Parmesan and baked until tender yet juicy. It’s a hit with those who love oysters — and even those who aren’t fans of raw ones. The shellfish are full of flavor from the Creole seasoning that accents the sauce, with a hint of Italian influence from the herbs and Parmesan. At Mosca’s, they use plump Gulf oysters from nearby waters, a variety that’s especially good cooked and worth seeking out if you live near the Gulf Coast. Otherwise, any oysters work: Using preshucked oysters packed in their liquor at your local grocer or fishmonger makes preparing this dish a breeze. Best enjoyed warm from the oven, this appetizer is meant to be shared with a group.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Highly seasoned andouille sausage makes this pasta extra-zippy, while white beans and collard greens give it a rustic flair. They are not ingredients typically used in pasta, but this dish may become part of your regular rotation once you try it. This one-dish dinner is perfect for cold, cozy nights when you want something hearty to stick to your bones, but it will satisfy any time. Swirling in lemon juice and olive oil just before serving adds freshness and ties all of the flavors together.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Sweetened with peaches, freshly puréed or from store-bought juice, this beverage tastes extra refreshing in warm weather. The fruit complements strongly brewed tea, and a little lemon juice further accentuates the peach flavor and helps balance the natural sweetness, which you can bolster with sugar if you’d like.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

The South likes to claim pimento cheese as its own, but its origins can actually be traced back to New York, the home of cream cheese, which makes up the spread’s foundation. Cheddar and mayonnaise were later additions. This frittata is a hodgepodge of creamy and spicy, celebrating the flavors and textures of pimento cheese. The fresh herbs add vibrance, and the sharp Cheddar can stand up to the spiciness of the various peppers. The chunks of cream cheese add velvety bits to each bite.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

This recipe combines two classic Southern dishes to create something special: Pimento cheese, a spread for sandwiches, crackers and vegetables, meets mac and cheese for a peppery and spicier version of the traditional baked casserole. The core ingredients of pimento cheese — sharp yellow Cheddar, pimento peppers and cream cheese — cook into a sauce that’s creamier and tangier than the usual purely cheese base.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

You may know these as “deviled” eggs, but since they are often served at church functions, they’re sometimes referred to instead as “stuffed.” Here, they’re filled with a combination of their cooked yolks and some favorite ingredients in Louisiana cookery — from pimento peppers to paprika to cayenne — which add a pinch of heat to these savory bites. The relish adds just enough sweetness to balance out the pungent flavor from the Dijon mustard. Be sure to remove the shells from the eggs as soon as they are cool enough to handle so the peeling will be easier. The stuffed eggs can be prepared up to three days in advance, but they are best the day they’re made.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

This dessert delivers all the warm spices of pumpkin pie along with the tangy creaminess of cheesecake. To help the filling come together easily, make sure your ingredients are at room temperature, and refrain from mixing on high, which will incorporate too much air, causing the cheesecake to rise, then fall. The cake is finished in the oven with the heat turned off; that gentle reduction in heat eliminates the need for a water bath and reduces the likelihood of cracks or a grainy texture.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

This recipe makes quick work out of jambalaya by using leftover rice, and it tastes great with freshly cooked grains, too. To make this meal meatless, use vegan andouille sausage or stick with pork sausage, if you prefer. Either option, along with creole seasoning and the classic trinity of creole cooking — onion, celery and green bell pepper — result in a dish that is unmistakably Louisianan. Though many jambalaya recipes skip tomatoes, this version uses a blend of tomato paste and diced tomatoes to add bulk, and an acidity that helps lighten up the otherwise hearty one-pot meal.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Quartering the okra significantly cuts down pickling time in this recipe: The vegetable pickles more quickly because its insides are exposed. Most picklers have their own special way of seasoning the love-it or leave-it vegetable. “Pickled okra had to grow on me,” Kenneth Garrett, a lifelong New Orleans resident and avid pickler, said. Now, he eagerly awaits okra’s growing season, and he makes pickled okra with basil and oregano, all from his garden. He serves it alongside fried chicken or as a snack. Mr. Garrett adds Creole seasoning, but this recipe uses whole peppercorns instead. Feel free to be creative with spices here. This recipe is ready in hours, but you can minimize okra’s characteristic gooeyness by refrigerating the pickles for two weeks before enjoying. Lastly, whenever preserving or canning, even for a “quick” job like this, it’s important to maintain a sterile environment. Wash the jars, lids and rims with hot, soapy water and dry them with clean towels.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

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. Finally, honey and lime zest are whisked into the remaining hot sauce butter to coat the fully baked chicken thighs. A squirt of tangy lime juice provides balance and the perfect finishing touch. Serve with a simple and refreshing cucumber salad or coleslaw.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

These corn fritters use fresh, whole kernels, mixed with spices, scallions and a simple batter. Corn fritters come in many types, from the cornmeal-based, deep-fried hush puppies, to the more patty-shaped, pan-fried fritters. Pan-seared in hot oil until crisp, these patty-like fritters contain Cheddar, which adds creaminess while still allowing the crunchy corn kernels to provide a pop of sweet flavor and texture with each bite. Fritters make an excellent side for a cookout, as they stand up to smoky barbecue flavors and can be enjoyed warm or at room temperature. Leftovers make an excellent breakfast, with a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt on top.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Grits go from breakfast accompaniment to dinnertime star in this dish. Enjoying grits with seafood, such as blackened fish, is nothing new. But the relatively recent popularity of shrimp and grits in restaurants certainly is. The andouille sausage in this recipe accentuates the Creole flavors while enhancing the shrimp, which is sautéed in the sausage’s rendered fat. The reduced chicken stock and swirl of sour cream complete the savory sauce that pools in the cheesy grits. The corn-forward flavor of stone-ground grits takes this dish to the next level, and the sweetness of the corn pairs nicely with the shrimp. You can make the shrimp component while the stone-ground grits are cooking.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Much like gumbo, this shrimp and tomato stew starts with a roux that thickens and adds a distinct flavor (though many takes on shrimp Creole skip the roux altogether). Next, the “holy trinity” of Creole cooking — onion, celery and bell pepper — is simmered in the roux. You’ll want to stir the bottom of the pot constantly to prevent the roux from sticking and burning, and make sure to keep a close eye: A burned roux can’t be saved. Creole cuisine relishes improvisation, so feel free to add other veggies or a different protein, or omit the hot sauce and add a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in its place. This spicy stew is traditionally served over steamed white rice, but is also delicious served over brown rice or other whole grains, like quinoa.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Found in both Creole and Cajun cuisines, étouffée is most commonly made with crawfish tails, which have a distinct flavor, but crawfish have a short season and aren’t readily available in most places. This version, with shrimp, is more than a worthy substitute, and an excellent dish all its own. The dish takes its name from the French word "étouffée,” which nods to its protein being smothered with sauce. This recipe uses a shortcut version of a roux: The flour is added after the onion, celery, bell pepper and garlic have already been sautéed in the butter. If you omit the hot sauce, add apple cider vinegar in its place.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Simplicity is key when it comes to a great shrimp po’ boy: Crispy, fried shrimp are nestled in French bread. If you order a po’ boy at a sandwich shop in Louisiana, they’ll ask if you want it “dressed.” Dressed means all the traditional po’ boy trimmings: lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and pickles. There’s no need for rémoulade sauce or other special sauces; the mayo is all you need to tie all of the ingredients together in a tasty sub. Look for Louisiana-style French bread (which is softer and wider than a baguette), but in a pinch, any long loaf with a crisp — not hard — exterior and a soft crumb will do.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

This pound cake — with its fine, tender texture and inviting, rich vanilla flavor — gets its height from the mixing method, the number of eggs and the reaction between the sour cream and baking soda. The sour cream, less dense than cream cheese, also adds some tanginess. Be sure to take your time when creaming the butter and sugar so the air pockets that are created will expand and cause the cake to rise in the oven.The cake can be baked in a bundt pan or a tube pan. It’s perfect just as it is, but feel free to add the simple glaze or serve with a scoop of ice cream.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

This style of crab dip, often referred to as Maryland crab dip because of its Chesapeake Bay origins, makes for a festive appetizer. Here, it’s served hot out of the oven and is extra creamy thanks to the combination of cream cheese and a little mayonnaise. Though crabs are plentiful this time of year — and you can certainly make this with freshly steamed and picked meat if you’d like — canned lump crabmeat makes this dish simple to assemble. Just be careful to leave the clumps of meat as intact as possible when mixing. A sprinkle of cayenne pepper and a generous douse of hot sauce add heat to this flavorful dish.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Stone-ground grits are dried corn kernels that have been coarsely ground. Unlike instant and quick-cooking grits, their coarse nature requires a longer cooking time, but the resulting dish is more flavorful and, when cooked long enough, smells like popcorn. Don’t skimp on the cook time, and add more water if needed. You can find white and yellow stone-ground grits at many grocery stores, or purchase them online. This recipe is for cheesy grits, though some people prefer their grits sweet and add sugar. Extra-sharp Cheddar works wonderfully here, but feel free to use a smoked Cheddar or even smoked Gouda for even more flavor.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

This layer cake is affectionately referred to as “Grandma’s Cake” by many Southerners. Using jelly as the filling and the frosting is a wonderful way to add fruity flavor to a cake year-round. The jelly seeps into the cake, so there’s no need to brush on a simple syrup to keep it moist. This recipe uses cake flour, which has less protein than all-purpose flour and yields a more tender crumb. But it can be prone to clumping. Sift it into the mixing bowl, or use a whisk to aerate it and break up any lumps. “Frost” the sides of the cake with jelly or buttercream, or just let it drip down the sides. When making this cake in the summer, you can top it with sliced fresh strawberries.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

This festive beverage uses real fruit for a bright flavor and gorgeous dark pink hue that store-bought soda could never match. Strawberries impart a refreshing taste that’s accented by a hint of lime. The lime juice also serves to balance out the sweetness of the syrup without overpowering the delicate strawberry. Much like bottled soda, this one is craveably sweet; feel free to adjust to your liking — add more syrup if you want it sweeter, or more lime juice or club soda for a lighter beverage (the melting ice will also dilute the soda). When cooking the strawberry purée, decrease the heat if it starts to foam up, to prevent it from boiling over. Club soda or seltzer will yield a fizzier homemade soda, but sparkling water works great too. For maximum carbonation, prepare the batch à la minute.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Succotash embodies the proverb “If it grows together, it goes together.” This dish is a celebration of summer: fresh corn, ripe tomatoes and shelled butter beans (also known as lima beans.) Succotash has earned its place of pride in regions across the U.S. — the Midwest, the Eastern Seaboard, and perhaps most notably, the South. This succotash is Cajun-style and a worthy entree, thanks to spicy andouille sausage and seasoned shrimp. But feel free to leave them out for a satisfying meatless option. The andouille sausage adds kick, so if you use regular sausage or eliminate it altogether, you can add some heat with ground cayenne and hot sauce.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

This sweet tea toes the line between just right and puckery sweet. The formula reflects the way my grandmother Leona Johnson made sweet tea: strong tea, lots of lemon juice and even more sugar. Start by adding half a cup of sugar to the batch, then add up to 4 more tablespoons to your preference. By making it extra potent, tart and sweet, this brew still tastes good even after the ice starts to melt. Vallery Lomas

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

These juicy turkey sliders are incredibly versatile: They’re simple enough for weeknights, but they’re also the perfect size for parties. The key is to use turkey with enough fat (ground turkey breast isn’t ideal here) so that your sliders will be perfectly moist; slathering them with a combination of barbeque sauce and mayonnaise provides additional insurance. Optional caramelized onions are the perfect savory, jammy topping to balance out the sharpness from the Cheddar and the sweet Hawaiian rolls, but the sliders are also great unadorned.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

Braised until soft and yielding, with a mild sweetness stemming from long cooking and a hit of balsamic vinegar, these turnip greens — more tender than collards with a slight pepperiness, similar to mustard greens — become flavorful and savory. Many recipes for turnip greens use smoked meats or ham, but here they get a wonderful smokiness from smoked paprika. Though you can certainly find them attached to their root, turnips, these tasty greens are so popular that they are also sold on their own.

Vallery Lomas · NYT Cooking

This meatless gumbo has a distinct Louisiana flavor, thanks to the roux, Creole seasoning and the “holy trinity” of Creole cooking (onion, celery, bell pepper). Gumbo is traditionally made with a variety of smoked meats and seafood, but this version gets an added bit of smokiness from an optional splash of liquid smoke. Here, the okra is roasted in the oven before being added to the pot, which eliminates the gooeyness. There is also no skimping on vegetables in this gumbo, and the red lentils thicken it while adding protein. Serving this gumbo over white rice helps make it a complete meal.