Recipes

Bryan Washington · NYT Cooking

Oyakodon is pure bliss, combining the ease of lightly poached chicken with the velvety richness of eggs and onions simmered in sauce. In Japanese, oya means parent, while ko translates to child. Consequently, chicken and egg come together in a blend of dashi, mirin and soy sauce. A perfect weekday meal, oyakodon cooks in just under 30 minutes and is delightful alongside pickles and a bowl of miso soup. The chicken and egg bowl is a dream of soulfulness ladled over rice. Leftovers, if you have any, will hold in the refrigerator for a day.

Bryan Washington · NYT Cooking

Chorizo taquitos are quick, filling and endlessly customizable. While a taquito’s more traditional iterations involve frying the filled and rolled tortilla until crisp, this recipe is styled after a fast-casual version from the Whataburger restaurant chain. It’s made with flour tortillas (rather than corn tortillas) and skips the frying process. The chorizo filling is cooked with aromatics and seasonings, then mixed with scrambled eggs, ladled across tortillas with cheese, rolled and garnished with salsa. The dish retains its Mexican origins while adapting to the flavor profiles and preferences of its many locales. The taquito is as straightforward or complex as you’d like it to be — which is another joy of this delicious dish.

Bryan Washington · NYT Cooking

This melon salad, from Denai Moore’s “Plentiful: Vegan Jamaican Recipes to Repeat” (Hardie Grant, 2023) is a delight on a summer day, and a quick, surprising start to the rest of your meal. Consisting largely of sliced cantaloupe and chayote (also known as cho cho), the dish requires minimal effort: chopping, tossing and serving. The amount of acidity and herbs can be adjusted and calibrated to your preference, or the crowd that you’re cooking for. As Ms. Moore writes, “This is a salad to be eaten seasonally, as it uses so few ingredients, so it’s important that each one has the best opportunity to shine.” Nodding toward a vibrancy of flavor, confluence of textures and an eye to pleasure, it’s a salad to look forward to. Bryan Washington

Bryan Washington · NYT Cooking

Chilaquiles are beloved all over Mexico and across the U.S. Southwest. Tortillas are fried, simmered in salsa and adorned with a multitude of herbs and proteins that vary with the chefs cooking them. Some folks prefer their totopos (tortilla chips) crisper, while some like them softer. Chilaquiles can be doused in salsa, but just a bit can yield a meal just as delicious. Though it really is worth stretching for the best quality tortillas you can find and frying them to your liking, in a pinch, buying the best tortilla chips you can works, too. Bottled salsa will do, if absolutely necessary, but a quick homemade salsa will produce dividends in taste with relatively little labor.

Bryan Washington · NYT Cooking

Bánh mì are, frankly, perfect sandwiches. From the baguettes (“bánh mì” literally translates to bread) to the fillings, they leave room for endless variation while remaining entirely distinct as a complete, complex Vietnamese dish. For this recipe, pork is the star: Following a brief marinade, the meat is broiled, then stuffed in a warm baguette alongside pickles, mayo, butter and a sprinkling of herbs. Ideally, it’s worth picking up the baguettes and butter from your local Vietnamese bakery or bánh mì shop (just ask; they’ll likely sell some to you). Both the pork and the pickles can be made ahead of time. Any extra cooked pork shoulder would serve as delicious leftovers when reheated alongside rice and eggs, or tossed between noodles, or folded into yet another bánh mì. Any extra pickles will hold in the fridge for several weeks — and are endlessly adaptable for later meals.

Bryan Washington · NYT Cooking

Meals seldom get more soulful than okonomiyaki — the Japanese cabbage pancake is soothing and filling, hearty with pork and savory with a topping of seaweed and bonito flakes. Its name stems from “okonomi,” which translates closely to “how you like,” and the recipe is an exercise in variation and flexibility. With a framework of shredded cabbage and its accompanying batter, any number of proteins, vegetables, cheeses and seasonings are fair game, yielding a meal that’s as personal as you’d like it to be. This iteration’s locality is commonly attributed to Hiroshima: the layered pancake’s noodles add texture while absorbing sauce and flavor from pork belly, a fried egg and whichever other toppings of yours are adorning the dish. If you’re cooking with a griddle, it’s possible to make multiple pancakes at once; but if you’re using a pan on your stovetop, it’s worth cooking them one at a time, then serving each immediately.

Kim Severson · NYT Cooking

The cheese ball is a stalwart of the Midwest cocktail party, where it can be fashioned from processed Cheddar cheese and port wine, or pineapple and cream cheese. This recipe relies on the leftover ends of good cheese or even just one kind of good-quality, sharp cheese like Gruyère. The idea of adding butter comes from Vivian Howard, the North Carolina chef who features a cheese ball with blue cheese, chopped dates and bacon in her cookbook "Deep Run Roots." She calls hers a party magnet, and indeed, for all of the shade thrown at cheese balls, they are often the first thing to be eaten. They can be served with chutney, jam or simply alongside the best-quality crackers you can find.

Kim Severson · NYT Cooking

This quick-cooking fish stew, with its raft of eggs and no-stir preparation method, is specific to eastern North Carolina. Church fund-raisers and family gatherings center on the stew, where traditionally men would layer chunks of fish with bones and skin, thinly sliced potatoes, onions and spices in a caldron and stand around the fire watching it cook. About five minutes before it was done, someone would crack an egg for each guest into the tomato-rich broth. Eggs were a cheap filler and a way to stretch the stew to provide enough protein for a crowd, along with fish like striped bass or flounder from North Carolina’s Atlantic shore. Vivian Howard, who left New York to open Chef & the Farmer, a restaurant in Kinston, N.C., offers this version for home cooks. The key is not stirring it at all, and watching the heat so the bottom doesn’t scorch. Serve it with a couple of slices of squishy white bread (Sunbeam is traditional), which act as delicious sponges for the broth. Kim Severson

Kim Severson · NYT Cooking

This recipe is from "A Meatloaf in Every Oven," by Frank Bruni and Jennifer Steinhauer, who say it was the invention of a friend, Anne Kornblut. The plethora of spices and large amounts of garlic may seem overwhelming, but ground meat has a deep tolerance for seasoning and is usually improved by it. The fresh herbs are a foil for all the rich seasonings, and the vegetables give the loaf an especially lovely texture. Kim Severson

Kim Severson · NYT Cooking

Chefs have a way of taking the most humble ingredient and elevating it, which is what Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman of Hog & Hominy in Memphis did with sweet potatoes. The trick is to confit thick slices slow in fat, which transforms the texture into silk. They use pork fat at their restaurants, but home cooks can get a similar effect with olive oil seasoned with some bacon fat. It works well with olive oil alone, too. The chefs also make their own chorizo, and mix up their own crème fraîche with heavy cream and buttermilk, then spike it with yuzu. Home cooks can make things more reasonable using pre-made chorizo and store-bought crème fraîche with a hit of lemon juice (though yuzu is better if you can find it). The confit itself can be done a day or two ahead of time. Just lift the sweet potato slices from the oil and chill them. (To save a few minutes, you can toast the pecans in the oven as you bake the sweet potatoes.) A last note: It does seem like a daunting amount of olive oil,

Kim Severson · NYT Cooking

This classic recipe from Paula Wolfert, who picked it up from her friend, the Turkish food journalist Ayfer Unsal, is a versatile relish that can be spooned alongside pork skewers, simply cooked fish or sliced steak. Each ingredient is important to the final relish. Leave one out and it will seem out of balance. A note: Rinse the olives with cool water before you use them, then taste one. If they seem too salty, soak them in lukewarm water for 30 minutes. Drain and rinse again. Kim Severson

Kim Severson · NYT Cooking

This simple way to roast salmon brings spectacular results with hardly any worry on the cook's part. The Mediterranean cookbook author Paula Wolfert learned it from the French chef Michel Bras, and it rises and falls on the thinness of the sheet pan. A pan of water delivers enough moisture to steam the fish briefly at a low temperature, producing a final product that is soft and deliciously juicy. It adapts easily to almost any salmon fillet. Emily Kaiser Thelin, who includes it in her biography of Ms. Wolfert, "Unforgettable," says a center-cut of wild-caught Alaska king works best and suggests pairing it with a salad or cracked green olive relish. Kim Severson

Kim Severson · NYT Cooking

Whitney Otawka, whom you may remember from "Top Chef" or Hugh Acheson’s Five & Ten restaurant in Athens, Ga., cooks at the Greyfield Inn. It’s the only place to stay on Cumberland Island, the largest barrier island off Georgia’s coast. The farmers who live there grow sugar snap peas, which she welcomes as one of the early tastes of spring. She is also a fan of Calabrian peppers packed in oil, which she started eating at Antico Pizza in Atlanta. She uses them to make a dressing base that enlivens the peas. The fennel, which needs to be sliced very finely, adds crunch and depth. Buy baby fennel, if you can find it. This is a great salad on its own, or use it as a kind of relish on grilled meat or braised lamb. There will be extra chile dressing, which is a fine condiment for grilled chicken. It will also add character to a pasta dish or even a slice of takeout pizza. Kim Severson

Kim Severson · NYT Cooking

The Romans make a classic dish in the spring with very young milk-fed lamb. Such meat is hard to find in American supermarkets, but the technique, which involves a short braise in vinegar and water with a boost of anchovy at the end, works fine with chunks of lamb cut from a leg or roast of any young lamb. This recipe is built on the precise technique for abbacchio alla cacciatora that Marcella Hazan offered in "The Classic Italian Cookbook," with some freshening up. The braised chunks of meat are topped with a crunchy sugar snap pea salad that carries the heat of Calabria peppers, a recipe from Whitney Otawka, who grew up in California and now cooks in Georgia. (The salad is a great stand-alone recipe, too, and one that would be terrific alongside a ham, if yours is an Easter ham family.)

Kim Severson · NYT Cooking

In the south Indian state of Kerala, a street stall selling food is called a thattukada, and one of the most well-known dishes served is something called chicken fry, or thattu chicken. The chef Asha Gomez, who grew up in the Kerala port city of Trivandrum and now lives in Atlanta, took that street chicken and adapted it into a quick-cooking recipe that relies on coconut oil for crispness, and curry leaves, ginger and garlic for flavor. It gets its heat and color from Kashmiri chile powder, a fruity pepper used in many Indian dishes. It’s worth seeking out the pepper online, or at a market that caters to Indian shoppers, where you can also find the fresh curry leaves that are key to this dish. Ms. Gomez serves it with the flaky paratha that’s unique to Kerala, but any flatbread, or even rice, works well. It’s also a great dish to set out as a nibble with drinks, as they do in the toddy shops of southern India. Kim Severson

Kim Severson · NYT Cooking

Paul Arguin, an epidemiologist, relaxes by making pie. This one, with its generous amount of fruit and sweetness from maple syrup, won the blueberry-division prize in the 2017 National Pie Championships. A few tricks raise it above other blueberry pies. One is the crust, which has a touch of cinnamon and maple sugar, and uses cider vinegar and just a little shortening for structure. Dr. Arguin cooks the filling in a sous-vide machine, which keeps the berries whole but tender. For the top crust, he borrows an idea from cake makers who work with fondant. Four planks of dough are pressed into an inexpensive silicone mat molded to look like wood grain, then peeled off and set on top of the pie. Home cooks without fancy equipment, take heart. The berries can be cooked slowly on the stove, and four strips of plain dough for the top crust work just as well. Kim Severson

Kim Severson · NYT Cooking

Alice Waters often recommends that cooks master a good minestrone. It’s communal and seasonal, two pillars on which she has built her cooking career. This summer recipe came from the cookbook that is her top seller: "The Art of Simple Food." It uses the best of the season’s green beans, tomatoes and squash. In the spring, fresh peas, asparagus and spinach would make a good vegetable trio, with some fennel standing in for the carrot in the sofrito. In the fall, cubes of butternut squash, a small can of tomatoes and a bunch of kale would star, with rosemary and a little chopped sage instead of thyme for seasoning. Winter might bring a soup built from turnips, potatoes and cabbage. If the turnips have greens, add them, too. Start with a large pot that has a heavy bottom. Always cook the vegetables through, about 10 minutes. They should look good enough to eat on their own. Add the beans about 10 minutes before serving. A cup or two of cooked pasta can be stirred in at the last minute. Don

Kim Severson · NYT Cooking

The vegan chef Jenné Claiborne grew up in suburban Atlanta, where she developed a love for the teriyaki chicken stir-fry at Panda Express. After she became vegan, she recreated the flavors of her teen-age craving, using dates and soy sauce to produce the flavor of teriyaki sauce. If you don’t have chickpeas on hand to add heft to the vegetables, replace them with tempeh, tofu, edamame, jackfruit or mushrooms. Also, feel free to swap out the broccoli in favor of another green vegetable like kale, cabbage or bok choy. To make a less salty, slightly less mall-like version, use low-sodium soy sauce or ¼ cup soy sauce and ¼ water or broth. You can also use low-sodium canned chickpeas (or soak and cook your own and salt to taste). Kim Severson

Kim Severson · NYT Cooking

This clever vegan re-creation of a Southern Louisiana étouffée comes from Jenné Claiborne, who included it in her 2018 cookbook "Sweet Potato Soul." Succulent oyster mushrooms stand in for the shrimp or crawfish used in a traditional étouffée. The seaweed called dulse brings a smoky, savory note and a mix of Creole and Old Bay seasoning provides the familiar flavors. Ms. Claiborne suggests spooning this over brown rice instead of the traditional white. Kim Severson

Kim Severson · NYT Cooking

Bryant Terry is the chef in residence at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, where he creates events that celebrate the African-American intersection of food and culture. With millet, lentils and potatoes, these vegan cakes are a nod to ’70s-style macrobiotic dishes — but upgraded with a smoky, garlicky sauce built from roasted green peppers. They are also good on their own if you don’t have time to make the sauce, and are delicious topped with an egg as a non-vegan alternative. Kim Severson

Kim Severson · NYT Cooking

Limpin’ Susan is often called the wife of Hoppin’ John, the pilau of peas and rice that Gullah cooks have made for generations in the South Carolina Sea Islands and Lowcountry, and that is also common in the Caribbean. Like Hoppin' John, the dish takes many forms depending on whose kitchen you grew up in. Some recipes start with fried bacon and end with washed long-grain rice, onions and okra steaming over simmering water for 45 minutes. Others call for simmering everything in chicken stock, or mixing chicken broth and cornstarch, then mixing the broth into cooked rice. B.J. Dennis, a Charleston chef, likes his Limpin’ Susan more like a dry stir-fry, akin to what one might eat in Trinidad. The rice is cooked ahead of time, so liquid is fully absorbed and the grains remain distinct. This recipe is vegetarian, although Mr. Dennis likes to toss in a handful of chopped shrimp when the onions are softening.

Kim Severson · NYT Cooking

There are as many recipes for southern Maryland stuffed ham as there are families in St. Mary’s County. It shows up on Christmas and Easter tables, and at almost every community fund-raising supper. This recipe, compiled from cooks whose families have been making it for generations, uses raw stuffing and is spiced with plenty of black and red pepper. Because the ham boils for so long, the spiciness will mellow. The most challenging part is the finding the ham itself. Corned hams — which are simply fresh hams that have been cured in salt or brine — aren’t usually in the grocery meat case, and butchers will often require advance orders. Corning your own fresh ham is not hard, but it can take several days and turns this into even more of a project.

Kim Severson · NYT Cooking

Eddie Hernandez, who runs a string of Mexican restaurants in Georgia and Tennessee called Taqueria del Sol, came up with a delicious way to deal with hard, unripe peaches. Sliced thinly, softened with salt and brightened with lime juice and Serrano chiles, the peaches become a salad that’s a cousin to Mexican street snacks built from unripe mangoes and papayas and punched up with chile salt. The salad keeps well in the refrigerator for several days. Mr. Hernandez likes to eat it with a scoop of cottage cheese on the side, though dabs of goat cheese would do as well. Kim Severson

Kim Severson · NYT Cooking

The word scottadito means burned fingers in Italian; these lamb chops are best eaten with one's fingers soon after they come off the grill. The recipe comes from Rachael Ray, who serves these at her homes in upstate New York and Manhattan. The lamb chops are best if they marinate for several hours, but turn out just fine with an hour or two under the anchovy and garlic paste. Ms. Ray's method for preparing kale produces crispy leaves; key elements are the lightest spray of oil, and baking racks to get them really crisp. They need to be made in batches, but a hot oven makes the job quick, and they can also be done a little bit ahead of time and served at room temperature. Don’t skip grilling the lemon: the slightly charred, acidic flavor adds an essential layer. Kim Severson