Recipes

David Tanis · NYT Cooking

This chickpea soup is flavorful and hearty, good for a first course, but also satisfying as a meal in itself. It can be puréed to a silky smoothness for an elegant version or left brothy, chunky and rustic. The easy red pepper pesto adds brightness. The soup may be made a day or two in advance and reheated, with excellent results.

David Tanis · NYT Cooking

Whole bone-in chicken legs make an impressive presentation for this flavorful braise. Baby artichokes, a springtime treat, can be found in the produce department of many supermarkets. Easy baked polenta makes an ideal accompaniment, but the chicken can also be served with rice or mashed potatoes.

David Tanis · NYT Cooking

Asparagus is a true spring delight. When it first arrives, at the beginning of the season, it’s best enjoyed plain and steamed, eaten with fingers, dipped into butter, olive oil or a very simple sauce. But after that, it’s time to get more elaborate, using it in stir-fries or more complex salads. Here, two-inch lengths of medium-size asparagus are briefly blanched, cooled and dressed in a mustard vinaigrette. Just before serving, the asparagus is tossed with a handful of arugula, a shower of freshly chopped dill and chunks of sharp feta.

David Tanis · NYT Cooking

Fresh salmon fillets, preferably wild king salmon, are coated liberally with coarse-ground black pepper to great effect, then quickly roasted. Served with old-fashioned “parsley potatoes” and anointed with nutty brown butter, it’s a pleasingly simple dish.

David Tanis · NYT Cooking

A classic French strawberry tart features a buttery pastry shell filled with a light custard and topped with strawberries. This version has an almond base baked in a pastry shell, served with berries and a dollop of crème fraîche on top. Sweet, ripe strawberries are essential. Though one pound is sufficient, buying extra allows you to use only the best specimens, saving overripe or bruised berries to make a little jam. It is easiest to make the tart over two days: Prepare the pastry dough and the almond filling one day, then bake and add berries the next. (For that matter, you can also bake the base the day before serving. It keeps well.)

David Tanis · NYT Cooking

Well-seasoned pickled vegetables are extremely popular in Greece and Turkey. This version also takes hints from Pennsylvania Dutch traditions. It’s best to make the beets at least a couple of days before serving (they’ll keep a week or more in the fridge). They’ll pickle in the same liquid as the eggs, giving them a colorful pink exterior.

David Tanis · NYT Cooking

Recalling a spanakopita, this chard-filled recipe has a substantial savory green filling. Delicious served warm or at room temperature, it travels well, making it ideal picnic fare. It may be baked in a rectangular pan, but looks most impressive as served from a round baking dish.

David Tanis · NYT Cooking

This nutty, Greek-inspired take on truffles combines ground walnuts, coconut, cinnamon and cloves for a not-too-sweet result. To finish, roll them in coconut flakes, dust them with cocoa, or both.

David Tanis · NYT Cooking

Though this refreshing cucumber concoction may be served as a cold soup in a bowl, it’s best served in a chilled glass as a drink. It gains its zippy flavor from fresh grated ginger and a speck of cayenne. A splash of soda water makes a fine addition. Of course, for those so inclined, it could also benefit from a jigger of gin, for a brilliant green alcoholic cocktail.

David Tanis · NYT Cooking

The classic Italian combination of canned tuna and white beans is sometimes part of an antipasto table’s offerings. Or it can be a quick, satisfying lunch from the pantry. This version calls for home-cooked beans and seared tuna. It’s further enhanced with roasted red peppers and cherry tomatoes and tossed in a flavorful vinaigrette for a perfect summer meal.

David Tanis · NYT Cooking

This easy lemony cake is topped with apricot preserves, which gives an especially sunny presentation. It’s great with sliced fresh peaches, nectarines or berries alongside. The cake is moist and keeps well, so it can be made a day or two in advance of serving.

Yotam Ottolenghi · NYT Cooking

Grilling cucumbers gives them a nice charred flavor while retaining their bite. Try to buy Persian cucumbers that are thicker as the thin ones can often be too flimsy to cook. Torn mozzarella adds richness to the cucumbers doused with a garlicky, spiced tomato dressing. (Feel free to cook the cucumbers on an outdoor grill, treating them in the same way.) If you’re into creamy cheeses, then burrata works very well here, too — or, you could keep this dish vegan by leaving out the mozzarella completely. It will still have a wonderful umami flavor without it. Make this a complete meal by serving alongside your protein of choice.

Yotam Ottolenghi · NYT Cooking

A Pavlova is among the best desserts to serve at a dinner party, as it brings the wow factor but is also very forgiving. If the meringue cracks in places, you don’t need to fuss as you’ll be covering it with cream and fruit. You can play with the flavoring of the cream and change up the fruits. If you can’t find kumquats, feel free to swap them out for muscat or green seedless grapes, or an orange, peeled and sliced into rounds. You can make the meringue base up to two days in advance, as long as you let it cool completely before storing in an airtight container. Keep it in the coolest part of your kitchen, away from direct sunlight, to avoid any humidity.

Yotam Ottolenghi · NYT Cooking

This dish is loosely inspired by laing, a Filipino dish of dried taro leaves cooked in coconut milk that is traditionally made with pork and bagoong, a fermented fish or shrimp paste. This is quite a diversion, prepared with braised chard and topped with burst tomatoes and seared shrimp. You use only half the chard stems here, so you should reserve the extra stems to throw into soups, stews or your morning eggs. Get ahead by making these coconut greens up to two days in advance, then reheating to serve; the flavors will only improve over time. Serve with jasmine rice for a complete meal.

Yotam Ottolenghi · NYT Cooking

This comforting dish lands somewhere between a lasagna and a pie. Thinly sliced butternut squash and broken dried lasagna noodles are all tossed together in one bowl with cheese, spices and a red pepper sauce, then pressed into a cake pan before baking, at which point everything softens and cooks together into imperfectly perfect layers. A simple béchamel topping is made while your pie is in the oven, leaving you ample time to get on with assembling a big salad or a side dish of your choosing.

Yotam Ottolenghi · NYT Cooking

This festive side would make a wonderful addition to your Thanksgiving table, but would be equally great with a Sunday roast, alongside a whole, roasted chicken or some baked pumpkin. Get ahead by making (and refrigerating) the chestnut topping and garlic yogurt the day before, then bringing them back up to room temperature while the brussels sprouts roast. Be sure to leave the preparation of your browned butter to just before serving, though, as it will solidify as it sits.

Yotam Ottolenghi · NYT Cooking

This comforting pie makes a great vegetarian centerpiece, ideal for a celebration. It benefits from being assembled the day before, receiving a good amount of time to set in the fridge and thus involving a lot less work on the day you plan to enjoy it. You can also bake the whole thing a few hours in advance, then just reheat it in the oven for 20 minutes, if you like. Use any extra pastry trim to cut out fun, festive shapes like holly leaves or stars to personalize your pie. Serve this alongside roasted veggies or a big leafy salad.

Yotam Ottolenghi · NYT Cooking

This hearty soup is a meal in a bowl. It is very much inspired by Iraqi kubba hamuth. “Hamuth” means sour in Arabic, which refers to the soup’s sour tomato and lemon broth. Traditionally, the soup contains lamb-stuffed semolina dumplings called “kubba.” The divergence here is that they exist as two separate components — meatballs and semolina dumplings — and add a wonderful textural contrast. If you can’t find collard greens, feel free to swap these out for an equal amount of Tuscan kale.

Yotam Ottolenghi · NYT Cooking

This oven bake requires minimal effort and is very much a meal in itself. Daqa is a vinegar-based condiment, most commonly used when making the much-loved Egyptian koshari, a hearty dish of rice, pasta and lentils. Daqa is a nifty way to brighten stews, braises and anything that needs an acidic lift. Feel free to swap out the kabocha squash for root vegetables, such as sweet potato or celery root, and serve the whole thing with nothing more than a leafy green salad.

Yotam Ottolenghi · NYT Cooking

Packed full of flavor, the filling for this stuffed cabbage is inspired by pkhali, a Georgian spread prepared by mixing ground walnuts, onions and spices with different vegetables, often cabbage. This version is eaten warm and uses allspice, cumin and cinnamon in the filling. To get ahead, stuff and bake the cabbage rolls the day before, but don’t finish with the sour cream until just before serving. Serve with rice, as a vegetarian main.

Yotam Ottolenghi · NYT Cooking

Tangy and bright, these phyllo rolls make for a great appetizer when you’re preparing food to entertain or to share. The star here is the sumac onion filling, which adds a wonderfully sharp surprise inside crispy phyllo. Though these rolls gain complexity from feta, halloumi, toasted pine nuts and fresh spinach, mint and parsley, they’re also quite forgiving in that you can always use different cheeses, herbs or nuts. Feel free to play around with different phyllo shapes; thicker cigars or even triangles both look great.

Yotam Ottolenghi · NYT Cooking

This sweet and salty salad celebrates the best of spring, starting with a base of asparagus and green beans. The crispy coconut almond topping is loosely inspired by serundeng, an Indonesian spiced coconut condiment, which adds texture to the salad. You can grill the beans and asparagus to add a smoky flavor to the dish, or swap out the asparagus for runner beans, broccolini or any spring vegetable. All the individual salad elements can be made in advance, but you’ll want to assemble just before serving for the best results.

Yotam Ottolenghi · NYT Cooking

A Moroccan salad or dip, zaalouk is typically composed of tomatoes and eggplants, plus spices and a good amount of olive oil. It’s usually served at room temperature, with plenty of bread to mop it all up, but it’s equally delicious warmed and spooned over baked potatoes, or accompanied by fish or meat. Here, it's topped with tahini, which is untraditional but adds a lovely nutty, creamy element to the dish. The vegetables are roasted in this recipe for ease, but feel free to grill them over an open flame to get an extra smoky flavor, if you like.

Yotam Ottolenghi · NYT Cooking

This pasta dish celebrates zucchini, cooking it two ways. Half the zucchini is thinly sliced into rounds, fried then steeped in red wine vinegar for a sweet and sour kick. The remaining zucchini is cut into large chunks and braised until it’s so silky that it seems to melt into the pasta sauce. Cooking the pasta directly in its sauce takes a little more attention than usual, especially toward the end of cooking when the liquid reduces to a sauce, so be sure to stir frequently to prevent the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pot. This one-pot cooking approach allows all the starch released from the pasta to be captured in the sauce, creating a rich, glossy coating without the addition of dairy. The fried topping adds bursts of flavor and texture, turning this into a show-stopping dish. This pasta works just as well cold, so can be made in advance.