Dinner

This summer soup is deeply savory, with anchovies, bacon, and a brown butter–tomato sauce anchoring the whole thing. 

When I was growing up, my mother served a lot of canned vegetables, but the one thing she always made from scratch was acorn squash, which she roasted with butter and maple syrup. When I revisited her old method, I found it was just as good as I remembered. The sweet squash filled with a big puddle of melted butter and sweet syrup is so irresistible!

Turmeric, chiles, and chewy-nutty cooked grains balance the sweetness of fresh corn in this loose vegan riff on creamed corn.

This savory pie calls for roasting tomatoes to concentrate their flavor, then layering them with two kinds of cheese atop a garlic-butter crust for a result as dramatic as it is delicious.

This dish of seared paneer channels flavors traditionally found in matar paneer—coriander, cumin, chile, and ginger—by incorporating them into a quick-cooking cherry tomato sauce.

This reimagined chicken salad is lighter and leafier than your standard picnic lunch. Tender poached chicken, crisp greens, cukes, and scallions get tossed with a sesame dressing that takes its cues form gomae, a Japanese spinach salad.

Sweet, sticky, charred, and crispy: Barbecued chicken is one of the surest signs of summer. This easy homemade barbecue sauce uses maple syrup for sweetness and Sriracha for heat.

This super-flavorful dish spins the flavors of shish barak—lamb and pine nut dumplings from the Levant—in a pasta direction.

This dish is inspired by a classic Cantonese preparation, which is traditionally battered and deep-fried. Here, the fish is pan-seared in hot oil, but still gets plenty of texture and flavor from ginger, caramelized scallions, and lots of freshly ground black pepper.

Fresh salmon makes these ginger and scallion-laced burgers luscious and flavorful. Pile them high with peppery watercress, crunchy cucumber quick pickles, fragrant mint, and cilantro.

Pork tacos al pastor may get the fame, but this fish al pastor deserves plenty of glory. A potent chile marinade adds lots of flavor before the fillets hit the grill, and a pineapple salsa is the perfect finishing touch.

These crispy zucchini fritters take inspiration from the Bengali onion snack piyaju. Soaked and blended red lentils make up the batter, which is spiked with turmeric and chile powder.

Some would call showering potato salad with potato chips “gilding the lily.” We would call it “extremely sensible and incredibly tasty.”

Tender lettuces get topped with juicy spiced chicken, ripe mangos, soft avocado, and cherry tomatoes. There's so much flavor and texture going on that there's barely a need for a dressing: just a hit of lime juice, salt, and EVOO, and dinner is done.

The trick to keeping this salad crisp? Salt, drain, and squeeze excess liquid from the cucumbers before dressing them. Add a swoosh of yogurt and juicy oven-baked meatballs to make it a flavorful, filling meal.

Adding sweetened condensed milk to the crust gives this cake a candy-like texture that reminds me of a Twix bar (a childhood weakness I rarely get to indulge since marrying a chef!). That same sweetness accentuates the buttery quality of ripe avocados. Chill it thoroughly, then let the cake sit at room temperature for a bit before you slice it. It’s so refreshing on a hot day.

This is a light pasta dish, filled with ribbons of fresh chard and tossed with a little garlic-infused butter and balsamic vinegar.

In this frittata, corn adds the perfect texture while a jam-like tomato compote adds a wonderful sweetness.

In this recipe, sweet, juicy tomatoes get paired with two cheeses, fragrant herbs, and a flaky crust. We can’t think of a better way to enjoy the last tomatoes of the season.