Aglio e olio is a striking example of beauty in simplicity, a dish that homes in on its two namesake ingredients: garlic and olive oil.
I like adding olive oil at the end to create more depth of flavor—the oil retains more of its bright, vegetal flavors when it’s uncooked. Using instant ramen, this classic pasta dish tastes quite different: it has a powerful umami note and the noodles have more springiness but less chew than Italian pasta.
No one family can eat all the zucchini coming its way during the summer—my garden practically spews out fully formed zucchini like an assembly line—but you can, and you probably should, try to use as much as you can. Zucchini is packed with vitamins and antioxidants, including vitamin A, which boosts the immune system. The problem? It’s not necessarily packed with flavor. The good news is that means it’s versatile. You can make zucchini bread, zucchini fritters, zucchini noodles.
In this simple side dish, the zucchini is mostly a vehicle for tomato sauce and parmesan. Besides nutrients, it adds texture, so it’s important not to let it get mushy, which is why I cut the zucchini slices relatively thick.
A classic combo of sweet strawberries and lightly sweetened cream. The filling in this pie gets an extra zhuzh from some mascarpone cheese, which creates a slightly stiffer pudding to cradle the juicy strawberry slices, and to give some added flair; you can use crushed freeze-dried strawberries for even more strawberry flavor.
If I have any life advice to give, it’s to always have a bag of potstickers in the freezer. From childhood until now, this has been the case for me. I can go to bed at night feeling OK about my life knowing they’re there. Give in and let them be there for you too, waiting to be coaxed into steaming juicy tenderness in a piping-hot pan. Adding eggs to the pan near the end of the cooking process yields the best of both worlds—succulent potstickers sitting amid a tender lake of eggs, all with a golden-brown bottom—turning this snack into a main course that’s perfect for lunch or brunch or truly anytime.
What started as a Jell-O ad in the 1950s has evolved into the Mexican masterpiece gelatina de mosaico, a more gorgeous way of saying mosaic gelatin. It’s an easy preparation of multicolored squares of cut-up Jell-O get mixed into a beautiful, milky-white cloak of gelatin, so they’re suspended like a mosaic or stained glass. My friend Vivian Bond is a Jell-O fanatic, and I’ll never forget her eyes popping out of her head when I brought over this dessert-as-sculpture showpiece. If Jell-O is a perfect summer dessert (and it is, please don’t argue with me), then this is the perfect way to present it.
Chef Jiho Kim, of Joomak in New York City, makes highly technical, Korean-inspired fine dining at work. But at home in the summer, he loves to relax with a casual chilled “salad” of daikon radish shaved into “noodles” with a spiralizer, topped with raw marinated fish, kimchi, and a broth made from steeping buckwheat in dashi, a quick broth that’s key in Japanese cuisine.
Make as many or as few of the components below; as long as you have the broth and the radish noodles and a savory topping, you’ll have a light, refreshing, deeply flavored dish.
Historically, jollof rice was a one-pot dish made with protein and carrots, peppers, and leafy vegetables. Today, it’s all about the rice; the vegetables tend to show up as a side, à la Nigerian Salad . A seasoned tomato base spiced with curry powder gives this rice its orange-red color. For great jollof, the tomato mix for the stew base is cooked twice—first to soften and round out the raw, tart flavors, and a second time to fry and season it, concentrating the flavors.
To get grains that are “one-one” (fluffy) and well seasoned to the core of each grain, start with parboiled (not parcooked) or converted rice (husk-on rice that is partly cooked before dehusking). The result is golden grains of raw rice that are sturdy and capable of absorbing stews without turning to mush. Cook the rice over low heat so it absorbs the sauce properly and doesn’t scorch on the bottom. Stirring occasionally ensures evenly cooked rice.
Serve with Dòdò, Mọ́ínmọ́ín Elewe, an assortment of meat or fish, and Nigerian Salad.
This is a perfect brunch party dish when served with shrimp and a poached or fried egg on each plate. Leftover grits can be used to make griddled grit cakes or saved and warmed for later.
This aromatic bread is made with a combination of bread flour and masa harina, which gives it a wonderful corn-y flavor. The thin, crispy crust yields to a moist, tender crumb, and, as the name suggests, it’s especially good toasted. While we find it easiest to make this dough in a stand mixer, it can also be made by hand; just be mindful of the amount of flour added during kneading so that the nice tender crumb you’re going for doesn’t become too dense.
Tarte Tatin