Seafood can be intimidating, so straightforward and simple is the name of the game, and each and every seafood recipe I have to offer you is back- to-basics. The thing about fish is that it cooks more quickly than other proteins, which means it’s prone to being overcooked, so it’s best to keep a close eye on it. Good thing eating fish is good for eye health. Puttanesca is a fairly simple Italian sauce made with anchovies, olives, capers, and a chunky tomato base. It’s bright and briny, and comes together as quickly as the fish cooks within it, resulting in a beautifully pungent dish that’s shore to make a splash. (SOMEBODY STOP ME, PLEASE.)
This is a great one-skillet meal that you can endlessly customize with vegetables and spices. Silky zucchini, briny capers, and salty Parmesan cheese is my current go-to-but feel free to swap in broccoli or bell peppers for the zucchini, or, if you crave heat, sub pickled pepperoncini and a teaspoon of chili flakes for the capers and oregano. We love eating this dish over rice, tossed with cooked pasta, or all on its own.
A great way to kick off the start of barbecue season, these lively skewers pack a lot of flavor. Taking a cue (wink) from Northern Chinese barbecue, we dust the skewers in a fennel seedy spice blend when they come off the grill. The crisp asparagus-and-fennel salad is a fun contrast to the meaty, smoky skewers—perfect for a cool, late-spring evening with friends. To round out the meal, we highly recommend pairing these with the Pine Nut Pepper Schmear (page 110).
Vegan | Gluten-Free | Dairy-Free
This dish is on regular rotation in my house, especially on nights when we don’t think we have much on hand to prepare and eat. It relies heavily on pantry staples, with the chard being the only fresh ingredient needed. Feel free to substitute the chard with cooked nettles, beet greens, mustard greens, turnip or kohlrabi greens, or a mixture of any and all.
This dish is the star of thickening sauces. At the end of cooking this meal you will have a mouthwatering sauce, but it will need to be thickened. Once you learn this skill, you’ll never look back.
This dish comes together very quickly, so make sure you prep everything before sautéing the chicken.
This is a spectacularly refreshing salad, especially when it is made when cantaloupe melons are at their densely honeyed best. You can roast your own peppers or get them out of a jar if you are in a hurry but do make sure your tomatoes are sumptuously ripe. The bread will soften by soaking up all the fruity juices. This is one to make throughout the summer.
When we decided to write this book, our first thought was, “You know what the world needs right now? Another take on vitello tonnato!” Just kidding—nobody needs another version of this classic Piedmontese dish. But because tomato season is so special and because Ryan’s and Steph’s moms really loved this version, in which savory beefsteak tomatoes play the part of thinly sliced veal, we just had to include it in here.
Even though transplants and visitors to Atlanta complain constantly about the Southern humidity and heat, my favorite memories as a kid are still from summertime in Georgia—from climbing rocks in backyard creeks and swimming in Lake Allatoona to walking through the dancing fountains in Centennial Olympic Park and, yes, sipping sweet iced tea on the porch. After camping out in Seward, Alaska, with a dear friend and colleague, I learned firsthand about sustainable fisheries—and got a taste of wild Alaskan salmon. I was hooked.
This recipe was inspired by my love of salmon and the hot weather of a Southern summer that calls out for cool comfort food. The smoked salmon is chilled, with refreshingly cold basil, mint, cucumber, and green onion added to the roll along with the noodles.
I eat this pasta twice a week and never get bored of it. Instead of giving the dish a fishy taste, the fatty anchovies melt into the sauce and give it a salty umami note that becomes hard to place, but who cares because it’s damn delicious. The briny capers, tart lemon, and sweet tomatoes round the whole thing out, along with the red pepper flakes, which leave a subtle spicy finish. It’s downright crave-worthy.