Quick

This super-flexible, all-purpose salad turns cabbage into luscious tangles of crisp leaves coated in a rich and bright dressing.

Chewy wonderful Korean rice cakes soak up the flavor of a ginger-garlic-scallion sauce we can’t quit.

You’ll find a version of this quicker-than-quick dish on many Korean tables as a banchan, or small plate. But with rice and a side of greens, it’s dinner exactly when you need it: right now.

In my family, this smoky, crispy, North Indian–style okra is an iconic, clamored-after dish. The key is to cook the okra for a long time, with a lot of whole spices. It’s a foolproof and quick way to get the most flavor out of the summer vegetable, while avoiding any slimy texture. 

Palya is a classic South Indian recipe usually composed of a single vegetable chopped into bite-size pieces and sautéed in oil that has been seasoned with black mustard seeds, asafetida, chile, and curry leaves. The dish is then finished with lemon juice, grated coconut, and cilantro. This same preparation is referred to by different names such as thoran or poriyal depending on which state in South India you are in. Seasonal produce is preferred, but the combination makes even the saddest of vegetables at the back of your fridge sing. 

Juicy ripe peaches, raw sweet corn, and roasted peanuts come together in this peak summer snack—a perfect way to refresh after a day in the sun.

It’s almost silly how easy this dish of impossibly delicious, ooey-gooey cheesy chiles is to execute. 

The zest and juice of lime and lemon deliver a simple but powerful flavor-packed punch to this everyday staple.

In Brigid Washington's home country of Trinidad and Tobago, this garlicky eggplant dish, known colloquially as baigan or melongene, isn’t considered a recipe because all it requires is a low flame, a handful of garlic cloves, a generous dash of curry powder, and eggplant.

Make a double batch and keep this spicy-sweet blend on hand for all grilled meats and vegetables.

Summer’s most accessible cocktail is much like the season itself: easy, relaxing, refreshing, sunny, and filled with fruit and flavor.

Supremely beefy, not outrageously expensive, and fast-cooking, skirt steak is our favorite steak of all.

Brad Leone’s go-to charred, smashed, and miso-garlic-butter–tossed grilled potatoes.

All the flavor firepower of your favorite condiments unites in this no-cook stir-together sauce that is the perfect match for any grilled steak.

Chef Omar Tate makes a natural version of Kool-Aid by mixing freeze-dried sweet cherries and strawberries with citric acid for tartness.

Toss your unripe summer peaches and plums with herbs, scallions, and a vinegary dressing inspired by the Chinese dish lao hu cai.

As in: Spoon it on grilled meats, fish, or vegetables. You can’t lose.

Let the dressed tomatoes sit an hour or so before serving so they can soak up maximum flavor.

Adding ginger and soy sauce to caramelized onions gives a bit of zingy punch and intrigue, creating a multidimensional meal that comes together in just one skillet. 

This dish of saucy, seared paneer channels the flavors traditionally found in matar paneer—coriander, cumin, chile, and ginger—into a quick-cooking cherry tomato sauce that's packed with bright spring-y sugar snap peas. If you can’t find paneer, give this a try with another sturdy non-melty cheese like Halloumi or queso fresco. Or think of it as a simple sauce you can serve over any protein, like a crispy-skinned salmon fillet, seared shell-on shrimp, sliced feta, or even just a bed of salted yogurt. 

In this 30-minute dish, which is inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe in his 2011 book Plenty, black pepper is the star, not the sidekick: When bloomed in oil, the coarsely ground peppercorns become piquant and fragrant enough to flavor the entire sauce, no red pepper flakes, dried chiles, or hot sauce needed. Take care not to burn the peppercorns as you toast them or the flavor could swing from spicy to bitter.

Swapping traditional ingredients like guanciale and pancetta for vegetable-based umami bombs (hello, garlic and smoked paprika) isn’t the only thing to consider when making a vegetarian carbonara. Many hard cheeses (including Parmigiano-Reggiano) use animal rennet, so if you want to seek an alternative, ask your cheesemonger.

This one-skillet recipe is fast and furious—ideal for those nights when you have 10 minutes to stand at the stove, tops. The cooking technique is in the tradition of Chinese stir-fry, in which proteins and vegetables are chopped small so that they cook quickly over high heat, then bound together with a cornstarch-thickened sauce.

It’s impossible to stop eating these green beans.