Chicken

The salsa has a perfect sweet-spicy balance, and it's an easy way to turn simple grilled chicken breasts into a dish that's dinner-party special.

Chef and owner Akasha Richmond creates local, seasonal, organic dishs for green-chic celebs. This high-protein favorite fuels stars in need of mega energy on-set.

The many components of this big salad—served side by side on a platter—all have quite different flavors and textures and go together brilliantly.

Although this main-course salad sounds suspiciously Waldorfesque—it includes walnuts, celery, and apple—the fresh vinaigrette gives it a modern flair that sets it apart from its mayonnaise-dressed muse.

With an adjustable-blade slicer, it's easy to transform zucchini into long, delicate pastalike ribbons that make an eye-catching partner for panfried chicken.

Musa Dagdeviren is the go-to guy if you want to know about Turkish barbecue. Spend a couple of hours with him in the open kitchen of one of his Çiya restaurants (in Istanbul), and you'll wonder if there's anything he doesn't know about Turkish cuisine, let alone grilling. He'll start with chicken thighs marinated in creamy Turkish yogurt, chile paste, and garlic—to be grilled on skewers over charcoal. Before you know it, he's grilling meatballs, quinces, shallots, even bread dough loaded with ground beef. Here’s one of the "simpler" dishes in Musa's repertoire—if simple means merely marinated, spice-crusted, and grilled—and the combination of creamy yogurt, pungent garlic, and smoky pepper flakes produces the sort of chicken that has made the Turks the Near East's undisputed grill masters for centuries.

Look for marinated feta in the refrigerated section of the supermarket where other specialty cheeses are sold.

When I take people out for Ethiopian food for the first time, this chicken stew, called doro wett (also spelled doro we't, doro wat, and doro wet), is a great introduction. It's the first Ethiopian dish I ever had, and I immediately liked the tender meat, the spicy eggs, and the flavorful sauce laced with berbere and ginger. It's a great dish to make for people who haven't eaten African food before, because it's easy to understand and like. Don't be alarmed when the sauce doesn't bind together and thicken like a traditional European-style sauce—it should in fact be liquidy and broken to soak into the injera it is served on.

Peperonata—an Italian condiment usually made of sautéed tomatoes, peppers, onions, and garlic—is spiced up with a poblano chile. Here, we've added chicken breasts to turn it into a satisfying main course. Serve Italian-style, over polenta, or Mexican—style, wrapped in warm tortillas with slices of avocado and dollops of sour cream. Instead of chicken, you can also spoon the peperonata over grilled flank steak or crusty grilled bread.

A hot skillet and an egg will quickly enliven any leftover rice parked in your refrigerator. Add meaty pieces of broiled chicken and bacon for a satisfying, inexpensive meal.

Caution: May require finger licking. Gooey chicken wings are sure to please a crowd, not to mention your wallet. The sweet and spicy glaze requires only five ingredients, including peach preserves (though apricot preserves work well, too).

The yogurt in this lightly spiced marinade results in extremely tender lamb, chicken, or shrimp.

The hens roast in about half the time it takes to cook a whole chicken. Offer wilted spinach alongside.

This dish requires just four ingredients (aside from oil, salt, and pepper). Serve with an arugula salad.

Why get takeout when you can make orange chicken so quickly at home?

Supermarket roast chicken can be easily dressed up, as in this lovely salad. Look for almond oil at some supermarkets and at specialty foods stores.

If you can’t find haricots verts, look for slender green beans.

Good for Slathering: Pork; chicken, turkey, duck; beef; lamb: It doesn't get any easier than this! And this mop is probably what 90 percent of the competition barbecuers use—with maybe a little beer mixed in for good measure!

Quick-cooking bulgur can be found at some supermarkets and at natural foods stores.