Herbs & Spices

This super-easy recipe is a perfect canvas for punchy, crunchy toppers like toasted coconut and mustard seeds with turmeric oil and a zingy chutney. The dal is vegan but full of hearty protein thanks to the chickpeas, lentils, and coconut milk.

Still stirring your polenta? With this nearly hands-off method, the oven does the hard work while your stovetop does the bare minimum.

The recipe calls for parsley and basil, but consider this dish a canvas for whatever tender herbs you have kicking around: cilantro, dill, tarragon, sage, chives, fennel fronds. Mix and match at will.

Applying the classic steakhouse butter-basting technique to slabs of butternut squash turns it into a hearty vegetarian main.

Bronze garlic chips in vegetable oil, then use the fragrant oil to stir-fry cooked rice. Top with fresh herbs, those crispy garlic chips, and—if you’d like—a fried egg.

Like the best possible Morning Glory muffins, this classic gets an update with grated butternut squash in place of carrot—plus coconut, ginger, and a crystalline brown sugar crust.

This spicy-tangy-funky condiment is delicious on grilled fish, grain bowls, braises, and stews—basically anything that needs a touch of acid and heat.

You can spread the cloves on grilled bread, marinate olives and feta with the garlicky oil, mash cloves into store-bought mayo, or stir into mashed potatoes.

W. C. Whitfield’s original Kitty Highball recipe—equal parts red wine and ginger ale over ice—goes contemporary. In this deconstructed version the ginger ale is replaced with ginger syrup and soda.

There are only a few ingredients in this party-friendly pomegranate-rum punch.

Imagine this: a stack of packets in your freezer that you can take straight to the oven for a full dinner in 30 minutes.

Sometimes, mid-cooking, I like to jettison my plan and make a new, better plan. The trick is knowing when it’s better. I’m not saying I randomly hobble myself, cruelty-cooking-show style, it’s just that it’s exciting to change it up sometimes. And it surprises the family. Historically, some of the best jettison dinners at my house have started out as regular old pasta night and ended up as gather-around-the-skillet-with-bowls-and-bread night. This was one of those.

At Maydān the lamb shoulder is cooked sous vide until meltingly tender and then finished in the hearth until crisp and golden brown. We adapted their recipe for the oven to similar effect.

Imagine a mash-up of cinnamon toast, bread pudding, and pie. Now grab whatever fruit you have lying around (from berries and stone fruit to apples and pears) and make it.

Leave scallions in the oven for about an hour to draw out their sweetness for a low-maintenance side dish.

Douse ripe cherry tomatoes in lots of olive oil and slow-roast to golden deliciousness. Then use it as pasta sauce, a topping for bruschetta, a grain bowl addition, a side to scrambled eggs...we could go on and on.

Cooking summer squash low and slow yields sweet, nutty, tender—but not mushy—results. Fold them into pasta, top toast, or serve beside any grilled main.

Bell peppers get sweet and silky when they slow-roast. Then use them to top ricotta toast, or serve as a hands-off side, or chop them up and mix into your lunch bowl.