main course

AS THE WEATHER cools, many of us will be pulling out our Instant Pots and diving into braises, ragouts and other low-effort, high-reward comfort foods. Almost no category of dishes is better suited to this purpose than guisados,…

COOKING IN Spain, Ryan Bartlow learned to respect the humble egg. In his fourth Slow Food Fast recipe, a Spanish-style soft scramble makes a sumptuous vehicle for seared wild mushrooms and shrimp. “Who doesn’t love scrambled eggs…

IT WAS RATATOUILLE, the southern-French compote of eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini, onions and peppers, that taught me the meaning of “umami.” I didn’t know the word as a 10-year-old first encountering the dish, but when I came…

I HATE GOING to barbecues,” a vegetarian friend once confided as she poked at flavorless charred zucchini and bell peppers, an obvious afterthought by our host that evening. That’s why the grilled avocado made such an impression…

FIRED UP Salty cheese, sweet tomatoes and spiced bread balance each other beautifully. Grilling is a quick way to intensify…

EACH MORNING, just after breakfast, I ask my wife what she wants for dinner. It’s a mostly pointless exercise because nine times out of 10, her answer is the same: Vegetables. She says it with a smirk as she walks out the door on…

I BEGAN WRITING about my son and his tricky eating habits six years ago. At the time, Achilles was only four and I was a cookbook author and restaurant critic for the New York Observer newspaper. The first book…

EASY MEAT Butterflied lamb chops cook quickly and evenly. They make this impressive recipe surprisingly low stress.…

STICK WITH ME. I’ll get to the soufflés. I’ve been thinking about a scene in “Mad Men” where the lead character, Don Draper, goes to watch his daughter in a school maypole performance. I’m not sure whether it was in…

ONE THING THAT strikes you right away about this tuna melt: It’s at least as much melt as it is tuna. “The ratio is about 50/50,” said chef Mona Talbott. “I started making it as a quick and easy weekday dinner. My core pod loved…