Gluten Free

The sauce makes the meal—serve it alongside any combo of crunchy peak-season veg you please.

Kick off the summer cooking season with a bright and bold steak salad dinner.

Don't obsess over getting these exact ingredients in this precise combination. Any nut you like will work here for crunch, and you're looking for a mix of bright herbs and enough cooked grains to make it substantial.

With a mega-flame and a gargantuan pot, you can cook an ocean's worth of seafood in a fraction of the time it would take on the stovetop—without stepping foot in a steamy kitchen.

This is a high-summer throw together of a sauté to make when there are lots of snap beans at the market. Mix colors and types for the full effect.

Slightly underripe plums? Add a touch more honey.

Tacos al pastor—made from marinated pork that's been roasted on a vertical spit—are wildly popular in Mexico City, particularly at night. The best taqueros put on a show, slicing off bits of caramelized meat and catching it in one hand (or behind their back!), and then reaching above the meat to slice off a piece of warm, juicy pineapple. According to city folklore, these tacos were invented in the capital. The dish is a direct descendant of shawarma, brought by Lebanese immigrants who arrived in Mexico in the early twentieth century. The marinade in this recipe comes from Tacos Don Guero in the Cuauhtémoc neighborhood, whose taqueros were kind enough to explain their ingredients to me at six a.m. one weekday morning. Obviously very few people at home will have a vertical spit—part of what gives tacos al pastor its signature flavor—but a grill would work well, or a blazing-hot cast iron skillet or griddle greased with a little lard.

Strawberries and cream...and cardamom. The cooling spice and cucumbers give berries an element of intrigue.

Typical Mexican enchiladas arrive rolled up and stuffed, but at my favorite enchilada street stand—the inspiration for this recipe—they're stacked in a messy, luxurious pile, with separate individual layers of corn tortillas, fresh cilantro and onion, green enchilada sauce, shredded cheese and chicken. The whole thing is topped with a blanket of crema and more cheese. It's almost like a deconstructed lasagna. The dish is enough to make you fall deeply in love with Mexico City—particularly when the corn tortillas are homemade, and the green sauce is prepared with a slow-simmering pot of fresh chicken stock.

When you put an egg on eggplant, you get a veg main course.

Bitter and bossy seeks warm and sweet: This robust dressing is capable of standing up to—and slightly softening—acerbic greens like dandelion or arugula. (Maybe it's the bacon...)

Roasted poblano chiles and cream are a classic—and irresistible—combination. It's worth roasting more than you need—the peeled and seeded chiles freeze well and thaw quickly. Sliced and seared zucchini or chayote squash is a terrific addition to the rajas mixture.

Spicy Mexican chorizo adds richness to tinga, a tomatoey shredded-chicken tostada topping.

When coming up with a vinegar sauce for Fette Sau, I didn't want something that was too obviously connected to any specific regional barbecue. (North Carolina 'cue employs a sauce that's either vinegar and spices, in the eastern part of the state, or the same with the addition of tomato, in the west; South Carolina adds mustard to its vinegar sauce.) And I wanted a vinegar sauce that would work equally well with all kinds of smoked meat—not just the pork it's usually paired with. This sauce will add brightness to pulled pork, and it has enough depth to stand up to beef and lamb.