Stovetop
653 recipes found
Crispy Potato Tacos
Potato tacos, or tacos de papa, as they are known in Mexico, make the perfect meal for those times when you find yourself with an excess of potatoes and a package of tortillas on hand. Tortillas are an endlessly versatile pantry item. In this recipe, adapted from “Tenderheart” by Hetty Lui McKinnon (Alfred A. Knopf, 2023), they are stuffed with potato and cheese for a deeply satisfying meal or light snack. Cooking the potatoes whole, skin intact, prevents them from absorbing too much water, and the skin also adds a nice texture to the filling. Shortcuts are always available: If you’ve got leftover mashed potatoes, you can use them and skip the first step.
Cashew Celery
This vegan cashew and celery stir-fry, which is adapted from “Tenderheart” by Hetty Lui McKinnon (Alfred A. Knopf, 2023), offers a lovely jumble of textures that form a dish that is uncomplicated but elegant. Celery is an ingredient that performs well in stir-fries, as it perfumes the entire dish and delivers a gratifying, crisp-tender crunch. You can use any leafy greens in this dish, but if they have thick stems (like gai lan), make sure you cut them in half lengthwise, which will help them cook quickly and evenly. Cashews add a creamy nuttiness, and tofu provides substance — but you could opt for shiitake mushrooms in its stead.
Paneer Chile Dry
Served at restaurants on both sides of the Pakistan-India border, this spicy, sticky paneer’s popularity is testament to China’s culinary influence on the region. The word “dry” in the title references the preparation’s consistency compared to more saucy, gravy-rich dishes. Coating paneer in batter then frying it gives the mild fluffy cheese a crispy crust, then tossing it in a thick chile-soy sauce imbues it with salt and heat. Onion and bell pepper provide just enough fresh, sweet relief until the next bite. The dish forms a deluge of pleasurable textures and fiery flavor in 30 minutes. If you’d like, you can substitute tofu for the paneer and skip the batter frying.
Basil-Butter Pasta
This pasta captures the essence of basil, without pesto’s garlic, nuts and salty cheese tussling for attention. It smells like a sun-warmed basil plant, one of summer's greatest moments. To make it, simply blanch basil leaves to lock in their color, then blitz them with butter. As the bright-green basil butter melts onto hot pasta, it carries the sweet pepperiness (and the smell, too!) of the herb into every nook and cranny.
Zucchini Tofu Udon
Fuyu, or fermented tofu, is the umami star of this quick noodle dish, delivering a briny, tangy saltiness that is also creamy. Also called furu or doufuru, it is made by fermenting soybean curds in a brine of rice wine, water, salt and spices. It has a strong flavor on its own, but when used to stir-fry noodles (or greens, as it is commonly employed in Chinese cooking), its punchiness mellows into a subtly sweet hum that is redolent of buttery blue cheese. This dish is finished with a generous amount of black pepper, giving it unmistakable cacio e pepe vibes. In a dish where black pepper is front and center like this one, freshly ground is preferred, but measuring it can be cumbersome, so if you are using a grinder, 1 teaspoon amounts to about 50 to 60 turns.
Zucchini Pasta With Crispy Capers and Pistachios
This pasta dish celebrates zucchini, cooking it two ways. Half the zucchini is thinly sliced into rounds, fried then steeped in red wine vinegar for a sweet and sour kick. The remaining zucchini is cut into large chunks and braised until it’s so silky that it seems to melt into the pasta sauce. Cooking the pasta directly in its sauce takes a little more attention than usual, especially toward the end of cooking when the liquid reduces to a sauce, so be sure to stir frequently to prevent the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pot. This one-pot cooking approach allows all the starch released from the pasta to be captured in the sauce, creating a rich, glossy coating without the addition of dairy. The fried topping adds bursts of flavor and texture, turning this into a show-stopping dish. This pasta works just as well cold, so can be made in advance.
Chana Masala
Variations of chana masala, which means spiced chickpeas, are found across South Asia. This version, particularly common in Punjab, calls for a simple spiced onion and tomato mixture, which serves as the foundation for the humble chickpea. The nutty and buttery legume benefits from both dried chile powder and fresh chiles, coriander and the spice blend garam masala. Thinly sliced ginger and cilantro, added upon serving, add freshness. Both canned and dried chickpeas work for this dish, and in the case of the former, the resulting bowl of comfort feels nothing short of a miracle in under 30 minutes.
Beef Chow Fun
Chewy, caramelized, slightly charred noodles are the star of beef chow fun, the Cantonese classic. (“Chow” means “stir-fry” and “fun” means “rice noodles.”) Scorching wide, springy rice noodles on a very hot surface achieves something similar to wok hei, the smoky savoriness that is the signature of wok stir-fries. The dish’s history is not certain, but according to “The Wok” by J. Kenji López-Alt (W. W. Norton & Company, 2022), some believe it originated at a food stall in Guangzhou (then Canton), China, during the Japanese occupation in the late 1930s and early 1940s. A Japanese military commander ordered hor fun noodles, but the stall was out of the starch needed to make the gravy. The cook improvised, stir-frying the beef and noodles with a thin, savory soy sauce until it was absorbed. It was so good that it stood the test of time.
Frijoles de Olla (Homestyle Black Beans)
This beloved dish often starts with unsoaked dried beans, which are traditionally cooked in an olla, earthenware pot, or other types of clay pots, such as a cazuela de barro. Any pot works and the seasonings are generally simple — usually onion, garlic, herbs and sometimes lard or pork — but the resulting flavor is rich and complex. A staple throughout Mexico, this dish varies from region to region in the types of beans used and include pinto beans, black beans and Mayocoba beans. Eaten as is as a side or a main dish, frijoles de olla also can be puréed, smashed or refried and used as a sauce or a filling for dishes like tetelas.
Tetelas de Frijol Negro (Black Bean Masa Dumplings)
Tetelas, triangle-shaped dumplings, are wrapped with a thin disk of masa and usually filled with a rich and spicy black bean purée. With roots in Mesoamerica, tetelas are thought to have originated in the pre-Aztec culture of the Mixtec people. They lived in the current Mexican states of Oaxaca and parts of nearby Puebla, where tetelas remain popular today. In this version, avocado leaves perfume the beans with hints of citrus and anise, but if you don’t have them, you can use a combination of parsley and tarragon instead. Tetelas can be served alongside a meal like hearty dinner rolls or as a side dish, topped with shredded lettuce or cabbage, salsa, crema, chopped cilantro and onion and a sprinkle of queso Cotija.
Tortillas de Maíz
Any reservations you might have had about making corn tortillas from scratch will disappear the moment you taste them: warm, soft and chewy, they actually taste like corn. Freshly made masa purchased from a Mexican market or tortilleria will give you the most soulful flavor and texture, but masa harina is a close second that turns out tortillas that are still miles ahead of packaged ones. When mixed with water and salt, masa presses easily into rounds if it’s properly hydrated according to the tips below. A staple of the Mexican table, homemade tortillas are served with most meals the way bread is in other countries. And while outside Mexico, tacos may be their most well-known use, they can be toasted to make tostadas; stuffed, rolled and fried to make taquitos or flautas; or bathed in a chile, bean, tomato or mole sauce to make enchiladas, enfrijoladas, entomatadas and enmoladas.
Gorditas de Maíz
Gorditas are thicker and heartier than their flat tortilla cousins and are even easier to make. They don’t require a tortilla press and can be shaped simply by patting masa dough flat. Once cooked, they are often split in the center like a pita and filled with stewed meats and vegetables. Their extra thickness helps to absorb guisos, braises, and to hold their structure and shape when they are stuffed with saucier fillings like pork pulled off the bone from encacahuatado de costillas de cerdo. Gorditas also can be served uncut and used like a thick tortilla for swiping through mole negro.
Roscioli Roman Cacio e Pepe
The Roscioli family has built its own culinary empire in Rome since the 1960s, including bread bakeries, a pastry shop, a wine bar and a salumeria that moonlights as a restaurant. It’s a straight-from-the-airport destination for many American chefs, who go to taste the best food and wine from all over Italy, plus perfected Roman classics like cacio e pepe. The Roscioli method involves making a “crema” of cheese, pepper and water in advance. (It can also be refrigerated for later use.) The cheese needs to be grated until fine and feathery, so that it will melt quickly, and the hot pasta water must be added slowly. Unlike many recipes, the pasta here should be fully cooked, not al dente; it won’t cook any further once it’s added to the cheese.
Sardine Pasta Puttanesca
Pasta puttanesca packs a punch, loaded with flavorful pantry staples like capers, olives, garlic, anchovies and red-pepper flakes. This version adds sardines and swaps the canned tomatoes for plump cherry tomatoes, which both bring meaty bites to this simple dish. It’s best in the summer, when the tomatoes are especially ripe and juicy. Keep the pasta quite undercooked, so it can become tender while simmering in the burst tomato sauce. The sauce will look thin at first, but just keep vigorously stirring and it will get glossy and emulsified.
Filet Mignon
For filet mignon that is supremely tender and stress-free, slow and steady wins the race. Skip the smoking-hot pan and the oven finish. Instead, flip often in a medium-hot skillet and baste with butter. The moderate temperature develops a browned crust without toughening the meat and makes hitting the ideal temperature for a rosy-pink center much easier. It's like a culinary version of the tortoise and the hare. The butter, studded with black pepper, adds a spicy richness to the lean and mild meat, though feel free to add smashed and peeled garlic and rosemary or thyme sprigs to the pan as well. Serve alongside a wedge salad, sautéed spinach and mashed potatoes.
Taco Salad
This Mexican American classic has roots at Disneyland. Charles Elmer Doolin, a cofounder of the Frito Company, created an edible cup out of Fritos and served it at his Disneyland restaurant, Casa de Fritos, in 1955. It was the size of a teacup, filled with ground beef, beans and sour cream, and called the Ta-Cup (a portmanteau of taco and cup). The creation was a hit, with recipes for taco salad made with various corn chips proliferating in the ’60s, becoming a staple in school cafeterias, and eventually growing into the jumbo version added to the Taco Bell menu in 1984. (The menu item was retired in 2020.) You can use any corn chip for this recipe, and there’s no need for it to be in cup form, but opt for Fritos, if you want that authentic taste.
Pepper Steak
The Chinese American stir-fry dish, pepper steak, celebrates the oft-maligned green bell pepper in all its savory, vegetal glory. In this version, thin slices of flank or skirt steak, marinated in a flavorful mix of soy sauce, honey and black pepper cook up beautifully tender yet burnished and caramelized at the edges. Be sure to chop all of your vegetables before you start cooking, since time at the stove is hot and fast with this easy recipe.
Japanese Potato Salad With Mentaiko
A classic side dish for homemade lunch boxes or bento picnics, a Japanese potato salad is made with boiled russet potatoes, vegetables, boiled eggs and, often, ham, all seasoned with rice vinegar and tangy Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise. Folding in some raw mentaiko, the salt-cured roe of Alaskan pollock, gives it a savory, briny complexity (and is a good reminder of why potatoes and cured fish eggs are so often paired together). The potatoes in Japanese potato salad are typically roughly mashed, but you can dice them if you prefer a heartier texture. Salting the cucumber in advance helps it retain some crunch when you mix it into the salad, while adding vinegar to the potatoes while they’re still hot helps them absorb more flavor.
Classic Mentaiko Spaghetti
Mentaiko spaghetti is a staple of wafu cuisine, or Japanese adaptations of foreign ingredients. At its simplest, mentaiko spaghetti is made with nothing more than mentaiko (the salt-cured roe of Alaskan pollock), cream, butter and some simple umami seasonings like soy sauce or Parmesan. They’re whisked together in a bowl and tossed with hot pasta and a splash of pasta water, as with any sauce that is best served warm but uncooked (like pesto or carbonara). Adding an egg yolk to the base gives the dish a glossier, creamier texture, and using crème fraîche in lieu of regular heavy cream brightens the flavors. So does a bit of lemon zest and juice. The minty flavor of Japanese shiso leaves is a nice finish, but mint, basil, parsley, chives or even torn nori all work.
Caramelized Zucchini and White Bean Salad
This flavorful and hearty salad makes use of one of summer’s most abundant vegetables, zucchini. You start with a big pile of shredded zucchini and onions, then might marvel at how much it cooks down as it browns and caramelizes. Next, you’ll toss that potent blend with creamy white beans and herbs to make an easy, flavorful side or main. The mint adds brightness, and it pairs well with other soft herbs, like parsley, dill and basil. The caramelized zucchini mixture makes a great base for bean salad, but it is so versatile it can be used in many other ways: Make a big batch and toss it with pasta, serve it on top of ricotta-slathered toast, or top a flatbread with it; you really can’t go wrong.
Gingery Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
Most meatballs in tomato sauce rely on canned tomatoes for the kind of heady, garlicky recipe that’s typically spooned over spaghetti. But this recipe is made from briefly cooked fresh tomatoes for something lighter and brighter, seasoned with ginger, cilantro, lime juice and a dusting of cumin. It’s a perfect place to use up those overripe summer tomatoes, and it works well with just-ripe tomatoes, too. Feel free to use any kind of ground meat here: pork, beef, turkey, chicken, lamb or vegan meat. Then, serve it with crusty bread or rice to catch all of the zippy, fragrant sauce.
Dumpling Tomato Salad With Chile Crisp Vinaigrette
Harness the crowd-pleasing power of dumplings in this hearty yet light main course salad. The base is simple and summery: Ripe tomatoes are lightly touched with salt, garlic and basil, providing a perfectly fragrant canvas for pan-fried potsticker dumplings. Salting intensifies the tanginess and fruitiness of tomatoes, while also coaxing out some of the juice, which becomes a light sauce for the dumplings. (Salting also works wonders for out-of-season tomatoes, meaning you could eat this salad all year round.) Use your favorite chile crisp as it is the dominant flavor in the dressing and will greatly impact the final dish; all brands of crisp will have different levels of saltiness and spice, so season accordingly.
Tofu and Asparagus With Frizzled Leeks
This almost-no-cook vegan meal is a spunky mix of flavors and textures: Fried leeks add crunch and sweetness; asparagus provides snap and pleasant bitterness; miso lends savoriness; and tender, mild tofu balances it all out. The leeks get frizzled in oil, then the mixture is poured over the miso-dressed tofu and asparagus for an aromatic finish, similar to techniques common in Chinese and Indian cooking. (You could also swap in juicy, crunchy snap or snow peas, cucumbers or celery.) Serve over rice, soba or rice noodles, or spring lettuces drizzled with lemon or lime juice.
Arroz Chaufa (Fried Rice With Chicken and Bell Pepper)
After laborers flocked from China to Peru in the mid-1800s, a blend of Chinese and Peruvian cuisine known as Chifa was born. This simple version of arroz chaufa (fried rice) focuses on chicken thighs and red bell pepper, but other varieties might embrace sliced hot dogs, shrimp or strips of meat. The key to this recipe, and other fried rice recipes, is keeping the cooking surface hot. This is easy to achieve when using a powerful wok burner in a professional kitchen, but at home, this means cooking things in smaller batches. If you need to serve more people, multiply the recipe as needed, but make sure to cook the rice in several batches to allow it to crisp rather than steam. (You can hold the prepared rice covered in foil in a warm oven.)