5 Ingredients or Fewer

A laughably simple weeknight dish that packs a lot of flavor. Try to buy shoulder (rib) end pork chops, which will dry out less in the pan than others. Serve with a salad and a cooked vegetable or starch, like any of the mashed potato dishes on page 480. Other cuts of meat you can use here: bone-in chicken thighs (which will require more cooking) or pork medallions cut from the tenderloin (which will cook more quickly).

I had a dish similar to this one in Provence at least twenty years ago and have never stopped making it. Few preparations do as much justice to dark-fleshed fish. Like many “grilled” dishes, this one is better made in the broiler, where you have far more control. A potato gratin, like the one on page 482, would be suitable here, as would Peasant-Style Potatoes (page 477). Of course, a simple vegetable dish or two would also be wonderful, as mackerel is pretty rich in its own right.

If you are a steak-and-eggs kind of person, and a liver kind of person, this is a great dish. (I love it, especially at breakfast.) Serve with warm pita bread. Other cuts of meat you can use here: chicken livers (clean them well and do not overcook them); strip, skirt, or other steak.

The most challenging part of this recipe is cutting the pork into thin shreds; freeze the meat for 30 or even 60 minutes first, which will make it easier, but plan on spending the bulk of the time allotted for this recipe on this single task. The cooking itself takes only 5 minutes (in fact, if you want to serve rice with this, which you should, cook it beforehand and keep it warm). Don’t mince the garlic; you want its flavor to be strong in this dish. Serve this with white rice. Other cuts of meat you can use here: beef, preferably sirloin; lamb, preferably from the shoulder or leg; boneless chicken.

This dish is popular throughout Southeast Asia (I had it in Vietnam), where firm-fleshed river fish are plentiful. Carp is an excellent choice for freshwater fish, as is wild catfish (I’m not a fan of farmed catfish), but red snapper or sea bass is also good. Lime leaves are not always available; substitute grated lime zest if necessary. See page 500 for information on Thai fish sauce (nam pla). This would be great with Green Papaya Salad (without the shrimp, page 198).

Best done with small fish—four 1-pound red snappers or black bass are ideal—this technique, among the world’s easiest and most reliable, can also be used with larger fish. But I wouldn’t go above a couple of pounds each, or cooking them through under the broiler will be tricky. Bear in mind that some broilers (especially electric ones) may cycle on and off, which is undesirable here; if you prop open the door, the heating element is more likely to remain on. You could, of course, serve this as you would any plain broiled fish, with a salad and vegetable or starch, for example. Typical Japanese choices might be rice (of course), along with Chicken and Cucumber Salad (without the chicken, page 182) or Eggplant Salad with Mustard-Miso Dressing (page 185).

Simple skewers brushed, after grilling, with an easy, traditional Sicilian sauce. Grill some vegetables at the same time if you like. For an indoor version, see the variation.

A specialty of southwestern France, where some of the world’s best sweet wines are made. Since you need only about a cup (you could get away with less, if you like), it won’t do that much harm to use a good Sauternes or Barzac, the best of the lot. But I have made this very successfully with Montbazillac, which costs about $10 a bottle and is certainly good enough to drink. The resulting sauce is nicely but not cloyingly sweet and wonderful over buttered noodles. You can make this a day in advance (it might even be better that way) and easily double it to serve a crowd. Other cuts of meat you can use here: Pork or lamb chops or chunks of boneless pork, lamb, or veal shoulder, all of which will cook much more quickly.

Poaching a tenderloin of beef is the surest way to obtain perfectly and uniformly rare meat. Whether you choose a 2-pound piece, which will easily serve four, or a larger one, the procedure and results are consistently the same, making the dish ideal for dinner parties. As long as the meat is of fairly consistent thickness, every slice you cut—with the exception of the very ends—will look like the others. Buying the beef is simple but usually can be made even simpler with an advance call to the butcher; ask for the thick (châteaubriand) end of the tenderloin, 2 to 3 pounds (he will be willing to cut it to any size you like), in one piece, tied. If you allow the meat to reach room temperature before poaching, cooking time will be reduced by a few minutes; but it will be no longer than 20 and probably shorter anyway. It’s key to serve the meat with a variety of garnishes from which you and your guests can choose: minced shallots, good mustard, chopped cornichons, coarse salt, soy sauce, even ketchup. These can be combined—I favor mustard combined with shallots and cornichons. I’d like a potato gratin with this recipe (page 482), but any potato dish (including good old mashed potatoes) would be fine, as would almost any nicely prepared vegetable. Bread, too.

In Spain, where the world’s best oranges grow, they are used to season just about everything. One of my favorite encounters with the citrus fruit was an oven-braised dish of pork and oranges that I had in Seville. It could not have been simpler and can be reproduced easily. Use either country-style ribs, ribs cut from the rib (shoulder) end, or even spareribs if you like; avoid center-cut or loin pork chops here because they will become dry and tasteless.

If you like franks and beans, this is for you. There are, of course, more complicated versions, ending with cassoulet, but this is the starting point. Other cuts of meat you can use here: longer, because they need some simmering time, but very good, are browned chunks of pork or lamb shoulder (or both), cooked in the beans in place of (or in addition to) the sausage.

A more complicated lamb stew than the preceding recipe, but a very flexible one, finished with the classic rich and delicious avgolemono, egg-lemon sauce. This can be made with a large variety of vegetables, in which case it’s a meal in a pot, always best served with pita bread or pilaf. Other cuts of meat you can use here: lamb shanks (which will take longer to cook) or shoulder chops, beef chuck or brisket (which also will require longer cooking time), or veal shoulder.

The ideal dish for when you have leftover meat and potatoes, this can also be made from scratch, by cutting raw potatoes into small cubes and browning them, then cutting meat into small cubes and browning it with the onions. This preparation is undeniably more elegant, but the recipe here, I feel, is more in tune with the spirit of the dish. If you don’t like the idea of raw egg (which, I assure you, is entirely in keeping with tradition), fry or poach the eggs, then top the hash with them. Other cuts of meat you can use here: boneless pork.

Almost every country has a sausage or two. These skinless Romanian ones are among the easiest, essentially well-seasoned hamburgers that were undoubtedly created in a pinch and are known as “the little sausages without skin” and remain popular today. Note that these contain caraway seeds, one of the distinctive flavorings of Eastern Europe—the Italian variation uses fennel instead. Other cuts of meat you can use here: Ground beef, veal, or a combination.

A simple and basic artichoke recipe that may well become your default method. The acidity of the white wine keeps the artichokes nice and green and also contrasts nicely but not too jarringly with their mild flavor. Other vegetables you can prepare this way: Not all vegetables take to white wine, but many do, especially those with a little sweetness. Think carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, and winter squash.

I’ve had variations of this spring creation in a number of places. In Holland, they use ham; in Italy, they use Parmesan; in Germany, they use both. The key ingredients, however, are good asparagus and fried eggs, and the results are as delicious as they are easy. The combination of melted butter and runny egg yolk mimics Hollandaise sauce, though I think browning the butter yields a more flavorful result. The most difficult decision may be when to serve this. I like it as a light supper, but it’s also great at brunch. Other vegetables you can prepare this way: cauliflower would be equally nice.

Like all dried beans, chickpeas are far better when you cook them yourself than when you simply open a can. But unlike lentils, split peas, and even to some extent white and red beans, you must plan ahead to use chickpeas in other dishes. Overnight soaking reduces the cooking time somewhat, as does a quick boil and a shorter soak; but mostly the cooking takes time, unless you use a pressure cooker. Once done, chickpeas can be stored in their cooking liquid (this is another unusual aspect of chickpeas; their cooking liquid is delicious), covered and refrigerated, for a few days or frozen indefinitely. Other legumes you can prepare this way: this procedure can be followed for any legume, but most will cook faster than the chickpeas.

Soy-glazed black beans are a common panchan—little side dish—in Korea, but they’re also served in Japan; in both countries they’re usually served at room temperature. They are about as far from the cumin- and garlic-laced black beans of Mexico (see page 438) as they could be. In Asia, they’re made with black soybeans, which are larger and rounder than the more common black (“turtle”) beans you see everywhere. But you can use either. Serve this as if it were a little salad, with any Korean or Japanese cooked dish.

Edamame—fresh soybeans—are rarely seen “fresh” in this country, but they’re now sold frozen at most supermarkets. You buy them still in their pods and pop the little beans out to eat them (the pods are inedible). Eaten as a little snack at the table or as a side dish, with no more than salt, they’re rather great.

A slightly labor-intensive but wonderful vegetarian dish that, with its contrasting textures and slight sweetness, makes a terrific main course or a first-rate side dish. Other legumes you can prepare this way: split yellow or green peas.