Easy

THIS RECIPE IS AKIN TO A HOMEMADE ROTISSERIE CHICKEN without the hassle. Use the lime marinade below as a base recipe; feel free to add more fresh herbs, other citrus fruit, shallots, or ginger.

HARISSA IS A FIERY MOROCCAN SPICE BLEND made with chili peppers that appears often in Mediterranean cooking. It comes both dried and as a paste, and when we started selling the spice at Pasta & Co we created this dish to celebrate its vibrant flavor. The trick here is pounding the chicken breasts until they are uniformly thin to let the marinade penetrate, which both flavors and tenderizes the meat.

Serve this flavorful gravy over any poultry dish or Turkey Meatloaf (page 111).

WHILE MOST PEOPLE KNOW TURKEY ONLY as sliced cold cuts or a whole roasted bird for Thanksgiving dinner, turkey tenderloins are a versatile, tender cut. The citrus-herb marinade is crucial to both the flavor and the texture of the dish because it helps tenderize the meat and boosts the flavor. Serve this dish with Sausage-Oyster Stuffing, Wild Mushroom Stuffing, or Apple-Pecan Stuffing with Dried Cherries (pages 167–71), and you can enjoy the flavors of Thanksgiving all year long.

THIS RECIPE WAS INSPIRED BY TWO DISHES: the French-Canadian poutine and the Swiss raclette. Poutine is a popular dish comprising French fries, gravy, and cheese curds that is sold on the streets of Quebec and in the finest restaurants of Montreal. Raclette is both a hard French cow’s-milk cheese and a Swiss dish prepared by melting thin slices of cheese over broiled potatoes, pickles, and sausage. Our version combines the best of both, with meat, potatoes, green beans, and cheese in one hearty winter dish. Chicken rosemary sausage gives the most flavor to this dish, but pork sausage will work just as well.

THIS MEATLOAF IS DRESSED-UP COMFORT FOOD. Made with ground turkey, chicken sausage, and cheese curds, it’s a healthy dish that might just replace your mom’s recipe as the best meatloaf around. You can use any cheese, but we like using curds because they don’t melt completely, adding texture in every bite, while the cheese curds on the outside of the meatloaf get deliciously caramelized. The leftovers make terrific meatloaf sandwiches.

SLOPPY JOES, THE OLD CHILDHOOD FAVORITE, get a makeover in this weeknight dish. With turkey instead of beef and the addition of corn, cilantro, and jalapeño, this is no ordinary joe. Spoon this flavorful mixture into hamburger buns or warm tortillas for a kid-friendly main course, or try it over rice or in a lettuce cup.

IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, halibut season begins in March and lasts until late summer, but halibut cheeks are a delicacy with which few people are familiar. Halibut cheeks have a distinctive texture, almost like a scallop, and they’re more forgiving than the fillets or steaks in terms of cooking time. While other cuts are easily overcooked, halibut cheeks still taste delicious with a few extra minutes of cooking time. Although halibut cheeks can be found in most fish shops and in the frozen food sections of many grocery stores nationwide, if you can’t find them, substitute halibut fillets cut into 3-ounce pieces. Halibut cheeks vary greatly in size; the smaller ones have more flavor. Serve three small cheeks per person. Adjust accordingly if you’re using larger cheeks.

THE DELICATE FLAVORS OF COD shine when the fish is cooked in a light and flavorful broth. Served chilled, it is perfect for a warm summer evening. When the cod is served with a grain or plain steamed rice, the vinaigrette becomes the sauce.

Pacific Northwesterners love their blueberries. From July to September, cartons of fresh blueberries fill the grocery stores and farmer’s markets. The most prized is the wild Mt. Rainier blueberry, which grows in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State, but farms all over Oregon and Washington grow the bright blue fruit. Use fresh blueberries to make the sauce only if they’re in season; otherwise, use frozen wild blueberries. The sweetness of the blueberries is a stark contrast to savory flavors, and when drizzled over meat or fish, the sauce takes on another level of richness.

SMOKED, POACHED, GRILLED, OR SAUTÉED, salmon is what’s for dinner in the Northwest. Its rich flavor is even better when paired with a butter rub. If you prepare this dish in advance, bring the salmon to nearly room temperature before you cook it. Using a thicker piece of salmon will give you better cuts. Otherwise, if the butter rub is too cold, it will flake off the salmon. The sweet blueberry sauce provides an unexpected color and flavor contrast to the rub.

A great topping on fish, this fresh pesto also makes a wonderful pasta sauce or dipping sauce for bread. This recipe is a good excuse to experiment with different cheeses.

THIS IS A NORTHWEST TAKE ON THE CLASSIC SURF AND TURF, but instead of steak I like to include another fish. Halibut and salmon make a great combination because they have complementary flavors, cooking times, and thickness. (If you can get Alaskan halibut, even better.) Grilled on a cedar plank and served with fresh pesto, the fish have flavors that really pop. You can use any untreated cedar board to cook the fish. Cookware stores sell rather thick planks, but some big box hardware stores and large grocery stores sell thinner untreated cedar planks in the barbecue department.

WHILE THE NAME MAY SOUND FANCY, this is really a very simple dish, a sashimi salad brightened with freshly squeezed lime juice. Inspired by the Hawaiian fish dish, the addition of avocado acts as a color and texture counterpoint. The salmon should be frozen for at least 24 hours to kill any parasites that might be in the fish; it’s also much easier to cut the fish while it’s still partially frozen.

A BEAUTIFUL BOWL OF FRESHLY STEAMED MUSSELS is even better with marinara sauce, with the tomato playing off the tender, salty shellfish. Serve this dish as a starter, or ladle the mussels over spaghetti for a hearty pasta dish. Be sure to serve a loaf of warm, crusty bread alongside to soak up the juices.

WITH A MEATY TEXTURE AND MILD FLAVOR, swordfish pairs flawlessly with bold ingredients. The caper-onion sauce, with bracing white wine and lemon, brings big flavor to the fish. If you can’t find swordfish, substitute another meaty fish, such as mahi-mahi.

CIOPPINO, THE CLASSIC ITALIAN-AMERICAN FISH STEW for which San Francisco is famous, takes on a new life in the Northwest, with fennel and a hint of anchovy to boost the flavor. The mashed avocado is used as a thickener and adds a richness to the dish, but it’s optional. We use a variety of seafood, but feel free to use whatever is fresh in your fish market. We like to use true cod, also known as Pacific cod, because of its flaky texture and mild flavor. (Pacific cod is preferable to Atlantic cod, an overfished species.) True cod is often available frozen. If you find it fresh ask your fishmonger to bone it for you.

THE MILD-FLAVORED PICKAPEPPA is my favorite brand of steak sauce. Made from a centuries-old recipe in Jamaica, Pickapeppa is completely natural and has just the right balance of smoky, sweet, and spicy flavors. It is particularly delicious when served with meaty scallops. Serve the scallops hot as a passed hors d’oeuvre or chilled as a light summer appetizer.