Simple Cooking

Too many turkey meatloaf recipes have resulted in a dry, uninspiring dinner. But soaking breadcrumbs in milk prevents the meatloaf from drying out as it cooks.

This cream cheese pastry recipe is as simple to make as it is versatile. Tender, flaky, and delicious, it’s perfect for quiches, tarts, and even rugelach.

Truly a one-pot wonder, this dish is homey, comforting, and weeknight-friendly (thanks to the minimal cleanup). Rinse your rice until the water runs clear before adding to keep the grains from going clumpy or gummy in the pot.

Paneer is perfect for this toasted sandwich recipe—the cheese is creamy but doesn’t melt completely, adding a satisfying texture to an easy tomato sauce that’s spiced with jalapeño, ginger, coriander, and cumin and mustard seeds. Searing the paneer leaves some bits a little crunchier than others while adding a smoky flavor to the sauce; Sach is my favorite brand. You can serve the sauce simply with flatbread or over rice or use it as the filling in enchiladas or tacos (topped with sautéed mushro.…

This easy chunky guacamole recipe gets warmth from a dash of cumin and heat from fresh or pickled jalapeño.

This Taiwanese classic gets its name from the generous amounts of soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice wine it calls for.

Menudo is typically served on weekends (whether that means family reunions, dressed in your Sunday best—or as an ideal hangover cure). The earthiness of the hominy and smoky chiles makes this dish one you’ll crave for weekends to come. Dried snow mushrooms are easy to find online and at many East Asian grocery stores. Their frilly, honeycomb-like texture provides a similar look and bite to the pancita—a.k.a. beef stomach—used in traditional menudo, making this dish accessible to almost anyone. W.…

Rich, hearty black-eyed peas simmered in coconut milk get a boost of spice from habanero pepper and curry powder.

Sweet potato purée and banana bind the ingredients together (so you can skip the eggs), while adding a light, natural sweetness to the batter.

If you love the taste of ginger, this simple dessert is for you. It requires no baking or steaming and has only three ingredients: milk, sugar and ginger juice.

Bar cookies are always brilliant, but these bars are extra brilliant because salty Ritz crackers add balance to an otherwise strictly sweet treat.

With comforting notes of butterscotch and caramel, butter tarts are perfect when you want something small and sweet, and they require just a few basic pantry ingredients.

This pie dough is wonderfully versatile, and cookbook author Ken Haedrich uses it for both sweet and savory pies. It has great flavor, flaky texture, and is easy to handle.

These classic pignoli cookies gets their chewy texture from almond paste and egg whites and crunch from the pine nuts embedded in their crispy surface. 

This is a tres leches meets olive oil cake, lightened up with a chiffon base to help soak in all of the milk.

Simple, quick, and bursting with flavor, these beans are perfect on their own, with a slice of toast, or tossed into a salad.

Made with coconut sugar, these cookie sandwiches—filled with a whipped white chocolate, coconut, and rum ganache—have deep caramel and molasses notes.

Nothing quite beats a winter stew when the temperature begins to drop. This rich meatless dish and its thick tasty gravy really hits the spot. With tender oyster mushrooms, caramelized carrots and onions, as well as a good helping of red wine and miso for umami-packed flavors, this has quickly become one of my most popular recipes–somewhat beef bourguignon, but without the beef.