A vibrant, one-pot Spanish classic where saffron-spiced rice meets plump, garlicky shrimp — a weeknight dinner that feels like a dinner party.

It’s hard to beat the all-American beef hamburger, but this pork burger is one you’ll want to add to your repertoire. It can be cooked on the stovetop or grilled—your choice. Serve it with crispy fries, coleslaw, baked beans, or potato salad.

I was inundated with recipe requests when I took this salad to a dinner party recently. It features incredible extra virgin olive oil plus an ingredient you might not be familiar with—guindilla peppers. These small slender peppers, typically sold pickled, hail from Basque country. Find them in the international section of your supermarket or online. (Another option: Substitute pickled banana peppers.) Guindilla peppers are also great on charcuterie boards, as a tapa, or in martinis or Bloody Marys.

This classic Thai dish is a delicious one-pot meal that also happens to be gluten free. High-quality wild-caught frozen shrimp make a great option; let them defrost overnight in the fridge.

Traveling, even vicariously, will whet your appetite for alternative breakfast or brunch dishes enjoyed in other parts of the world. Similar to Middle Eastern shakshuka, this Spanish marriage of mostly pantry ingredients plays to a sophisticated weekend audience. If served for brunch, lunch, or dinner, complement these eggs with a dry Spanish wine and crusty bread. Note: If you cannot find passata, a very smooth tomato purée usually sold in jars, grate 5 or 6 large tomatoes on the largest holes of a box grater, discarding the skins. Or you can purée high-quality canned tomatoes, such as San Marzano.

Traditional churros are deep-fried. For a lighter version, I’m baking them, with a sprinkling of sanding sugar, to create crispy puffs perfect for dipping in dulce de leche, chocolate sauce, or both! There are delicious brands of premade dulce de leche available online. But a very inexpensive way to make your own is the following oven hack—it’s an easy do-ahead technique (you’ll want it ready before you start on the churros themselves). My chocolate sauce, the quintessential churro dunk, is a thinner version of chocolate ganache (make it once the churros are in the oven).

This is one of my favorites, and it involves no cooking and minimal prep. At its center are cured meats from the unique black Iberian pigs. The star of the show is jamón Ibérico, a cured ham with wonderful flavor. I also love chorizo Ibérico, cured sausage redolent of garlic and pimentón; salchichón Ibérico, similar to chorizo but without pimentón; and lomo, cured pork loin. Save room for Spanish cheeses, which run the gamut from mild-yet-flavorful Manchego to nutty-and-buttery Idiazábal to Cabrales, an intense blue. While these Spanish delicacies may not be as ubiquitous as French brie and Italian prosciutto, they are readily available at many gourmet shops and online specialty purveyors.

Nearly every food culture on the planet has a recipe for roast chicken, and Andalucía is no exception.
I love that prep time is less than 10 minutes and that this dish can be served on a busy weeknight. Jarred and drained piquillo peppers (dry them with paper towels) stuffed with softened cream cheese and drizzled with EVOO make a colorful appetizer.

Who doesn’t love chocolate chip cookies? This recipe transforms the classic formula by replacing half the butter with extra virgin olive oil and adding nutritious whole wheat flour and pecans, which lend a nutty crunch. For best results, bake only one sheet of cookies at a time. This recipe makes a large batch. If you only need a smaller one, put one dough log in the freezer for the future.

These stuffed boneless chicken breasts are browned on the stovetop and then baked in the oven in an olive oil, lemon, and butter sauce. Enjoy on its own or over pasta.

This delectable dish starts with a rich yet quick tomato sauce. You can substitute a 15-ounce can of diced tomatoes with their juice for the fresh tomatoes but add it after the tomato paste.