I'm always surprised by how flavorful sautéing meat in a skillet and then deglazing the pan with wine can be. But as this fascinating recipe from Mario Batali proves, even minor adjusts can dramatically change the outcome. More

I first encountered the combination of squid and white beans in the famous tapas bar Bar Pintxo in the Boqueria market of Barcelona. There, tiny white runner beans are the bed for squid seared on a screaming hot flattop; a sauce of olive oil and the squid's ink gives the whole plate a round, salty tang. In a country of incredible food, it remains one of the best things I've eaten. More

I started cooking from Ruta Kahate's Quick-Fix Indian the moment I got my hands on it. I'm always looking to cook more Indian meals, and this one promised that most of recipes could be cooked in a Rachel-Ray-inspired speed of 30 minutes or less. Though I tried a few, including the very good "instant chicken biryani," this recipe for coriander shrimp with zucchini was by far more favorite. More

Chimichurri with steak is certainly not a new idea, and in fact it's probably the most common way that this Argentinian sauce is used (and they know a thing or two about steak in that country). The garlicky, herbal flavors marry beautifully with the richness and fattiness of steak, not to mention its visually stunning contrast of green against red. More

When asparagus is truly in season, like at this exact moment, the vegetable is so sweet and tender it doesn't even need to be cooked. Just thinly slice the stalks, dress them with a vinaigrette, and you're left with a stunningly simple fresh asparagus salad. The only catch is that they are often light, bordering on the insubstantial. This recipe from Mindy Fox's Salads: Beyond the Bowl solves that problem by adding red quinoa. More

Salad for dinner always sounds virtuous, but not necessarily all that fulfilling (or just plain filling at all). Flipping through Mindy Fox's most recent cookbook Salads: Beyond the Bowl, it's clear that Fox, who is the food editor at La Cucina Italiana magazine, is trying to stretch the definition of what a salad can be. It's also refreshing that her range of flavors goes way beyond Italian food, like in this twist on Asian sesame noodles. More

It sounds simple—too simple. I mean, do you need a full recipe describing how to fry and egg warm up chorizo? Luckily, José Andrés, in a recipe from Made in Spain, manages to throw in a couple tricks to this seemingly basic dish, helping transform into something beyond a basic dinner. More

While quick chicken recipes are pretty common, many of them can be boring, using the same old techniques with little variation. But in years of cooking, I've never seen anything quite like this. Raw chicken thighs are blended up with aromatics like ginger, garlic, and scallions to make a paste, which is then quickly folded into cabbage leaves and steamed. It actually comes together far more quickly than you'd think. More

Lidia Bastianich doesn't traffic in trends, so I knew that this recipe in Lidia's Italy wasn't just thrown in to capitalize on farro's recent surge in healthy appeal. As she writes in the caption, it actually came from a restaurant called Le Lampare in Trani, Italy. The tuna, caper, and tomato sauce would probably go well with about any pasta shape (I certainly wouldn't mind it), but seems to really come alive when paired with the farro. More

Adapted from The Kitchen Diaries. [Photograph: Blake Royer] Why I Picked This Recipe: Though I've ordered this type of salad at restaurants before, I've never tried it at home, and I was eager to play with Slater's proportions in the... More