To answer your questions: • No, it doesn’t come out overcooked. Microwaves actually steam fish pretty perfectly. Like, it might be one of the most tender and delicious pieces of fish I’ve had…ever? • Nope, it won’t make your house reek of fish any more than cooking it on your stovetop or in your oven would. • Yes, it’s a zillion times faster and easier than any other method I could think of for cooking salmon. Recipe: Microwave Salmon This “salad” is also a meal prep dream. TBH, it gets better and better the longer it sits in your fridge. The fact that you don’t even have to heat it up for a near-instant WFH lunch is just the cherry on top. Recipe: Grilled Chicken Orzo Salad with Avocado The dip boasts all the flavors I crave in a good chip or veggie dip: It’s luxuriously creamy, has a nice pop of brightness from some lemon zest and chopped herbs, and packs just the right amount of punchy heat from a few spoonfuls of pickled jalapeños. If you ever find yourself with nine jars of pickles in your fridge, or honestly even one, make this. Recipe: Pickle Dip If the thought of making bread in your own kitchen gives you hives, I promise you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how easy this one is. It’s as easy as mixing up some ingredients, letting them sit, dumping ’em into a pan, and baking. Every time I serve this focaccia to friends, there are zero leftovers. No exaggeration. Recipe: No-Knead Focaccia At this point, I’ve made this dish with ramen, soba noodles, dried pasta. … If there’s a noodle to be tasted, I’ve used it for this. The single-serving, frozen udon noodles you can find at your local Asian market (or online) are still my #1 pick for their incredible chew and texture, but basically, any noodle you can get your hands on will work. Recipe: Miso Chili Crisp Udon Noodles Also, just saying: This is one of the rare pasta dishes that actually tastes even better the next day. How? I’m unsure. But you’ll want to make enough to enjoy the following day for lunch. Recipe: Chili Crisp Fettucine Alfredo with Spinach Recipe: Green Goddess Salad Recipe: Cinnamon Toast Crunch Treats Recipe: Mississippi Roast Salmon burgers I’ve made prior to trying these usually incorporated pre-cooked or leftover salmon, kind of like a salmon cake if you will. Since these use raw salmon, they always come out perfectly moist, and they’re absolutely jam-packed with flavor. Recipe: Salmon Burgers If you prep the crispy shallots in advance — or if you just buy some crispy onions from the store, I truly will not judge — they’re actually ridiculously simple to toss together for guests for a little summer dinner party. And beyond their simplicity, they’re likely cheaper than any other type of seafood roll you could prepare in your own kitchen. Recipe: Old Bay Shrimp Rolls Instead of breading and frying all the slices of eggplant, you roast them (naked!) until they’re soft and custardy. When you layer the eggplant parm, you’ll sprinkle crispy panko bread crumbs in between each layer in lieu of breading, and I swear to god: The texture and flavor are 10 times better than any eggplant parm I’ve ever tasted. Note: The recipe as written yields only two servings, but it’s super simple to double or triple if you’re serving more than two. Recipe: Eggplant Parm Recipe: Fire Roasted Baba Ganoush I’d call this an anytime cake, TBH. Cake for breakfast? Awesome. Dessert? Wonderful, of course. You can even call it a snack cake if you want to snag a piece in the middle of the afternoon. Recipe: Big Mama’s Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe: One-Pan Lemon Pasta Velvety, buttery-soft cabbage is the perfect accompaniment to a thyme and shallot-infused cream sauce (that I’ve been genuinely tempted to eat by the spoonful every time I’ve prepared it). In fact, “future me” may regret this, but I actually now prefer this dish to a traditional potato gratin — especially in the context of a holiday meal. Using cabbage adds just a touch of lightness to a dish that’s otherwise pretty darn rich…but there’s certainly no sacrifice in terms of the decadence it offers. Recipe: Cheesy Cabbage Gratin This one’s a mostly one-pot dish, except for the baking sheet you’ll use to bake the meatballs. Regardless, it’s still incredibly cleanup-friendly. And the taste?! My god, the taste. It’s basically all the rich, saucy goodness of a fettuccine Alfredo with better texture and more of an herby kick. Recipe: Baked Sage Chicken Meatballs with Parmesan Orzo First of all, it’s delicious — that extra tang and subtle hit of bitterness really round out the sweetness of this dessert. And second of all, come on, the distinct layers are stunning. They look like they’re 10 times harder than they actually are, which is always an added bonus in my book. Recipe: Cranberry Lemon Bars If you hit a paywall when trying to access the recipe above, you can find a very similar recipe here.
