Dairy Free

The sauce makes the meal—serve it alongside any combo of crunchy peak-season veg you please.

Tartare should be served very cold and right after making. If needed, prep the ingredients ahead and chill them; assemble at the last minute.

These spiced-up dinner bowls feature rice noodles, kale salad, and a deeply flavorful poached chicken.

The type of fish you use is less important than its quality. Black bass, striped bass, and fluke all translate well; ask your fish guy for what's freshest.

In place of vinegar, finger limes give this mignonette its zing (pulp from regular limes works just as well).

Don't obsess over getting these exact ingredients in this precise combination. Any nut you like will work here for crunch, and you're looking for a mix of bright herbs and enough cooked grains to make it substantial.

With a mega-flame and a gargantuan pot, you can cook an ocean's worth of seafood in a fraction of the time it would take on the stovetop—without stepping foot in a steamy kitchen.

This is a high-summer throw together of a sauté to make when there are lots of snap beans at the market. Mix colors and types for the full effect.

Mix up your summer sides with this bright grain salad tossed in an Asian-inspired vinaigrette.

Slightly underripe plums? Add a touch more honey.

The quick route to awesome crispy chicken sandwiches: pound the chicken, dredge in panko, cook just a few minutes, and pair with a vinegary slaw.

Tacos al pastor—made from marinated pork that's been roasted on a vertical spit—are wildly popular in Mexico City, particularly at night. The best taqueros put on a show, slicing off bits of caramelized meat and catching it in one hand (or behind their back!), and then reaching above the meat to slice off a piece of warm, juicy pineapple. According to city folklore, these tacos were invented in the capital. The dish is a direct descendant of shawarma, brought by Lebanese immigrants who arrived in Mexico in the early twentieth century. The marinade in this recipe comes from Tacos Don Guero in the Cuauhtémoc neighborhood, whose taqueros were kind enough to explain their ingredients to me at six a.m. one weekday morning. Obviously very few people at home will have a vertical spit—part of what gives tacos al pastor its signature flavor—but a grill would work well, or a blazing-hot cast iron skillet or griddle greased with a little lard.