Simple Cooking

The Manhattan is a classic cocktail made with whiskey and sweet vermouth.

Garlicky, buttery shrimp scampi is an Italian-American restaurant staple that takes little more than a skillet and 15 minutes of your time to make at home.

These sesame flatbreads can be made ahead and frozen—or, if you plan ahead, made fresh for breakfast.

Thepla is a quintessential Gujarati flatbread that goes with anything—mango lassi, a cup of chai, or achar for dipping.

In this bok choy recipe, you’ll stir fry the vegetables with soy sauce, ginger, and garlic, and drizzle with sesame oil.

If you like mojitos, you’ll like this minty swizzle from the Queen’s Park Hotel in Trinidad. The swizzle is a category of cocktails named for the special bar tool used to mix all crushed-ice cocktails in the days before blenders. A swizzle stick is a long stick made with three to five forked branches originally made from the allspice bush. If you don’t have one, though, you can use a bar spoon to churn the drink with a similar motion, rotating the stick by rubbing your hands back and forth again …

One of the oldest and most perfect of three-ingredient cocktails, the Japanese Cocktail first saw print in 1862 but remains stubbornly unknown and underappreciated.

The Manhattan/Brooklyn cocktail riff that birthed a dozen others, Vincenzo Errico’s Red Hook was first served at the original Milk & Honey, the influential bar in New York.

When you store this batter in the fridge (for up to 2 days!) every day can be pancake day.

This vegetarian pad Thai gets its tangy-sweet flavor and flush of heat from a sauce made with tamarind pulp, soy sauce, brown sugar, and Sriracha.

Using tangzhong—a technique that calls for mixing a cooked flour mixture into bread dough—produces a bread that’s unbelievably soft, sweet, and fluffy.

These sour cream pancakes are just as tender and flavorful as ones made with buttermilk, but the real star is the tangy-sweet sour cream maple syrup.

Though this pâté can be eaten the day it's made, we find it even more flavorful when made one or two days ahead. If you use several small ramekins instead of a pâté crock or terrine, you may need more clarified butter to seal the tops.

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.