by If meeting resolutions were as easy as setting them, perfection would be attainable and the self-improvement section of the bookstore would be a city of cobwebs. Still, self-reflection can be a rewarding exercise at the beginning of a new year. What better place to start than the kitchen, where you have to dedicate at least a little time each day?
Consider a gentler approach to making resolutions: Try to get a little better at something, rather than changing your habits entirely. Maybe you would like to incorporate Meatless Monday into your weekly routine, or maybe you’re deciding to bake birthday cakes for your loved ones this year. Maybe, just maybe, this will be the year you finally learn to cook.
No matter what your goals are, we have recipes to get you closer to them. Give them a try in 2024, and by this time next year, we’re sure you’ll be impressed by how far your cooking has come.
Few dishes embody the potential of meatless eating like Melissa Clark’s five-star red lentil soup, the most reviewed recipe in the entire New York Times Cooking Database. It expertly delivers on the promises of any good vegetarian recipe: it honors the cook’s time. It transforms simple pantry staples and fresh, vibrant ingredients like lime juice and cilantro into something surprisingly complex. And it won’t leave you searching the kitchen for something more substantial to eat later.
Recipe: Red Lentil Soup
Quinoa and Broccoli Spoon Salad
To the uninitiated, deciding to eat more vegetarian meals may seem like resigning yourself to a future of listless salads. Don’t let that myth discourage you. Sohla El-Waylly’s Broccoli Quinoa Spoon Salad is proof that salads can be hearty, crunchy, and balanced without a layer of roast chicken on top. The unexpected combination of flavors and textures here (raw broccoli, crunchy nuts, fresh and dried fruits, gnarly grains, and salty cheese) only gets better as it settles, ideal for on-the-go lunches as you return to your post-vacation routines.
Recipe: Quinoa and Broccoli Spoon Salad
Tikka Breader
For some people, the gateway to more mainstream meat-free cuisine may simply be cheese. A soft cheese, like the immensely versatile South Asian paneer, soaks up a tasty marinade of yogurt pastes, ginger and garlic, garam masala, and a handful of other spices in this spectacular recipe from Zainab Shah (though you can also use cubed tofu ). ). The bouncy cheese chunks, which don’t melt even when toasted over high heat, cook along with vegetables for a satisfying one-pan meal in under 30 minutes.
True newbies should look no further than this three-ingredient recipe from Melissa Clark. The focus is strictly on technique, making an otherwise simple quesadilla a more appealing texture without any more effort. “A nice, easy way to make a quesadilla sing more than usual,” wrote a New York Times cooking commentator. “Honestly, I’m a little disappointed I didn’t think of this sooner!”
Recipe: Quesadilla with crispy edges
Gyeran Bap (Rice with Egg)
This recipe from Eric Kim is based on two fundamental pillars of cooking: frying eggs and preparing a simple sauce to cover white rice. It was developed for those who cook for one, whether it’s the college freshman or the empty-nester retiree. With just five ingredients, the dish creates little mess and can serve as a canvas for whatever else you have on hand, like sliced avocado, scallions, or even bagel seasoning.
Recipe: Gyeran Bap (Rice with Egg)
Roasted Salmon with Mustard and Lemon
Once you feel comfortable on the stove, it’s time to move on to the grill. Melissa Clark’s 15-minute recipe for skin-on salmon fillets slathered in Dijon mustard and olive oil is so foolproof, it deserves to become her go-to fish recipe. “What kind of magic is this?” wrote a New York Times cooking commentator. “I followed the recipe exactly and it came out perfect.”
Recipe: Roasted Salmon with Mustard and Lemon
For the aspiring baker
Rice Krispie Treats
Scott Loitsch’s recipe includes two valuable lessons for new bakers: the importance of salt in any baked good and the depth that browned butter can add. To balance the sweetness of all that gooey marshmallow, you need more salt than you think (1¼ teaspoons of Diamond Crystal kosher salt, or five grams of any coarse or table salt); Otherwise, your delicacies will have a unique flavor. Simply browning the butter (slow cooking the water and then caramelizing the milk solids) adds a nutty heat that will have you adding browned butter to any cookies or brownies you make in the future.
Recipe: Rice Krispie Treats
Basque Cheesecake
This recipe, adapted from the cookbook “Basque Country” by Marti Buckley, is a testament to the idea that less is more. Fewer ingredients, fewer tools, and fewer complicated tricks result in an amazing dessert that will convince those you feed (and maybe even yourself) that you’re an expert baker. This type of cheesecake eschews the water bath and is instead baked at a higher temperature than the classic New York style, creating a burnished surface that at first puffs up like a soufflé, then sinks into itself. and acquires a toasted flavor reminiscent of a fire-roasted marshmallow.
Gluten-free, with just six ingredients and restaurant-grade flavor, this recipe from Genevieve Ko is packed with smart tips for beginners. Despite the idea that bar chocolate is always better for baking, Genevieve uses chocolate chips, which contain less cocoa butter but more cocoa solids than their bar counterparts and therefore have more chocolate flavor when baked into a cake. And they do double duty in this one-bowl dessert, helping to bind the minimal ingredients together in the absence of flour.
Recipe: Flourless chocolate cake
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