Weeknight Kitchen

1. Heat 2 tablespoons (30 milliliters) of the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and cook, stirring and adding small amounts of the stock to help steam the onion, for 5 minutes or until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until fragrant.

Featuring two vegetables that shared a can throughout my childhood, this curry was inspired by one of our favorite dining experiences at the Sugar Mill restaurant in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Through thoughtful preparation and seasoning, soulful staples like ackee and bean stew and pumpkin soup were elevated to high cuisine. Our curry features a base of island spices and coconut milk that pairs well with rice or pasta and with many vegetables as well. Thumbelina carrots are small and round—about the size and shape of a golf ball—with an especially sweet flavor. If you can’t find them, substitute any heirloom carrots, cut into 1-1/2-inch cubes.

For casual entertaining, the tapas experience translates well to the small home kitchen. One delicious hot tapas classic easily made at home is called pinchos Moruños, or Moorish skewers, essentially small kebabs of pork marinated in Arabic (Moorish) spices and grilled, usually on a hot steel plancha. Because most Muslim Arabs wouldn’t eat pork, one presumes the original dish was lamb. It’s anyone’s guess how it evolved into this ubiquitous tapa selection in Christian Spain. Nevertheless, now it means pork seasoned with garlic, cumin, coriander, pimentón and sometimes oregano. Once skewered, they need only about 5 minutes on a hot griddle.

Note: First, make the ghee: Put the butter in a small pan, bring it to a simmer, and cook until it turns brown at the edges, 3 to 4 minutes. Let the butter sit for a minute. Then tilt the pan and carefully skim off the solidified top crust with a spoon, taking care to remove as much of this stiff white froth as possible. Put it in a small dish. Pour the clear golden butter into another small dish, and pour the darker brown dregs at the bottom of the pan into the dish containing the froth. This can be done well ahead of time, even a day or two before; ghee keeps well in the refrigerator.

Did I say I didn't eat seafood? Well, this is my recipe but my mother always says catfish doesn't count because it's "pond food, not seafood." I do love a good fish fry with crispy cornmeal-breaded catfish filets, finished off with Hush Puppies and Vinegar Slaw.

This is the kind of dish you should learn to make by heart. By any other name, this is baked feta. Put it in a cazuela, or a small oven-to-table casserole dish, and you have a filling lunch or first course served with toasted pita. Naturally, this is superb with summer tomatoes, but it will also improve the washed-out winter tomatoes that may have found their way onto your kitchen counter. Improvise and improve to your own liking as you go, and this dish will never let you down.

There's nothing quite as homespun as a bowl of tomato soup with a classic grilled cheese sandwich.

I love kebabs, which is why I can't help making them at any backyard party. These kebabs utilize the same combination of herbs that I add to many of my dishes: mint, parsley and cilantro. Here, the addition of grated onion keeps the meat moist. Even a well-fed sheikh would be proud of this dish!

Kukuye sabsi is a Persian-style omelette, similar to a frittata, and is often served on New Year's Day in Iran. The secret of the texture is to chop the parsley coarsely, not finely.

For fast suppers with sensational flavors, think Thai-style curries. Contrasts really fly in curries. For instance finish a curry of leftover chicken and roasted vegetables with a few chunks of pineapple and a lot of lime juice. Use this Winter Squash Curry as your basic formula and take off from there.