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Can you have a Baja-style fish taco with just veggies? Sure

A true Baja California experience requires sunny, breezy patios and a plate of tacos. We aimed to re-create the feel of a Baja-style fish taco in our home kitchen, instead bringing veggies to the forefront. We thought that battered cauliflower bites, drizzled with a cool and creamy vegan sauce, were the perfect stand-in for the fish. We wanted to avoid the mess of deep-frying, so we cut the cauliflower into large florets and roasted them. To boost their flavor, we dunked the pieces in canned coconut milk seasoned with garlic and spices and then rolled them in a mixture of panko bread ...

A vinaigrette packed with fresh herbs makes salmon better

It's no wonder salmon is so popular: Its flesh is rich-tasting thanks to high levels of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. A great way to ensure moist, tender salmon is to poach it. And a vinaigrette packed with fresh herbs offers surprising nutritional value. Poaching the salmon in just enough liquid to come half an inch up its sides meant we didn't need much to boost the flavor of the liquid. However, the portion of the salmon that wasn't submerged needed to be steamed to cook through properly, and the low poaching cooking temperature didn't create enough steam. Cutting the water ...

How to grill tuna with a smoky char and a tender interior

Perfectly grilled tuna steaks should combine a hot, smoky, charred exterior with a cool, rare center. For a home cook, this ideal can be an elusive goal. For grilled tuna steaks with an intense smoky char and a tender interior, we started with a hot grill. We moistened the tuna steaks' flesh with a vinaigrette to promote browning and allow the oil to penetrate the meat of the tuna steaks. And instead of using sugar in our vinaigrette, we used honey. Both promote browning, but honey does it faster, which was important with the quick cooking times for tuna on the grill. It's easy to ...

Chicken and couscous dish is a winning weeknight dinner

Bursting with the aromatic flavors of saffron, chorizo and garlic, this chicken and couscous dish is a winning weeknight dinner. When developing this recipe, we started with classic chicken and rice, but found that the rice was not cooking at the same rate as the chicken in the multicooker_we ended up with either stubbornly crunchy rice or egregiously overcooked chicken. Since tasters loved the Spanish flavor profile of the dish, we went in search of a different grain that would work in tandem with the chicken. A few tests revealed that couscous was the crowd favorite, and it couldn't ...

Want a foolproof way to perfectly cooked fish? Try your Dutch oven

Cooking fish at a low temperature in a covered pot is a nearly foolproof way to achieve perfectly cooked fish, since the heavy Dutch oven holds in moisture and allows the fish to cook through gently and evenly. This method is also a wonderful way to concentrate flavor, meaning that a minimum of ingredients can make a big impact. We started by browning sliced garlic in oil, which mellowed its flavor and infused the dish with warm aromatic notes. Cherry tomatoes, which are of reliable quality year-round, became soft and sweet with the gentle cooking. Capers provided briny bites, and ...

Breakfast pizza makes an ideal dish for a brunch crowd

Although it sounds like a bad Saturday morning commercial (Pizza?! For breakfast?!!), it turns out breakfast pizza is just a creative version of the classic bread-eggs-cheese-meat combo. It makes an ideal dish for a brunch crowd and isn't difficult if you start with store-bought pizza dough. Our challenge was getting a crisp crust without overcooking the eggs. To get there, we pressed room-temperature dough into a lightly oiled baking sheet and parbaked it for 5 minutes to give the crust a head start before we added the toppings. The remaining minutes in the oven cooked the eggs just ...