Recipes with salt and black pepper

Orzo tossed with rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, and fresh basil. No-oil pasta sautéed in chicken broth instead of butter. Ready in 25 minutes for an easy weeknight dinner.

Grilled shrimp over penne pasta tossed with fresh tomatoes, basil, and a balsamic-Dijon vinaigrette. A summery main dish that comes together while the grill is hot.

Yucatan-style grilled shrimp marinated in achiote paste, orange juice, garlic, and warm spices. Smoky, tangy, and shockingly easy once the marinade does its work.

Bacon, mushroom, and Monterey Jack egg casserole baked until golden and set. A crustless quiche-style brunch dish with scallions and celery salt that everyone asks for the recipe.

Portuguese potato and giblet stuffing, a rustic mashed potato base bound with eggs and folded with sauteed giblets, briny black olives, parsley, and a pinch of nutmeg.

Turkish eggplant pilaf cooked in olive oil with pine nuts, currants, cinnamon, allspice, tomatoes, and a full cup of fresh dill. A traditional zeytinyagli dish served cold as a vegetarian main or mezze.

Spinach fettuccine loaded with shrimp, lump crab, crawfish tails, and andouille in a white wine butter cream sauce. A luxurious Cajun seafood pasta built with proper French technique.

Sicilian baked sausage casserole with Italian sausage, red and green peppers, onions, potatoes, and canned tomatoes baked together until everything braises in its own juices. No browning, no water added.

Williamsburg chicken is a retro chilled chicken salad mould set with gelatin, blending diced cooked chicken, celery, peas, hard-cooked eggs, pecans and stuffed olives in a lemony mayo-broth base. Served over greens with halved grapes.

Skin-on chicken breasts pan-seared French bistro style, finished in the oven, and drizzled with a quick orange-tarragon pan sauce mounted with cold butter. Ready in 30 minutes for a weeknight dinner that eats like restaurant food.

Jumbo butterflied shrimp topped with a golden breadcrumb stuffing loaded with garlic, sun-dried tomato, Parmesan, and fresh herbs. Ready in 30 minutes flat.

Vegan stuffed eggplant with bulgur, mushrooms, and oregano. Hearty Mediterranean-style boats with a meaty mushroom-grain filling, baked until the skins go silky and the tops crisp.

Elegant crawfish mousse with cream cheese, sour cream, brandy, and Tabasco set in a decorative mold. A make-ahead Cajun party appetizer that unmolds into a stunning centerpiece.

Beignets d'escargots: snails soaked in herbed olive oil, coated in airy egg-white batter, and fried until shatteringly crisp. A classic French appetizer worth the effort.

Smoked haddock quiche with onions, mushrooms, swiss cheese, and a nutmeg-spiced cream custard baked low and slow for a silky set. A Scottish-inspired brunch or light supper.

Tomato-based seafood soup with fresh herbs, pasta shells, and mixed seafood finished with dry sherry. Elegant 60-minute bisque.