Whenever I return home from any trip, I have one blanket craving: vegetables. I’ll grab whatever veg is on the brink of expiring in my fridge (it’s almost always a bag of broccoli florets) and roast it to crisp perfection along with a can of chickpeas, which my pantry is never without. Add a nice dressing and an easy grain, and this simple, delicious veggie bowl becomes a full welcome-home feast.

Starring vine-ripe tiny tomatoes and a handful of fragrant basil—this, my friends, is peak summer cooking. What to Cookers everywhere are addicted to this pasta! It’s best with the freshest summer tomatoes—especially Sungolds—but if you’re craving it midwinter, you can make it with cherry tomatoes and add a pinch of sugar. Use whatever pasta you’ve got, but I’m telling you, angel hair is absolutely elite here.

I’ll tell you a story—this is one of the tapas that actually helped launch my career. I was a very young chef working at a restaurant in Roses, on the Costa Brava of Catalunya. One summer night, very late, a customer came in and tasted my gambas al ajillo, and asked me to come work with him. That customer was Ferran Adrià, the chef of one of the most incredible restaurants of all time, elBulli, where I found my voice and learned so much. And I owe it all to these garlic shrimp! To me, it’s an amazing tapa because it is so simple and fast and the reward is so great. You have these sweet, juicy shrimp swimming in a hot, garlicky sauce made withextra virgin olive oil and Spanish brandy. Be sure you have some bread on hand to soak up all that sauce.

After eating this dish at La Copine, Natasha Lyonne said, “This place is a 10!” causing Nikki and Claire both to blush. As we are just a few hours from LA, a lot of people from the City of Angels show up at our doorstep. To accommodate diverse dietary needs, we make many dishes or components of our dishes vegan and/or gluten-free. It’s surprisingly easy when it comes to soups, salads, and sandwiches, but for a substantial vegan main dish, we had to think more outside the box.Claire grew up in New Jersey eating eggplant Parm as an after-school snack, sometimes layered and baked, other times piled on a sandwich, or simply dipped in oil and balsamic vinegar. So we came up with this eggplant Parm meets lasagna, made with thin slices of eggplant and zucchini layered like noodles with a fresh tomato sauce and cashew-based béchamel. After baking it for two hours, it’s refrigerated overnight to set, making it super easy to reheat the next day. We reserve half of the pomodoro to add to the pan when reheating so it gets extra hot and bubbly and finish it with a drizzle of basil oil, lots of garlic breadcrumbs, and fresh basil. It’s a comforting dish that both vegetarians and meat eaters find satisfying. And it’s easy to make gluten-free if you leave out the breadcrumbs or use a gluten-free option.

I love eating fish tacos. I do not love the kitchen smell or extensive stove-top cleanup. They aren’t terrific as takeout either. This recipe combines the joy and flavor of a restaurant taco with the ease of an oven bake: You throw them in the oven, then prep the rest of the components while they cook.The real beauty of this recipe, though, lies in its versatility: If you are busy, you can swap out store-bought fish taco seasoning and bagged shredded cabbage mix and shredded carrots. And if you are cooking for different dietary preferences, a couple of easy swaps can make it paleo, vegetarian, or vegan (more on that below).The charred limes are a fun way to finish this dish—charring the lime is a super quick way to make it juicy, smoky, and slightly sweeter.