You can’t talk about breakfast in Cuba without talking about coffee, a truth that still holds strong when you talk about breakfast in Miami. Be it cafecito or café con leche or any of the coffee drinks that fall in between, coffee is an important part of the morning meal, with café con leche, a drink of sweetened espresso and lots of steamed milk, being the most popular choice as the first drink of the day.

I’ve got a thing for nuggets of crispy chicken. Not necessarily chicken nuggets — although good ones can fall in this category — but chicken that’s been cut into chunks, is cooked until crispy, and takes well to eating in one or two bites. What can I say? I’m just looking for joy in the form of a salty, meaty, crunchy revelation.

If you’re planning your Easter dinner menu and looking for a main dish that isn’t ham, you’ve got plenty of options. You’re still looking for a dish that will feed all your guests, fit in with all the sides you’d expect on the Easter table — from the asparagus to the rolls to the carrot soufflé — and of course it needs to feel like spring. So with ham off the table, what should you serve?

One of the greatest things about the Fourth of July is the food. It’s usually everything you want to eat at this time of year presented without too much fanfare (that gets saved for the fireworks). Since most of us prepare the same things every year — the grilled corn, the ribs, the potato salad — the dishes get perfected with every candle added to America’s birthday cake. Here are those classics all in one place.

It always starts with coffee, doesn’t it? When you’re introduced to a new food, a new way of eating, a new culture and its cuisine, there are so many gateways, but for me it always seems to be coffee. Sooty and astringent in Turkey, café bonbóns in Spain, and then giant saucers of café con leche in a now-closed Cuban restaurant — La Rosita — that used to sit on Broadway and 108th.

It’s a very particular kind of morning we’re talking about when we say this is the Cuban sandwich you want for breakfast — specifically the kind that starts closer to noon than it does to nine, and one where the night before might’ve included lots of dancing. That, or those mornings when you wake up ravenous and ready for something truly hearty to eat. The Cuban medianoche is a close sibling to the more famous cubano.

Yes, the spiralizer is a bit of a novelty, but it helps make things a bit more playful. I’ve found that my ambivalence towards cucumbers turn them into noodles, spiralized zucchini dish Give this salad a rest in the dressing before serving so the veggies have some time to soften and absorb the flavors.

Here’s a dinner you can make with three ingredients (or four ingredients, if you count the smoky hint from the grill). Use your favorite purchased meatballs, your favorite barbecue sauce, and a few sweet bell peppers to make this meal in 15 minutes. You can probably do it in 10 if you really hustle. Frozen meatballs work like a dream here. Once the meatballs are thawed enough to easily thread onto a skewer, these kebabs are basically ready for the grill.

Corn and basil are fast friends when it comes to flavor. The sweetness of the corn is only amplified in the presence of this hot-tasting herb. Here, the two are literally bundled together with a bow of bacon and grilled until smoky and crisp. This recipe has a tendency to sputter a bit as it cooks. The fat rendering from the bacon drops into the grill, causing flames to leap up, which in turn give the corn an additional smoky kiss.

In the warmer months, I like to swap grain bowls for rice noodle bowls that I can enjoy cold or at room temperature. With the right mix of toppings and flavors, rice noodle bowls are satisfying without being too heavy. This recipe brings the flavors of sesame chicken to the noodle bowl, with a sweet and savory mix of tamari, sesame oil, brown sugar, and a splash of rice wine vinegar. To keep this recipe quick and easy, the skillet marinade for the chicken doubles as the sauce of the noodle bowl.

I’m a purist when it comes to summertimes treats. I like fresh berries folded into whipped cream or a sheet cake with a tumble of fresh fruit — and when the ice cream truck comes around, I always get a creamsicle. So when I came across Sara Moulton’s recipe for creamsicle pudding cake in her new book, Sara Moulton’s Home Cooking 101, I knew I had found my new go-to dessert for summer. First, let’s talk pudding cakes.