Karen Biton-Cohen

With summer in full swing, we’re grilling anything and everything that comes to mind, including seasonal vegetables, fruits, and yes, even cheese! Halloumi is one of the few cheeses that is actually sturdy enough to be grilled, and I like to take full advantage of that property. You also don’t need to an actual grill to enjoy a great “grilled” summer meal. For this finger-licking stacked veggie burger, all you need is a good grill pan, olive oil spray, and a hot stove.

One of the great uses of a cast iron skillet is creating that summer-time grill flavor all year long and in the convenience of your kitchen. These skillets are magic makers, and can help us get the kind of even, high heat that’s great for deeply searing vegetables — even when there’s still snow on the ground. I always have broccolini in my fridge this time of year because it makes such a quick weeknight vegetable side dish.

Nothing beats the smell of homemade biscuits — the aromas of toasty butter and cheese oozing out of the oven make your home smell amazing. Aside from being quick and easy to prepare, biscuits can be made with a variety of ingredients and are the perfect weeknight alternative to dinner rolls. Your cast iron skillet replaces the cookie sheet — carry it to the table and let the pan keep the biscuits warm while you serve dinner.

For me, transitioning into cooler weather means spending more time in the kitchen again after a long hot summer spent avoiding the oven. Once there’s a slight chill in the air, I get excited about devoting more time to meal-making. A warm bowl of pasta is always an easy, cold-weather comfort food and this hearty whole wheat spaghetti is exactly what I want right now.

Frittatas are one of my go-to quick weeknight dinners. It’s a one-skillet meal that’s easy to clean up, and with the perfect combination of protein and vegetables, it’s absolutely satisfying and delicious. Frittatas are great for cleaning out the crisper, but one of my favorite veggie combos is savory mushrooms, crunchy asparagus, feta cheese, and fresh thyme. A cast iron skillet is the perfect pan to make a frittata because of its stovetop-to-oven capabilities.

As summer slowly winds down and with only a handful of grilling weekends left, it’s time to savor some hot-weather favorites — like this twist on the classic iced tea. Kick off your Labor Day weekend with a simple and refreshing glass of iced green tea flavored with ginger, mint, and honey. For this batch of homemade iced tea, I chose to steer clear of flavored tea bags and opted for plain green tea sachets instead.

For this burrito-inspired dinner bowl, I ditched the tortilla and layered everything into a big bowl. Tender brown rice, garlicky black beans, spicy roasted corn, fresh cherry tomatoes, avocado chunks, and the most delicious cilantro-lime dressing drizzled over the top — each bite is perfect!

This festive, savory tart is one of those appetizers that always looks super-impressive, but only requires a few simple steps. Using frozen puff pastry might just be the thing that saves you from your Thanksgiving Day appetizer conundrum. All you need is a sheet of thawed puff pastry, an egg wash, seasonal squash, a touch of seasoning, and plenty of cheese, and boom! You’ve got a crispy, crunchy appetizer that everyone will be snacking on until dinnertime.

If you like your brownies chewy, dense, and rich with chocolate, this is the recipe for you. Add a few swirls of melted speculoos — that sweet cookie spread that’s second only to Nutella — and you have brownie perfection. What better way to show off this brownie than in a striking, rustic pan? My handy dandy cast iron skillet has done it again, proving that it’s not just for savory dishes, but it can produce awesome desserts, too!

The best part about this vegetarian bowl recipe is how easy it is to make. This makes it an ideal candidate for one of those hectic mid-week dinners when all you want is a delicious meal on the table without having to think too hard. It’s made with hearty red lentils, fresh ginger, plenty of spices, a couple handfuls of baby spinach, and coconut milk — a perfect balance of heat and creaminess.

To mark the beginning of Passover, we gather for a ritual feast and read the lengthy Hagaddah: the narrative of the Jews exodus from ancient Egypt. With our community of family and friends, we retell the story of the Israelites’ liberation. We recite segments, make blessings, sample from the Seder plate, gulp endless glasses of wine, and cheerfully sing along.

Spring has sprung, and it’s brought along with it some of the year’s brightest, greenest, and most delicious produce. What better way to use these gems than in a colorful, springtime barley risotto? For a twist on the classic Italian risotto, today we’re swapping the arborio rice for some hearty pearl barley. Mixed with fresh asparagus and an herb puree, this orzotto shows off barley’s lighter side. Barley is a nutty grain loaded with nutrients and fiber.

My hubby and I really love cooking together, but these days, between his hectic med school schedule and my work schedule, we rarely get around to it during the week. Weekend mornings are the perfect opportunity to get the kitchen dirty and enjoy a leisurely meal made by the both of us. One of our favorites is this Green Shakshuka recipe: warm eggs cooked over a bed of garlicky leeks and greens with tangy feta cheese, all served with crusty bread.

It’s zucchini season, and we’re spotting green and yellow summer squash everywhere we go. Courgettes, as I call them, are a seasonal favorite with delicate flavor, and they are versatile veggies that work well in all sorts of dishes. To prepare these cheesy crisps, I thinly slice the zucchini into medallions, coat them in crunchy panko-Parmesan crumbs, and then bake them to crispy perfection. These are the ultimate crunchy summertime snack.

A low-sugar, all-natural jam that takes only minutes to prepare? Yes, there is such a thing! All you need is fresh fruit, lemon juice, chia seeds, and honey, and you can have a batch of homemade jam that is not only quick but quite low in sugar, too. Besides being rich in antioxidants, chia seeds are special because of their gelatinous properties: once immersed in liquid, the seeds inflate and give off a jelly-like texture.

If you haven’t yet tried overnight oats, you absolutely have to. This is a hearty and filling breakfast that isn’t too heavy and that requires almost no preparation at all. You just soak equal parts oats and milk overnight, and in the morning, you have a cool bowl of plump oats waiting in the fridge. I like to make a big batch of overnight oats at once and then layer them in jars with homemade jam, like my Blackberry Chia Jam, for easy grab-and-go breakfasts all week long.

When the heat begins to break and you start spotting pomegranates at the market, you know that fall is creeping up, bring with it new school schedules, pumpkin patches, and apple picking. For some of us, this seasonal transition also represents the start of a brand new year. With Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, around the corner and fall in the air, I bring you a crowd-pleasing vegetarian dish of eggplants stuffed with herbed bulgur, pomegranate seeds, and pine nuts.

Too often, the jar of tahini paste gets tucked away in the back of the pantry and only gets taken out for the occasional Middle Eastern salad dressing or batch of hummus. But tahini, ground sesame paste, is exceptionally versatile and can be used like any other nut or seed butter in your cupboard — it’s delicious in cakes, cookies, and even granola! Put your tahini to good use this fall and get baking. This delicious spiced granola is proof that tahini has a world of uses.

Creamy, seasoned feta cheese tossed with Kalamata olives and green onions, wrapped in crispy layers of paper-thin phyllo? Oh, yes! These Mediterranean-inspired cigars are a really great appetizer to have in your back pocket as the holidays approach. You might even have all of the ingredients stashed away in your fridge and freezer. Get rolling! Although working with phyllo might sound intimidating, I truly believe that with patience and the right tools, these can be made effortlessly.

Every year when Hanukkah comes around, I always take on the challenge to cook up creative latke recipes. The classic potato-and-onion recipe is always great on the first few nights, but by the third night, I find that I’m craving something a little different. Here, I’ve swapped the starchy grated potato for some tender spaghetti squash and tossed it with fresh herbs, green onions, and Pecorino Romano — an easy (and gluten-free!) latke everyone will love.

A fast and fancy meal that's fit for dinner tonight (or any weeknight).

Put your cast iron skillet to work tonight — make this quick dinner, with its hearty mix of soft gnocchi, roasted sweet potatoes, earthy kale, and goat cheese. Late in winter, it’s easy to fall into a midweek pasta rut. Gnocchi, those pillowy potato dumplings, take less than half the time to prepare and are the ideal alternative for your comfort food fix.

Have you heard about the latest Ben & Jerry’s ice cream craze? They created a special Passover charoset ice cream, and it has us all pining to try this newest flavor. The catch is that it’s only sold in Israel! Apparently people have been even calling the Vermont factory, trying to get their hands on a rare, exclusive-to-Israel pint. This was obviously an opportunity. With the Atlantic lying between us, I decided to take on the challenge and make my own recipe.

Mujadara — a traditional Middle Eastern recipe made with long-grain rice, brown lentils, and caramelized onions — is typically served as a side dish. For this meatless version, we’re serving up these smoky, cumin-scented lentils with a fried egg, spicy harissa, and toasted pine nuts, and calling it a meal perfect for any time of day.

For this low-maintenance marinated mushroom appetizer, we packed in tons of flavor, but kept the ingredient list nice and short. The best part about serving marinated mushrooms as a holiday appetizer is that it can be made a week in advance and tucked away in the back of your fridge until you are ready to serve. These herby mushrooms can be served after a few hours of making them, but are really the tastiest after they’ve been marinating in the vinegar and olive oil for a couple days.

For this version of the classic cheese ball recipe, we mixed equal parts crumbly blue cheese and cream cheese, folded in a handful of dried figs and a drizzle of honey, and then coated the whole thing in toasted sliced almonds. The result? A perfectly tangy, spreadable cheese ball with a hint of natural sweetness. This stress-free appetizer can be made a few days in advance, wrapped in plastic wrap, and stored in the fridge until Thanksgiving Day or Christmas.

There are so many different bursts of flavors and textures in this grain bowl recipe. We’ve got a bed of lightly seasoned, fluffy quinoa; spicy gochujang-spiked broccoli, with some crispy edges; miso-flavored shiitake mushrooms; and tangy kimchi to tie it together. What’s not to love?

This deliciously simple and quick weeknight summer recipe is made of fresh corn-studded polenta, perfectly roasted grape tomatoes and zucchini, and a smooth — slightly tart — pesto for drizzling over the top. This dish comes together quickly, and it’s a great way to use up all of that late-summer produce.

The vibrant and hustling streets of Tel Aviv are flooded with falafel stands. They usually open up shop around noon for the on-the-go lunch crowd and stay open late, catering to the energetic night owls looking for cheap grub. My father was born and raised in Tel Aviv and remembers going to the neighborhood cart and ordering the only thing they had: basic fried chickpea fritters, served in a white flour pita and topped with tahini, and maybe some chopped salad — if you were lucky.