Vanessa Barrington

Easy fish tacos featuring lightly crispy fish, supple corn tortillas, and soft avocado.

Even though I was a picky child, I loved sardines when I was small. My mother would give them to me atop saltine crackers, skin, bones and all, and I’d devour them. The first time I tried fresh ones in a restaurant, I was blown away. Since I learned to clean them, I buy them whenever I see them in the market.

I always thought of canned salmon as that oily stuff with the bones and skin that my mom would mix up with mayonnaise to make a dip. Even though I actually kind of like the bones and skin, they hardly make for an elegant presentation. Well, here’s a salad that several steps removed from either mayo dip or your typical bowl of mixed greens and chopped vegetables. It can be put together very quickly, and the leftovers are great for lunch the next day.

The cooler fall temperatures have inspired me to take a break from my usual quinoa salad and cook some nutty farro instead. I love its toothsome texture, and its flavor pairs well with fall ingredients. This salad has nutty, sweet, and savory flavors, and nice contrasting textures. Serve it warm with roasted chicken or pork, or at room temperature for lunch. Let’s call this salad what it really is: fall in a bowl (or on a plate).

What, you’ve never had spaghetti for breakfast before? Here’s your chance! This recipe starts as soon as you finish dinner. Mix your leftover pasta and steamed broccoli with some eggs and cheese, and toss it in the oven. By the time you’re finished with the dishes, breakfast for the week is done. Of course, you shouldn’t feel limited to just spaghetti and broccoli in this dish.

Parsnips are terribly underrated roots. They’re shaped like carrots and they’re sweet like carrots, but I’ve always found their flavor much more interesting. Along with the sweet is a nutty, herbaceous and almost wild flavor, entirely unlike the tame carrot. When added to a beef stew or chicken in a pot along with the usual carrots and potatoes, parsnips add another interesting layer of flavor.

Remember Thanksgiving? That little holiday just a couple months ago? I hope that you ended the holiday season with a treasure trove of turkey stock and leftovers in your freezer, because if you did, I have a recipe for you today that you can have ready in just a few minutes. No turkey treasure? That’s OK — chicken broth will do fine. The broth has the warmth of pureed chilies and garlic, zipped up with plenty of fresh lime juice and flavorful garnishes.

How does a warm and creamy squash curry sound to you right now? Good, right?! This vegan curry is made with rich coconut milk and infused with enough spices to make your tongue tingle. It’s the kind of dish that makes you look forward to dinner all day long. Most of the ingredients are readily available in urban areas. Some of you may already have all this stuff in your kitchens.

There are lots of important races for Senate across the country today. At this point, there’s not much we can do other than get out there and vote. Whenever I feel helpless, it’s always good to get into the kitchen and make a big pot of something. What better something for today than Senate Bean Soup? It’s been a daily fixture on the menu of the US Senate Restaurant in Washington since the early 1900s.

Here’s a classic one-dish Mexican breakfast originally conceived as a way to use up leftover tortillas. It doesn’t usually include beans, but this version was invented one hungry morning when a perusal of the refrigerator turned up some leftover cooked beans, a half-jar of salsa and a few other odds and ends. Don’t worry if you don’t have all the ingredients. As long as you have the beans, salsa, tortillas and eggs, the dish will satisfy.

This is what I decided to do with the live rockfish that I bought at Manila Oriental MarketIf you don’t have a steamer, you can bake this fish. I’d splash a little cooking wine over it and give it 15-20 minutes in a 350° F oven. The combination of ingredients here owes no allegiance to any particular cuisine. Authenticity be damned. I’ve simply combined a bunch of flavors I happen to enjoy.

This casserole, the beloved green bean casserole invented in the Campbell’s Soup corporate test kitchen, is over 50 years old and sorely in need of an update. Sorry, Campbell’s (and Del Monte, and French’s) — as much as I love you, none of y’all are invited to this party. I will admit to having a true fondness for the casserole, especially the French-fried onion part of the equation, but it’s time for a change.

Sometimes you just want to sit cross-legged on the couch and eat a big bowl of soup. Something simple and comforting. Something good. You need a homemade bowl of soup and you don’t want to go to much fuss to get it. Well, here’s an easy minestrone that can be made almost any time of year, as long as you have a few vegetables in the fridge and some broth to cook them in. Whatever the season, I like this soup with potatoes and one or two green vegetables.

This soup has an earthy sweetness and a comfortable heat that builds as you make your way through the bowl. It’s a basic recipe that can be adapted using any vegetable that takes well to puréeing. Try squash, potatoes or celery root. For the spice you can use regular cayenne, but if you have chipotle powder, its smokiness really adds to the soup. Garnish with whatever you like or nothing at all, but yogurt cools the heat and adds a nice tang.

Dense, meaty Mahi Mahi lends itself well to roasting. It has a relatively high fat content that plays well with salty olives and tart citrus.This recipe is a good one for a weeknight dinner party, or any time you want something healthy, elegant, great tasting and fast. This method will get dinner on the table in about 30 minutes. Just add rice or couscous and a salad and you’re all set.Mahi Mahi is a large tropical fish that is readily available all winter.

One of the most memorable dishes I had in Spain was also one of the simplest — two eggs, over easy, alongside a mound of piperade and a few thin slices of wonderful Spanish ham. I thought about this dish of fresh tomatoes, zucchini, and peppers for months afterwards. It wasn’t just the fact that I was eating it in Spain; it was also the eggs. They were rich, creamy, and flavorful, and their bright orange yolks stood up soldier-tall.

Here’s a simple little fall-time pasta dish with sweet roasted butternut squash and nutty brown butter. It’s one of those dishes that makes even a weeknight meal feel special, especially if you splurge for fresh fettuccine noodles and a nice bottle of wine. Serve it with a salad of bitter greens, apples, and walnuts on the side, and dinner is ready.

Everything’s better roasted. Ok that’s a sweeping statement, but I almost always default to roasting when it comes to vegetables. It concentrates their flavors, caramelizes their sugars and produces interesting textural contrasts. Basically, it enhances everything that is already great about vegetables.Broccoli has been an exception up until recently. It’s really quite lovely blanched then sautéed, but I felt like cooking it differently the other night.

Here’s a fall flavored weekend dessert that can be assembled ahead of time and baked just before serving. It’s great for company as a finale to a homey fall meal. The earthy flavor of the sweet potatoes really comes through, pairing well with the spices and the caramely, nutty sauce. I made a batch and gave some to two sets of friends who heated it up in the microwave later. Everyone raved.