20-Minute Recipes

Butter Beans with Parsley, Tomatoes and Chorizo

The dried butter beans for this simple dish can take as long as two hours to cook. In the easy way, use canned butter beans to cut the prep time to 20 minutes. Serve the dish as a hearty, satisfying main course.

• Cooking with Canned Beans

Open-Face Grilled Eggplant Sandwiches

For this smoky version of eggplant Parmesan, Sam Calagione and Marnie Old looked for a beer and a wine that could stand up to the grilled eggplant without overwhelming it. Sam opted for Guinness: "I like that Guinness has roasty flavors but is still relatively light." Marnie chose a cherry-tinged Rioja mellowed by several years of aging.

• Quick Vegetable Main Dishes

Vietnamese Chicken Salad

Bold flavors star in this Vietnamese salad—acidic lime juice, hot pepper, salty soy sauce, and cooling herbs. The combination of mint and cilantro is typical and refreshing, but you can use only one herb, or leave them both out completely if you prefer.

• Global Recipe Guide

Penne with Triple Tomato Sauce

Melissa Rubel Jacobson uses tomatoesin three forms—fresh, sun-dried and paste—for her thick and creamy, deeply tomatoey sauce.

• More Fast and Easy Recipes

Fajitas with Roast Beef

These easy fajitas are best for using up the extra Coriander-Dusted Roast Beef and gravy.

• More Mexican-Inspired Recipes

Triple-Mustard Salmon

Marcia Kiesel coats fish with Dijon mustard amped up with dry mustard, then dips the fillets into mustard seeds and wheat germ to create a crust.

• More Salmon Recipes

Couscous Salad with Turkey and Arugula

Sweet raisins, crunchy nuts, spicy arugula—this couscous salad boasts an interesting array of flavors and textures. We include strips of roasted or smoked turkey to make it a meal, but you can leave them out for a meatless salad.

• Healthy Recipes Guide

All-Time-Favorite Hamburger

The ideal hamburger combines the fattiness of chuck with the rich, beefy flavor of sirloin. Grace Parisi uses equal parts of both cuts in her mix, a foundation you can transform into all sorts of variations. When she has the time, she grinds her own meat after salting it overnight: It's an extra step that makes the burger truly superb.

• Expert Tips on Grilling Burgers

Pasta with Sausage, Basil and Mustard

In matching spicy sausage with a creamy mustard sauce and fragrant basil, British cookbook author Nigel Slater created a quick pasta supper with warm, mildly spicy flavors, perfect for a cool fall or winter evening.

• More Fast and Easy Recipes

Lamb Chops Sizzled with Garlic

Las Pedroñeras, in the Castilla–La Mancha region, is considered the garlic capital of Spain. These juicy, meaty lamb chops sizzled in extra-virgin olive oil with plenty of garlic cloves are Janet Mendel's homage to the village.

• More Fast Lamb Chops

Pan-Seared Cod with Preserved-Lemon Aioli

Nonstick skillets are incredibly helpful when preparing lean fish like the cod fillets here, because the flesh sticks to metal so easily. To give the cod a golden crust, Melissa Rubel dusts it with finely milled Wondra flour before cooking. The creamy preserved-lemon aioli she serves alongside the fish is also a terrific dipping sauce for roasted potatoes.

• More Fish Recipes and Tips

Barbecue-Glazed Turkey Burgers

Turkey burgers are a popular lunch at Gwyneth Paltrow's house, where she serves them on toasted brioche buns. She usually adds a topping or two, like Swiss cheese and a few pickled jalapeños. Jarred barbecue sauce adds a ton of flavor to the burgers and helps keep them from drying out. Paltrow got that tip from her friend Lee Gross, a macrobiotic chef who is obviously not averse to the occasional burger.

• 30-Minute Burgers

Miso Soup with Shrimp and Tofu

No soup is quicker to prepare than miso; just whisk miso paste into water. By adding shrimp, tofu and greens, it can double as a complete and light meal. Feel free to use leftover chicken or roast pork (or whatever else is at hand) in place of the shrimp.

• More Fast Soups

Celery Salad with Walnuts, Dates and Pecorino

This impressive cool-weather salad is an extraordinarily addictive mix of sweet, crunchy and salty ingredients.

• More Green Salads

Butter Bean, Tuna and Celery Salad

Big, creamy butter beans give a tuna and celery salad terrific heartiness. The salad would also be delicious spooned over slices of warm grilled country bread.

• Cool Food for Hot Weather

BLT Fried Egg-and-Cheese Sandwich

Thomas Keller's scrumptious recipe combines three of the world's most popular sandwiches—bacon, lettuce and tomato; fried egg; and grilled cheese.

• Classic All-American Recipes

Chorizo-Filled Dates Wrapped in Bacon

This timeless tapa from Spanish cookbook author Penelope Casas has everything going for it—it's sweet, smoky and savory, all in one bite.

• More Amazing Appetizers

Grilled Salmon with Dill Pickle Butter

For Marcia Kiesel, salmon is an excellent low-maintenance ingredient for the grill because it doesn't need careful testing for doneness—the fish is wonderful cooked anywhere from rare to medium. As soon as the fillets come off the grill, she tops them with a tangy pickle-studded butter.

• Summer Grilling

Late-Night Japanese Noodles

This creamy, silky pasta gets salty pops of flavor from fish roe. Paul Qui uses mentaiko (spicy marinated pollock roe), but trout roe or even caviar would be delicious, too.

• Fast Asian Noodles

Sophie Dahl's Iced Tea

Sophie Dahl loves to make iced tea—especially using Earl Grey flavored with lavender.

• More Summer Drinks

Double-Decker Burgers with Goat Cheese

• 30-Minute Burgers

Cucumber-Mint Chutney Tea Sandwiches

Emily Kaiser, who co-authored The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea, pairs her clever tea sandwiches with spicy Indian chai, like the 500 Mile Chai.

• Fast Snacks from Star Chefs

Mexican Chocolate Pots de Crème

Mexican chocolate, which is flavored with ingredients like cinnamon, almonds and vanilla, lends a distinct flavor to Stephanie Prida's rich custard. Look for it at Mexican markets and specialty-food stores.

• More Fast Chocolate Desserts

Cilantro Salad with Shallots and Shrimp

Feel free to throw something grilled on top of this cilantro bed and call it dinner, but truth be told, its is just as excellent next day, cold from the fridge, eaten straight from its storage container.