Lemon

Makes one 9-inch / 23cm loaf

Falafels are the perfect plant-based morsel and a family favorite. However, in this salad, I’ve dismantled perfection and discovered a new, delicious way to enjoy the feted flavors of falafels—chickpeas, cumin, parsley, mint, and tahini. The crispy oven-roasted chickpeas are nothing short of incredible, and I encourage you to try roasting all types of beans in this manner.

This week’s recipe is a super simple take on the kabob that can be done with or without a grill. Sabrina Ghayour’s recipe for Spice-Marinated Beef Kabobs from her book, Feast, relies on that powerful combo of spices plus time. Sirloin steak is cut into generous pieces and marinated with smoked paprika, turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, lots of garlic, lemon juice and oil.  She sears the marinated beef on the stovetop until crusty and then threads them on skewers for the table. If you have a grill at the ready, don’t hesitate to grill them on the skewers over medium heat until crusty. If the beef marinates a little longer, say overnight, it will be even more flavorful.

The reason this salad holds up so well at room temperature is because you dress it twice. It absorbs the first round of dressing completely, the second addition keeps it glossy, and a fistful of walnuts and breadcrumbs means there’s always something to bite into.

It might seem a hassle to roast the fennel and tomatoes separately, but it does make things easier when you come to assemble this, as each element stays intact and keeps its shape.

A light hand with the seasonings lets the forest-y mushroom flavor lead the way. I use this as a side dish or as a topping for grilled fish, braised meats, or meatballs. The basic roasted mushrooms without the gremolata seasoning are even more versatile.

I am yet to meet someone who doesn’t like chicken wings. Traditionally this recipe was made using the whole chicken, however it is so much more shareable when made with wings.

The combination of salmon, broccoli, and red potatoes makes for a wonderful meal. But how to cook them all on one pan without any one component coming out overcooked or undercooked was a puzzle we needed to solve. Our first step was to look at the roasting time for each. Since the potatoes required the most time in the oven and the salmon required the least, we started by roasting the potatoes and broccoli together for the first half of the cooking time and then swapped in the salmon for the broccoli halfway through roasting. Cooking in stages prevents overcrowding the pan, ensuring even cooking. A vibrant sauce of chopped chives, whole-grain mustard, lemon juice, olive oil, and honey completes this one-pan meal. To ensure that all three components emerge from the oven well browned and cooked just right, we roast the potatoes the entire time on the baking sheet (they take the longest) but remove the broccoli before placing the salmon fillets on the sheet.

Once, while traveling along the north shore of Oahu, The Splendid Table team stopped for lunch at Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck for an island favorite, shrimp scampi--the most garlicky, luscious scampi we’d eaten. This is our divination of the recipe.