These Are the Recipes to Cook This May, from New Grilling Ideas to Easy Weeknight Meals

With the right seasoning, even a virtuous chicken breast or handful of raw vegetables becomes something to savor. Enter romesco: “I’m obsessed with it,” says Erin Alderson, the Sacramento-based author of the vegetarian cooking blog Naturally Ella and new cookbook The Yearlong Pantry. She uses the bold, smoky sauce on grain bowls, crudités, and anything else that needs some oomph.

Meet your new picnic staple: a potato salad classic enough to satisfy purists, but with onions, peas, and tarragon for fresh flavor and pretty hits of green.

This herb vinaigrette-dressed pasta salad keeps better than a mayo-based one from the deli—and tastes better too.

Slice cabbage thicker than you would when making a slaw, giving it a substantial crunch that remains even after it’s drenched with tangy, creamy dressing.

San Francisco Bay Area chef Chris Cosentino’s take on the classic Shrimp Louie is the perfect party appetizer and captures the throwback essence of Tomales Bay restaurant Nick’s Cove. This recipe easily doubles to serve more guests.

Our kind of easy cheese course: briny, tangy feta spiked with two kinds of pepper and lifted with fresh herbs and citrus. Smash onto homemade flatbread or just eat straight from the serving platter.

Earthy and nearly black forbidden rice is a dramatic foundation for this hearty but vibrant rice salad loaded with creamy edamame, vegan shiitake bacon, and crunchy vegetables. Erjingtiao chili adds fragrant, mild heat.

A touch of char adds a pleasantly bitter counterpoint to artichokes’ natural sweetness. Once you clean and simmer them, they grill in about the same time as boneless chicken breasts—cook both, and call it a meal.

Al pastor means “of the shepherd” in Spanish, and refers to a spit-roasted funnel of stacked thinly sliced meat, to be shaved and folded up in bread. The technique was brought to Mexico by Lebanese merchants at the turn of the last century and used for lamb, and their shawarma was renamed al pastor by Mexicans. The preparation morphed over the decades, and now involves layers of roasted pork with a whole pineapple at the top of the spit, basting the meat with its dripping juices. This recipe, from chef Donnie Masterton, focuses on just the pineapple, slathered with al pastor paste and roasted. Then he chops it up and blends it with ordinary pico de gallo to create something extraordinary. Use the extra spice paste to slather on meaty mushrooms like maitake before roasting, or on pork shoulder before braising.

Butter and radishes are a classic springtime combination. Chef Josh Buckwald folds in copious amounts of chives and thyme to add freshness. Serve with flaky salt on the side to suit your taste at the table.

Think of this as the West Coast version of a shrimp boil, with plenty of fresh herbs. Don’t overcook the shrimp; they’ll finish cooking as you toss everything together. Serve with a refreshing arugula salad.

A great idea for Mother’s Day brunch. Spring flavors come together in our favorite new quiche combination. The tart looks especially pretty baked in a rectangular pan, but you can use a 9-inch round tart pan instead.

One of the most popular yakitori dishes and for good reason: Salted chicken thighs are difficult to overcook, stay succulent, and take on the smoky flavors of the grill. Lightly brush with tare sauce for an extra burst of umami, then serve with yuzu kosho for a spicy, citrusy kick.

“Clam pasta is a great way to extract all the flavor and texture of clams,” says Berkeley chef and author Samin Nosrat. “Their juices mingle with the butter and wine and cook into the pasta, and the clams themselves are tender-chewy. It’s like having the ocean in a bowl.” Serve with lots of crusty bread for sopping up juices.

Scared to try a veggie burger? This one will make you a believer. Packed with lentils and healthy veggies, we promise you will never even miss the meat.

Our version of the classic Chinese restaurant dish brings in tart-hot Southeast Asian flavors. We’ve used medium-size lettuce leaves here for a main course; if you want to make appetizers, just choose small leaves.

Piadina is a kind of flatbread from Emilia-Romagna—crisp warm dough with a highly flavored sauce and a cool salad. To use a gas grill, set a pizza stone on the cooking grate over high heat for at least 20 minutes, then bake right on the stone. Serve immediately.

The potatoes get crisp at the edges, making this dish a little like fish and chips.

Flavorful and generously marbled, rib-eye makes a restaurant-worthy splurge whether at home or out camping, particularly when topped with a distinctively flavored butter. The amount of pistachio butter is generous; if you like, turn the asparagus in some of it right after the spears come off the grill and top the steaks with the rest.

We couldn’t believe how outrageously yummy these halibut skewers are. Crusty Italian bread and halibut are seasoned with fresh rosemary, then woven with pancetta and grilled until golden.

To create this rustic dessert, pastry chef Mandy Groom added orange, cardamom, and a crunchy topping to her nana’s rhubarb pie filling recipe. “It says love and comfort to me,” says Groom.

This isn’t technically dessert, but a sweet option for a Mother’s Day brunch. Baking pancakes in a sheet pan instead of on the griddle means the cook gets to sit down at the table too. The creamy ricotta cheese and whipped egg whites in the batter ensure that the pancakes stay fluffy and moist.

This delicate, cloudlike cake from Kristen Murray, pastry chef and owner of Maurice restaurant in Portland, is an adaptation of one from her great-aunt Crys, using rice flour for regular flour so the cake is gluten-free, with a little crunch. For best results, beat egg whites to very soft peaks so they (and the cake) can expand further in the oven.

Chef Kai Loebach has adapted this crowd-pleaser to make it gluten-free by using tapioca flour. “I didn’t say it’s fat-free,” he says. Because that would be no fun.

The filling in these pies is on the tart side, so they’re especially good with vanilla ice cream. Semolina flour in the dough is optional but adds complexity and crunch.