I grew up in a small village in the north of Portugal, where soup opened every dinner — no debate, no menu, just my grandmother’s pot doing its quiet work. This creamy potato and...

With a baby and a toddler in the house, I have learned that dinner victories come in bowls. This spinach and carrot soup is my grandmother’s recipe — she was legendary for her soups,...

Sképasti pita — “covered pita” — is the Greek street-food move you did not know you needed: two soft pitas sandwiching gyros or souvlaki meat, tzatziki, tomato, onion and melting cheese, grilled under pressure...

Hamam mahshi is one of Egypt’s grand old dishes: squab (young pigeon) stuffed with buttery rice, poached until tender, then roasted until the skin turns golden. In Egypt it is celebration food — the...

Awaze is Ethiopia’s essential hot sauce: a thick, brick-red paste of berbere spices loosened with red wine or tej (Ethiopian honey wine), sharpened with garlic and ginger. One taste at an Ethiopian restaurant in...

I met attiéké at an African restaurant in New York, ordered it out of pure curiosity, and left planning my next visit. It is Ivory Coast’s beloved staple: couscous-like granules of fermented cassava with...

Some recipes come with a story attached, and my passatelli in brodo will always taste like my friend’s kitchen, where her Italian grandmother waved us to the table with a wooden spoon and an...

Peinirli are Greece’s cheese boats: soft yeasted dough shaped into open vessels, loaded with molten kasseri or mozzarella and feta, edges crisped, center gloriously gooey. Greek-Ottoman heritage on full display — the dish sailed...

Tirokroketes are Greece’s golden cheese croquettes: creamy feta and sharp kefalotyri bound with herbs, rolled, breaded and fried until the outside crackles and the inside barely holds itself together. Dangerous knowledge, freely shared. They...

Taramosalata is the blushing star of the Greek meze table: a silky emulsion of salted fish roe (tarama), bread, olive oil and lemon — briny, tangy and impossible to stop scooping once the warm...