Shellfish

Shallow-fried scallops get extra crispy on the outside and super tender inside when double-dredged in an Old Bay–seasoned cornmeal mixture. Bonus: they’re gluten-free.

Bay scallops—which are smaller and sweeter than sea scallops—are found in estuaries up and down the Eastern Seaboard, from New England to the Mid-Atlantic region. Any of them will work here, but if you really want to pull out all the stops, search for those from Nantucket Bay, which are prized for their candylike succulence. Celery purée swirled with black truffle butter enhances the delicacy of the seafood.

A bright and spicy sauce works as both marinade for the shrimp and dressing for the citrus salad in these colorful rice bowls.

You need the fresh, soft, fiery red version of chorizo for this dish, the kind that bleeds out bright red-orange grease into the pot when you heat it.

Sometimes, mid-cooking, I like to jettison my plan and make a new, better plan. The trick is knowing when it’s better. I’m not saying I randomly hobble myself, cruelty-cooking-show style, it’s just that it’s exciting to change it up sometimes. And it surprises the family. Historically, some of the best jettison dinners at my house have started out as regular old pasta night and ended up as gather-around-the-skillet-with-bowls-and-bread night. This was one of those.

Searing scallops in the amber-hued fat rendered from cooking chorizo results in a gorgeously caramelized crust and gives the shellfish a wonderfully smoky flavor.

Nduja, a spicy salami now produced domestically, blends cured pork fat and chiles in a spreadable, meltable consistency. Combining it with lobster is transformative, taking this basic pasta Pomodoro to the next level.

For this popular Filipino breakfast, the eggplants are heavily charred before being battered with egg and pan-fried, making them smoky, creamy, crispy, and totally satisfying.

Pansit has come to symbolize long life and health in Filipino culture, and is commonly served at birthdays, baptisms, and New Year’s celebrations.

Sinigang is adobo’s close contender for the title of National Dish of the Philippines. Like many Filipino dishes, this soup is bold in taste: sour, salty, slightly sweet, spicy, and umami.

If you travel to the Philippines, though, you’ll discover that you can “sisig” pretty much anything. There’s chicken sisig, tuna sisig, goat sisig, and even vegetarian sisig. This squid iteration incorporates salmon caviar and crushed prawn crackers.

You don’t need pasta to enjoy clam sauce. Here it mingles with fresh corn to top delicate pan-seared cod fillets.

The shrimp cooks in minutes, so while it’s marinating, set out a platter of lettuce cups, mint sprigs, chopped peanuts, sliced cucumbers, and the reserved sauce.

Topping fried bread with brothy mussels, beans, and tomatoes turns it into a hearty knife-and-fork dinner.