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here) can stand as meals in themselves, with a good balance of protein, vegetable, and starch. The simple Whole Roasted Chicken with Potatoes and Onions comes with a side dish of delectable roasted veggies built in. Caesar Salad with Catfish “Croutons” promotes a salad into a perfect lunch. A terrific dessert and a nice bottle of wine will transform these dishes into a memorable dinner that feels just a little bit indulgent.

RECIPES

Skirt Steak with Parsley Sauce

Caesar Salad with Catfish “Croutons”

Pan-Fried Trout with Lemon and Herb Stuffing

Crispy-Skin Salmon with Buttermilk-Mint Sauce

Easy Chicken and Dumplings

Shrimp and Deviled-Egg Salad Rolls

Mushroom and Okra Purloo

Austin-Style Brunch: Greens and Eggs Migas

Pan-Fried Whiting with Pickled Peppers and Onions

Whole Roasted Chicken with Potatoes and Onions

Pork Loin Chops with Mushroom Chutney

Smoked Trout

Pan-Seared Scallops with Butterbean Mash

Gran’s Flank Steak

Easy Shrimp Creole

Pork Tenderloins with Madeira and Fig Gravy

Duck Breasts with Raspberries and Rosé

Grillades and Gravy

SKIRT STEAK WITH PARSLEY SAUCE

serves 6 • TIME: 20 minutes

When we were growing up, our mom had two cravings: One was for ice cubes, which she would chew at night while reading in bed, a pint glass of cubes resting in the crook of an open hardback. The other was for parsley, which she ate ravenously, a bunch at a sitting. Both cravings are signs of a mild iron deficiency, which Mom cured simply by eating more red meat. But even then, she never lost her love of the green stuff and it somehow rubbed off on all her children. If you’ve read this far, you’ve noticed that we enjoy its sprightly vegetal rush in everything from Oyster Cocktail No. 1 to Easy Ambrosia to Green Goddess Potato Salad.

We eat this iron-rich dish almost once a week. Skirt steak comes from the diaphragm of a cow—a well-marbled cut that has a rich, meaty flavor and is quite thin, so it takes just a couple minutes to sear on each side. At the end of a punishing workday, this tender charred steak with its piquant vinegar-spiked parsley sauce is the perfect restorative.

2 pounds skirt steak, cut into 4 steaks, each about 8 inches long

3 teaspoons kosher salt

1 bunch (about 8 ounces) parsley, preferably flat-leaf (see Notes on Parsley, below), trimmed of its toughest stems

2 cloves garlic, chopped

½ teaspoon crushed dried red chile flakes

⅓ cup red wine vinegar

½ cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons canola oil

1 Season the steaks on both sides with 2 teaspoons of the salt, and set them aside.

2 Stuff the parsley into the bowl of a food processor, and add the remaining 1 teaspoon salt, the garlic, and the chile flakes. Pulse several times, pausing to push toward the blade any parsley that sticks to the side of the processor bowl, until the parsley is thoroughly chopped. With the processor running, add the vinegar in a thin stream, followed by the olive oil; process until the mixture is just shy of smooth (it should be slightly toothsome). You should have about 1⅓ cups of parsley sauce. Reserve it in a small bowl.

3 Pat the steaks with paper towels to absorb any moisture on their surface, and season on both sides with the black pepper. Pour the canola oil into a 12-inch skillet or sauté pan set over high heat, tilting the pan around as it heats until the entire bottom is coated with a thin sheen of oil. When the oil begins to smoke, add the steaks in batches, taking care not to crowd them in the pan, and sear them until each side is nicely browned, 2½ to 3 minutes per side. Transfer the steaks to a cutting board and tent them loosely with aluminum foil. Let them rest for 5 minutes.

4 Slice the steaks across the grain into ¼-inch-wide slices. Divide the slices among 4 plates, and spoon the parsley sauce liberally over them. Serve immediately.

notes on parsley ••• Because this recipe calls for buzzing the parsley up in the processor, it doesn’t matter whether you use flat-leaf (a.k.a. “Italian”) parsley or