Other weeknight winners: edamame pesto pasta and one-skillet salmon teriyaki.
I happen to live near a small but great seafood market, where the fish is impeccably fresh. Their poached shrimp is plump and juicy; the housemade cocktail sauce has just the right zing. I bought them once or twice as a starter for a special meal. But one day I realized that I was holding back: What I really wanted was to eat shrimp cocktail for dinner. And so I did. And it was great.
There is a problem, though: This place is open only a few days each week, for a few hours in the middle of the day, which is precisely the time I can’t go seafood shopping. So when I have a craving, I turn to recipes like Melissa Clark’s new roasted shrimp cocktail, which I can make anytime, no trips to the store, with frozen shrimp. (Always keep a bag of frozen shrimp in your freezer. It’s cost-effective and very useful.)
That recipe, along with four others I’m excited about, are below. Questions? Suggestions? Need some recipe advice? Email me at dearemily@nytimes.com. And if you like the work we do at New York Times Cooking, please consider subscribing.
1. Roasted Shrimp Cocktail With Horseradish Sauce
Melissa Clark pairs her shrimp with a creamy horseradish sauce here, but few things are easier to make than cocktail sauce if you’d rather stick with the classic. Serve with a salad and bread to complete the meal.
2. Sheet-Pan Roast Chicken With Tangy Greens
To make this sheet-pan supper from Sarah Copeland, you first roast chicken leg quarters — which include both the drumstick and thigh, a feast for dark meat lovers — then toss and quickly roast kale and olives in the juices from the chicken. The effort-to-reward ratio is superb.
3. Black Pepper Stir-Fried Tofu and Asparagus
This inspired stir-fry from Kay Chun combines tofu with spring asparagus and snap peas in a gingery, peppery sauce. You can swap in frozen peas (or more asparagus) for the snap peas if you’d like, which also saves you a slice of prep time.
4. Salmon Teriyaki
This is Ali Slagle’s one-skillet take on classic salmon teriyaki. It checks all the boxes: crisp skin, silky flesh and a balanced sweet-and-salty teriyaki sauce.
5. Edamame Pesto Pasta
Alert! This new alt-pesto from Hetty McKinnon is vegan and nut-free, making it deliciously amenable to various dietary needs. The recipe relies on frozen shelled edamame — which, like shrimp, is always in my freezer (my kids love it).
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