Tuna

These irresistibly crispy bites transform a grazing board into a hearty supper; a drizzle of honey takes them over the top. Begin frying these breaded croquettes immediately after removing them from the freezer to help them hold their shape. To accompany the croquettes, sommelier Fahara Zamorano recommends Etna Rosso, a multifaceted wine with red fruits and floral, herbaceous notes. "It can match the most intricate of spreads," says Zamorano.

Sorghum, a nutritious and sustainable grain, adds a pleasantly chewy bite to this simple salad from Roxana Jullapat, the co-owner and baker of Los Angeles restaurant Friends & Family. If you’re going to use sorghum grains as a salad base, she advises, presoak the sorghum at least 8 hours for the best texture, wash the grains before cooking to remove extra starch, and cook them with abundant water, like pasta. Once cooked, spread them on a sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil so the grains don’t stick together as much. Preserved lemon is a popular North African condiment made by pickling the fruit in salt and its own juice. The bracing lemony flavor adds a salty kick to this olive-, onion-, and fresh herb–laden tuna salad.

At Cabra in Chicago,2011 BNCalum Stephanie Izard channels her love of Peruvian cusine to deliver inspired takes on traditional ceviche and tiradito. At the restaurant, Izard dresses raw sushi-grade tuna steak with a creamy Kewpie mayonnaise-laced sauce, thinned with lime and orange juices, and studded with spicy serrano chiles. For a twist, try giving the tuna a quick sear in a screaming hot skillet to add another layer of complexity to the dish

Cooking with canned seafood isn't a compromise—it's a shortcut to flavor.

OK, so the ingredient list is long, but this recipe is full of make-ahead moments that make it extra-easy to prep in advance, like the FurikakeGranola(a total flavor explosion!) and the effortless quick-pickled veggies. If you’re missing a few items on this list, take a field trip to your local Asian market to stock your pantry; there’s a world of exciting ingredients waiting that will revive yourweeknight cookingroutine.

Salsa machais the kind of condiment that stops you in your tracks and as soon you taste it. It also shatters your expectations of what you think Mexican food can be. Directly translated into English, it means “brave salsa.” It’s olive oil. It’s toasted smoky chiles. It’s toasted nuts and seeds. It’s fried garlic. The sum of all these delicious parts is a convenient and crunchy salsa that virtually never goes bad and tastes amazing on pretty much anything it touches: quesadillas, tacos, Mexican-style street corn, salad, pizza, crusty bread, and seafood. It’s Mexico’s answer to the infused olive oils of Italy and the fiery chile oils of Asia.You can experience this unique salsa in Mexico City at street food stands and in nut-growing regions like Michoacán, where macadamias are added to the mix. While it’s traditionally a very spicy salsa, we like to temper the heat just a bit so we can taste the grassy qualities of the good olive oil (we love a buttery Arbequina variety). The beautiful thing about this salsa is that once you get the ratios down, you can experiment with other nuts, seeds, and chiles. It’s also great because you can make it any time of the year, unlike tomato salsas that only taste their best during peak season.When you add a couple of spoonfuls to cubed raw fish, salsa macha is a game changer that transforms an everyday ceviche into an extraordinary dish. Paola created this recipe as a heartier way of getting her ceviche fix during a weekend getaway in the desert with friends. She grew up eating salsa macha at her grandfather’s restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, where it is spooned over butterflied, wood-roasted whole fish. I love the meaty tuna that she uses in this recipe—it stands up to the boldness of the salsa. This ceviche is great on top of tostadas or eaten like poke as an appetizer. And the best part is that you can make the salsa ahead of time, and just stir it together with the remaining ingredients just before you’re ready to eat. But no matter what you serve it on, once you make and taste your firstsalsa macha, it will earn its place in the corner of your fridge forever.