Fruit

If you have ever eaten from a taco truck, you will know why carne asada (grilled beef ) tacos are the ultimate Mexican street food. Charred crispy beef is wrapped in a warm and chewy corn tortilla and drizzled with your choice of fresh tomato or tomatillo sauce. It is easy to make and even easier to serve because you can have your guests make their own.

Mexicans refer to this dish as manchamanteles or “tablecloth stainer” due to the delicious deep red sauce that is made from dried chiles and spices. The sauce has an underlying sweetness that is very addicting. And because this dish improves with age, you can make it days in advance or enjoy left-overs days later.

This dish, also referred to as escabeche, owes it origin to the Spanish, who created the technique of frying or poaching fish or chicken and then marinating it in a citrus or vinegar mixture as a way of preserving the meat. Because the marinating process can take up to a day, it is left in the refrigerator and as a result is typically served cold or at room temperature. It makes a great dish for a picnic or an outdoor meal because it can be made well in advance and only gets better with time.

This recipe serves you summer on a dish. You will see how the tomato and roasted corn salsa pop right off the plate. While the salsa pairs beautifully with the tuna, feel free to pair it with your favorite fish or even chicken. Fast, fresh, and easy—this will soon become your quick dinner fix.

If you are looking for an easy and delicious recipe that can feed a crowd, you’ve found it! What’s great about this recipe is that most of the “dirty” work can be done ahead of time, leaving only the actual grilling or sautéing of the shrimp to do right before you are ready to eat. Once you see how enticing the chile-smothered skewers look on a platter garnished with fresh cilantro and lime wedges, I guarantee it will become your go-to dish. And if you are not a fan of shrimp, chicken can be substituted easily. Note: You will need eight 6-inch wooden skewers for this recipe.

This is a wonderfully refreshing salad that walks the line between a shrimp cocktail and a ceviche. It’s also incredibly forgiving—so feel free to use as much (or little) of the ingredients as you like. Tangy and fresh, it is a great start to any meal.

This salad is as crunchy as it is tangy, which makes it the perfect refreshing complement to any Mexican dish. While the salad is very flavorful, it is not overpowering and can offer freshness and texture to a menu. Feel free to omit the cucumber or substitute radish, carrot, or any other hearty vegetable that won’t wilt after being left to marinate in lime juice.

Snacking is as much a Mexican pastime as it is an American one. These snacks, which are sold by street vendors, go great with beer and cocktails. Served as a trio or on their own, they are incredibly addicting!

While ceviche has become increasingly popular in the United States, it has been a staple in the Mexican kitchen for decades. Traditionally fresh fish is “cooked” by the acid of lime juice and flavored with red onion, jalapeño, and cilantro. Ceviche makes a fresh and light start to any meal. This is a good basic ceviche recipe, but feel free to make it your own by adding other aromatic ingredients, such as fresh ginger or tomato.

This is a standard tart in France, and I thought the combination of pears and chocolate on flaky pastry was so tasty I had to bring it back. This would be a perfect ending to one of the “Impressing Your Date” meals. It’s easy, tastes great, looks really cool, and can all be done ahead of time.

When we were testing the recipes for this book, all of our neighbors and friends thought we needed to try this one again. Not because it needed work, they just wanted more. Blueberry Turnovers are super easy to make and absolutely delicious. They would make a perfect ending to an “Impressing Your Date” meal. Serve them warm and believe me, your date will be impressed.

When I was an exchange student in France, I was only an hour and a half from London, so of course, I had to make several trips there. On one trip while wandering around Covent Garden watching the street performers, I came across a vendor selling pasties. I had wanted to try this traditional English dish and when I saw one with apples I knew it was time. Oh man, was it good. In fact, it might be the best apple dessert I’ve ever had, and coming from me, an apple-dessert connoisseur, that’s saying a lot.

You can pretty much use any dried fruit, nuts, or chips that you like in these cookies. Just follow the basic recipe and change the last four ingredients to suit your tastes. You can stay mainstream with them or go crazy and add something out of the ordinary, like dried tropical fruits and macadamia nuts.

I am generally not a huge fan of lemon desserts, but these cookies are so crisp and delicate that they melt in your mouth. The bonus is that they are incredibly fast and easy to make. In 30 minutes you can go from sitting on the couch thinking about cookies to actually eating them, and that’s never a bad thing.

Is it a cake? Is it a Jell-O mold? We may never know. But we do know it’s a delightfully light strawberry shortcake dessert that is super easy to make and tastes good, too.

My mom thinks these might be more ’60s than ’80s, but they sound ’80s to me, so here they are. These open-faced grilled cheese sandwiches are easy to make and sure to get a comment or two from your friends.

This is another recipe I tried in France. It actually comes from the French colony of Martinique, an island in the Caribbean, which explains the coconut milk and banana combination. The coconut milk and curry are very mild and give just a hint of the Caribbean flavor. It’s scrumptious, easy to make, and a surprising change from your usual date food.

This is a superb date dish because all of the prep can be done and the mess cleaned up long before your date arrives. Then just bake and serve. We use pork tenderloin because it is all dark meat and it stays moist even if it’s a little overcooked. With this classic combination of pork, apples, and sweet potatoes, even the most inexperienced cook can look like a pro.

Making strudel dough from scratch is a pain, but puff pastry is a terrific substitute that makes this dessert surprisingly easy to put together. The crust gets all flaky, and with the apples and cinnamon . . . oh man, it’s good.

I love this chicken salad because it has fun stuff like grapes and celery in it. My mom always adds walnuts, but I say why ruin a good thing. You can cut some of the calories from this by using low-fat mayonnaise, but make sure to mix it in right before serving. Once it is mixed with the other ingredients, low-fat mayonnaise can get watery when it’s refrigerated for a few hours.