Nut Free

Chipotle aioli and sushi-grade tuna crown these modern tostadas, which come from Contramar, a lauded Mexico City seafood restaurant.

Everyone has his or her favorite Tacolicious taco, but this is mine, hands down. These short ribs cooked slowly with guajillos break down into the perfect braised meat: rich, a tad spicy, and appropriately messy—a true sign of greatness. You can ask your butcher to bone the ribs for you, or you can just cook them with the bone in and then bone them before shredding the meat. You'll need 5 pounds of bone-in short ribs to yield the required 3 pounds of meat. This dish can be on the spicy side, so if you're really sensitive to heat, cut back a little on the chiles.

Like some sort of drug dealer, Joe (aka the big boss) has been known to keep a small plastic bag of this addictive Mexican spice rub in his glove box. And indeed, it's never a bad thing to have on hand. Although the recipe has a few steps to it, it's well worth the effort. At the restaurant, we use it to season everything from corn on the cob to chicken to our Spring booty taco. When cooking with it, just beware that it's quite salty. Also, it keeps for a long time, which means that you may want to make a double batch.

Telmo grew up in a Mexican neighborhood in San Jose, California. On warm evenings, he could be found at a busy roadside seafood joint called La Costa spooning up refreshing bites of coctel de camarón, or "shrimp cocktail." Served in a tall Styrofoam cup, the La Costa cocktail combines a sweet (but not cloying), tangy, and spicy tomato-based sauce, briny poached shrimp, avocado, cucumber, and pico de gallo, all topped with some shakes of a salsa picante and served with tostadas or saltine crackers. Our version is made with roasted fresh tomatoes instead of the traditional ketchup to brighten it up. The resulting sauce is more like a gazpacho than the typical country club-style cocktail sauce. The cocktail can be assembled a couple of hours ahead of time, but not too far in advance, as the shrimp becomes rubbery if left in the lime juice for too long. To make this shrimp cocktail into easy party fare, spoon it onto small store-bought tostadas, garnish with a little cilantro, and serve.

Chilly as July and August can be in San Francisco, you know it's summer when this delicious corn hits the Tacolicious menu. (It is so good that it transports you to sunshine, even if the city is socked in by fog and you're wearing a scarf.) If you already have the recado ready to go, this recipe is a cinch to make. Although the smokiness of the grill imparts great flavor, you can instead briefly boil the corn ears, halve them, and toss them with the recado-lime juice mixture. With the lime and the spices, no butter is needed. Try swapping out the corn for another vegetable, such as summer squash. To keep this recipe in the snack realm, chop the ears into thirds.

This cowboy-style "bowl of red" is all about tender chunks of beef chuck and a five-chile-pepper purée.

Splurge on lamb rib chops or save on loin chops; either way you will enjoy this Moroccan-inspired meal. The familiar flavors of an everything bagel make a surprise appearance here to spice a zesty yogurt dip. Harissa paste (available in specialty food stores and many grocery stores) adds a fiery punch to chickpeas simmered with carrots and tomatoes. It can vary greatly in spiciness and saltiness from brand to brand, so add a little at first and taste as you go.

The root vegetables in this dish have a secret umami booster: miso paste. This recipe also offers a delicious way to use those oft-discarded beet and turnip greens. If you can’t find beets or turnips with greens, simply reduce the amount of each vegetable to 1/2 pound.

The best thing about making ranch from scratch? If you like a more garlicky or more herby ranch, the choice is yours to adjust the recipe accordingly.

We make the shells for these tarts with packaged graham cracker crumbs to save time. If your brown sugar contains hard lumps, force it through a sieve before using. Otherwise, it won't dissolve in the filling.

While sugarcane vinegar is more often used in the Philippines, apple cider vinegar makes a good substitute if you can't find it.

This quintessential spring pie has the perfect combination of strawberries, rhubarb, cinnamon, and a delicate, flaky crust.

It doesn't come out of a soft-serve machine, and you can't twist it, but our version of fro-yo wins at everything else.

Piuma makes big batches of this bright North African sauce to minimize at-home chopping, then uses it all week.

Straight talk: This is the greatest sandwich bread a person could ever hope for. And you absolutely need a stand mixer to make it.

Think of this as a carbonara, but with tomatoes in place of the eggs.

Jaew is a tart, smoky dipping sauce from Thailand, usually served with grilled meats and sausages. Watson takes it to a Tex-Mex place in this eggy, cheesy rice dish that might remind you of nachos (it works).

"Acid and texture are the most important things," says chef Eli Kulp. His hearty vegetarian breakfast sandwich—with its mix of marinated mushrooms, soft eggs, melted cheese, and a buttery toasted roll—proves his point.