basically 10x10

No ingredient boasts the same deliciousness-to-affordability ratio as dried beans, especially since they create their own broth as they cook.

Basically Black Bean Soup

onion

carrot

garlic

olive oil

red wine vinegar

chipotle chiles

dried black beans (not soaked)

oregano

Tbsp. kosher salt,

limes

whole-milk Greek yogurt

Real talk: You don't have to soak your dried beans overnight. They'll cook faster if you do, sure, and will be less likely to break apart when they cook, but as long as you have a couple of hours to work with, you're golden. Few ingredients have such a stellar deliciousness-to-affordability ratio, and the best part about starting a soup with dried beans is that they create their own incredibly savory broth as they cook—no need to add weird, shelf-stable boxed stock to the mix. The most important thing to remember about cooking beans from scratch is that they can handle a LOT of seasoning, so don't hold back; nobody likes under-seasoned beans. And as with any simple soup, the magic is all in the garnishes. Whether you're meal prepping for the week or having people over for a casual dinner hang, a bunch of toppings—something crunchy, something creamy, something fresh and herby—makes a humble bowl of beans feel like a party.

Bon Appétit

Start by doing a little prep work. Peel and chop 1 onion and 1 carrot.

Peel 3 garlic cloves by smashing each firmly with the flat side of a knife to break into smaller pieces. Discard skins. The cool thing about prepping garlic for any kind of long-cooking preparation like this is that it will have plenty of time to break down and infuse the whole soup with garlicky goodness, which means there's no need to go through the tedious process of mincing the cloves finely.

Heat ¼ cup oil in a large stock pot or Dutch oven over medium. Add onion, carrot, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is golden, 5–7 minutes. Don't worry if the veggies start sticking to the bottom of the pan a little bit—that's a good thing! Those little browned bits have a ton of flavor, and we'll be adding some liquid in the next step to get them up, a process that's also called "deglazing." Cool, huh?

Add ¼ cup red wine vinegar and cook, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pot, until vinegar is reduced by about half.

Add 2 Tbsp. adobo sauce from can of chiles and stir to coat. (Feel free to add more adobo sauce if you're craving more heat and smokiness; just remember: You can always add more later, but you can't take any away.)

Add 1 lb. dried black beans, 1½ tsp. oregano, 1 Tbsp. salt, and 8 cups water. That's right: no boxed stock! The beans are going to create their own delicious broth as they simmer away. Bring up to a boil over high heat, then drop the heat down low so that the beans are just simmering. Cover pot with a lid.

Simmer, stirring every 30 minutes to prevent sticking, until beans are tender and creamy, 1½–2 hours. How long it takes will depend entirely on how fresh your beans are—the longer they've been sitting on the shelf, the longer they're going to take to cook. That's why we try to buy dried beans from stores where we know their inventory moves. (You can't always tell, but dust on the bag is never a good sign.) As the beans cook, you may need to top off with a bit more hot water if too much of it cooks off; you want to make sure the beans are submerged.

Meanwhile, assemble your garnishes. They're going to be the difference between an extremely simple—and delicious!—pot of black bean soup and something that feels fun and kind of fancy. The first thing we're going to make is a kind of creamy lime-yogurt to dollop on top. First, place 1 cup yogurt in a small bowl. Finely grate zest from 1 lime into bowl. Cut the lime in half and squeeze in juice.

Season yogurt mixture with salt. Give it a taste and add another pinch of salt if it doesn't pop. Easy, and kind of fancy, non? Cut remaining 2 limes into wedges for squeezing over the soup.

Prepare any other (optional) garnishes you may like. Slice some ripe avocado. Put some Fritos or tortilla chips or corn nuts in a bowl. Pick some cilantro leaves. Chop some onion, or thinly slice some scallions. Shred some cabbage. If you ask us, the more garnishes, the better!

Taste and season soup with salt, if needed. Remember: Beans can handle quite a bit of salt, so don't be afraid to add more if it tastes kind of "meh." You can serve right away, but we usually like to let a bean soup like this hang out for at least a half hour after we've finished seasoning it so that the salt in the cooking liquid can work its way into the beans themselves. Ladle the soup into bowls, top with yogurt mixture, and serve with lime wedges and any other garnishes your heart desires.

Do Ahead: Soup, without garnishes, can be made 1 week ahead; store in an airtight container and chill, or freeze up to 3 months.

High heat and the simplest sauce ever make for roasted veggies that feel like a dish, not an afterthought.

Crispy Roasted Broccoli with Tahini Sauce

broccoli

Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

kosher salt

lemons

Tbsp. tahini

Tbsp. raw sesame seeds

Three simple things separate the kind of crispy, flavorful roasted vegetables that you could happily eat three nights a week from the kind that feel like a sad afterthought—and this roasted broccoli recipe gets it right. For one, making sure not to crowd the vegetables on the sheet pan ensures that they actually roast, not just steam. And cranking the heat—425°F is the sweet spot—helps to achieve exterior browning and caramelization more quickly, so that the veggies stay crisp-tender. Finally: SAUCE! Even the simplest, throw-together tahini sauce makes a platter of roasted broccoli feel a lot more special. And there you have it folks: roasted veggies you can actually get excited about.

Preheat oven to 425°. (Higher heat = more caramelization, more quickly.) Remove bottom 2" of tough stem from 1 head of broccoli with a chef’s knife; discard. Cut broccoli crosswise, starting with the stem end (yep, you can eat most of the stem!) into ¼" slices. When you reach the crown, slow your slicing so you can push the florets to the side as they begin to fall with each slice. You want to have lots of loose florets. No matter what kinds of veggies you're roasting, you want to cut them into pieces that are about the same size so that they cook at the same(ish) rate.

Transfer broccoli to a rimmed baking sheet. (If you don't have a proper, heavy-duty aluminum half sheet pan, this is a reminder to invest in one ASAP.) Drizzle with 2 Tbsp. oil; season with 1 tsp. salt and toss to coat. If you were interested in adding any spices—think curry powder, chile flakes, fennel seeds—this is the time to do it.

Arrange broccoli on pan in a single layer, spacing so no pieces overlap (this ensures broccoli will roast properly, not just steam). Roast until nicely browned, even charred in spots, and crispy with a bright green interior, 8–10 minutes.

Meanwhile, make your tahini sauce. Cut 1 lemon in half. Using a citrus juicer (or your hands), juice lemon (fish out any seeds) into a small bowl. Cut remaining 1 lemon into wedges; set aside for serving. Peel 1 garlic clove and use a Microplane to grate it into bowl with lemon juice. (We're big fans of grated garlic over here, especially when it comes to dressings and sauces. It's a hell of a lot easier than trying to get a fine, even mince with a knife, and there's no risk of biting into a big chunk of raw garlic later on.)

Add 5 Tbsp. tahini, 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp. salt, and ¼ cup hot water and whisk until smooth. Give it a taste: The richness of the tahini and zippiness from the lemon should be nicely balanced, so adjust with more of either if necessary, and don't be afraid to add more salt if the sauce doesn't pop.

Gently toss broccoli by giving pan a shake (or use a spatula). Continue to roast until browned in spots and tender, 5–8 minutes longer. As with all recipes, the amount of time it takes is going to have a lot to do with the equipment you're using—you want that broccoli to have plenty of color on it, so don't be afraid to keep roasting until you get there.

Heat a small skillet over medium. Toast 2 Tbsp. sesame seeds, tossing frequently, until light golden and slightly fragrant, about 2 minutes. Don’t walk away; the seeds will burn quickly! Let cool. (And, FWIW, this recipe will still be good if you skipped the sesame seeds—but if you're going to use them, make sure to toast them, which will make them a lot more flavorful. Cool?)

Transfer broccoli to a platter and drizzle with tahini sauce. Top with sesame seeds and reserved lemon wedges for squeezing over. One of the great things about roasted vegetables is that they're just as delicious room temperature as they are piping hot, so don't stress if the rest of dinner isn't ready yet.

Meatballs don't have to be an all day project. This is the quickest, most fuss-free and delicious beef meatball recipe there ever was or will be. 

Crispy Sheet-Pan Meatballs with Salsa Verde

garlic cloves, divided

herbs,

Tbsp. capers

walnuts

paprika

kosher salt,

panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)

ground beef (20% fat)

lemon

black pepper

If the word “meatballs” brings to mind some kind of long, elaborate Sunday cooking project, then this recipe is here to change your mind. No shade to the classic Italian American version, but they just don’t need three kinds of meat, a tedious sear and braise, or even tomato sauce to be incredibly delicious. When you stick with one type of meat, give them quick, high-heat roast in the oven, and serve them with an herby salsa verde, few things are as cheap, versatile, and weeknight-friendly as a sheet pan full of meatballs. Think of this recipe as a template, and the possibilities are endless—mess around with different spices, types of meat, herbs and other add-ins, and you can easily make these once a week without getting bored. They’re great on top of grain bowls, in noodle-y soups, as an appetizer, or on their own alongside a green salad or some simply roasted veggies. And don't sleep on that salsa verde—it might just become your new favorite put-on-everything sauce.

Place a rack in center of oven; preheat to 425°. Finely grate 1 garlic clove into a medium bowl. Finely grate 1 more garlic clove into a small bowl. (The medium bowl is for your meatball mixture, and the small bowl is for your salsa verde, in case this part seems silly.)

Finely chop 2 cups mixed herbs. As we mentioned in the ingredients list, you can use any combo of soft herbs like parsley, dill, basil, and/or cilantro, but if you've only got one that's cool, too—we just love how green and complex they taste when mixed together. Transfer half to same medium bowl, then transfer remaining herbs to same small bowl.

Finely chop 3 Tbsp. capers. Transfer 2 Tbsp. capers to medium bowl, then transfer remaining 1 Tbsp. capers to small bowl. Chop ¼ cup walnuts and add to same medium bowl. If you've never added nuts to meatballs, you're in for a real treat; they lend great texture and flavor to the finished dish.

Whisk in 1 egg, 1 Tbsp. paprika, 2 tsp. salt, and 1 Tbsp. oil to bowl with walnuts.

Using clean hands, mix 1 cup panko into egg mixture. Add 1 lb. ground beef and continue to mix gently with your hands until incorporated, but do not overmix. This part is key—if you work the mixture too much, the meat will become tough and springy, almost like sausage, so use a gentle hand. Also: At this point, you can pinch off a little piece of the meatball mixture, crisp it in a skillet, and give it a taste to make sure the seasoning is to your liking. This is your last chance to make any tweaks before they all get cooked!

Drizzle 2 Tbsp. oil  on a rimmed baking sheet. Roll beef mixture into 1½" balls (about the size of golf balls). Arrange 1" apart on pan.

Bake meatballs, shaking pan halfway through, until crispy on all sides, about 10 minutes. One cool thing about using all beef (instead of a beef-pork-veal combo) is that it's totally fine if the meatballs are a little pink in the middle.

While meatballs are cooking, you can finish that salsa verde. This is one of our all-time favorite sauces, and is delicious spooned over just about any piece of meat, roasted veg, or bowl of leftovers you can think of. Which is all to say: Get ready to have a lot more salsa verde in your life from here on out. Finely grate lemon zest into bowl with herbs and garlic. Halve the lemon you just zested and squeeze juice into bowl, using your hand to catch any seeds. (You can use a citrus squeezer for this if you've got one.) Add remaining ½ cup oil and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper, taste, and add more seasoning if necessary—it should be good and punchy.

Transfer meatballs to a platter, and serve with salsa verde alongside.

Crusty, juicy sliced steak + a fully-loaded salad = what we want to eat most nights of the week, TBH. Steak salad for the win.

Steak Salad with Shallot Vinaigrette

1½"-thick boneless New York strip steak (about 12 oz.)

Kosher salt

shallot

Dijon mustard

Tbsp. red wine vinegar

extra-virgin olive oil, divided

cherry tomatoes

Persian cucumbers

butter lettuce

unsalted butter

thyme

avocado

Crusty, juicy sliced steak + a fully-loaded salad = what we want to eat most nights of the week, TBH. If searing a steak to perfect medium-rare makes you nervous, we get it! It takes practice, and even seasoned cooks can have a hard time divining the doneness of meat. Our advice? Invest in a decent quality instant-read thermometer to help take the guesswork out of the equation. As for that zippy shallot vinaigrette, do yourself a favor and make a double batch—it'll keep for a week, and is a great dressing for simple salads, grain bowls, and all kinds of cooked meats. This recipe is a part of the Basically 10x10, a collection of ten essential, no-fail recipes that every home cook should have in their arsenal.

Pat steak dry with paper towels and place on a clean plate. Season very generously all over with salt and pepper. (Think four-fingered pinches of salt—rich proteins like steak need a lot more salt than you might think.) Let it sit at room temperature while you prep your other salad components, at least an hour if possible. (Don't worry: It's safe, and a room-temperature steak will cook more evenly than it will straight out of the fridge.)

Salad dressing time! Peel and finely chop 1 shallot and transfer to a medium bowl. Add 1 Tbsp. mustard and 1 Tbsp. vinegar and whisk to combine. Here comes the fun part: Whisking constantly, slowly stream in 5 Tbsp. olive oil until dressing is thick and emulsified. The word "slowly" is key here—if you add the oil all at once, you won't get the creamy, nicely-incorporated vinaigrette you're after. Whisk in 1 Tbsp. water to thin the dressing out a bit. Season with salt to taste, and add another splash of vinegar if you like—it should taste good and punchy.

Prep your other salad ingredients. Slice 1 pint cherry tomatoes in half and transfer to a medium bowl. Slice 2 cucumbers into thin coins and transfer to bowl with tomatoes. Separate lettuce leaves and arrange on a large platter. Cover the lettuce with damp paper towels and chill in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble.

Heat a dry cast-iron skillet over medium-high. Pat steak dry again (the salt will have drawn out some moisture). Seriously: You want the meat to be as dry as possible, which is key to getting the handsome, crusty sear you're after. Rub steak with remaining 1 Tbsp. oil. When we're searing things like steak or chops, we like to oil the surface of the meat rather than the surface of the pan—this allows us to use less oil, and also cuts down on (the inevitable) smoke that comes with this kind of cooking. Speaking of which, this is a good time to turn on the vent above your stove, open a window, and/or get ready to (temporarily!!) deactivate your smoke detector .

Using tongs, gently lay steak in preheated pan. Cook undisturbed—as in, resist the urge to futz with it!—until a golden brown crust forms, about 3 minutes. Turn steak and cook on second side for another 3 minutes.

Turn steak to sear around thinner sides and fat cap until browned, then continue to cook 1 minute per side until steak is medium-rare in the center, 3–5 minutes longer. If you have an instant-read thermometer and you’re uncertain about doneness, insert it into the center of the steak and look for a reading of 120–125°. Continue to cook until you get there.

Remove skillet from heat. Transfer steak to cutting board briefly to rest. Wipe out skillet with a paper towel to remove any blackened oil. Let skillet cool 1–2 minutes, then heat over medium-low. Have a spoon close at hand. Return steak to skillet. Add 2 Tbsp. butter and 2 sprigs thyme and tilt skillet toward you so butter foams and pools along one side. Make sure thyme is swimming in the butter so it can really infuse. Use spoon to scoop up foamy butter and baste over top of steak constantly until butter is fragrant and browned, about 1 minute. Transfer steak to cutting board. It should rest at least 10 minutes—you never want to cut into a steak without resting first, otherwise it will lose a lot of juiciness.

Build your salad: Remove platter of lettuce from refrigerator; season with salt and pepper. (We always like to season our greens before we dress them.) Whisk dressing to combine and drizzle about half over lettuce.

Season tomatoes and cucumbers with salt and pepper. (In case you haven't noticed by now, making sure to season all of your components is key.) Toss with a couple of tablespoons of dressing and arrange in a row along one side of lettuce.

Halve 1 avocado, remove pit, and thinly slice. Fan out slices and arrange over top of lettuce in another row opposite tomatoes and cukes.

Once steak has rested, thinly slice crosswise and shingle slices down across middle of platter. Season steak and avocado with more salt and pepper, then drizzle remaining dressing over avocado and steak. So fancy!

Every cook should have at least one good dessert up their sleeve, and this classic, lightly glazed lemon pound cake recipe should be yours.

Lemon Pound Cake

sugar

eggs

all-purpose flour

baking powder

milk

Does everyone need to know how to whip up a pie crust from scratch, or build a towering, elaborately decorated layer cake? Absolutely not. But every cook should have at least one good dessert up their sleeve, and this classic, lightly glazed lemon pound cake should be yours. Rich and tender, not too sweet, and fragrant from tons of lemon zest, it's the kind of baked good you can just as easily serve with coffee in the afternoon or as the finale to a sit-down dinner party. (Nobody will get mad if you top each slice with a scoop of ice cream, a dollop of homemade whipped cream, or even just a spoonful of good Greek yogurt.) You will need a couple of pieces of equipment, namely a loaf pan and a hand mixer, but both are kitchen essentials and not very expensive—consider this your excuse to invest.

Place a rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°. Butter a 9x4" loaf pan, fully coating bottom and sides. Line pan lengthwise with parchment paper, leaving about a 2" overhang. Are you reading this and wondering, "Can I use wax paper instead of parchment paper?" The answer is: absolutely NOT. That strip of parchment paper will help you to lift the finished cake out of the loaf pan cleanly. Wax paper, on the other hand, will melt and stick to the cake—it's never meant to go into the oven. Now you know!

Using a Microplane, finely grate the zest from 2 lemons into a large bowl. Add 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted room temperature butter and 1 cup granulated sugar to bowl. It might be tempting to ignore the part about the butter being "room temperature," but working with butter that's soft and spreadable—but not melted—is essential here.

Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat until mixture is very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. You know how people talk about "creaming" butter and sugar together? That's what you're doing here. You're basically whipping a bunch of air into the butter and sugar mixture, which will help keep the finished cake light and fluffy. And as we mentioned in the last step, that butter needs to be room temp in order for this to work.

Beat in 3 eggs one at a time, waiting until each is incorporated before adding the next. Continue to beat until mixture is lighter and even fluffier, about 2 minutes.

Whisk 1¾ cups all-purpose flour, 1½ tsp. baking powder, and ½ tsp. salt in another large bowl. It might seem funny to add salt to a dessert recipe, but a little bit helps to make all of the rich, sweet elements really sing.

Add one-half of dry ingredients to butter mixture and beat on low speed just until combined.

Beat in 6 Tbsp. milk on low just until smooth, then add remaining dry ingredients and beat just until combined. Now that you've added the flour, you want to mix the batter as little as possible—if you beat it up too much, you'll start to form gluten, which will make the cake tough. Using a spatula, scrape down sides of bowl and give batter a final mix so dry ingredients are fully incorporated.

Scrape batter into your buttered loaf pan; smooth top with a spatula. Bake cake, turning once halfway through, until a cake tester, toothpick, skewer, or thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean, 45-55 minutes.

While the cake bakes, make the glaze: First, remove zest from remaining lemon with a vegetable peeler in wide strips. (FWIW, if this part seems overly fussy or annoying, you can feel free to just use a Microplane to zest all of the lemons for the glaze, but we think doing it this way looks cuter.)

Transfer zest to a cutting board and slice as thinly as possible; set aside.

Halve 2 lemons (the ones you already zested) and squeeze the juice into a small bowl with a reamer or fork (you should have about ½ cup lemon juice).

Place 1½ cups powdered sugar in another medium bowl. Slowly whisk in about half of lemon juice until smooth, then add sliced lemon zest; set glaze aside.

Let cake cool about 10 minutes. (Yeah, it really does need to cool a bit, so set a timer if you're impatient.) Poke 10-15 holes evenly throughout cake with a cake tester or toothpick. Pour the remaining lemon juice—the stuff that didn't end up going into the glaze—over the top of the cake. Let cool completely. (Seriously!)

Run a butter knife around edges of pan to loosen. Using parchment overhang, lift cake onto a wire rack; remove parchment.

Now, pour the lemon zest glaze over cake, letting it fall down the sides. Let icing set for at least 10 minutes before slicing. Serve on its own, or with a spoonful of Greek yogurt, a dollop of whipped cream, or a scoop of ice cream on top. (You deserve it!)

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Basically Black Bean Soup

Crispy Roasted Broccoli with Tahini...

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Top 5 basically 10x10 recipes from across the web

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Basically Black Bean Soup

Crispy Roasted Broccoli with Tahini...

Crispy Sheet-Pan Meatballs with Sal...

Steak Salad with Shallot Vinaigrett...

Lemon Pound Cake

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