Good morning! I hope your 2026 is off to a good start. Today we have:

• A new salmon dish for your folder of weeknight fish dinners

• Inspiring recipes for pantry ingredients like chickpeas, spices and tomatoes

• And, the wok expert Grace Young’s technique for keeping shrimp juicy, tender and crisp in stir-fries

Hi again! Julia here, filling in for Melissa Clark today.

In professional kitchens, the rule for using up ingredients is FIFO: First In, First Out. It’s a great way to organize your cooking (and thinking) around the fresh ingredients in your fridge, as well as your pantry staples and the mysterious items in your freezer.All of today’s recipes help you draw from what you already have, and generate a lot of flavor in a little time, like this new salmon and cherry tomato curry from Ashley Lonsdale. The curry’s fragrant, luxurious sauce comes from coconut milk and ground spices like turmeric and coriander — things you may already have kicking around the kitchen.

Featured Recipe

Salmon and Cherry Tomato Curry

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Four more for your week

Blackened chicken breasts: Here’s a reader response I can relate to: “I am almost never motivated enough to write comments, but this was just so good!” A batch of these tonight will yield excellent workweek sandwiches and salads.

Vegetarian skillet chili: A Melissa Clark classic, with the comforting texture of tender beans and tomatoes and the flavors of garlic, chile powder and oregano. Don’t sleep on the pickled onions.

Stir-fried shrimp with snow peas and ginger: This Cantonese classic works well for home cooks because the ingredients tumble easily in the wok, picking up flavor as they go.

And, here’s a new addition to our family of spiced chickpea stews: saland-e nakhod (chickpea yogurt stew) from Afghanistan, via the writer Eric Kim. If you’ve mastered Alison Roman’s spiced chickpea stew, but don’t have coconut milk on hand (or would prefer some garlicky yogurt), this is for you.

Thanks for reading!