Create three international dishes with an everyday skillet

The cooks at Milk Street adapt recipes for Mexican eggs, Spanish fish stew, and Somali-style beef to the cook in the standard 12-inch skillet.

Our take on migas uses tortilla chips in an addictive dish of scrambled eggs, sautéed aromatics, and chorizo.Connie Miller of CB Creatives

From woks to clay pots, every culture has its own go-to pot for everyday cooking. For many of us in the United States, that’s the 12-inch skillet. We adapted dishes from around the world to that pan, and the result is our book Milk Street: The World in a Skillet. Starting with a Catalan fish stew, which normally is cooked in a clay cazuela, we combine mussels, shrimp, and white fish in a saffron-scented broth. From the Tex-Mex tradition, migas uses tortilla chips in an addictive dish of scrambled eggs, sautéed aromatics, and chorizo. And for the Somali dish suqaar, we season beef and vegetables with a fragrant spice mix added in two stages for layers of flavor.

Tex-Mex Migas With Chorizo

Makes 4 servings

Tex-Mex migas is a breakfast and brunch staple of scrambled eggs mixed with tortilla chips, sautéed aromatics (such as onion and chilies), and, typically, cheese. We fold the chips into eggs at the end of cooking for an addictive crunchy-chewy texture. To keep the eggs tender and fluffy, be sure to take the pan off the burner as soon as the eggs have mostly set into moist curds so they don’t overcook. Cook them over direct heat for just 1 minute, then let them finish with residual heat as you stir in the chips and cilantro.

Spicy, tangy chorizo sausage — fresh Mexican-style chorizo works best here, not dry-cured Spanish chorizo — makes a deluxe version of migas.

Migas loves garnishes. The recipe calls for diced or sliced avocado and pickled jalapeños, but you could offer salsa, Mexican crema (or sour cream), additional cheese, or whatever suits you.

Warm tortillas offered alongside can be used to make migas tacos, and refried beans also are a great accompaniment.

8 large eggs

2 ounces pepper jack cheese, shredded (½ cup)

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

8 ounces Mexican-style chorizo (see headnote), casings removed, chorizo crumbled

2 tablespoons neutral oil

3 tablespoons pickled jalapeños, roughly chopped, plus more to serve

1 ripe tomato, cored and chopped

1 cup good-quality tortilla chips (about 1 ounce), lightly crushed

Diced or sliced avocado or chopped fresh cilantro or both, optional, for garnish

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until foamy. Whisk in the cheese and ¼ teaspoon pepper; set aside. In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, combine the chorizo and oil. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring often and breaking up the chorizo, until sizzling, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the pickled jalapeños and tomato; cook, stirring occasionally, until the moisture from the tomato has evaporated and the chorizo is browned, 3 to 5 minutes.

Pour the egg mixture into the center of the skillet and cook, using a silicone spatula to stir continuously; push the egg mixture toward the middle as the edges begin to firm up, until the eggs are mostly set but still shiny, about 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat, then add the tortilla chips and fold just until combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Serve garnished with additional pickled jalapeños and avocado.

Somali-Style Beef and VegetablesConnie Miller of CB Creatives

Somali-Style Beef and Vegetables (Suqaar)

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Suqaar is a simple, homey Somali dish of meat and vegetables cooked together in the same pan. Lamb typically is the meat of choice, but in our take we opt for beef. And instead of bell pepper, a common ingredient in suqaar, we add kale, a vegetable not often used in the dish; we like the way the leaves wilt and pull together the other elements while also adding substance and savoriness. A mix of bold spices seasons the beef before it’s seared and also is added to the vegetables as they cook.

Don’t worry if the beef isn’t fully cooked after searing. It will see heat for a few more minutes and finish cooking when the slices are returned to the pan with the vegetables.

Serve this with rice or a baguette, and lime wedges.

1 tablespoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground turmeric

1 teaspoon ground coriander

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

1 pound beef sirloin tips or flank steak, cut with the grain into sections about 4 inches wide, then sliced against the grain about ¼ inch thick

2 tablespoons grape seed or other neutral oil

1 medium yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced

3 plum tomatoes, cored and chopped

2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced about ¼ thick

1 bunch lacinato kale, stemmed and chopped

½ cup lightly packed fresh cilantro

In a medium bowl, stir together the cumin, turmeric, coriander, cinnamon, and ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Measure 1 tablespoon into a small bowl and set aside. To the remaining spice mix, add the beef and toss to combine.

In a 12-inch skillet set over medium-high heat, warm the oil until it shimmers. Add the beef in an even layer and cook, without stirring, until browned on the bottom, about 1 minute. Stir, redistribute in an even layer, and cook until no longer pink, about 1 minute, then transfer to a large plate.

Set the skillet over medium heat and add the onion and tomatoes. Cook, scraping up any browned bits and stirring occasionally, until the onion begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in the reserved spice mix, followed by the carrots and ¼ cup water. Bring to a simmer, then cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the carrots are tender-crisp, about 5 minutes.

Pile on the kale, then cover and cook until the leaves begin to wilt, about 1 minute. Uncover and cook, turning the mixture with tongs, until the kale is tender, about another 1 minute. Add the beef and any accumulated juices, then cook, stirring, until the beef is heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Off heat, taste and season with salt and pepper, then stir in the cilantro.

Catalan-Style Seafood StewConnie Miller of CB Creatives

Catalan-Style Seafood Stew

Makes 4 servings

The Catalan fish stew called suquet de peix is traditionally cooked in a cazuela, a wide, shallow terra-cotta dish, but a 12-inch skillet is a great alternative and what we use in this recipe. A combination of shrimp, mussels, and flaky white fish in a saffron-scented tomato broth yields a dish full of colors and textures.

In the Catalan kitchen, picada refers to a mixture of nuts, garlic, bread, and, often, other aromatic ingredients—from herbs to chilies, and even cooked chicken livers—pounded or ground to a thick paste. It’s used to add flavor to dishes of all sorts, or stirred into stews at the end of cooking to enrich and thicken the broth. We make a simple picada and hand-chop the ingredients, though you could bash the ingredients in a mortar with a pestle.

A lower-starch potato won’t work in place of the russet. The russet, cut into thin slices, cooks quickly and releases starch that adds a little body to the broth.

Serve directly from the skillet, with warm, crusty bread to soak up the broth.

¼ cup slivered almonds

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided

5 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 ounce crusty bread, torn into ½-inch bits (about 1 cup)

1 medium yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced

1 14½-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand

1 8-ounce russet potato, unpeeled, halved lengthwise, and cut crosswise into ¼-inch slices

¼ teaspoon saffron threads

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

1 pound mussels, scrubbed

8 ounces jumbo shrimp (21/25 per pound), peeled and deveined

2 5- to 6-ounce cod or haddock filets, about 1 inch thick, each cut in half

In a 12-inch skillet set over medium heat, toast the almonds, stirring often, until lightly browned and fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes; transfer to a small bowl. In the same skillet set over medium heat, warm 2 tablespoons oil until it shimmers. Add half of the garlic and cook, stirring, until just beginning to brown, about 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the garlic to the bowl with the almonds. Return the skillet to medium heat and add the bread. Cook, tossing often, until browned in spots, about 3 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the almonds and garlic; set aside.

In the same skillet, set over medium, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil until it shimmers. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the remaining garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes with juices. Stir in the potato, 1½ cups water, saffron, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then cover, reduce to medium-low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until a skewer inserted into the slices meets no resistance, 12 to 15 minutes. Meanwhile, chop the almond-garlic-bread mixture; set aside.

When the potatoes are tender, stir in the almond mixture. Add the mussels, then increase to medium and stir to combine. Cover and cook until the mussels begin to open, about 2 minutes. Stir in the shrimp, then, using a spoon, create 4 wells in the mixture. Nestle a piece of fish into each clearing, cover, and cook, stirring gently only once or twice, until the shrimp are opaque throughout, the fish flakes easily, and the mussels have fully opened, 6 to 8 minutes; discard any mussels that have not opened.