Think of it more as an indulgent snack than a meal. Adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe, these addictive fritters are best eaten fresh. They’re easy to make, too — perfect for that post-workout reward.

Ingredients:

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 egg
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 dried red chili, crumbled
7 ounces spaghetti
salt and pepper
olive oil

1. Place all your ingredients, apart from the spaghetti and olive oil, into a bowl and mix. Meanwhile, add spaghetti to a pot of salted, boiling water and cook until al dente. Drain the pasta in a colander and rinse under cold water to cool it down. Once the pasta is cool, snip it with scissors into pieces roughly 4 inches long and add them to the bowl. Mix well.

2. Pour a few tablespoons oil into a pan and place over medium-high heat. Using a fork, add piles of the spaghetti mixture to the pan and fry until golden and crisp on both sides. Serve warm.

This Middle Eastern-style pizza takes only a few minutes to assemble, and it’s health-conscious too. I prefer using roasted garlic hummus as the base, and I pre-soak my feta cubes in olive oil flecked with oregano and red pepper flakes for a hit of extra flavor. Feel free to experiment — this recipe can be endlessly customized.

Ingredients:

1 cup hummus, preferably roasted garlic
1/2 tomato, thinly sliced
1/3 cup Kalamata olives, sliced
1/2 cup feta cheese, cubed
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1 pound whole-wheat pizza dough
all-purpose flour
olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Meanwhile, roll out dough to a 10-inch round on a lightly-floured working surface. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled baking sheet.

2. Spread hummus on pizza dough and top with tomato, olives, and feta. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes in the oven, or until crust is golden.

3. Sprinkle pizza with parsley, drizzle with olive oil, and serve warm.

I know, I know, breakfast burritos are so 1990s. But they’re also tasty, filling and easy to assemble. The first time I made these, I used Spanish chorizo. That’ll do just fine, but I recommend Mexican chorizo, as its crumbly texture will lend itself better to the filling.

1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into 1/3-inch dice
4 flour tortillas
8 ounces chorizo, preferably Mexican, casings removed
4 eggs
1 teaspoon water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
1 avocado, sliced
1/4 cup fresh salsa

1. Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Cut 4 large sheets of foil. Cook potato in a pot of salted boiling water until just tender, about 5 minutes. Drain.

2. Wrap tortillas in a large sheet of foil and warm in oven until heated through, 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, cook chorizo in an skillet over medium heat, stirring and breaking it up, until just cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes. Add potato and cook over medium-low heat, stirring, until tender and lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

4. Whisk together eggs, water, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in a medium bowl. Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Add egg mixture and cook, stirring to scramble, until just cooked through. Remove from heat.

5. Place a tortilla on plate. Spoon one fourth of chorizo mixture, one fourth of eggs, one fourth of cheese, one fourth of avocado, and then salsa to taste in rows across center, leaving room to fold over. Fold bottom of tortilla over most of filling, then fold over sides, overlapping them. Make 3 more burritos in same manner and serve warm.

Luckily, mentaiko sauce is ridiculously easy to make at home, if you have access to the right ingredients. During a recent visit to Tokyo Fish Market in Berkeley, I picked up a couple frozen sacs of mentaiko (these are usually marinated in salt, kombu, sake, and chili peppers and you can find them at well-stocked Japanese grocers) so I could try making this east-meets-west spaghetti at home.

Okay, I admit, the final product still isn’t all that healthy, but at least it’s made of whole ingredients. You could substitute some of the butter or mayonnaise with olive oil, but the final taste will be a little different.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon mayonnaise (preferably Kewpie brand)
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 pound spaghetti
2 sacs of mentaiko
1/2 tablespoon ao nori seaweed

1. Cook the pasta al dente in a pot of salted boiling water. Drain, reserving half a cup of the cooking liquid.

2. Open the mentaiko sacs with a knife and scrape the roe from the membrane with a spoon. Discard the membrane and add the roe to the bowl with the butter, mayonnaise, and soy sauce; mix well.

3. In a bowl, toss the mentaiko sauce with the pasta, adding a bit of the reserved cooking liquid if needed. Garnish with ao nori and serve.

Okonomiyaki was the first homestyle Japanese dish that they taught me, and to this day, it remains one of my favorites. Loosely translated as “as you like it,” okonomiyaki is a savory pancake consisting of varying filling ingredients but the flour, egg, cabbage, and dashi base remain consistent.

My version of okonomiyaki is pretty standard, albeit without the mountain yam that can be so hard to track down. When I was in Japan two years ago, I tried a delicious rendition in Kyoto that had a fried noodle base, as well as another version with melted cheese and dried anchovies, so the possibilities are endless. The ingredient list might be daunting, but it’s worth the search – and oh, don’t forget the giant octopus tentacle.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup dashi stock
1 egg
1 cup cabbage, shredded
2 green onions, thinly sliced
benishoga red pickled ginger, chopped (not to be confused with gari pickled ginger, which is commonly served alongside sushi)
3 inches cooked octopus, finely chopped
1 handful dried bonito flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried nori flakes
okonomi sauce (available in Japanese and well-stocked Asian grocers)
Japanese-style mayonnaise (I recommend Kewpie brand)
vegetable oil

1. Place the flour and dashi stock in a bowl, and mix well. Add the cabbage, onion, benishoga ginger, octopus, and egg to the bowl, and mix well.

2. Heat a nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat and add one tablespoon vegetable oil. Pour 1/3 cup of the batter mixture into the pan, and sprinkle a few dried bonito flakes on top. Cook for about 3 minutes.

3. Carefully flip the pancake over, and cook for about 4 minutes. Reverse again, and cook for another 4 minutes. Transfer the pancake to a serving plate.

4. Spread okonomi sauce and mayonnaise on top of the pancake, and sprinkle with dried nori and bonito flakes.

5. Repeat steps 2 to 4 until batter is finished.