Paula: Welcome to my perfect beach house meal. Here’s the scene: you’ve scored an icy bag of gorgeous Gulf shrimp (from that market right on the water) and everyone is hungry after a day in the sun. Game plan: build a fire, make a cocktail, and season the shrimp simply (drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle of Mediterranean herbs) so they’re ready to go by the time your coals are glowing red. (When you have great seafood, you want to do as little to it as possible, right?)

Scott: You’ve set the scene perfectly. On a recent trip to the Gulf coast, we ate our way through our share of the local harvest. I spent plenty of time on that trip shelling and deveining shrimp, so this “shell-on” recipe is a welcome addition to the menu for it’s quick turn-around.

Paula: Promise me you won’t save this recipe for Game Day. Sure, loaded potato skins join nachos and chicken wings in the indulgent, deeply satisfying category of party fare. But they’re too delicious to be relegated to sporadic occasions. Deep down, don’t you want to eat crispy, seasoned shells topped with bacon, cheese, and sour cream once a week? At least?

Scott: Game Day and potato skins do certainly have a deep and soulful connection, but I must strongly concur that potato skins and their attendant toppings should not be relegated to any particular event or time of year. [Slowly draws open coat to reveal “Free the Skins!” t-shirt.]

Paula: Black beans, gooey cheese, barbecue sauce...this spicy, satisfying one-skillet meal pushes all the right buttons. Lightly adapted from my friend Ali Slagle’s Cheesy, Spicy Black Bean Bake this recipe is easy to assemble (from pantry ingredients), and a crowd pleaser for game day or binge watching your favorite Netflix series (“Parks and Rec,” anyone?).

For the best flavor, be sure to fry the garlic until it's deeply golden and saute the tomato paste and spices until they’re very fragrant. A splash of Tupelo Two-Step, our hot honey barbecue sauce, pulls all the flavors together. Sure, you could bake the skillet in the oven, but the final results will be tastier if you allow the mixture to meld on the grill, over indirect heat, absorbing the flavor of a charcoal fire.

Paula: In most recipes, grilled meats are brushed with sauce towards the end of the cooking process so the sweetners (sugar, honey, molasses, etc.) don’t scorch and blacken over the fire. This time-honored method is solid, but what if you want your chicken to sing with more sauce? Marinating chicken thighs (or drumsticks) in sauce infuses the meat with a deeper hot-sweet flavor and results in a richer, more tender texture. To avoid the scorched skin scenario, cook the chicken over indirect heat.

Bonus: the meat needs less babysitting (“can I get anyone another beer?”), because it’s cooking at more moderate heat. If the skin needs additional crisping, give the thighs a quick spin over direct heat the last few minutes of cooking, flipping as needed to prevent the skin from becoming overly black.