Total time: 15 min • Prep: 9 min • Cook: 6 min • Serves: 4 • Difficulty: Easy

Try to cook a steak in your microwave and you'll end up with something as chewy as a pencil eraser, but you may be surprised to learn that a microwave can be a surprisingly good tool for cooking fish and shellfish. The key is to understand your unit's power to adjust the overall cook time. A microwave's moist, convection heat can gently cook a piece of fish to flaky tenderness and cook shrimp to opaque, pink perfection in a matter of minutes. Make this recipe dairy-free by substituting olive oil for the butter. Leftovers are delicious served cold in over mixed greens or tossed with diced celery, a spoonful of light mayo, and some more chopped fresh herbs for a quick shrimp salad for crackers or to spoon into cucumber cups for easy cocktail party canapés.