Recipes By Kay Chun
274 recipes found

Grilled Seafood Burgers With Old Bay Mayonnaise
Tender cod and sweet shrimp transform into juicy seafood burgers that are perfect for easy summer grilling. The shrimp do double duty here: They act as a natural binder, eliminating the need for bread crumbs and eggs and giving the burgers a pure seafood essence. They also lend a snappy, firm texture to the patties. A quick cook on the grill imparts great smoky notes that complement the fish, and an Old Bay mayo sauce highlights the seafood flavors even further.

Grilled Vegetables With Spicy Italian Neonata
Summer squash, bell peppers, eggplant and greens are the stars of this greenmarket grill party. The spicy vibrant finishing sauce is inspired by Calabrian neonata, a preserved condiment made with hot peppers and baby fish. The condiment is often drizzled onto pasta, pizza or grilled bread. Here, briny anchovies, salami and olives season the sauce with salty, meaty notes to contrast with the spicy pickled cherry peppers and cool, crunchy celery. The fiery, tangy dressing, which can be made a few hours ahead, provides a lively boost for the smoky, tender veggies. Leftover neonata keeps for a week and makes a great sandwich topping the next day.

Korean Cheeseburgers With Sesame-Cucumber Pickles
These double-stacked cheeseburgers bring all the savory-sweet flavors of grilled Korean barbecue. A garlicky scallion marinade helps build flavor three different ways: stirred into burger mix, brushed on the patties to form a glaze, and combined with mayonnaise to create a special sauce. The burgers are formed into thin patties, set on a baking sheet and broiled for maximum caramelization and weeknight ease. Roasted sesame oil rounds out tangy pickles and bolsters the burger with extra umami.

Sheet-Pan Crispy Pork Schnitzel
Schnitzel is a way of preparing thin slices of meat by breading and frying them until crisp. While the popular Viennese dish is traditionally made with thinly pounded veal, here, pounded pork cutlets are breaded and baked on a sheet pan — rather than fried in a skillet — until golden for an easy weeknight meal. The key to perfectly brown breadcrumbs is the addition of a few dollops of mayonnaise, which helps the coating crisp up during baking. A tangy salad offers fresh and bright notes that balance the rich pork. Look for whole hearts of palm (cylinders rather than sliced) for their firmer texture; the vegetable has a delicate flavor similar to artichokes, with a crunchy-creamy consistency.

Sheet-Pan Salmon and Eggplant With XO Sauce
XO sauce, a prized seafood condiment from Hong Kong, involves frying pricey dried shrimp and scallops with Chinese cured ham and aromatics until jammy and full of umami. This pantry-friendly version uses smoked mussels to replicate the seafood flavor without breaking the bank. The rich, sweet-salty sauce balances fatty salmon and silky eggplant, but the savory condiment has endless uses: Dollop it on scrambled eggs, fried rice, roasted veggies or noodles. Extra sauce can be refrigerated in an airtight container for one month.

Peanut Butter-Glazed Salmon and Green Beans
This fast and fun weeknight meal reveals an unexpected use for peanut butter, transforming it into a savory five-ingredient sauce. The pantry favorite is combined with tangy lemon juice, fragrant ginger and toasted sesame oil to create a rich, supernutty glaze that pairs well with fatty salmon. Here the salmon is roasted on a rack of green beans, but a bed of broccoli florets would be an excellent alternative. The sweet-salty glaze can be made a day ahead and brought to room temperature before using.

Sheet-Pan Sausage With Spring Onions, Potatoes and Mustard
Fresh spring onions make this effortless sausage and potato sheet-pan supper feel elegant, but you could just as easily use scallions, leeks or nearly any other member of the allium family. The spring onions and potatoes make the perfect bed for roasting: They prop up the sausages so they brown instead of steam, and they absorb the sausage drippings while doing so. A spicy, tangy mustard relish cuts the richness of the sausage and offsets the sweetness of the spring onions. Should you have leftovers, they are excellent tucked between slices of toasted bread smeared with plenty of mayonnaise and more mustard.

Salt and Pepper Shrimp Rolls
Inspired by jiao yan xia, the classic Chinese dish of head-on, fried shrimp finished with a Sichuan or white pepper salt seasoning, these shrimp rolls celebrate the flavors of salt and pepper. Peeled shrimp are seasoned, breaded with cornstarch and fried until super crunchy, then sprinkled with a black pepper-salt. Once cooked, they’re tucked into toasted rolls smeared with a zingy garlic mayo. Fresh cilantro, sliced chile and a squeeze of fresh lime brighten the hearty sandwich. Store any leftover pepper-salt in an airtight container and use it as a seasoning for roasted meats and vegetables.

Connecticut-Style Shrimp Rolls
This speedy seafood dish tucks butter-poached shrimp into warm toasted buns, reminiscent of summer and decadent lobster rolls. The butter sauce is lightly infused with garlic, and a final shower of chives brings mild and fresh onion notes that brighten the rich sauce. Allow the shrimp to simmer in the skillet slowly for the most tender, juicy results. Although chives are a classic choice, dill, parsley, tarragon or basil are all great options.

Brown-Butter Shrimp With Hazelnuts
Shrimp is an ideal weeknight ingredient, for both its versatility and its quick-cooking nature. This one-skillet meal pairs sweet shrimp with crunchy hazelnuts that are toasted in oil to awaken and refresh their rich, nutty flavor. Browned butter infused with garlic gently cooks the shrimp, keeping them tender and juicy, and a final addition of lemon juice turns the mixture into a tangy, rich pan sauce. Leftovers can be tossed with greens for a quick and satisfying salad, or used for a seafood-based fried rice.

Glass Noodles With Shrimp and Spicy Mustard Sauce
The secret pantry ingredient in this superfast, superflavorful noodle dish is Asian hot mustard powder. Mixed with equal parts water, the golden powder blooms into a pungent, spicy sauce. The noodles can be made a few hours ahead and served chilled or at room temperature. They will develop more flavor as they sit, though you should remove from the refrigerator 15 minutes before serving so that the noodles return to room temperature and soften. Jumbo shrimp cook in just a couple minutes, but precooked shrimp are also a convenient option. Eggs add a nice creamy texture that helps tame the hot mustard.

One-Pot Spanish-Style Shrimp and Chorizo Pasta
Fideos are very thin noodles that are traditionally cooked right in the sauce, allowing them to soak up maximum flavor. Both angel hair pasta and capellini are great substitutes if you don’t have access to Spanish fideos. To create a nutty, smoky layer, the noodles are first toasted with olive oil and chorizo. A good-quality bottled clam juice is important here, since it creates the briny broth that accentuates the shrimp and enhances the overall seafood flavor; the Bar Harbour brand has a very clean and naturally briny clam flavor.

Creamy Zucchini and Bacon Pasta
Zucchini, bacon and cheese come together to create a delightfully smoky, creamy weeknight pasta meal. Two pounds of chopped zucchini simmer in rendered bacon fat, absorbing the rich and salty-sweet flavors. You can use zucchini from your supermarket, or any combination of summer squash from the farmers’ market, like golden zucchini, crookneck or patty pan. A finish of butter and Parmesan enrich the sauce, adding lusciousness, and a squeeze of lemon brightens the dish.

Oden With Homemade Shrimp Balls
Oden is a comforting Japanese one-pot dish in which assorted fish cakes, vegetables, fried tofu and hard-boiled eggs are simmered in a dashi broth. Hondashi, bonito soup stock made from dried bonito and flavors of kombu, is a convenient pantry item that creates instant dashi. Homemade shrimp balls with fragrant ginger, garlic and scallions replace store-bought fish cakes in this version. As they poach alongside earthy mushrooms and daikon, the soup becomes fortified with deep seafood flavor. Inari-no-moto, found canned in most Asian markets, is deep-fried tofu that has been cooked in dashi, soy sauce and mirin until it softens and absorbs the sauce. The tofu adds texture and another layer of seasoning, but the hot pot is just as tasty without. Add udon noodles for a heartier meal.

Grilled Jerk Shrimp
Sweet shrimp are the perfect canvas for this spicy jerk seasoning made with fresh chiles, fragrant thyme, scallions, garlic and spices. After a quick 15-minute marinade, the shrimp cook in mere minutes, picking up great char and smoky flavor from the grill. (You can even mimic the results indoors by broiling the shrimp on a sheet pan 6 inches from the heat for about 4 minutes.) This recipe comes with a warning: This is a superhot rub. For less heat but still spicy results, use just one chile; for an even milder version, remove the seeds from the chile before blending it. Should you have any jerk shrimp leftovers, they are great tossed into salad or tucked into tacos the next day.

Eggplant Parmesan Pasta
The unassuming eggplant is the star of this comforting weeknight pasta that manages to capture the flavors of traditional eggplant Parmigiana without the fuss of frying, layering and baking. Cubed eggplant is browned with onion and garlic until golden, then simmered in a quick pantry-friendly tomato sauce until meltingly tender. Mezze rigatoni, fusilli and shells all do great jobs of capturing the thick sauce. The pasta is finished with slivers of fresh mozzarella that soften and offer cool, creamy bites, and a final sprinkling of a Parmesan bread-crumb topping offers familiar moments of crunch to contrast the creamy sauce.

Eggplant and Bean Chili
This rich vegetarian chili is made with meaty eggplant, red kidney beans (which create a hearty texture) and lentils (which create creaminess). Caramelized eggplant and sweet carrots simmer in a garlic-infused tomato sauce with classic chili spices until the eggplant breaks down into a saucy, savory ragù. The kidney beans retain some of their bite to balance the silky eggplant. Serve the chili with a toppings bar for a festive spread. Leftovers transform into a terrific meal with pasta the next day, reheated and tossed with spaghetti and grated Parmesan.

Sabich Bowls
The traditional Israeli sandwich known as sabich features fried eggplant that’s tucked into pitas and topped with sliced hard-boiled eggs, chopped tomato-cucumber salad, pickles, tahini sauce and sometimes shredded cabbage. This weeknight recipe turns the popular sandwich into a one-bowl meal that is prepared on a sheet pan. Eggplant and chickpeas are roasted side by side; the eggplant becomes tender and creamy while the chickpeas turn golden and crispy. Canned chickpeas do double duty: Some are a part of the roast, while the remaining beans transform into a luscious, garlicky tahini sauce. The eggplant mixture is served on top of rice in this recipe, but all sorts of grains would work, including bulgur, farro and quinoa.

Bacon, Egg and Cheese Fried Rice
Bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches and fried rice are each beloved for their simplicity and affordability, but also because they deliver great comfort and satisfaction. They typically offer a combination of salty meat, creamy eggs and a carb in the form of bread or rice, but each dish is infinitely adaptable. In this playful weeknight meal, the two come together. Rendered bacon fat is used to cook the dish’s components, infusing the vegetables and rice with smokiness. Eggs are beaten with nutty grated Parmesan to create rich, fluffy scrambled eggs that add an extra layer of savoriness to the dish. Any type of leftover rice will work, as would other leftover grains like farro or barley.

Coleslaw
This classic coleslaw recipe is also the simplest, with a light, creamy, tangy-sweet dressing spiked with celery seeds. For the best coleslaw, make it a few hours ahead and refrigerate it to allow all the flavors to marry and soak into the cabbage. Celery seeds add strong, aromatic, grassy notes, but simply skip them if they’re unavailable. For extra flair, you could add ½ cup of your favorite chopped fresh herb, such as parsley, tarragon or dill. Leftovers make a great topping for tacos, hot dogs, sliders and sandwiches.

Tofu and Cabbage Stir-Fry With Basil
Tofu and cabbage make ideal partners in a stir-fry, bringing contrasting soft and crisp textures. For best results, the tofu is pan-fried until golden, then stirred in at the end to maintain its shape and preserve its creamy texture. Scrambled eggs add fluffy bites, while fresh basil perfumes and brightens the dish. The hot mustard sauce complements the caramelized cabbage. Green cabbage is used here, but Napa or Savoy varieties are fantastic alternatives.

Roasted Salmon With Asparagus, Lemon and Brown Butter
Ready in just 15 minutes, this fast dinner combines silky salmon with a vibrant green medley of asparagus and peas. While the fish roasts, the vegetables and sauce come together in one pan on the stovetop. Thinly slicing the asparagus is the trick to maintaining a crisp texture that complements the tender salmon, while bright lemon juice and zingy capers balance the nutty brown butter sauce. Parsley is used here to finish, but dill or tarragon would also be lovely. Leftover vegetables make a fantastic omelet filling the next day.

Caramelized Brussels Sprouts Pasta With Toasted Chickpeas
This fast and satisfying vegetarian weeknight pasta packs in a whole pound of brussels sprouts. The mountain of shredded sprouts may seem like a lot, but like spinach, it will cook down. As the sprouts soften, they caramelize and naturally sweeten, losing any hints of bitterness. Chickpeas are toasted in olive oil until deep golden brown, crispy in spots and super toasty. They bring a nutty, earthy flavor to the dish, complementing the tangy capers and lemony sauce. Leftovers are tasty enjoyed cold like pasta salad, added to a frittata, or sautéed in olive oil until golden and topped with a fried egg.

Muffuletta Chopped Salad
This crisp, vibrant salad is inspired by muffuletta, a popular sandwich created in New Orleans and packed with cured meats, provolone cheese and a signature chunky olive relish. This salad’s pantry-driven vinaigrette comes together quickly, with briny olives, sweet roasted peppers, nutty provolone, cured deli meats and tangy pickled pepperoncini for mild heat. (To keep the salad vegetarian, simply omit the meat.) Fresh romaine lettuce and celery are combined with avocado and chickpeas to create both crunchy and creamy textures. This recipe makes a great side salad for pizza night, but it’s equally delicious served alongside rotisserie chicken or roasted salmon.