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15 recipes found
Pork Tenderloin With Chickpeas, Tomatoes and Oregano Vinaigrette
This easy sheet-pan meal starts by roasting pork, cherry tomatoes and chickpeas with nothing more than oil, salt and pepper. No need to brown the meat first; you’ll get plenty of flavor from the punchy combination of oregano, garlic, oil and vinegar that is poured over everything after roasting. As the pork rests, its juices mingle with the vinaigrette and roasted tomatoes to form a sauce for the tender meat and plumped chickpeas. Serve it alongside a green salad, grains or orzo, a spoonful of Greek yogurt, crumbled feta or a pita warmed in the hot oven.
Crispy Baked Tomato-Oregano Chicken
Baked in the oven and sealed with a layer of tomato paste and yogurt, this chicken — your choice: breasts or thighs — stays juicy as it cooks on top of a bed of tomatoes. The tomatoes deflate and collapse, becoming a little saucy, as the panko and Parmesan layer on top of the chicken crisps and melts. To maximize this dish’s appeal to kids and crowds alike, it doesn’t have any heat, but red-pepper flakes would be a welcome addition, as would grated garlic or chopped basil. You can serve the chicken with rice or bread, to soak up the pan juices, or bring it as is to picnics and potlucks.
Chicken Piccata Meatballs
Inspired by the flavors of piccata, these chicken meatballs are seasoned with capers, garlic and oregano and pan-roasted until golden. The pan drippings are used to create a quick and tangy lemon-butter pan sauce. The secret to these plump, tender meatballs is the panade, bread crumbs soaked in milk until softened and folded into the meat mixture. Serve the meatballs with pasta and any simply roasted vegetable, like broccoli, green beans or bell peppers.
Broccoli Rice With Eggs
This simple one-pot broccoli rice is a cozy weeknight option that will delight both adults and children alike. When cooking a simple bowl of rice, adding oil and salt to the cooking water is an easy way to bring indulgence, and, in Cantonese home kitchens, this is often a way to repurpose oil previously used for deep-frying. Oil imparts a silky mouthfeel to the rice while preventing the rice from sticking, resulting in slick, pearly, separated grains. Finely chopped, crisp-tender broccoli adds a fresh, subtle sweetness and hearty texture to the rice. Complete the dish with a hearty fried egg, drizzled with an easy soy sauce and oil seasoning to add savoriness that is not overly salty. If you’re lucky enough to have any leftover broccoli rice, it can easily be repurposed into fried rice.
Tomato and Egg Noodles
Inspired by the beloved, homestyle Chinese dish stir-fried tomato and eggs, this recipe takes a fresh approach by using uncooked tomatoes. While the kid-friendly, sweet-and-salty flavor profile of the original dish is present here, the seasoning of salt, sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil also doubles as a quick pickling liquid for the tomatoes, softening them and drawing out their tangy juice. The ginger is recommended, but is optional to accommodate picky palates. Soft eggs are the key, so cook them quickly and briefly, and add them straight to the tomatoes as soon as they are ready to stop them from cooking further. The tomatoes can be marinated up to 24 hours ahead and stored in the refrigerator, which can draw out even more flavor. (If doing this, bring the tomatoes back to room temperature for 30 minutes before adding the eggs and noodles.) This dish is best served at room temperature.
Sheet-Pan Honey Mustard Chicken and Broccoli
When a marinade does the heavy lifting, throwing together dinner turns into a breeze. This sweet, tangy honey-Dijon blend coats freshly chopped broccoli and skinless chicken thighs. The broccoli florets and stems are separated, and the stems are peeled and sliced into thin coins, which helps them cook at the same rate as the other ingredients. To ensure perfectly tender broccoli, the sheet pan gets tightly wrapped in aluminum foil to trap in steam. Once the chicken and broccoli are partially cooked, uncover, then douse in more honey mustard. This second round of sauce gets charred, sticky and caramelized under the broiler. Since this recipe requires so few ingredients, it can be a versatile blank canvas that invites experimentation. Substitute some of the olive oil with toasted sesame oil and top with toasted sesame seeds for a nuttier flavor; replace some of the honey with hot honey; or simply top with lemon zest and juice at the end for the brightest results.
Cheesy Gnocchi With Corn and Pesto
Tasty and effortless, store-bought gnocchi offers a much-needed shortcut for busy weeknight dinners. You can bypass boiling a pot of water for the gnocchi, and instead simply give them a quick sear over high heat, which creates perfectly crispy edges. Toss the crispy gnocchi with lots of sweet, fresh corn kernels, prepared pesto and a hefty sprinkle of grated cheese, and broil until the cheese gets bubbly, gooey and slightly charred in spots. The molten cheese brings all the ingredients together, but a high ratio of corn to dumpling and the bright basil in the pesto keep this dish light enough for summer.
Dan Dan Noodle Salad
Turns out, dan dan noodles work well as a salad, in this recipe adapted from my cookbook “Linger: Salads, Sweets and Stories to Savor” (Knopf, 2025), as the signature punchy sauce made with sesame paste and chile oil transforms nicely into an assertive dressing. Curly and chewy ramen noodles cling perfectly to the sauce, but you could really use any noodle you like, including instant noodles, udon or thick rice noodles. Adapt this salad throughout the year by adding seasonal vegetables such as mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, sugar snap peas, snow peas, spinach or green beans.
Tofu and Broccoli
Salty with soy sauce and spiced with fresh ginger, this tofu and broccoli dish captures the comforting flavors of your favorite takeout, but can be made fresh, with minimal effort, at home. It comes together in no time and is incredibly satisfying. Tofu lightly tossed in cornstarch and then crisped up absorbs the simple soy-and-sugar glaze to create the most satisfying texture. And the lightly charred broccoli only deepens the flavor. Serve it over a bed of steamed rice for an inexpensive dinner that is as quick as it is delicious.
Roasted Cabbage and Butter Beans
Ribbons of cabbage are roasted until they are sweet and caramelized then tossed with butter beans, garlic and anchovies and finished with fresh parsley; the details make this dish surprisingly flavorful for such a simple ingredient list. An easy and affordable way to get dinner on the table, this recipe makes a hearty main dish served with hunks of crusty bread, or a hardworking side dish next to your favorite protein. If you cannot find butter beans, cannellini beans make a perfect (though smaller) substitute. If you are seeking a vegetarian alternative, a few tablespoons of chopped capers make a great substitute for the flavor that the anchovies add.
Coconut Creamed Spinach With Chicken Thighs
In this creamed spinach skillet dinner, the nostalgic steakhouse side takes center stage. For a lighter, streamlined version, canned coconut milk replaces the rich dairy elements like cream cheese, milk or heavy cream. The sauce follows in the footsteps of a classic béchamel sauce, with some ingredient changes made along the way, like using schmaltz instead of butter for the roux and replacing the whole milk with creamy coconut milk. Enriched with shallots and garlic, and spiced with a dash of nutmeg, the sauce is then mixed with thawed frozen spinach. After simmering the seared chicken thighs in the coconut creamed spinach, they get broiled with a sprinkle of coconut flakes, which bring a boost of texture and cohesiveness to the dish. Serve with toasted bread for a comforting weeknight meal.
Chicken and Broccoli Rabe Pasta
The combination of pasta, garlic and olive oil has long been one of the best ways to feed many mouths with ease. Here, that garlicky pasta is joined by browned chunks of chicken, tender and bitter broccoli rabe and spicy cherry peppers. Browning boneless, skinless chicken breast takes little effort if done right — the key is to not overcrowd the pan. The chicken cooks through quickly, so sautéing it in batches adds minimal time and maximum flavor to this recipe. Feel free to use broccolini instead of broccoli rabe, sweet cherry peppers instead of spicy or even another short pasta instead of cavatelli — just don’t skip the freshly grated Parmesan on top.
Miso Eggplant Salad With Chickpeas
The flawless flavor pairing found in the popular Japanese dish miso-glazed eggplant serves as inspiration for this bold and textural salad. For high-temperature roasting, cutting the eggplant into chunky pieces optimizes golden, crisp edges with a buttery and silky interior. The vinaigrette is a standout, punchy from the ginger, intensely savory from the miso, with a sweet hum from the mirin. The simplicity of a salad founded on just eggplant and chickpeas makes this an excellent weeknight option, but there are also many ways to add more heft: Incorporate a few handfuls of spinach, add some pan-fried or baked tofu, or toss with some cold soba noodles.
Vegan Banana Olive Oil Muffins
It’s hard to beat the convenience of a grab-and-go treat, and these banana olive oil muffins check all the boxes: They can be a quick breakfast, a midday snack, or a simple dessert. They’re accidentally vegan, relying solely on overripe bananas and bright, citrusy extra-virgin olive oil for a moist, tender crumb. Warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla are added to enhance the sweet banana flavor, alongside molasses-packed dark brown sugar. A sprinkle of turbinado sugar and flaky salt sprinkled over the muffins before baking ensures an irresistible sweet-and-salty crunch in each bite. For the perfect level of sweetness, using very ripe, soft and spotty bananas is a must, as they come with a significantly higher sugar content.
