Dinner
8856 recipes found
Vegan Dan Dan Noodles With Eggplant
Sichuan dan dan noodles are traditionally made with ground pork, a spicy sauce and sui mi ya cai, or pickled vegetables, but this vegan version features pan-fried eggplant in place of the meat. Cutting the eggplant into relatively chunky pieces and covering the pot with a lid while cooking is the key to achieving the right texture: It locks in moisture, ensures that the pieces don’t fall apart, and allows the flesh to become tender and smoky. Once tossed with the noodles and sauce, the eggplant breaks up and becomes creamy. If you don’t have tahini, you can substitute it with smooth peanut butter or almond butter.
Coconut-Lime Shrimp
You can make this gingery, lightly sweet shrimp stew as tangy and spicy as you like by adjusting the amounts of chile and lime juice. Using full-fat coconut milk gives you the richest and most flavorful dish. But light coconut milk will also work, resulting in something brothier and more souplike. Be sure not to overcook the shrimp. As soon as they turn pink, they’re done.
Cast-Iron Steak
This isn't steakhouse steak; it's your-house steak, ideal for home cooks who want fast weeknight meals. The rules are simple: buy boneless cuts (they cook evenly), thinner steaks (they cook through on top of the stove), dry them well (to maximize crust), then salt and sear them in an insanely hot, preferably cast-iron pan. The recipe here is a radical departure from the conventional wisdom on steak, which commands you to salt the meat beforehand, put it on the heat and then leave it alone. Instead, you should salt the pan (not the meat) and flip the steak early and often. This combination of meat, salt, heat and cast-iron produces super-crusty and juicy steak — no grilling, rubbing, or aging required.
Large White Bean, Tuna and Spinach Salad
You could use canned cannellini beans for this, but I love the size and texture of large white limas. I don’t soak limas because the skins tend to detach and the beans fall apart when you cook them. You want them intact for this, but you also need to make sure to cook them all the way through.
Curried Rice and Quinoa Salad
For a salad to make a meal, it should contain something more substantial, like grains, beans or potatoes, or protein-rich ingredients like cheese, fish or eggs. Poach an egg, place it atop a generous serving of frisée salad tossed with croutons, herbs and a tart vinaigrette, and you’ve got lunch or a light dinner. A spinach salad with green beans can be transformed into a comforting and nourishing meal when warm potatoes tossed with vinaigrette and feta are added to the mix. I’ve made this mixed-grains salad using both regular brown rice and brown basmati rice. I like the lightness of the basmati brown rice, but I also enjoy the chewiness of regular brown rice.
Ludo Lefebvre’s Roasted-Carrot Salad
At Petit Trois, the tiny restaurant in Los Angeles where the chef Ludo Lefebvre serves bistro classics to the film industry and food-obsessed, this salad serves as an appetizer. But it works just as well spread across a platter as a light dinner or lunch, and pairs well with a fresh baguette and a glass of chilled red wine. Toasting the cumin for the carrots and the crème fraîche is very important, but don’t worry if you can’t find all the herbs for the garnish. Just one or two will bring pleasure.
Lemony Spinach Soup With Farro
Hearty enough to serve for dinner, but full of a salad’s worth of vibrant dark-leafed greens, this soup is both satisfyingly and extremely verdant. Puréeing a little potato into the broth adds creaminess and body, while chile and lemon juice make it bright and spicy. If you don’t have farro, you can leave it out, or substitute 2 cups of cooked rice (either brown or white). Farro adds a nice chewy texture and some heft to the bowl, but isn’t strictly necessary.
Tacos Dorados de Papa (Potato Tacos)
Everyone loves crispy potato tacos. Throughout Mexico, there are a variety of recipes with different ingredients, preparation styles and garnishes that make this dish unique in each household. In this version, cooked potatoes are seasoned with tomato, onion and garlic for an extra flavor, then topped with sour cream and cabbage coated in lemon juice for the perfect balance of creaminess and crunch. You could also pair the potatoes with cooked soyrizo for an even more memorable plant-based meal — make these your own with the fillings and garnishes you have on hand. Boil the potatoes ahead of time and store them in the fridge for up to a week until ready to use to make this an even quicker weeknight meal.
Tea Eggs
In the 18th century, the Qing dynasty scholar Yuan Mei wrote about cooking eggs in a solution of tea leaves and salt in “The Way of Eating.” Now, tea eggs are prepared throughout China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and in diaspora communities the world over. Known for their marbled design and savory soy flavor, the eggs are boiled, then cracked and soaked in tea blended with spices. The liquid seeps beneath the cracks to form fine lines all over the eggs while seasoning them. You can also simply marinate them without their shells and end up with a more robust taste. Adjust the seasonings below to your taste, if you like, and then enjoy the eggs on their own with a cup of tea or any way you would enjoy boiled eggs — in rice bowls, noodles, salads and other vegetable dishes.
Beans and Greens Stew With Doenjang
In this deeply comforting stew, the hardest part is washing and chopping the greens, which is to say, not very hard. Earthy-sweet Swiss chard, especially rainbow chard, tastes beautiful here, but coarsely chopped spinach, kale, mustard or radish greens, napa cabbage or broccoli rabe would be lovely, too. Canned cannellini beans, crushed lightly with a wooden spoon, thicken the gentle, savory broth. The key to this dish lies in how you layer each ingredient into the pot: The onion and scallions are first browned to start an umami-rich base; the Korean fermented soybean paste, doenjang (see Tip), is bloomed in oil to awaken its deep, salty funkiness; and then the honey is caramelized slightly for sweetness and floral complexity. To get vegetarian recipes like this one delivered to your inbox, sign up for The Veggie newsletter.
Orange and Radish Salad With Pistachios
Before I put this salad together, I could imagine how it would feel and taste in my mouth: the juicy, sweet oranges playing against the crisp, pungent radishes. The combination was inspired by an orange, radish and carrot salad in Sally Butcher’s charming book “Salmagundi: A Celebration of Salads From Around the World.” The salad is a showcase for citrus, which is in season in California. Navels are particularly good right now, both the regular variety and the darker pink-fleshed Cara Cara oranges that taste like a cross between an orange and a pink grapefruit. I fell in love with blood oranges when I lived in Paris years ago, and although the Moro variety that we get in the United States doesn’t have quite as intense a red-berry flavor as the Mediterranean fruit, its color is hard to resist. Here I use a combination of blood oranges and navels, and a beautiful mix of red and purple radishes and daikon. Dress this bright mixture with roasted pistachio oil, which has a mild nutty flavor that marries beautifully with the citrus. Put the prepared oranges and radishes in separate bowls and use a slotted spoon to remove the orange slices from the juices. Just before serving, arrange the oranges and radishes on a platter or on plates, spoon on the dressing and juices, and sprinkle with pistachios. You can also layer the elements, undressed, and pour on the liquids right before serving. For a juicier version, skip the slotted spoon and toss all of the ingredients together for a quenching salad that is best served in bowls.
Silken Tofu With Crunchy Lettuce and Fried Shallots
Built like Japanese hiyayakko, in which cold, pudding-like tofu is heaped with toppings, this 20-minute dish is lively with contrasting textures and temperatures. Here, crunchy lettuces dressed with soy sauce, vinegar and seasoned oil are piled atop cold silken tofu, then scattered with crispy fried shallots and jalapeño. Eat the dish on its own, with rice or fish, and maybe a cold beer.
Pressure Cooker Porcini Risotto
This recipe, adapted from the slow-cooking maven Lorna Sass, proves that pressure cookers shouldn’t be associated with overcooked food. The rice turns out perfectly in the end, and you save a lot of time and effort. It’s finished off with peas for a bit of color, and the usual cheese, salt and pepper. It’s a meal that will justify buying that pressurized pot.
Air-Fryer Sweet Potato Fries
Like air-fryer French fries, air-fryer sweet potatoes achieve similar success, utilizing less oil and requiring less time than deep-fried versions. While sweet potato fries won’t crisp up as much as their potato counterparts, that’s part of the appeal, offering textural contrast of creamy centers and charred tips. Oomph from any of your favorite spices would work well here, along with the paprika. Sumac could add a punch of brightness or a dash of cayenne can impart some heat. If your air fryer basket is larger, try a bigger sweet potato for a higher serving — but don’t overfill it with sweet potatoes, or they’ll steam rather than crisping in spots.
Pressure Cooker Pot Roast
This is a classic, comforting pot roast, rich with red wine and onions. A pressure cooker works wonders on tough cuts of meat like the chuck roast called for here; the roast is braised to tenderness in a fraction of the time it would take in the oven. The trick to this perfectly cooked meal is timing: Pop the vegetables into the pressure cooker just for the last few minutes of cooking, so they are tender but not overly softened. The optional quick-pickled onions give the mellow beef and sweet vegetables an appealing tangy pop. If you’re short on time, you don’t need to thicken the cooking liquid to make a gravy; just drizzle some pan juice over the top and call it a day.
Pressure Cooker White Bean-Parmesan Soup
A pressure cooker renders dried beans buttery soft in a fraction of the time the stovetop would take. For this recipe, seek out whole wheat berries — not hulled or pearled — because they stand up to the long cook time, developing a pleasant chewiness while maintaining their shape. You can substitute whole farro or spelt, but make sure the farro is not pearled. The key to this soup’s flavor is the Parmesan rind, which infuses the soup with an earthy saltiness. Finally, don’t forget the finishing touches of lemon and parsley: They add brightness and bring other deeper flavors into sharper focus. You can also make this recipe in a slow cooker. Find that recipe here.
Ponzu Tofu and Mushroom Rice Bowls
This quick, satisfying tofu and mushroom rice bowl uses citrusy ponzu sauce in two ways: first, to infuse the tofu as it cooks, then as a final bright drizzle over the rice. Japanese citrus (usually yuzu or sudachi) imparts tart, tangy flavor that complements and lightens soy sauce. (Some brands of ponzu contain bonito seasoning, which gives the sauce a slightly smoky flavor. Bonito flakes are made from dried and smoked skipjack tuna, and are commonly used to make dashi, a Japanese stock. If following a vegan diet, reach for a fish-free version of ponzu.) Tofu and mushrooms simmer in the zippy garlic and ginger-infused ponzu and absorb all of the aromas, with a final addition of snow peas for fresh crunch. Use any baby green or a mix; spinach, kale and mesclun are all great options.
Grilled Broccoli With Soy Sauce, Maple Syrup and Balsamic Vinegar
This is a no-recipe recipe, a recipe without an ingredients list or steps. It invites you to improvise in the kitchen. This is good one to have in your back pocket when you’re cooking burgers and dogs on the grill; it’s a no-recipe version of a dish that I first learned of from the Brooklyn restaurateur Joe Carroll. Toss broccoli florets in equal parts soy sauce and balsamic vinegar, a generous dash of maple syrup and a splash of neutral oil, then grill (or broil) until they’re soft and crunchy. Serve them under a scattering of red-pepper flakes and sesame seeds, or use furikake, a Japanese seasoning blend that contains, in addition to sesame, chopped seaweed, sugar, salt and, occasionally, monosodium glutamate. Never mind hot dogs or anything else, actually. I could go for that broccoli on white rice and call it dinner, full stop. Sam Sifton features a no-recipe recipe every Wednesday in his What to Cook newsletter. Sign up to receive it. You can find more no-recipe recipes here.
Chicken With Caramelized Onions and Croutons
This is a no-recipe recipe, a recipe without an ingredients list or steps. It invites you to improvise in the kitchen. This idea came to me from the great New York Times food reporter Julia Moskin. Scatter a bunch of sliced onions and shallots across the oiled bottom of a large pan, then put a bunch of chicken thighs on top, skin-side up. Season the thighs with salt and pepper, then slide the pan into a 425-degree oven to roast until the chicken is crisp on top and cooked through, about 35 minutes. Shake the pan every so often, and add wine or stock if the onions are browning too fast. Meanwhile, make some croutons from good, chewy olive-oil-tossed bread, toasting them until golden in a pan or in the oven alongside the chicken. They can be cut or torn up — no matter. Put the croutons on a warm platter, dump the contents of the roasting pan over the top and arrange the chicken on top of that, mixed with bitter greens. Boy howdy. Sam Sifton features a no-recipe recipe every Wednesday in his What to Cook newsletter. Sign up to receive it. You can find more no-recipe recipes here.
Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes With Sour Cream and Chives
This recipe gives you everything you want in a dish of mashed potatoes: supreme creaminess from both butter and sour cream, a deep potato flavor, a little Parmesan for a salty tang, and chives for color and freshness. That said, if you want to bring the fat content down, you can use less butter (as little as 2 tablespoons will still work). But don’t skimp on the sour cream, which is necessary for both flavor and texture. This is one of 10 recipes from Melissa Clark’s “Dinner in an Instant: 75 Modern Recipes for Your Pressure Cooker, Multicooker, and Instant Pot” (Clarkson Potter, 2017). Melissa Clark’s “Dinner in an Instant” is available everywhere books are sold. Order your copy today.
Italian Subs With Sausage and Peppers
This is a no-recipe recipe, a recipe without an ingredients list or steps. It invites you to improvise in the kitchen. For these subs, you'll start with the onions, slicing two big sweet ones and setting them in a hot pan with a couple of gurgles of olive oil. Season with salt, black pepper and a shake of red-pepper flakes, then cook over medium heat, stirring and tossing occasionally so that they go golden and soft. This’ll take a while. Add a couple of sliced bell peppers to the pan, and continue cooking, still stirring and tossing, until they begin to wilt. Set the vegetables aside. About halfway through, set some sweet Italian sausages in another hot, oil-slicked pan, and cook them through until crisp and brown on the exterior, turning often. Split your sub rolls (I like the sesame-seeded variety here) and scrape out a little of the interior from each. Load one side of each roll with some of the onions and peppers, the other with a sausage. Top with mozzarella, put the open sandwiches on a sheet pan and slide them all into a hot oven for five minutes or so, until the cheese is melted and the bread is lightly toasted. Fold together and serve. Sam Sifton features a no-recipe recipe every Wednesday in his What to Cook newsletter. Sign up to receive it. You can find more no-recipe recipes here.
Pressure Cooker Sweet Potato-Coconut Curry Soup
This creamy soup makes the most of a few supermarket staples: red curry paste, coconut milk and peanut butter. Since curry pastes vary in heat and salt, be sure to taste this soup at the end and adjust the flavor as you like. The rich soup is quite thick, so if you prefer a looser soup, stir in a little extra water until it reaches your ideal consistency. Chile-lime flavored peanuts, available at some grocery stores, are particularly good for topping, but roasted salted peanuts also work beautifully. Find the slow-cooker version of this recipe here.
Slow-Cooker Curried Sweet Potato Soup With Coconut and Kale
This creamy Thai-inspired soup is all about balance: When the contrasting flavors are in harmony, it is outrageously delicious. (It is also vegan if there’s no fish or shrimp in your curry paste.) Supermarket curry pastes are a great shortcut to flavor for weeknights, but salt and spice levels can vary greatly among brands. So taste at the end, and adjust: You may need to add curry paste, sugar or lime juice to your liking. Chile-lime flavored peanuts, available at some grocery stores, are particularly good for topping — snap them up if you happen to see them. Otherwise, roasted salted peanuts will work beautifully.
Mississippi Roast
An Internet darling of a pot roast recipe, a favorite of mom bloggers and Pinterest, Mississippi Roast is traditionally made by placing a chuck roast in a slow cooker and simmering it beneath a stick of butter, a package of ranch dressing mix, another of “au jus” gravy mix and a handful of pepperoncini. And you can certainly cook it that way. The raves are justified. But replacing the packaged mixes is no real chore, and it results in a luscious tangle of deliciously tangy beef that goes beautifully with mashed or roasted potatoes or egg noodles, or as a hot-sandwich filling. Cooking time will vary depending on the size of your roast and the effectiveness of your slow cooker. But six to eight hours generally does the trick. (If you're in the market for a slow-cooker, our colleagues at The Wirecutter have spent a great deal of time testing them. Check out their guide to the best on the market.)