Dinner
8856 recipes found

Lamb Chops With Guajillo Chili Sauce and Charro Beans

Slow-Roasted Tomato Sauce With Pasta
Instead of standing over a bubbling cauldron all day long, wondering how many dots of sauce you can collect on your apron, let the oven do all the work. You’ll want to use canned tomatoes here, rather than fresh ones, because you can trust that the canned ones were picked at peak season, their flavors amplified by being preserved in a can with a little salt. By roasting them in a low oven for a few hours, you’re effectively adding umami to an already umami-packed ingredient. Well, the oven is. You’re not doing a thing except boiling some pasta, and eventually, marveling at how such a rich red sauce came from such humble, any-season ingredients.

Potato and White Bean Puttanesca Soup
Potatoes and cannellini beans provide the bulk in this hearty soup inspired by pasta puttanesca, while the garlicky tomato base is imbued with the briny punch of capers and black olives. The signature of puttanesca is heat, so adjust the amount of red-pepper flakes to your liking or use fresh chiles, if you have them. Reserve some of the olives and capers, and combine with parsley to make a topper that amplifies the sharp, bright flavors. Haphazardly mashing some of the beans and potatoes is an efficient way to thicken the soup, without the need for any additional equipment. In fact, it’s a great trick to have up your sleeve whenever you are looking to thicken soups or stews.

Spicy Stir-Fried Cabbage
This is a vegetarian version of a classic Chinese stir-fry. The authentic versions I’ve encountered include some pork or bacon, but the chilies, ginger, garlic, star anise and the cabbage are flavorful enough without meat. I’ve added carrots for color.

Vegetable Pajeon (Korean Scallion Pancakes With Vegetables)
Crisp at the edges, soft at the center and filled with scallions and other vegetables, these irresistible, comforting pancakes (adapted from Sohui Kim of Insa and the Good Fork restaurants in Brooklyn) make for a quick dinner that you can throw together on any given weeknight. It’s extremely forgiving, so feel free to use whatever vegetables you have on hand. Ms. Kim recommends finely shredded raw vegetables, or even leftover cooked vegetables. And if you don’t have the bandwidth to make a dipping sauce, a drizzle of soy sauce and squirt of Sriracha adds verve without any work. Serve pajeon by itself or topped with a fried egg or two, if you want to add protein.

North Carolina-Style Pulled Pork Barbecue

Garlicky Chicken With Lemon-Anchovy Sauce
There’s nothing wrong with a dinner of pan-seared chicken seasoned with salt and pepper. But there’s everything right about the same chicken when you add anchovies, capers, garlic and plenty of lemon to the pan. What was once timid and a little dull turns vibrant, tangy and impossible to stop eating. And the only real extra work is chopping the garlic and a little parsley for garnish. In this dish, the cut of chicken is less important than the pungent pan sauce. Most people will probably want to use the workhorse of all poultry dinners, the boneless, skinless breasts. But the thighs cook nearly as quickly, and have a greater margin of error in terms of doneness. Overcook your breasts by even a minute, and you’ll get dry, tough meat. Thighs are more forgiving. However, if your family insists on white meat, you can substitute breasts and subtract about 3 minutes from the cooking time. There is no need to mention the anchovies until after people have complimented you on the meal.

Pepperoni Pasta With Lemon and Garlic
Bits of chopped pepperoni crisp up almost like bacon when fried, with curled, browned edges and a savory, spicy bite. Here, they’re the foundation of a hearty pasta sauce that’s supremely satisfying and fast enough for a weeknight. Lemon, garlic and fennel seeds round out the flavors, and fresh herbs lend brightness. Taste the pepperoni before adding the optional red-pepper flakes. Depending on the brand of sausage, you might not need the extra kick. And if you don't have pepperoni on hand, any kind of salami will work.

Stir-Fried Beans With Tofu and Chiles
This crunchy, colorful stir-fry has an added kick from serrano chiles. I can’t resist buying an array of beans when they’re at summer farmers’ markets. I love to mix yellow and green beans in this crunchy, colorful stir-fry, but don’t hesitate to make it if all you can find is green. For added kick and color I threw in some serrano chiles from my garden that had ripened to bright red. Thai chiles will work too.

Spicy, Garlicky Cashew Chicken
A savory, fast weeknight meal, these drumsticks will roll off the broiler pan or grill juicy and burnished, and the cashew sauce is even more marvelous than most peanut satays. It has a salty, buttery richness that tames the heat from the chili, and a touch of sweetness from a dash of brown sugar.

Mussakhan (Roast Chicken With Sumac and Red Onions)
Among Palestinians, mussakhan is a beloved roast chicken dish, at once energetic and comforting. In this recipe, adapted from Yasmin Khan’s “Zaitoun: Recipes From the Palestinian Kitchen,” you’ll rub chicken thighs and drumsticks with spices, painting the skin a sumac-stained fuchsia. Marinate the meat with red onion for a few hours before roasting them in the oven, where the onions caramelize and absorb the chicken’s fragrant juices. It’s an ideal dish to share, one torn apart with your hands and topped with fried pine nuts, parsley and a generous dusting of sumac. Ms. Khan serves the chicken on toasted naan or taboon bread, which soak up the juices, but it's equally appealing alongside a salad or over a bed of rice.

Quick Jambalaya
This recipe makes quick work out of jambalaya by using leftover rice, and it tastes great with freshly cooked grains, too. To make this meal meatless, use vegan andouille sausage or stick with pork sausage, if you prefer. Either option, along with creole seasoning and the classic trinity of creole cooking — onion, celery and green bell pepper — result in a dish that is unmistakably Louisianan. Though many jambalaya recipes skip tomatoes, this version uses a blend of tomato paste and diced tomatoes to add bulk, and an acidity that helps lighten up the otherwise hearty one-pot meal.

Doro Wat (Ethiopian-Style Spicy Chicken)
Doro wat is a popular chicken dish in Ethiopia, and for Ethiopian Jews like Meskerem Gebreyohannes, it is also a fine centerpiece for a holiday like Hanukkah. Mrs. Gebreyohannes makes her doro wat with a Berbere spice mix imported from Ethiopia, but for this recipe, it is not needed, as the spices are listed individually. Doro wat is easy to make and can be prepared ahead of time. You can lower the heat by ratcheting up the sweet paprika, rather than the cayenne.

Taiwanese Meefun
Meefun is a stir-fried rice noodle dish very common in Taiwan, and many cooks always claim that their version is the best. Traditionally, meefun has dried shrimp, but this vegetarian rendition gets its umami from dried shiitake mushrooms and gains a little heft from eggs. It’s delicious when first made, but can also be served at room temperature, so it will travel well to a picnic or gathering.

St. John Beans and Bacon
The London chef Fergus Henderson specializes in making British classics even more delicious at his popular restaurant St. John. Here’s his fragrant, richly flavored version of traditional baked beans with salt pork, a dish that evolved into an American staple. Using lots of fresh herbs and a little canned tomato is the key; pass crusty bread at the table to mop up the sauce.

Spicy Beef Stir-Fry With Basil
This simple, delicious recipe for a spicy beef stir-fry comes from Leela Punyaratabandhu, a cookbook author who adapted it from Soei, a family-run restaurant in Bangkok. Using thinly sliced beef tenderloin means the dish is ready in just minutes, and you can adjust the heat to taste by reducing or increasing the number of fresh bird's-eye chiles. Made with fresh holy-basil leaves, the classic Thai dish is known as phat ka-phrao. If you can't find holy basil at a Thai market, Indian market or health food store, you could swap in more widely available Thai sweet basil (pictured), and make a dish of phat bai hora-pha. The dish could be one part of a larger meal or stand alone with some jasmine rice and a fried egg.

Provençal Veal Breast Stuffed With Swiss Chard
This Passover holiday recipe, an ancient jewel of Jewish Provençal cooking, feels modern with our new love of Swiss chard. It is traditional to use a whole veal breast with all the bones, but that makes for a giant roast by today’s standards. For this simplified but magnificent version, have a butcher trim, butterfly and remove the bones -- and save them to cook beside the meat, where they will add flavor and texture to the braise. The dish tastes best cooked a day ahead to allow the flavors to blend.

Mini Meatball Soup With Broccoli and Orecchiette
The little meatballs in this cozy soup are just half-teaspoon bits of Italian sausage that needn’t be rolled or browned before being plopped in. As the meatballs cook, the soup takes on the sausage's spices. This recipe is very adaptable: It calls for carrots and broccoli, but use whatever vegetables you wish. For the pasta, the tiny meatballs fit snugly in orecchiette, but feel free to use your favorite shape.

Thai-Inspired Chicken Meatball Soup
This stellar soup is reviving and cozy, made in one pot, and ready in 30 minutes. It starts with ginger-scented chicken-cilantro meatballs that are browned, then simmered in a fragrant coconut milk broth that’s inspired by tom kha gai, a Thai chicken-coconut soup seasoned with lemongrass, galangal, makrut lime leaves and chile. A heap of spinach is added for color and flavor, and a squeeze of lime adds brightness and punch. The soup is brothy, so serve it over rice or another grain to make it a full meal.

Sajiyeh
Eid al-Adha is synonymous with meat across the Arab world, and, for many, the bonanza starts at breakfast with different braised cuts. Lunch can be more elaborate, with charcoal grilled meats, a whole sheep roast in an underground oven or stuffed lamb. Sajiyeh, a simple Jordanian and Palestinian dish of bite-size pieces of meat, is cooked in a saj pan — which is similar to a wok or cast-iron pan — over a wooden or charcoal grill. Cooking over fire does add a certain smoky aroma, but this version made on the stovetop in a cast-iron skillet very closely approximates the flavor with a fraction of the effort, making it more accessible to home cooks. It is best eaten with saj bread, which falls somewhere between naan and flour tortillas, so either of those would be a good substitute, as would pita.

Any Fish Jorim
Fish jorims, braises such as eundaegu (black cod) and godeungeo (mackerel), are staples of Korean home cooking. This easy variation highlights the aromatic flavor of soy sauce, garlic and ginger, a combination that seeps into bone-in, skin-on fish. Steaks of black cod, mackerel and salmon work best here, as they seem almost to melt into rich silkiness, but you could use whatever fatty fish and cut you like. The whole red radishes in this recipe, replacing the more typical Korean radish slabs, gently boil in the salty-sweet liquid until tender, lending their vegetal sweetness to the velvety broth. A barely steamed, basically raw relish of scallions, red onion and jalapeño adds freshness and crunch.

Artichoke Carbonara
Like most traditional Italian dishes, pasta alla carbonara, quintessentially Roman, employs a minimum of simple ingredients to create a hearty and delicious meal. Guanciale provides salt and fat, while Pecorino Romano and egg yolks mixed with pasta water — a prized Italian secret — help create the velvety sauce. To truly gild the lily, consider a raw egg yolk on top of the pasta. Artichokes, a Roman favorite, come to this dish to soak up the flavors of the guanciale while melting into the pasta. The traditional pasta used in trattorias is tonnarelli, but spaghetti or bucatini are perfect substitutes.

Stir-Fried Tofu and Peppers
This attractive stir-fry is inspired by a traditional Chinese dish called rainbow beef. The vegetarian version works well, and it’s also easier to make. If you prefer a very firm tofu, take the extra time to weight it as directed in step 1. I am happy to skip this step and use firm tofu that hasn’t been weighted.

Baked Mustard-Herb Chicken Legs
“A model of simplicity” is how Mark Bittman described this 2004 recipe from the San Francisco chef Gary Danko. Painted with mustard and tossed in an herbed mix of bread crumbs, they go right into an oven, to be pulled out about 30 minutes later. It’s dinner party-worthy fare, made just as easily on a weeknight.