Dinner
8856 recipes found
Adas Polo ba Khorma (Persian Lentil Rice With Dates)
Lentils and rice scented with warm spices and strewn with fried onions is a classic Persian dish with infinite variations. This minimalist take, from Nasim Alikhani, the owner of Sofreh restaurant in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, keeps things quick and simple, and uses just a few pantry-friendly ingredients. The lentils and rice are cooked together in the same pot, then layered with a mixture of caramelized onions and plump, sweet dates, as well as chopped fresh herbs for brightness. A dollop of yogurt on top adds a tart and creamy touch. Feel free to riff on this basic recipe, adding nuts for crunch, stirring in other spices like cardamom, ginger and saffron, and substituting the likes of raisins, dried apricots or dried cranberries for the dates. At Sofreh, the dish is finished with a dash of rosewater and melted butter for extra richness and perfume.
Spiced Chicken With Sweet Potatoes
This sheet-pan recipe cooks chicken thighs much like roast chicken, setting the thighs in the center of a pan to cook slowly, seasoning the surrounding vegetables with their drippings as they turn golden. The chicken thus cooks in the oven, undisturbed — ideal for multitasking needs and tired nights — until the skin is impossibly crisp. It’s not necessary to push the vegetables around halfway, as the exposed parts might look crisped, but inside they are soft and full of delicious flavor as they cook in a light, mustard-flavored broth that ensures sauciness. Substitute other hearty vegetables like potatoes, brussels sprouts or mix and match with what you have lingering in the fridge.
Miso Leeks With White Beans
In this reinterpretation of the classic French dish leeks vinaigrette, tender braised leeks are bathed in a punchy miso vinaigrette, tossed with creamy white beans then served with an oozy soft egg for an easy, comforting midweek meal. Steady, gentle heat is the key to achieving the rich, jamlike leeks, coaxing out their sweetness while ensuring that they stay silky. The miso leeks can also be eaten in other ways — on a slice of toast, stirred through warm potatoes or pasta, or tossed with French lentils and peppery arugula for a simple salad. Make sure you use the whole leek. Many recipes recommend the white part only, but the green parts, while slightly tougher with a stronger flavor, can also be cooked and tenderized, especially in recipes where they are braised. The miso leeks improve over time and can be prepared up to 3 days ahead and stored in the fridge.
Skillet Pasta With Bacon and Eggs
Emulsifying creamy carbonara sauce can feel trickier than treading a tightrope, but this skillet pasta recipe fulfills those cravings with ease, and all in one pan. Start by searing some sliced bacon until crisp, toasting orzo in the rendered bacon fat, then simmering with stock until pasta is al dente. Next, you’ll stir in a few handfuls of Parmesan, then crack eggs right into the nearly cooked pasta. The whites will cook until creamy, but the yolks should remain runny, so that as you eat, the yolk mingles with the pasta for silky spoonfuls.
Kielbasa-Barley Soup
When the beef in beef and barley soup gets replaced with kielbasa, the soup becomes speedy enough for a weeknight. Full of smoke and spice, kielbasa sausage is wonderful in stews (just look at bigos, a national dish of Poland) and its bounciness is especially fun when contrasting with chewy barley. The barley thickens the broth into something velvety, while a substantial amount of dill brightens the cozy mix. If you’d like to incorporate a green vegetable, add thinly sliced collard greens or cabbage along with the broth in Step 2.
Herb-Marinated Pork Chops
Perfect for low-fuss weeknight meals, thin, boneless pork chops cook up in no time. To infuse these chops with the maximum amount of flavor, marinate them after cooking rather than before. A short, 15-minute soak in the zesty garlic-and-herb vinaigrette allows them to absorb all of the bright, herbaceous notes — and helps ensure that the meat stays juicy. Serve the versatile chops and sauce with roasted veggies, alongside a simple green salad (no need for a separate dressing), or tucked into rolls for sandwiches.
Orange-Glazed Baked Salmon
Baking salmon gently at a low temperature is a low-effort approach that results in a flaky, moist piece of fish. This simple preparation utilizes oranges, but lemons would work nicely, too. You’ll reduce some fresh orange juice in a skillet to concentrate its flavor, then whisk in some honey to sweeten. The glaze gets drizzled over the salmon before baking, but also doubles as a dressing for salad greens. Keep this dish simple, with just its side of greens, or pair this easy weeknight meal with cilantro rice or olive oil mashed potatoes.
Sticky Chicken and Brussels Sprouts Stir-Fry
If teriyaki chicken and balsamic brussels sprouts met up in the skillet, you’d get this quick weeknight stir-fry. Cubes of boneless chicken breasts and seared brussels sprouts are glazed in a sweet, savory, sticky mixture of balsamic vinegar, soy sauce and maple syrup. The recipe is adaptable, too: Instead of brussels sprouts, any other vegetable you like in your stir-fries can be seared until crisp-tender, like broccoli florets, green beans or snow peas. For spice, add crushed red pepper or chopped garlic or ginger to the sauce. You can also make this vegan by using pressed, cubed tofu instead of chicken. Serve over steamed rice or sweet potatoes.
Crispy Smashed Sweet Potatoes
With charred skin and crispy bits, this irresistible side dish embodies the beloved dichotomy of smashed potatoes or tostones — soft inside and crunchy outside — but with the natural sweetness of the sweet potato. The key is to cut the sweet potatoes at just the right thickness — about ½ inch — so they can spread out when smashed. The optional step of sprinkling a thin layer of cheese on top before the final broil gives each piece a slight salty finish, with additional texture: Any bits that fall onto the pan become crisp and frico-like. A tangy, lime-mustard-yogurt dip or drizzle would also be welcomed.
Roasted Kale and Sweet Potatoes With Eggs
This sheet-pan meal of buttery sweet potatoes, kale chips, jammy eggs and toasted coconut feels like it comes together by magic simply by staggering the times the ingredients are layered onto the pan. Because thick slices of sweet potato take longer to cook through, they roast first, before the more delicate kale, eggs and coconut are added. The eggs cook in a nest of curly kale leaves that hold them in place. Drizzle everything with a creamy, punchy sauce like the one here, made from just peanut butter and harissa — or, use mint chutney, green goddess dressing or miso-sesame vinaigrette. Serve over grains, quinoa or couscous for a complete, satisfying meal.
Cheddar-Roasted Broccoli
With frizzled florets and crisp-tender stems, roasted broccoli is pretty delicious on its own. Follow Step 1 if you need a go-to basic method, or keep going for broccoli all dressed up in lacy skirts of Cheddar. Store-bought grated cheese will work, but freshly grated cheese will have an easier time surrendering to the heat of the oven. Let the cheese go past melted to just golden brown, at which point it will crisp into chips on your florets. Serve the broccoli alongside chicken cutlets, sausage or refried beans — or eat it straight from the sheet pan with your fingers.
Roasted Root Vegetables With Hot Honey
In this one-method-fits-all recipe, turn any combination of sturdy root vegetables into caramelized morsels. Whether you have carrots, beets, turnips, potatoes or sweet potatoes, rutabagas or any other root vegetables hibernating in your kitchen, cut them into pieces roughly the same size and cook them together on a sheet pan. Roasting on the oven’s bottom rack without stirring ensures one side will be golden brown without the interior drying out. You could stop after Step 1 and enjoy the vegetables’ inherent sweetness, or go on to Step 2 to toss them in a combination of butter, honey, lemon and crushed red pepper. The heat from the sheet pan will meld the ingredients into a spicy, tangy glaze for the vegetables. Enjoy with roast chicken, pork tenderloin, a hearty salad or a fried egg.
Seafood Boil
You don’t need to be at the beach to make this classic seaside dinner — an assortment of fresh seafood and a really big stock pot will get you there in an hour. Feel free to make this seafood boil your own by swapping in mussels for the clams, or lobster in place of the crab legs. With sausage, corn on the cob and steamed potatoes, this is a true one-pot meal. The flavorful cooking liquid turns into a buttery, lemony sauce that coats the seafood and vegetables. Cover your table with kraft paper and dump the seafood boil out, letting everyone dig in, or, for easier cleanup, serve the boil in a large shallow bowl, with small bowls of garlic butter on the side for dipping.
Tonkatsu
For crackly crisp yet juicy tonkatsu, or Japanese pork cutlets, pound boneless pork loins until impossibly thin, dredge in flour, egg and panko, then deep-fry, not once, but twice. (After the first fry, the pork rests for a bit, allowing it to finish cooking from the residual heat without drying out. It’s quickly fried a second time until golden brown.) Drizzle the finished pork cutlets with tonkatsu sauce, a spiced, sweet and tangy sauce. Here, ketchup and Worcestershire make for a quick rendition, but you can also purchase premade sauce at Japanese markets and online. Serve piping hot tonkatsu and rice alongside a heap of cold shredded cabbage drizzled with a creamy dressing, if you like.
Breaded Halloumi With Cabbage Slaw
Watch out, chicken and pork; there is a new cutlet in town. Halloumi is more than a meat-free cutlet alternative; its signature salty, tangy chew is enhanced when encased in a layer of extracrispy bread crumbs. This recipe follows standard breading procedure (dredging the halloumi first in a flour mixture, then beaten eggs, then bread crumbs), with some tweaks: Adding a touch of cornstarch to the flour ensures maximum crunch. Whisking a dash of oil into the egg thins the liquid coating, encouraging the flour and bread crumbs to adhere to the halloumi while also promoting even browning. The quick cabbage slaw is purposefully tart to cut through the richness of the fried halloumi. This cutlet could also be served on a burger bun or with tonkatsu sauce.
Sukiyaki
Sukiyaki is a fun and festive Japanese hotpot of sliced beef, cabbage, mushrooms, hearty greens, tofu and noodles that are served nabemono style, meaning everything is served together in a pot at the table. Kansai-style sukiyaki calls for searing the thin slices of beef over high heat in a traditional Japanese cast-iron pot beforehand, whereas this Kanto-style version calls for cooking the beef over low heat, which slowly releases the fat, helping create a rich and flavorful broth. (This means you can cook Kanto-style sukiyaki in a clay donabe without risk of damaging the pot.) Once the beef is cooked, the rest of the ingredients are added to the pot and brought to the table so diners can serve themselves. Each person gets their own small bowl of warishita sauce, a mixture of soy sauce, sugar and sake, plus a runny egg for dipping. It’s a perfect meal for a chilly day.
Chashu
Chashu is a Japanese adaptation of char siu, or Chinese barbecued pork, that’s typically served atop a bowl of steaming ramen, or on its own over steamed rice. Whereas char siu is roasted in an oven at high heat and typically includes Chinese five spice, hoisin and red yeast rice or red food coloring for its distinct color, chashu is usually rolled to maintain its moisture, seared, then braised in a flavorful liquid of sake, soy sauce, sugar, scallions, ginger and sometimes mirin. Save the rich, leftover broth for braising vegetables, or marinate peeled, hard boiled eggs in it, then use the eggs to top ramen. Uncut pork belly can sometimes be tricky to find, so call the butcher ahead of your visit to order a whole piece before they slice it for bacon.
Bacon, Egg and Brussels Sprouts Salad
Brussels sprouts star in this hearty riff on a wilted salad, giving it more structure and crunch than one with the usual floppy lettuce or spinach, and an egg on top adds heft, turning a side dish into a light main course. There’s tangy whole-grain mustard in the vinaigrette, too, which contrasts with the richness of the bacon. Serve this with crusty bread for scooping up the savory bacon fat and egg yolk inevitably left on the bottom of the plate.
Shrimp Tempura
Crisp, light and airy, the coating for battered and fried shrimp tempura is achieved with a few simple, though crucial, steps: Using seltzer in the batter adds airiness, and chilling the ingredients, including the flour, prevents gluten formation, making it more delicate and light. It’s important not to overmix the batter, and using chopsticks as the stirring tool helps. Finally, don’t overcrowd the pot when frying, and make sure to maintain the oil’s temperature so the shrimp don’t absorb it and become greasy. For a classic shrimp tempura, follow the prep steps here as best as you can to keep the shrimp from curling. Serve the dish hot with tentsuyu, a savory dashi and soy dipping sauce.
Spiced Roasted Lamb and Vegetables
This fragrant stew, redolent of cumin, coriander, ginger, allspice, fennel and cinnamon, is slowly simmered to tenderness. A lamb shoulder roast makes the most succulent stew, but thick bone-in shoulder chops are sometimes easier to find and work just as well. Let the meat rest a day or two in its own broth in the refrigerator. Reheating revs up the complex spice mixture. Then, grab a warm flatbread and get to dunking.
Bibimbap
A Korean dish of marinated meat, colorful vegetables and runny eggs arranged over a bed of fluffy rice, bibimbap is an edible work of art. The banchan, or side dishes, that are piled on top can vary, but this version includes tender beef bulgogi, meaty shiitake mushrooms, crisp bean sprouts, tender spinach, crunchy carrots and cool cucumbers. A spicy-sweet gochujang sauce is drizzled over the top, then everything is mixed together (bibim means “to mix” and bap means “rice” in Korean), breaking open the egg yolk to lend a rich creaminess to the dish. Be sure to scrape up the crunchy grains from the bottom of the pan, and serve with a side of kimchi, if you’d like, for even more texture.
Red Lentil Barley Stew
Warm spices, fennel and leeks give this rib-sticking stew a deep, complex character. Feel free to adjust the liquid to taste. Adding a little more makes it brothier and more souplike, suitable for eating with a spoon. Or let it rest a bit. As it sits, the barley will absorb all of the liquid, making it easily forkable. Be sure to serve this with lemon wedges on the side, since the lentils and barley benefit greatly from a bright jolt right at the end.
Spicy Tomato White Bean Stew
Made in about half an hour from pantry ingredients, this simple, flexible stew has a velvety texture from canned white beans rounded out by plenty of garlic, olive oil and canned plum tomatoes. The optional bacon adds a brawny heft here, but the stew will be just as hardy without it. Or lighten things up by stirring a few handfuls of quick-cooking greens directly into the pot, which also eliminates any need for a salad on the side.
Sweet Potato-Tofu Stew
In this dish, based on the flavors of Japanese nimono, umami from soy sauce and shiitake mushrooms rounds out the gentle sweet potatoes, which fall apart and thicken the stew as they simmer. The tofu is added in two ways here. Some of it is marinated in the soy sauce and then stirred into the stew for a soft, pillowy texture. Then, the rest is fried until golden and spooned on top as a crisp garnish. You can also leave the tofu out altogether for a speedier but just as satisfying meal.