Lunch
2842 recipes found
Ssamjang Pork Meatballs
Sweet and spicy ssamjang is a Korean sauce, mostly used for grilled dishes. Made with slow-fermented soybean paste, it’s salty and pungent and adds quite a bit of flavor, perfect to spruce up some ground pork for a quick, weeknight meatball. You can buy it in the Asian grocery section or make your own. Try these meatballs in a lettuce cup with rice and kimchi or served straight-up with some grilled vegetables.
Pumpkin-Peanut Rice Balls With Maafé
These pumpkin-orange rice balls, studded with crunchy peanuts, come from “Simply West African” (Clarkson Potter, 2023) by the chef Pierre Thiam and the writer Lisa Katayama. Canned pumpkin works just fine here, but there’s nothing like the jack-o’-lantern aroma of fresh steamed squash (see Tip). The action of mashing and stirring a fresh pot of rice until the loose grains hold one shape feels almost as if you’re kneading bread, though, Mr. Thiam says, a more accurate parallel would be the act of making fufu, the pounded meal that’s central to West African cuisine. Make the rice balls whatever size you like; they make excellent finger food, especially dipped in maafé, the velvety, rich Senegalese peanut stew (often called groundnut stew) that tastes like savoriness incarnate.
Friday Couscous
In Morocco, couscous is traditionally served on Fridays, a holy day in Islam for prayer, community gatherings and family meals. Known as Friday couscous, this custom is deeply rooted in the country's cultural and religious traditions. Couscous refers to the entire dish — the couscous granules called smida which translates to semolina, and the flavorful stew of vegetables and meat called marka. Traditionally, the couscous granules are steamed until light and fluffy in a couscoussière, while the marka is made with a variety of vegetables, meat and aromatic spices. For this quicker, vegetable-only version, the couscous is cooked according to package instructions for convenience. Ideal for busy weeknights or meal prep, by the time the vegetables are fully cooked, the broth, which is poured over the couscous to moisten it, becomes richly infused with the spices and deep, savory flavors of the vegetables. Any remaining broth is often served on the side to be enjoyed on its own or added to the dish.
Bún Chả
Tender and flavorful pork patties packed with lemongrass, garlic, and oyster and fish sauces are the centerpiece of bún chả, a traditional Vietnamese street food. The flattened meatballs are served in a warm citrusy broth with pickled vegetables, while cooked rice noodles and herbs are added to the bowl throughout the meal. (A photo of President Barack Obama and Anthony Bourdain eating bún chả in Hanoi in 2016 further popularized the dish in the west.) Here, the patties are caramelized in a grill pan or skillet. Using ground pork with a high fat content (at least 20-percent) is optimal.
Savory Feta Turnovers
Inspired by the Greek tradition of frying a whole block of feta, these versatile flaky pastries offer a delightful blend of salty, tangy and sweet flavors. The creamy feta and zesty preserved lemon create a harmonious filling that's both comforting and indulgent. With just a handful of ingredients (including handy store-bought puff pastry), these turnovers are a quick and easy starter perfect for dinner parties or a casual weeknight gathering. They may also be enjoyed as a snack or on-the-go meal at room temperature. Store leftovers in an airtight container or bag in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, and reheat at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. And for a bite-sized treat, consider turning them into finger food appetizers by using smaller pastry sheets and dividing the filling accordingly.
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Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork Chili With Cornbread Dumplings
For a meal that's perfect for Football Sundays or chilly-evening dinners, make this chili right in your slow cooker. It's not your traditional beef-based recipe, but pulled pork shoulder and tender cornbread dumplings make this version stand out among the rest.
Mushroom Poblano Tacos
Tacos are always a good idea on a weeknight. They come together quickly and are a great way to clean out your refrigerator of leftover salsas or cheese nubs and can be an excellent way to incorporate vegetables. Here, mushrooms, poblanos and cherry tomatoes are cooked down into a juicy filling seasoned with onions, garlic and the Puerto Rican spice blend sazón. It's easy enough to make your own sazón spice blend, but you can also find many store-bought options containing some combination of cumin, garlic, turmeric, coriander, pepper and annatto or achiote. If using a blend with salt, reduce the amount of salt listed in the recipe. If using store-bought tortillas, look for those with as few ingredients as possible, as they tend to have the best flavor. These tacos are served in the pan, tableside, with whatever toppings you have on hand for a quick, casual weeknight meal that's sure to inspire many variations. Serve any leftovers scrambled with eggs for a delicious breakfast the next day.
Golden Potato and Greens Soup
This very creamy take on potato-leek soup didn’t set out to be vegan, it just happened along the way. The secret to its luxurious texture is not dairy but rather mashing the potatoes in the soup pot as they soften, which releases their thickening starches, no blender necessary. (That said, you can certainly add cream if desired.) Hearty greens like Swiss chard or kale make the soup more filling, and ground turmeric imparts a wonderful golden color. If you want to freeze some soup, simply leave out the greens and add them when it’s time to reheat.
Apple and Broccoli Salad
This vibrant, gutsy raw broccoli salad has fresh flavors that play on bitterness, fruitiness and texture. Ordinarily tough to eat, stringy broccoli stalks become magically crisp and tender if you peel the woody outside, then thinly slice the peeled spears crosswise against the fiber grains that run along its length. The sweetness of red apple works seamlessly to balance the bite of the raw green vegetable, but for sour seekers, a Granny Smith apple can be divine (and intensely puckery). This salad makes a nice, light lunch with crusty bread and extra shards of Parmesan or is great as a side dish to chicken.
Caramelized Tomato and Shallot Soup
Fresh tomato soup is a treat best enjoyed with juicy, end-of-season tomatoes, but this versatile recipe is delicious all year long. Both the shallots and tomatoes are caramelized along with tomato paste, which gives the soup deeper flavor. Take your time and let the tomatoes reduce, because the more they caramelize, the more delicious the soup will be. While this recipe does take a little bit of time, it’s mostly hands-off simmering. Make it when the weather turns cool and a big pot of soup simmering on the stove sounds just right.
Roasted Squash and Spinach Salad
An ideal salad for chillier nights, this hearty, dinner-friendly salad comes together in the time it takes for the spiced butternut squash to roast. To reduce prep work, the squash is simply halved then roasted, so you can easily scoop out pieces after cooking rather than chopping the firm vegetable beforehand. Cumin and coriander season the sweet squash, adding an earthy, warming flavor to the dish. While the squash roasts, you’ll prepare a simple feta-yogurt dressing that draws on the sweet acidity of freshly squeezed orange juice. The scooped squash and sweet, tender onions are tossed with the dressing and spinach, plus a sprinkle of crunchy sunflower seeds, for a bright and satisfying meal.
Chile Cheese Toast
A comforting snack made for kids and adults all across South Asia, chile cheese toast is endlessly riffable. From simply sliced white bread and Cheddar, popular with the kids, to something fancier using brioche or sourdough, variations are abundant. Play around and adapt ingredients to find the best version for you. Serve at tea time as a snack, pack in a lunchbox or enjoy as a meal on a busy afternoon that may require ease and comfort.
Cacio e Pepe Ramen
Ramen noodles bring a bouncy twist to this classic Roman pasta dish. You’ll want the black pepper to be very coarse so that it can infuse the butter and achieve that fruity heat without burning. If you have a pepper mill, make sure to turn it to the coarsest setting. You can also crush the peppercorns using a flat bottomed mug or cast iron pan. If you can’t find fresh ramen noodles (which have the best bounce), you can also use the dried instant ramen noodles that come in a 3-ounce pack, discarding the seasoning packet it comes with.
Smoked Salmon and Avocado Toast With Carrot Salad
This toast makes for a perfect solo lunch. A thick slice of sourdough is toasted and topped with smashed avocado, capers and salty slivers of smoked salmon. Rounding out these ingredients is the real star of the show: a tall pile of shaved carrot salad tossed in vinegar and olive oil. Sweet, salty and briny, the raw carrot salad offers a nice textural contrast to the rest of the toast. Like most toasts, this one is best eaten right away.
Grilled Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
A PB&J is pretty good no matter how you make it, but grilling it makes it glorious. If you toast the sandwich in a buttered skillet, like you would a grilled cheese, the outsides brown while the peanut butter and jam warm and ooze — no more tacky peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth. (And that’s right: This sandwich is best with fruit jam or preserves, not jelly.) It’s still a trusty PB&J, but warm, creamy and crisp. It might become your new standby.
Corn and Cod Green Curry
In this light, Thai-inspired curry, a trio of sweet ingredients — corn, coconut milk and fish — pair with the fruity and fragrant aromatics of green curry paste, which includes green chiles, lemongrass and galangal. Finishing with lime, basil and thinly sliced bok choy further brightens each bite. (The bok choy is cooked only a bit so that its crunchy stems and silky greens provide contrasting textures.) Instead of fresh corn, you can substitute 5 cups of frozen and unthawed corn kernels. Serve the curry on its own or with rice or rice noodles.
Sticky Guava Ribs
These easy, oven-baked ribs are sticky, sweet, spicy and splendidly delicious. The sweet guava paste makes an excellent foundation for the barbeque sauce, resulting in a sauce that’s quick to caramelize and clings to your fingers with every bite. The low and slow cooking technique gives you tender, fall-off-the-bone meat with little to no effort and plenty of rendered fat to baste the ribs before you sauce them up. If you’re feeding a crowd, you can make the ribs ahead of time and broil them before serving. That’ll give you time to prepare a green salad or mango slaw for sides. The extra sauce keeps well in the fridge for two weeks or in the freezer for three months. Stash it away for a rainy day or you can double the amount of ribs for a larger serving -- that’s if you don’t eat them all before your guests arrive.
Cod, Celery and Potato Stew With Coconut and Herbs
Celery is one of those vegetables that has a lot of unrealized potential. It is usually served raw to accentuate its crunch, or used as a flavor base in stocks then plucked out and discarded. But braising celery, as this recipe does, awakens another texture, creating a silkiness that is often overlooked but deserves to be prized. Celery’s fibers — which go from stringy to silky when simmered — are also great for absorbing flavor. Here, the celery slowly tenderizes in the flavorful broth, absorbs the briny richness of clam juice and coconut milk and turns positively lush. Since the celery is the star of the show, you can swap out the cod for shrimp or tofu.
Mayo Corn Fried Rice
This fried rice tastes and smells like movie-theater popcorn and is a celebration of summer corn. Fried rice without oil is not only possible, it’s delicious. In this recipe, a smidge of mayonnaise stirred into cold, day-old white rice results in separate grains. When fried, this lubricated rice toasts and browns beautifully with zero oil splatter and not using oil lets the corn shine. What you’re left with is pure-tasting fried rice, where the rice and vegetables are the stars, not the cooking fat. This smart trick comes from the chef Brendan Liew, as documented in his cookbooks “Konbini” and “Tokyo Up Late” (Smith Street Books, 2024 and 2022).
Zha Jiang Mian
A budget, weeknight meal that is classic to the Chinese diaspora, zha jiang mian is a noodle dish traditionally made with a mixture of diced pork belly and lean pork, plus a rich sauce made from Chinese soybean paste and sweet bean paste, both of which can be likened to a rich, deeper miso. The recipe is likely to vary from family to family, but this version uses ground pork, a speedier alternative that gives the sauce a nice richness. Chinese soybean pastes vary in saltiness, so make sure to season lightly with salt in the beginning to help build flavor. (You can always adjust the seasoning at the end if you need more salt.)
Vegan Zha Jiang Mian
Zha jiang mian is a popular Chinese noodle dish that is the quintessential pantry meal: Staples in many Chinese households, the fermented soybean pastes are like richer, deeper misos, and add significant depth to this quick dish. Traditionally, zha jiang mian is made with pork belly, but this vegan version captures a similar texture with sautéed eggplant, which cooks down to become soft and creamy, adding to the body of the sauce. Crumbled tofu helps the sauce coat the noodles when mixed. Chinese soybean pastes vary in saltiness, so season lightly with salt in the beginning to help build flavor without overdoing it. (You can always adjust the seasoning at the end if you need more salt.) These noodles are typically served with mung beans and slivered cucumber, but a variety of fresh vegetables could step in; shredded romaine lettuce or carrots would also be delicious.
Sweet Corn Tamales
Tamales are a traditional Mesoamerican food enjoyed for millennia across the Americas and the Caribbean. The practice of wrapping food in leaves for cooking is found worldwide for good reason: It’s both convenient and delicious. While tamales have a reputation for being labor-intensive, these four-ingredient sweet corn tamales simplify the process, employing every part of the ear — husk, kernel, cob and silk — and don't require a separate filling. Instead, the flavor of sweet corn stands on its own, making these tamales achievable on a lazy weekend morning. Inspired by Michoacan's uchepo, which can have as few as two ingredients, not including salt (sweet corn and baking powder), these tamales are versatile. Serve them with savory toppings like Mexican crema, salsa macha and/or roasted peppers. Or, lean into their sweetness and top with Greek yogurt, berries and a drizzle of honey. If wrapping and steaming tamales feels daunting, try the oven method.
Baked Sweet Corn Tamal
This baked tamal uses the husks, silks and kernels from fresh corn to infuse maximum corn flavor into a golden, butter-rich loaf. Out of the oven, the inside of this tamal is custardy soft, gradually firming up into a delicious, sliceable delicacy as it sits. Inspired by Michoacan's uchepo, which can have as few as two ingredients, not including salt (sweet corn and baking powder), this recipe celebrates the pure, unadulterated taste of farm-fresh corn that can be served with either sweet or savory toppings. Prepare a spread with Mexican crema, crunchy salt, salsa macha and/or roasted poblano chiles. Or for a sweeter option, top with Greek yogurt, fresh berries and a drizzle of honey. Leftovers can be cubed and fried in butter or olive oil for croutons, or used as a base for a sundae topped with vanilla ice cream and crunchy sea salt. If you want to try your hand at wrapping tamales, try Sweet Corn Tamales which use the same masa and fresh corn husks. These are steamed instead of baked, employing a cooking method that has stood the test of time across cultures and continents.
Little Gem Salad With Tamarind Dressing
While this sweet-and-sour tamarind-date dressing can be made year-round, it feels meant for the abundant produce of summer and early fall. Developed with turmeric in mind — an ingredient many Somalis add to salads — this recipe balances heirloom tomatoes with the tang of tamarind; it offsets the pungent sharpness of onions and radishes with the caramel-like flavor of dates and maple syrup. This colorful Little Gem salad maintains a glossy coat of dressing, but you can opt for heartier vegetables such as brussels sprouts or kale, depending on the time of year. Pair this salad with a bowl of maraq misir (red lentil soup) for a lovely vegan meal, or eat it alongside a plate of white rice and malaay qumbe (coconut fish curry).