Lunch
2781 recipes found
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.
Monte Cristo
This American diner classic — a battered and grilled ham, turkey and cheese sandwich dusted with confectioners’ sugar — may, in fact, be a descendant of the French croque-monsieur. The two are quite similar, the main difference being that the croque-monsieur has a layer of béchamel on top, while the Monte Cristo is dipped in beaten egg before it’s griddled. The Monte Cristo became popular when a restaurant at Disneyland began serving it in the 1960s, and now, it lives on as a fixture on menus around the country. It's a delicious way to use leftover baked ham, but regular deli meat works well, too. (Feel free to omit the turkey and use twice as much ham, if you prefer.) As with most grilled sandwiches, thinner slices of cheese will melt more easily.
Lemony Pearl Barley Soup
High in comfort, low in fuss, this pearl barley soup answers the question of what to cook when one doesn’t feel like cooking. Made with pantry staples, this simple soup beams with vibrancy. Lemon transforms this hearty soup into a dish that also feels light and restorative, while dill, used generously, reinforces the citrus flavor while bringing an assertive herbaceous edge. Other herbs could step in for dill; consider parsley, cilantro or chives. Spinach is added right at the end, after the heat is turned off, which ensures that the greens maintain a little bite and stay bright. The soup will thicken over time, so if you are making it ahead or have leftovers, simply loosen it up with more stock or water when reheating.
Roasted Cauliflower and Garlic Soup
This three-ingredient vegan soup isn’t a trick: It’s as velvety and rich as its creamy, dairy-full counterparts, with a sweetness that lingers and warms. Coax deep, nutty flavors from cauliflower and a whole head of garlic by roasting them until caramelized; next you’ll simmer them until nearly falling apart, then blend the mixture until silky-smooth. Gentle and comforting on its own, the soup can also serve as the start to your own creation: You could roast sliced onions or leeks instead of the garlic; stir in Cheddar, Gruyère or Parmesan; or top with fried sage or capers. Accompany with grilled cheese or pumpernickel bread, or a hearty salad with grains or lentils.
Carne Asada Torta
Tender white rolls stuffed with smoky grilled meat, creamy avocado, juicy tomatoes, pickled jalapeños and red onion, the Mexican torta is a much-loved sandwich that likely originated in Puebla during the French occupation in the 1860s. Mexican bakers were inspired by baguettes, and created telera, a smaller, softer loaf with signature hash marks across the top. While the exact history is blurry, one thing remains true: like any good sandwich, good bread is key. Telera or bolillo rolls are traditional here, although according to Claudette Zepeda, a San Diego chef who specializes in regional Mexican cooking, ciabatta is an acceptable substitute. She also said that while pickled onions and chiles are a must, cheese is usually only found on a cold torta. All that to say, while it’s not strictly authentic, feel free to add refried beans or crumble on a little cotija cheese. For extra flavor, place the cut sides of the toasted bread over the carne asada while it’s resting to soak up some of the flavorful juices. This version of the popular sandwich calls for carne asada, but you could also use shredded pollo asado.
Peanut Butter Noodles
This nutty midnight pasta is a dream to cook, as it requires just a handful of pantry staples and one pot. Peanut butter (the less fancy, the better) anchors a creamy sauce swathed in umami. Accentuated by a good, salty Parmesan, these noodles recall those cheesy peanut butter sandwich crackers. They make an ideal dinner for one, but the amounts can easily be doubled or quadrupled as needed. For an equally gripping vegan alternative, try swapping out the butter for olive oil and the cheese for nutritional yeast.
Miso-Mushroom Barley Soup
This hearty vegan dish uses miso and soy to add a tremendous amount of depth and flavor to a relatively quick, one-pot mushroom barley soup. Quartering the mushrooms allows them to retain bite, but you can thinly slice them if you’d prefer everything to be soft and tender. Resist the urge to salt heavily during the bulk of the cooking, as the miso and soy — both sodium-heavy ingredients — will be added at the end to bring the soup together. This is a soup that will thicken, so add more water or broth when reheating. It’s as accommodating as it is comforting: You can empty your pantry or fridge by swapping the barley for farro and spinach for chopped bok choy or other greens.
Spicy Caramelized Shrimp With Lemongrass
For those who love all things salty and sweet, Vietnamese tôm rim is an ideal dish, wedding fish sauce with caramel. Variations abound, but traditionally, tôm rim is made by marinating whole, unpeeled shrimp in fish sauce, palm sugar, pepper, garlic and shallot, then sautéing until the shrimp cooks through and the sauce becomes glossy and caramelized. This version, which is adapted from “Vietnamese Home Cooking” (Ten Speed Press, 2012) by chef Charles Phan, calls for weeknight-friendly peeled shrimp, and builds upon the dish’s classic flavor profile by introducing chile, lemongrass and ginger. Mr. Phan uses a homemade roasted chile paste that is heady with Sichuan peppercorns, ground bean paste and soy sauce, but he suggests store-bought roasted chile paste or chile-bean sauce for ease. You could swap in Sriracha, increase the garlic, apply these flavors to different proteins or even vegetables. Once you’ve understood the foundation of a dish, its potential is infinite.
Lasagna Soup
This simple, one-pot soup delivers all the comfort of a classic lasagna with very little of the work. A jar of marinara sauce is its secret to speedy flavor, along with a combination of ground beef and Italian sausage (though for ease, you can use one or the other), plus a pinch of ground nutmeg. Dried lasagna noodles are broken into small pieces and cooked directly in the soup, thickening the broth with their starches as they soften. Don’t skip the ricotta-Parmesan topping; it adds richness and the unmistakable essence of lasagna. This soup comes together quickly and is best served right away; the noodles will continue to absorb the broth as it sits.
Roasted Cauliflower and Arugula Salad
In this hearty, colorful salad, cauliflower florets, slivers of red onion and briny capers are coated with spices and roasted until the florets turn soft and sweet, and the onions and capers get browned and crisp. Everything is tossed with tangy-sweet raisins (or your favorite dried fruit), more red onion that’s been quick-pickled in lime juice, a green mound of arugula and parsley leaves. It’s a bright, satisfying salad that works as a substantial side dish or a light main course, either rounded out with crusty bread or served on top of a bed of rice, farro or other grains.
Citrus, Beet and Avocado Salad
This is winter’s caprese: shingled slices of the season’s peak produce dressed simply with olive oil, salt and pepper. The sweet citrus, creamy avocado and earthy beets are really all you need, but trio can serve as a base for salads all year long. Add protein (fresh or tinned seafood, grains, legumes), dairy (burrata, stracciatella, yogurt, feta), more vegetables or fruits (baby greens, chicories, radishes, cucumbers), and flavor boosters like toasted whole spices or nuts, crushed red pepper, herbs, shallots or olives. The beets can be steamed or roasted, or you can purchase them precooked. Any way you make it, this easy-to-assemble salad is a bright, beautiful spot in winter’s shorter, darker days.
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Zesty Lemon Vinaigrette
Brighten your salads with this creamy, invigorating lemon vinaigrette, which gets bold, bracing flavor from both lemon juice and zest. Plus: It takes just about five minutes to whip together.
Cemitas
The cemita is a widely popular Mexican sandwich from the state of Puebla. It’s named for the bread it’s served on, an egg-rich, sesame seed bun. Also referred to as a cemita Poblana, the sandwich is frequently filled with a crispy fried cutlet, often pork or chicken. Traditional toppings are layered to create a symphony of textures and flavors, including creamy avocado, salty Oaxaca cheese, tangy pickled jalapeños or smoky chipotles en adobo, fresh raw onions and papalo (a fragrant Mexican herb similar to cilantro). If Oaxaca cheese is unavailable, string cheese delivers a similar texture and flavor.
French Dip Sandwiches
A classic French dip sandwich traditionally starts with high-heat roasting or slow-simmering a sirloin or ribeye loin in aromatics for several hours. For a quicker version that is no less delicious, use premium deli roast beef. A simple jus, or gravy, made of beef broth, soy sauce and Worcestershire seasoned with onions, garlic and thyme, is served alongside for dipping so you can enjoy this classic any day of the week. The jus can be made up to four days ahead; refrigerate in an airtight container and rewarm on a warm stove.
Hot and Sour Soup
Rich with pork, silky with tofu, punchy with rice vinegar, and spicy with both red and white pepper, this comforting soup is a Chinese classic. Hot and sour soup has been around for centuries in China, eventually making its way to the United States where it was tweaked for American palates (less sour and spicy) and became a popular staple at Chinese-American restaurants. Variations of the dish abound, mostly dependent upon the protein used: Pork is most common, but lamb, beef, chicken and vegetarian versions also exist. Cornstarch is essential to the recipe as it provides the soup’s velvety texture. (Just note that the soup can thicken as it cools.) Adjust the pepper and vinegar amounts to your preference.
Black Pepper and Onion Spaghetti
This rendition of Florentine spaghetti with red onions is so superlative, it has remained on the menu at Locanda Vini e Olii since the restaurant opened in Brooklyn in 2001. Michele Baldacci, the chef and co-owner, recommends a mixture of white and red onions for a more delicate, saucy result, and cooking them in a covered pot so they slowly braise in olive oil and their own juices. The sweetness of the onions is accented by tarragon and black pepper, plus optional grated cheese (which can be omitted for vegan diners). “We never add anything [else], we’re boring,” Mr. Baldacci said, but reckons livers would be delicious.
Crispy Sour Cream and Onion Wings
These crisp, flavorful wings have all the goodness of classic sour cream and onion potato chips — including leaving your fingers caked with tasty seasoning. The creamy, tangy dipping sauce is a perfect foil for the crackly skin and can be doubled to use as a dip for crudités or chips. It’s a common misconception that crunchy chicken wings can be obtained only by deep-frying, but this recipe subverts that notion with the use of a pantry ingredient: baking powder. Using baking powder helps with browning and results in all the crackle with none of the hassle. For best results, avoid using expired baking powder.
Sausage Smash Burgers
The delightful characteristics of a beef smash burger — thin, quick-cooking patties with a superbly caramelized ragged edge — are applied here to Italian-style sausage. (The stress relief from smashing food is yet another smash burger perk.) Mayo smeared on soft brioche buns along with a tangle of sautéed sweet peppers and onions top the patties, making this a bit like the sausage and peppers of the burger world. Optional oregano adds a fresh herbal accent. Each bite is savory, rich, sweet and smashingly craveable. These sandwiches are delicious all by themselves, but if you’d like a side, serve with a green salad or French fries.
Double Celery Salad
This dish employs two kinds of celery: the tender hearts of branch celery and so-called knob celery, also known as celery root or celeriac. It’s a nice salad in winter, for a change of pace. A bed of spicy watercress, arugula or mizuna lends even more of a green hue to this dish.
The Commerce Inn Patty Melt
Patty melts have very few components: sliced bread, beef patties, caramelized onions and cheese. Vary them slightly and it’s possible the sandwich you end up with won’t be a patty melt anymore. Rita Sodi and Jody Williams, the chefs and owners of The Commerce Inn in New York City, put Dijon mayonnaise inside their patty melts, and it works. The mayo makes the sandwich juicier, the mustard helps cut through the fat, and the result is still, undeniably, a patty melt.
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As-sam (Bornean Bamboo-Cooked Rice With Chicken)
Imbued with the fragrance of ginger, lemongrass, and pandan, this Bornean rice dish is hearty and satisfying.
Waldorf Salad
Crunchy, creamy, sweet and sour, this classic salad has only slightly evolved from the original recipe that was first published in 1896. Oscar Tschirky, the chef at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, developed the recipe using just three ingredients — apples, celery and mayonnaise — and this one closely mirrors that version. Besides the three staples, walnuts and grapes provide additional texture, and a splash of lemon juice brightens up the creamy dressing. Feel free to improvise, adding other crunchy ingredients like chopped raw broccoli, sunflower seeds, raisins or sliced pitted dates. This salad can be made a few hours in advance and stored in the refrigerator before serving. Serve as a side salad, or add cooked chicken to the mix for a satisfying lunch.
Coconut Black Bean Soup
Earthy black bean soup gets a plush makeover with the addition of canned coconut milk, which lends richness and a sweet, mellow flavor. Whole cumin seeds and tomato paste add depth, while jalapeño contributes both brightness and heat to the pot. You can purée the soup until it’s velvety smooth, or leave it a little chunky. Either way, it makes for a satisfying and hearty weeknight meal.
Parmesan Braised Beans With Olives
At the Manhattan restaurant Ci Siamo, the chef Hillary Sterling serves these dynamic beans topped with a tinsel of fried rosemary and sage, a shower of salty cheese, and a flourish of olive oil and black pepper. For a dish so luxe in flavor, it’s surprising how everyday its ingredients are. At the restaurant, Ms. Sterling uses at least four different types of beans (such as flageolet, scarlet runner, small white, tiger’s eye and Tarbais), but at home, any mix of white, brown and black that you prefer will be beyond delicious. With crusty bread and a glass of wine, these beans can be enjoyed as a meal on their own.