Lunch
2782 recipes found
Melon Salad With Pistachio Dukkah and Basil
Forget the beach, summer melons are the biggest reason to look forward to hotter temperatures. Run by husband and wife team Zaid and Haifa Kurdieh, Norwich Meadows Farms in upstate New York grows some of the best local produce using traditional techniques from Egypt. Their melons burst with sweet, floral nectar that plays off the basil perfectly, and the dukkah is a nod to the Egyptian farmers that work on their farm. But don’t worry if you can’t get a Norwich melon, this dukkah can exalt any supermarket fruit. A crunchy, nutty spice blend typically made with a widely varying variety of pounded nuts, seeds and spices, dukkah can be found throughout Egypt, sold in tightly wrapped newspaper cones as a quick snack. Be sure to hold onto any leftover dukkah; it’s great with crudités or mixed with olive oil to make a quick dip for warm bread.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/20230718-SEA-Pinarasakan-MichelleYip-hero-5854ba6f16164d008ff665930b326699.jpg)
Pinarasakan (Malaysian Braised Fish With Sour Fruit)
Salty, sour, spicy, and fragrant with turmeric and ginger, this braised fish is typically served with leafy greens and rice.
Furikake Tomato Sandwich
In this variation on the classic Southern sandwich, a sprinkle of furikake, the savory-sweet Japanese rice seasoning that makes food sing, enhances the flavor of glutamate-rich summer tomatoes. The furikake’s seaweed, as well as its monosodium glutamate, lends you that extra burst of umami (the fifth taste after sweet, sour, salty and bitter), helping the tomatoes taste even more of themselves. Here, soft, just-toasted slices of brioche or milk bread should sandwich thick sheets of your favorite mayonnaise, completing the harmony of fruit, carb and condiment.
Soy-Butter Corn Ramen
This easy, one-pot noodle recipe employs the sweetness of summer corn to balance out the umami of the butter and soy sauce. It’s a nod to wafu pasta dishes, which fuse Japanese and Italian cooking traditions, flavors and ingredients. Corn cobs are used in this recipe to create a quick, sweet corn-infused water to cook the noodles. (Don’t be tempted to add more water, as the amount specified will yield perfectly al dente noodles with just the right amount of broth, which intensifies as it concentrates.) The corn kernels go in at the last minute, which mutes any raw notes while maintaining sweetness and crispness. Though light enough for summer, this dish has depth.
Grilled Steak With Sauce Rof
A combination of onion, parsley, scallions and chile, this classic Senegalese sauce adds complexity to dishes. Typically used to stuff fish as a marinade and top it as a bold relish, it is also great for tempering the smoky char of grilled chicken or steak. In this recipe, some sauce rof is used as a marinade and served as a topping. Thinned with a dash of olive oil, the relish also gets lemon juice to add a lovely sparkle. Go for a nice marbled cut of meat — the fat intensifies the flavor of the grilled meat and the sauce rof cuts through the richness. This condiment can be made up to 24 hours in advance and refrigerated in an airtight jar.
Salt and Vinegar Kale Chips With Fried Chickpeas and Avocado
These salt-and-vinegar kale chips from “Tenderheart” by Hetty Lui McKinnon (Alfred A. Knopf, 2023) feel decidedly snacky, but team them up with fried chickpeas, avocado and an optional frizzled egg and they become a delightfully textural meal. To encourage maximum crunch for your chips, it is crucial to dry your kale well after washing, and give the chips ample time in the oven to crisp up, since they’re doused in vinegar for extra verve. Customize your chips, if desired, by adding other seasonings: Paprika and harissa impart more intense flavor, while nutritional yeast, grated Parmesan or Cheddar will add more umami. The key point to remember is that salt will make your kale soggy, so only sprinkle it on your chips after roasting.
Chilaquiles
Chilaquiles are an incredibly comforting, quick and easy Mexican dish whose origins and name are believed to go back to the Aztecs. (In Náhuatl, the Aztec language, the name means “submerged in chile sauce.”) It was — and is — a great way to use up stale tortillas because they soften and absorb the flavor and color of the chiles. For chilaquiles rojos, guajillo chiles are used to add that familiar brick red color, as well as an earthiness that balances out the sweetness and acidity of the tomatoes. Chiles de árbol add heat, but if you don’t have them, you can use one or two chipotles in adobo for heat and a bit of smokiness. Top with shredded rotisserie chicken or roasted vegetables to make a hearty meal.
Fruit Salad
A bit of sugar and lime makes a standout fruit salad: The duo accentuates fruit’s flavors and sweetness while creating a syrup to gloss the fruit. Massage lime zest into the sugar so its oils release, then stir mixed fruit with the lime sugar and some lime juice. Taste and tweak until the result is electric. You could also add chopped mint or basil, ground cinnamon or coriander, vanilla bean seeds, chile flakes or grated fresh ginger.
Zucchini Pasta With Crispy Capers and Pistachios
This pasta dish celebrates zucchini, cooking it two ways. Half the zucchini is thinly sliced into rounds, fried then steeped in red wine vinegar for a sweet and sour kick. The remaining zucchini is cut into large chunks and braised until it’s so silky that it seems to melt into the pasta sauce. Cooking the pasta directly in its sauce takes a little more attention than usual, especially toward the end of cooking when the liquid reduces to a sauce, so be sure to stir frequently to prevent the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pot. This one-pot cooking approach allows all the starch released from the pasta to be captured in the sauce, creating a rich, glossy coating without the addition of dairy. The fried topping adds bursts of flavor and texture, turning this into a show-stopping dish. This pasta works just as well cold, so can be made in advance.
Frijoles de Olla (Homestyle Black Beans)
This beloved dish often starts with unsoaked dried beans, which are traditionally cooked in an olla, earthenware pot, or other types of clay pots, such as a cazuela de barro. Any pot works and the seasonings are generally simple — usually onion, garlic, herbs and sometimes lard or pork — but the resulting flavor is rich and complex. A staple throughout Mexico, this dish varies from region to region in the types of beans used and include pinto beans, black beans and Mayocoba beans. Eaten as is as a side or a main dish, frijoles de olla also can be puréed, smashed or refried and used as a sauce or a filling for dishes like tetelas.
Tetelas de Frijol Negro (Black Bean Masa Dumplings)
Tetelas, triangle-shaped dumplings, are wrapped with a thin disk of masa and usually filled with a rich and spicy black bean purée. With roots in Mesoamerica, tetelas are thought to have originated in the pre-Aztec culture of the Mixtec people. They lived in the current Mexican states of Oaxaca and parts of nearby Puebla, where tetelas remain popular today. In this version, avocado leaves perfume the beans with hints of citrus and anise, but if you don’t have them, you can use a combination of parsley and tarragon instead. Tetelas can be served alongside a meal like hearty dinner rolls or as a side dish, topped with shredded lettuce or cabbage, salsa, crema, chopped cilantro and onion and a sprinkle of queso Cotija.
Bloody Mary Tomato Salad
A Bloody Mary is more than a hangover cure or acceptable brunch tipple; it is also an excellent example of precise and intentional ingredient pairings. There’s tart tomato, balanced with crisp celery, pepped up with piquant hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce and black pepper, then rounded out with lemon. These elements are the inspiration for a simple summer tomato salad, sans the vodka, of course. A brief pickle in lemon juice softens the celery and takes the bite out of the onions. This salad is vegan so rather than Worcestershire, which contains anchovies, soy sauce and balsamic vinegar are used to deliver that same umami and tang. (Vegetarians and vegans, remember this combination for other recipes that ask for Worcestershire!). Serve on its own, with bread to mop up the tasty juices, or toss it through pasta and serve as a salad. This salad will keep and will taste just as good (or even better) the next day.
Street Corn Pudding
At Burnt Bean Co. in Seguin, Texas, you’ll find what you’d expect to find at a traditional Texas barbecue restaurant, including smoked brisket, sausage and potato salad. You’ll also find dishes inspired by co-owner Ernest Servantes’ childhood in Uvalde, west of San Antonio, like menudo, barbacoa tacos and this elotes-flavored corn pudding, one of the restaurant’s most popular side dishes. “It’s like Mexican street corn and cornbread had a baby,” Mr. Servantes said. Don’t worry if the finished pudding has a few cracks in the top — it will still be moist and light within.
Turkey Sandwich With Savory Blueberry Jam
Inspired by summer lunches in Maine, this beautiful turkey sandwich comes from the chef Matthew Cahn of Middle Child sandwich shop in Philadelphia. A spiced, savory blueberry jam anchors turkey and cheese on a toasted ciabatta roll. When it comes to this dreamy sandwich, the devil is in the details: Dressing peppery arugula with vinegar, oil and raw grated onion lends yet another layer of flavor that balances the comforting richness of the other ingredients. Store-bought garam masala works in a pinch, but for the full effect, try making your own from whole spices (see Tip).
Pepperoncini Tuna Salad
This verdant tuna salad looks and tastes classic (but with the saturation levels all the way up). Acid and crunch come in the form of delightfully sour, salty pickled pepperoncini and their neon-green brine. Sweet relish anchors the salad with balance, as does deeply aromatic and nutty toasted sesame oil. Any canned or jarred tuna works; just be sure to drain it very well. This recipe calls for celery to be folded in at the end for crunch, but any vegetable would work: thinly sliced cucumbers, iceberg lettuce, watercress, green peas, asparagus, even raw onion. Eat this on a bed of peppery arugula or stuffed into a split, just-warmed croissant or brioche bun.
Melon and Cho Cho Salad
This melon salad, from Denai Moore’s “Plentiful: Vegan Jamaican Recipes to Repeat” (Hardie Grant, 2023) is a delight on a summer day, and a quick, surprising start to the rest of your meal. Consisting largely of sliced cantaloupe and chayote (also known as cho cho), the dish requires minimal effort: chopping, tossing and serving. The amount of acidity and herbs can be adjusted and calibrated to your preference, or the crowd that you’re cooking for. As Ms. Moore writes, “This is a salad to be eaten seasonally, as it uses so few ingredients, so it’s important that each one has the best opportunity to shine.” Nodding toward a vibrancy of flavor, confluence of textures and an eye to pleasure, it’s a salad to look forward to.
Roscioli Roman Cacio e Pepe
The Roscioli family has built its own culinary empire in Rome since the 1960s, including bread bakeries, a pastry shop, a wine bar and a salumeria that moonlights as a restaurant. It’s a straight-from-the-airport destination for many American chefs, who go to taste the best food and wine from all over Italy, plus perfected Roman classics like cacio e pepe. The Roscioli method involves making a “crema” of cheese, pepper and water in advance. (It can also be refrigerated for later use.) The cheese needs to be grated until fine and feathery, so that it will melt quickly, and the hot pasta water must be added slowly. Unlike many recipes, the pasta here should be fully cooked, not al dente; it won’t cook any further once it’s added to the cheese.
Smashed Cucumber and Chicken Salad
A few simple elements — shredded rotisserie chicken, smashed, salted and drained cucumbers, and a sweet and spicy dressing — come together quickly in this Sichuan-inspired salad. The end result: a fresh, crunchy, flavorful main, served cold with no cooking time, perfect for hot summer days when turning on a stove feels like a Sisyphean task. It keeps in the fridge for a few days and tastes even better once the cucumbers have had a chance to marinate and soak up the briny dressing overnight. For a whole other salad, add chickpeas to whatever’s left, or sandwich leftovers between a couple of slices of bread to make a far-from-ordinary lunch.
Sardine Pasta Puttanesca
Pasta puttanesca packs a punch, loaded with flavorful pantry staples like capers, olives, garlic, anchovies and red-pepper flakes. This version adds sardines and swaps the canned tomatoes for plump cherry tomatoes, which both bring meaty bites to this simple dish. It’s best in the summer, when the tomatoes are especially ripe and juicy. Keep the pasta quite undercooked, so it can become tender while simmering in the burst tomato sauce. The sauce will look thin at first, but just keep vigorously stirring and it will get glossy and emulsified.
Taco Salad
This Mexican American classic has roots at Disneyland. Charles Elmer Doolin, a cofounder of the Frito Company, created an edible cup out of Fritos and served it at his Disneyland restaurant, Casa de Fritos, in 1955. It was the size of a teacup, filled with ground beef, beans and sour cream, and called the Ta-Cup (a portmanteau of taco and cup). The creation was a hit, with recipes for taco salad made with various corn chips proliferating in the ’60s, becoming a staple in school cafeterias, and eventually growing into the jumbo version added to the Taco Bell menu in 1984. (The menu item was retired in 2020.) You can use any corn chip for this recipe, and there’s no need for it to be in cup form, but opt for Fritos, if you want that authentic taste.
Grilled Tofu Tacos
Inspired by zesty Baja tacos, which typically feature fried fish, these quick vegetarian tacos are filled with tofu that has been marinated in a spicy adobo sauce, then grilled for smoky flavor. All of the typical toppings work perfectly here: Shredded cabbage adds crunchy texture and a creamy, cilantro-spiked crema tames the heat. If you don’t have access to an outdoor grill, the tofu can be cooked indoors on a lightly greased cast-iron skillet for charred flavor that’s enhanced by the adobo sauce.
Saimin
This beloved noodle soup — unique to Hawaii and its local food tradition and thought to be a mashup of ramen, pancit and chow mein — is all about simplicity, according to Mark Noguchi, a chef and educator at Punahou School in Honolulu. “That is how we are preserving a part of our culture,” Mr. Noguchi said. His saimin recipe is made of a dashi-based broth enhanced with dried shrimp and black peppercorns, saimin noodles, wontons stuffed with pork and scallions and all the fixings: barely set eggs, char siu, kamaboko (Japanese fish cake) and scallions. Cook the hot components of the dish — broth, noodles, eggs, wontons — so they finish at the same time and can be assembled together quickly for hot, happy slurping.
Japanese Potato Salad With Mentaiko
A classic side dish for homemade lunch boxes or bento picnics, a Japanese potato salad is made with boiled russet potatoes, vegetables, boiled eggs and, often, ham, all seasoned with rice vinegar and tangy Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise. Folding in some raw mentaiko, the salt-cured roe of Alaskan pollock, gives it a savory, briny complexity (and is a good reminder of why potatoes and cured fish eggs are so often paired together). The potatoes in Japanese potato salad are typically roughly mashed, but you can dice them if you prefer a heartier texture. Salting the cucumber in advance helps it retain some crunch when you mix it into the salad, while adding vinegar to the potatoes while they’re still hot helps them absorb more flavor.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/20230530-SEA-PhillyCheesesteak-AmandaSuarez-49-2f3fb63d50ac43a5a1bc8366ab64cdde.jpg)
Philly Cheesesteaks
Tender, well-marbled steak, sautéed onions, and melty provolone cheese served in a soft but sturdy hoagie roll define this classic Philly sandwich.