Lunch
2782 recipes found
Sesame Cucumber and Avocado Salad
Crispy cucumber and creamy avocado perform a delicate dance with earthy notes of sesame in this most simple of salads. Thin-skinned varieties such as Persian or English cucumbers work best, as they are almost seedless with a robust flesh that stays crisp. But don’t worry if you only have access to seedy cucumbers: Peel them if their skins are thick, then cut them in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds before slicing. No-cook and ready in a matter of minutes, this elegant salad can be dressed up according to your mood. It is a satisfying meal on its own, but it can also be served alongside cold soba noodles, or with brown rice and a fried or jammy egg on top.
Zucchini Parmesan
This is a simple layered casserole with three elements: roasted zucchini, a really good homemade tomato sauce and Parmesan. Roasting, rather than frying the zucchini, allows you to cut down on olive oil and time.
Brodo di Pollo con Pastina (Chicken Soup With Pastina)
Pastina means “tiny pasta,” and it’s often the first pasta shape Italian children are introduced to, typically cooked in broth. Pastina comes in a variety of shapes, like little stars and rounds. For this recipe, you can use any tiny shape you like, or use noodles broken into small pieces. Typically, the pastina is precooked in a separate pot and added to each soup bowl alongside shredded chicken, but this version cooks everything together for an easy one-pot meal. And this comforting chicken soup does not require premade or even store-bought broth: Instead, boneless, skinless chicken breasts cook in water with aromatics like onion, carrots, celery and garlic — and a good drizzle of olive oil — for a rich, flavorful broth that comes together fairly quickly.
Velvet Chicken Breast With Mustard Sauce
Cooking chicken breasts can be tricky, especially the “skinless-boneless” kind. No matter if they are pan-fried or grilled, they are apt to be dry if left to cook even a minute too long. This recipe borrows a Chinese technique called velveting that guarantees a moist chicken breast. A simple marinade made with egg white and cornstarch is the solution. Usually the chicken is cut into strips or cubes, but small chicken breasts or cutlets can be prepared the same way for Western-style dishes. Here, an assertive mustard sauce pairs nicely with the tender meat. Serve with boiled potatoes and crisp watercress, or stir-fried spinach.
Chicken Salad With Fennel and Charred Dates
The unlikely inspiration for this savory-sweet salad comes from Lilia, an Italian restaurant in Brooklyn, where vanilla gelato is adorned with sea salt, honey, olive oil and fennel pollen for a dessert that is citrusy, creamy and fresh. The savory spin goes like this: Thinly slice two fennel bulbs, then mix with shallots and shredded cooked chicken. Dates cook in olive oil so their outsides blister and their insides become caramel-like and soft. Fennel seeds and red-pepper flakes are added to the skillet, which creates a spiced oil for dressing the salad.
Fast Tandoori Chicken
Here’s a dead-simple weeknight meal that Mark Bittman came up with at the dawn of the century for fast tandoori chicken – chicken quickly marinated in yogurt and spices, then run under the broiler for less than 10 minutes. The whole process takes about an hour, but the active cooking time is around 20 minutes in total, and it makes for a delicious family meal when served with Basmati rice and some sautéed spinach.
Garlic-Ginger Chicken Breasts With Cilantro and Mint
This chicken, which is the brainchild of my aunt Sonia, is legendary among our cousins. Until recently, though, no one knew what, exactly, went into it. Whenever my aunt would make it on a family vacation, she’d disappear for a half-hour and reemerge with a Ziploc bag filled with the marinade and the chicken breasts. No one (not even her only daughter, Isha) was allowed to know the contents. The marinating chicken would smell so good, I’d legitimately have thoughts about eating it raw, carpaccio-style (which is disgusting, I know!). Well, folks, I am here to tell you that, after much negotiation, I have finally pried that chicken recipe out of Sonia’s hands. Both the marinade and the cooking method (low and sort of slow) feel ingenious to me, and the payoff is huge: Charred, spicy, slightly funky, juicy chicken that is equally wonderful by itself or rolled up in a roti, taco-style, and served with various salads and chutneys.
Chicken and Celery Salad With Wasabi-Tahini Dressing
Inspired by the desire to make use of some leftover wasabi paste, this is the kind of chicken salad that’s sure to become a go-to recipe. The best advice here is to make a large batch, and save it for multiple meals. Equally delicious cold or at room temperature, this salad is especially good in a sandwich, tucked into soft potato rolls. Embrace the wasabi and think of it as a hot mustard; you can even dial it back, starting with less, then adding more to taste. Lime juice lends a mellow acidity that rounds out the dressing.
Chicken Schnitzel With Pan-Roasted Grapes
No matter how you spin it, making schnitzel is a bit of a process. But by starting with thinly sliced chicken breasts, or chicken cutlets, this recipe removes the most time-consuming step — pounding the chicken — and makes schnitzel more doable on a weeknight. The contrast in temperatures and textures from the pan-roasted grapes and tangy sour cream make for perfectly balanced bites. Serve with a simple green salad with a lemony vinaigrette.
Chicken Katsu
Katsu, a popular Japanese comfort food of breaded cutlets, is commonly made with chicken or pork. For this chicken version, boneless chicken breasts are pounded thin, dredged in flour, egg and panko, then fried until golden brown for an irresistible crispy crust that yields to — and protects — juicy meat inside. The traditional accompaniments are a mound of crunchy shredded cabbage, steamed rice and a generous drizzle of sweet-savory katsu sauce. Also called tonkatsu sauce, it’s a tangy Japanese-style barbecue sauce made with soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, tomatoes, ginger and clove. Though you can purchase bottles of it in Asian markets or online, the sauce is easy to make, lasts indefinitely in the fridge and serves as a great all-purpose dip.
Muhammara Chicken Sandwiches
In this picnic-perfect sandwich, sliced chicken breast is enlivened by muhammara, an earthy Middle Eastern spread of roasted red peppers, walnuts and lemon that includes a little pomegranate molasses for sweetness. Poaching is an ideal technique for keeping chicken tender and juicy for these sandwiches, but you can swap in roasted, grilled or rotisserie chicken as well. Baby arugula, or a similar leafy green, adds a peppery bite. Be sure to use bread that can hold up to the sandwich fillings — one with a firm crumb and crunchy crust.
Sheet-Pan Baked Feta With Broccolini, Tomatoes and Lemon
When baked, feta gains an almost creamy texture, similar to goat cheese but with feta’s characteristic tang. In this easy vegetarian sheet-pan dinner, broccolini (or broccoli), grape tomatoes and lemon slices roast alongside the feta until the broccolini crisp, the tomatoes burst and the lemon rinds soften. (Remember, broccolini has a tender, delicious stalk so only the bottom 1/2-inch needs to be trimmed.) Serve this dish over a pile of orzo for a complete meal. If you like, cut the broccolini, feta and lemon into bite-size pieces and toss with the orzo.
Rasta Pasta With Jerk Chicken
Comforting and spicy in just the right way, Rasta pasta is popular in Jamaican communities across New York and beyond. This version gets its spice from jerk seasoning and a single Scotch bonnet. The bell peppers and green onions add not only texture, but a sweet crunch and brightness. You could swap salmon or shrimp for the chicken, or use fettuccine or rigatoni instead of the penne, if you like; just mind the cooking time. You could even halve the heavy cream, or substitute coconut milk for more depth of flavor. Feel free to refrigerate any leftovers, and either reheat or eat them cold the next day. This is a dish that gets better with a little time.
Roasted Sheet Pan Potato Salad
In this homage to warm, mustardy German-style potato salads, bite-size potatoes are roasted with asparagus and sliced leeks until crisp, then tossed with a simple shallot-and-mint vinaigrette, which soaks into the warm vegetables and infuses them with flavor. Using just one pan makes things simple: less cleaning, more eating. Serve as a side dish, or add hard-boiled eggs for a hearty vegetarian dinner.
Sheet-Pan Sesame Tofu and Red Onions
This sheet-pan recipe makes simple ingredients into a meal of delightful contrasts: savory and sweet, crisp and soft. The roasted tofu’s nuttiness is accentuated by a coating of turmeric and sesame seeds. Onions, which are often the sidekick to other vegetables, are roasted until soft, crackly-edged and sweet, becoming alluring enough to take top billing. A scattering of citrus-dressed herbs adds freshness. This dish goes well with steamed or roasted sweet potatoes or squash; massaged or sautéed hearty greens; rice or other grains; pita or tortillas; or something rich and creamy, like hummus, yogurt, mozzarella,peanut sauce or avocado.
Chickpeas Escabeche With Plantain Strips
In the Spanish-speaking world, the technique of cooking ingredients and then immersing them in vinegar is called escabeche. Anything can be made escabeche; it brings a lovely little shiver of sourness to the table. The writer and cultural critic Alicia Kennedy, who lives in Puerto Rico, likes to use chickpeas, simmering them in vinegar, olive oil and sofrito, a potent blend of garlic, onions, sweet peppers, grassy-bright cilantro and its swaggering cousin culantro. Just before serving, she adds Spanish stuffed olives, for extra richness. The beans are meaty enough to sate and small enough to scoop up with a chip — or, as Ms. Kennedy prefers, to be spooned, almost daintily (‘‘like caviar,’’ she says), onto a delicate strip of crisped plantain, hot from the skillet.
Broccoli Salad With Peanuts and Tahini-Lime Dressing
Broccoli stalks, often overlooked or tossed in favor of the florets, take center-stage in this summer picnic salad. While many broccoli slaws are made with mayonnaise-based dressings, this one is inspired by the bright flavors of Thai cuisine, and uses sesame oil, lime juice, salted peanuts, scallions and a dash of hot sauce for heat. (Garnish the slaw with fresh Thai basil, if you like.) Tossed with a creamy vegan tahini-lime dressing, the broccoli softens just enough to lose that raw broccoli flavor without giving up any of its satisfying crunch. A food processor or Mandoline makes quick work of the stems, but with a little bit of patience, a good knife does the trick, too. Finally, this salad is best the day it’s made, though its components can be prepared in advance to save time.
Roasted Broccoli With Tahini Garlic Sauce
One of my favorite Middle Eastern mezze is deep-fried cauliflower served with tahini garlic sauce. I decided to try the dish with broccoli, but instead of deep-frying the broccoli I roasted it, a method that requires a lot less oil. The buds on the broccoli florets toast to a crispy brown, and the texture of the stalk remains crisp. It goes wonderfully with the classic and irresistible tahini garlic sauce.
Chopped Salad With Chickpeas, Feta and Avocado
Like any good chopped salad, the lettuce here is in equal balance with the other ingredients, making this a great choice for those who are less than enthusiastic about leafy greens. Creamy feta and avocado mingle with briny olives and capers while cucumbers and finely chopped romaine provide crunch. Use this recipe as a template for making the most of ingredients you have on hand; radishes, cherry tomatoes or diced onion would all be welcome here. The same flexibility applies for the croutons: Stale bread works, of course, but even leftover hot dog buns, pita bread or oyster crackers become excellent little croutons when toasted in the oven.
Peach and Molasses Chicken
The sauce here relies on store-bought jam as a shortcut to intense fruit flavor and it is amazing on chicken. This recipe, adapted from the cookbook “Watermelon and Red Birds” by Nicole Taylor, is special enough for your Juneteenth celebration, but it’s so delicious, it can be cooked on a weekly rotation. Almost any fruit jam works, too, if peach isn’t your thing. As for the chicken itself, so much of the fat and flavor comes from the chicken skin that removing that outer layer is tantamount to robbing the meat of most of its taste, so do what it takes to find skin-on pieces. The crispy, charred chicken edges, drenched with the sauce, only happen with skin attached.
Roasted Tomato Tart With Ricotta and Pesto
Save those wider-than-tall, about-to-burst tomatoes for slicing and showering with flaky sea salt. For this recipe, you want smaller, sturdier varieties like kumato, Campari or petite heirlooms. Brushing the uncooked puff pastry with crème fraîche adds a subtle tanginess that you won’t necessarily notice, but the tomatoes will taste better for it. You might be tempted to skip salting your tomatoes, but don’t: It helps prevent a soggy crust while intensifying the flavor of your tomatoes. This tart is best enjoyed straight out of the oven, at its flaky prime, but it’s also great at room temperature, or even cold, devoured directly from the fridge.
Microwave-Steamed Eggs
The reward for this delightful steamed egg dish, smooth and savory, will seem much too high for the effort. Reminiscent of Chinese zheng shui dan, Japanese chawanmushi and Korean gyeran jjim, this streamlined recipe cooks entirely in the microwave. The key to that perfect, soft-set wibble-wobble texture (think silken tofu) is using your microwave at around 500 watts — or half its power on a 1,000-watt machine. This lower heat lets the eggs and broth steam together gently until they cohere into something ethereal, existing somewhere between liquid and solid. More slurpable than chewable, it tastes fantastic as a light starter or breakfast on its own, or for lunch or dinner alongside steamed rice and other dishes to complete the spread.
Crispy Baked Chicken
For pull-apart tender chicken with crisp, deeply spiced skin, rub it with a spicy-sweet mix and roast it low and slow while you’re doing something else. Because this chicken is cooked at a moderately low temperature, the spices will bloom but not burn, and the chicken fat will render slowly and completely (which means you don’t need any oil). The smoky rub in this recipe will turn the chicken skin into what tastes like a barbecue potato chip, but you can use other spice blends, too, like garam masala or Montreal steak seasoning. Just be sure your mix includes sugar for browning and salt for accentuating flavors. Whole chicken legs (with the thigh and drumstick attached) provide a more generous portion of juicy meat and skin that shatters, but a mix of drumsticks and bone-in thighs work, too.
Grilled Shrimp With Spicy Slaw
Lightly charred, citrusy grilled shrimp are the star of this quick slaw made from a pile of thinly sliced, crunchy green cabbage tossed with a sweet-tart citrus dressing. Cilantro adds bright flavor, and this dish has a bit of spice in the form of fresh jalapeños. They range quite a bit in their heat level, so start with a small amount and add more as you see fit. (You can also add julienned mango to tame the heat, if you like.) Feel free to substitute any quick-cooking protein for the shrimp; grilled chicken thighs or slabs of grilled tofu would work wonderfully. The cabbage will soften as it sits, so serve soon after it has been dressed to maximize its crunch.