Lunch
2851 recipes found
Asparagus Ricotta Pasta With Almonds
In this comforting pasta, fragrant herbs, spinach and crisp-tender asparagus offer the lightness of spring balanced by rich, garlicky, scallion-infused ricotta. For the creamiest sauce, look for ricotta without added stabilizers or gums, or try making it yourself. An almond crumble brightened with lemon zest adds a nutty crunch and makes each bite texturally diverse. Spiral-shaped pastas have long nooks and crannies for the thickened sauce to cling to, but other short shapes of pasta like penne work well here, too.
Shrimp Salad
Using plenty of lemon — both the zest and juice — is the secret to this tangy, creamy shrimp salad. If you’re using this to make sandwiches, chop the shrimp into pieces before adding them to the dressing. You can also leave the shrimp whole for an elegant salad, served with lettuce, avocado, and other vegetables if you like. If you’re starting with precooked shrimp, you can skip the first step entirely. The salad can be made and refrigerated for up to 6 hours before serving.
Creamy Chickpea Pasta With Spinach and Rosemary
Luxurious and hearty, cheap and easy, this vegetarian pasta uses mostly pantry staples, requiring just a few fresh ingredients, like baby spinach, rosemary and heavy cream. Canned chickpeas form the foundation of the dish: They’re cooked until crisp and caramelized. Half are then saved as a garnish, while the rest are simmered until they break down and thicken the sauce. You can swap out your greens or beans, and if you want to experiment with flavor, raid your spice cabinet: Ground coriander, toasted fennel seeds, coarsely crumbled pink peppercorns or a sprinkle of smoked paprika perk up the dish.
Perfect Instant Ramen
Make some instant ramen. Slide an egg into the hot broth, then some butter. Crown the steaming noodles with slices of American cheese. Scatter a bunch of toasted sesame seeds and chopped scallions across the top, if you want to. Hardly a recipe! But for the chef Roy Choi, who gave it to The Times in 2014, doctored instant ramen is a taste of Korean-American straight-from-the-bag soul food. The butter, egg and cheese help coat the ramen noodles and deepen their flavor. “It’s our snack, it’s our peanut butter and jelly sandwich, it’s our bowl of cereal,” Mr. Choi said. “It’s something that has been a part of my life forever.”
Roasted Squash With Turmeric-Ginger Chickpeas
Custardy, mildly sweet roasted squash holds its own as a main course in this easy weeknight recipe. Although fresh turmeric root is suitable, a high-quality ground turmeric will do a better job of infusing the chickpeas with its earthy, floral notes. Marinating the chickpeas a day or two ahead will allow the turmeric, ginger and other aromatics to intensify in flavor. If you do make this ahead of time, hold off on tossing in the fresh herbs until just before serving. Pomegranate seeds add color and crunch, and a dollop of yogurt would be the last of your obligations, if you want to take this dish out of vegan territory.
BLT Pasta
When another summer tomato sandwich just won’t do, try this BLT pasta instead. This clever twist on the classic sandwich substitutes spicy arugula for lettuce and in-season cherry tomatoes for heirlooms, which cook in bacon fat and produce a silky, smoky sauce. If baby arugula is out of reach, baby spinach, watercress or Swiss chard would work well in its place. Serve with a raw, shaved zucchini salad tossed with lemon juice, olive oil and mint.
The Best Scrambled Eggs
For silky, outrageously good scrambled eggs, cook them low and slow. This method, which Mark Bittman learned from James Beard, is very low and very slow: you place the eggs over very low heat, stirring frequently, breaking up the curds as they form. The results are without compare. Make them for breakfast on the weekend, while the coffee brews and the bacon fries.
Breakfast Burritos
A delightful breakfast, these burritos filled with soft scrambled eggs, scallion-flecked refried beans and buttery avocado slices are also great any time of the day. Cilantro adds freshness, and a few drops of your favorite hot sauce will deliver a nice zing. The nontraditional open-ended rolling technique used here will tightly encase the filling in the smaller-size tortillas while ensuring the optimal tortilla-to-stuffing ratio. To seal completely, wrap each tortilla in a strip of foil and twist both ends. For convenience, the little wraps can be made ahead of time, stored in the refrigerator or freezer and reheated in an oven.
Scrambled Peppers and Eggs
As in many Mark Bittman recipes, the idea here is more vegetables -- in this case, peppers -- than protein. It works because except for the jalapeño, none of the peppers is hot.
Flaky Folded Biscuits
These biscuits rely on frozen grated butter to create an extra light and crispy texture. The dough can be gently kneaded together, rolled and cut into biscuits using a biscuit cutter or knife before baking, but this method of folding and rolling produces more flaky layers. The final step of rolling the dough like a jellyroll, flattening it, and cutting it into triangles results in triangular biscuits that gently fan apart in layers that are perfect for catching extra butter and jam, or for pulling apart with your fingertips. If the dough or butter feels like it is getting warm or greasy at any point, transfer the dough to a rimmed baking sheet and place in the freezer for five minutes before proceeding.
Green Smoothie With Cucumber and Cumin
This smoothie, the only savory drink in this week’s Recipes for Health, is a bit like an Indian lassi, with a little heat from the pinch of cayenne, and some lovely spice. I used a mix of baby greens – chard, baby kale and spinach, as well as parsley and mint. It makes for a filling lunch.
Sausage, Egg and Kale Casserole
Finding a brunch dish that feeds a crowd can be a challenge, but this large-scale frittata does just that by layering sausage, kale and fontina with cream-thickened eggs. Use any fresh sausage you like (chorizo, merguez, or hot pork sausage work well), and swap in mild Swiss chard or peppery mustard greens in place of the kale. You can prepare this dish the night before serving by cooking through Step 5 and layering the sausage, vegetables and cheese in the baking dish. Let it warm up slightly at room temperature before adding the eggs, then bake as directed. Baking times will vary depending on how cold or warm the dish is, as well as its depth and ingredients, so keep an eye on the eggs; they should be just set in the center.
Mango Lassi
Mangoes tend to vary in texture and sweetness depending on where they are from; tart varieties can add sour notes to salad while milder mangoes go well with chile and lime. In Pakistan and across South Asia, there is a revered, intoxicating sweetness to most mangoes. Adding yogurt and milk to chopped bits balances that sweetness and makes this Punjabi mango lassi the perfect chilled drink for hot summer months, when the fruit is in season. This recipe adds honey to the mix, making allowances for the kind of mango that might be available — but you can skip it, if luck sources sweet mangoes. For added luxury, finish the drink off with powdered cardamom and crushed nuts.
Strawberry, Millet and Banana Smoothie
Whenever you find sweet, ripe strawberries buy twice what you need and hull and freeze half of them. I freeze them in small freezer bags, one smoothie portion per bag. You can also use commercial frozen strawberries for this nourishing mix of fruit, millet, cashews and kefir. I have gotten into the habit of soaking a small amount of cashews and almonds in water and keeping them in the refrigerator to use in smoothies. For a vegan version substitute almond milk for the kefir, and if you can’t find plain kefir, use yogurt or buttermilk.
Grain Frittata With Chile, Lime and Fresh Herbs
You may think of frittatas as leftovers’ idea of heaven, but is it yours? For a frittata to look forward to, throw in leftover grains: The result is something like a Spanish tortilla, pleasingly dense, but with more bounce. Add an acid, like lime, and umami, like fish sauce, which melts into an underlying savoriness when warmed. Whatever you do, don’t turn on the oven for this. Instead, stir the frittata on the stove and all but the top will set — nothing a few minutes covered can't fix (no precarious flip!). Finally, put a salad on top. The herby one here adds pep to the substantial frittata, as does a final squeeze of lime.
Pineapple and Millet Smoothie
I played around with this smoothie, toying with adding this ingredient (banana) or that (coconut); but in the end what I love about it is the pure flavor of pineapple, softened by the grain that also thickens and bulks up the drink.
Matzo Frittata
This savory matzo brei, loaded with caramelized onions and mushrooms, is made like a frittata that you cut into wedges. While commonly eaten for breakfast during Passover, this one serves as a substantial side dish. Leftovers make a nice brunch or lunch, especially with a green salad. The key to a good matzo brei is soaking the matzo just enough to retain a little bit of chew, but not so much that it becomes soggy. Here, the matzo is submerged in boiling water for one minute to soften. If keeping kosher and making this for a dairy meal, use a tablespoon of butter instead of oil for extra flavor.
Deep Purple Blueberry Smoothie With Black Quinoa
My idea for this week’s Recipes for Health was to match grains and fruit by color and make nourishing smoothies. For this one I could have also used any of the black or purple rices on the market, such as Alter Eco’s purple jasmine rice, Lotus Food’s Forbidden Rice or Lundberg Black Japonica. I happened to have a full bag of black quinoa in the pantry, so that’s what I went for and it worked beautifully. You can also use fresh blueberries for this, but when they are not in season, frozen will do fine and will eliminate the need for ice cubes.
Pineapple-Basil Smoothie
I’m not sure that I would order this just based on the name. But believe me, you’ll be pleased by this herbal concoction. Pineapple has so much sweetness and flavor on its own, and it marries well with the peppery, anisy basil. Very little else is required (no banana in this smoothie). I like to use kefir, but yogurt will work too. Pistachios and chia seeds bulk up the drink nicely, and the pistachios contribute to the pale green color.
Loaded Baked Frittata
Sautéed onion, pepper and spinach lace this sturdy frittata that’s as good warm out of the pan as it is cold. Bacon and goat cheese enrich the mix, which can be eaten alone or put in a sandwich (see tip below). This recipe is, of course, delicious as is, but you can also take a cue from one of our commenters, Joan, who made this with leftover peppers and onions, adding sliced roasted baby potatoes. Ready in 45 minutes, it lasts for up to three days in the refrigerator, so you can enjoy it as long as it lasts — which may not be very long.
Chicken Salad With Corn, Quinoa and Yogurt Dressing
While traditional chicken salad is rich with tender meat and mayonnaise, this one embraces pops of texture and color. Combining quinoa and corn, two staples in Inca, Aymara and Quechua cooking, is a great balancing act of earthy and sweet. For this salad’s dressing, mashing onion and chile together with salt (like in guacamole) releases their assertive juices into a tangy blend of Greek yogurt and lime. Since this is a room temperature salad, you can make the chicken and quinoa and reserve them up to a few days ahead, or let the whole salad meld for up to 3 days in the fridge. Eat the dish on its own, over romaine or Little Gem leaves, or with more pops, such as pepitas, mint, radishes, jicama, Cotija or Parmesan.
Toum Grilled Cheese
When I was a teenager, I remember getting freshly baked akkawi cheese manakeesh with sides of cucumber and beet-stained turnip pickles and little plastic containers of toum for dipping at a Lebanese bakery in Doha, Qatar. Cheese manakeesh, a topped flatbread found throughout the Levant, is delicious with toum, a sauce made by combining garlic, lemon juice, salt and oil. This grilled cheese hits those notes, skipping a trip to the bakery. Slathering the bread with toum instead of butter instantly gives it garlic bread vibes. Though you can purchase toum at many supermarkets and Middle Eastern specialty stores, making it at home gives it a more vibrant punch. It lasts for months and can be used anywhere a tangy, garlicky wallop is needed. Use in salad dressings, as a rub on roasted meats, as a sandwich condiment, or even as a dip for crudités.
Lemon-Garlic Kale Salad
Here's a snappy, fresh side dish or a light supper: a lemony green salad, rich with tang and crunch. The dressing is nothing more than lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and salt. Its simplicity makes it perfect.
Ham and Jam Sandwich
Nothing can compare to jambon-beurre, the iconic Parisian sandwich, which is really just a baguette with salted European butter and unsmoked ham. This rendition expands on that perfect trinity with a few additional pantry ingredients: Jam plays well with ham (like in a Monte Cristo), and Dijon and black pepper bring spice and spirit. Smoked ham adds yet another layer of savoriness, but any thinly sliced ham will work. The result is a hearty, complex but still delicate meal, appetizer or pick-me-up. While ham and jam sandwich doesn’t roll off the tongue quite like jambon-beurre, you have permission to call it a ham-jam-sam, if you like.