Lunch
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White Bark Balls
Tfaya Baked Chicken
This one-pan chicken dish is a practically effortless meal packed with the flavors of Morocco. Tfaya is a sweet and savory Moroccan sauce made of caramelized onions, raisins and spices, and here those ingredients are used to create a comforting meal that requires only 10 minutes of preparation time.
Chopped Salad
A good chopped salad is a buoyant mix of different textures (creamy, crisp, crunchy, juicy), a range of colors, and sweet, salty and tangy flavors. This one has it all, in just the right proportions. You can gather all the ingredients in advance, including cooking the bacon and the eggs. But don’t toss everything together until just before serving — and, preferably, do so at the table for maximum impact.
Radicchio Salad With Anchovy Vinaigrette
Salt is the best way to tame a bitter flavor, and so a radicchio salad benefits from a dressing that tilts toward saltiness. It does not matter which type of radicchio you use — the common tight round head, clusters of white stems with burgundy leaves, or maroon-trimmed endives to name a few — they all deliver some bitterness. The vinaigrette here is bolstered with anchovies and capers.
Chilean Cabbage and Avocado Slaw
Coleslaw meets guacamole here in this utterly simple mix of shredded cabbage, salt, lemon, and puréed avocado. The chef Iliana de la Vega, who was born in Oaxaca, Mexico, served it at a delicious Latin-themed lunch she prepared at the “Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives” conference this year at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley. I couldn’t get enough of it. I sat with Iliana at the lunch and asked her about the salad. “Just salt the cabbage, let it sit for a while, then add lots of lemon juice and the mashed avocado,” she said. That really is all there is to it. Shred the cabbage thin and for best results let it sit, after salting generously, for an hour or more, to tenderize it and draw out strong-tasting juices.
Skillet Refried Beans With Avocado and Radish
This hearty vegetarian mash-up of burritos and seven-layer dip is a crowd favorite for good reason: It’s easy, it’s fast and it encourages diners to gather around the table and fill their tortillas however they wish. Canned refried beans seasoned with a dash of cayenne are heated through on the stovetop, then topped with a generous sprinkling of cheese. Before serving, lots of cool, crunchy toppings like avocado, grated Cotija cheese, snap peas, radishes and romaine lettuce are piled on top. The toppings make it feel like a proper meal, though you could serve it with tortilla chips as a snack or with eggs for brunch.
Albóndigas de la Familia Ronstadt (Ronstadt Family Meatballs)
Fragrant with mint and cilantro and a hit of oregano, these delicate Mexican meatballs have served Linda Ronstadt’s family for generations. They were lunch for her grandfather, or a soup course when the family gathered at her grandparent’s house. The recipe, published in her memoir-cookbook hybrid “Feels Like Home: A Song for the Sonoran Borderlands” (Heyday, 2022), is different from many traditional albóndigas recipes, which use rice or soft vegetables like potatoes or carrots to bind the meatballs. It may seem like the meatball components won’t come together when kneading at first, but stick with it. The poaching liquid becomes a broth, which benefits from skimming off the little bit of foam that appears before serving. A variation of the Ronstadt family meatballs first appeared in The Times in 1989.
Meatloaf Stroganoff
This meatloaf pays homage to one that was served at the old M. Wells in Long Island City, when the restaurant was in a dodgy old diner where the cooks did prep work on the lunch counters and the vents occasionally caught fire. The chef, Hugue Dufour, folded knuckles of foie gras into this marvelous Stroganoff gravy that he used to nap big loaves of aged-beef meatloaf. I’ve made versions at home with beef and lamb and pork covered in sauce made with mushrooms both wild and supermarket-bland. I’ve spooned canned foie gras into my meatloaf mixture to mimic the original, and I’ve dotted it into the finished sauce as well. That last maneuver was in truth more successful, providing pops of richness against the silkiness of the cream, but I’ve also omitted the foie entirely and no one has been the poorer for it. The adaptations hardly matter. Make a good and juicy meatloaf with the best meat you can find, and cover it with mushrooms and cream. You’ve got a meal to suggest magic.
Herby Rice Salad With Peas and Prosciutto
This bright, lemony salad laced with fresh herbs is a passport to spring. Simmering the rice in plenty of salted water just until it’s al dente and then cooling it well is key. Blanched fresh peas are terrific if you can find them, but frozen work just fine. The trick is marinating them in lemony olive oil, a technique borrowed from the Michigan chef Abra Berens, who uses it in her comprehensive book “Ruffage: A Practical Guide to Vegetables” (Chronicle Books, 2019). The prosciutto adds a nice salty hit, but you could sub in a dollop of creamy ricotta or leave both out for your vegan friends. Either way, the recipe delivers a bright salad that can stand in for a light meal.
Corn and Celery Stir-Fry
Corn kernels stir-fried with pine nuts is a northern Chinese dish that shows off the versatility of fresh, sweet corn. While frozen kernels would work in a pinch, this dish is best made with corn at its peak; stir-frying at high heat for just a few minutes locks in the summer sweetness and ensures that every kernel stays plump and juicy. Similarly, flash-fried celery becomes highly perfumed while retaining its crunch. Pine nuts deliver pops of buttery nuttiness, but you could also use cashews or peanuts in their place. Eat alone as a light meal or with rice.
Salmon Fried Rice
It’s always a clever idea to cook extra rice so that you can make fried rice the next night, or the one after that, using various bits and bobs in your fridge. Allowing the rice a day or two to dry out makes it doubly flavorful: Since the grains have less moisture, they’ll absorb even more flavor from whatever liquid you add to them. Plus, the dry grains remain separate, which means more surface area to soak up any seasoning. When it comes to fried rice, anything goes — leftover meat or fish, or whatever stray vegetables are lurking in your produce drawer or freezer will do. Just make sure you don’t crowd the pan, or your rice will steam instead of crisp.
Leafy Herb Salad
This salad is ideal for Thanksgiving or other huge, rich meals, something to nibble on between bites of sour cream potatoes and buttered stuffing. It’s more of an idea than a recipe, so feel free to riff on the greens and herbs involved. It should have about a 1:1 ratio of salad greens to herbs, and be very lemony, with plenty of salt.
Corn Risotto
This creamy, pale yellow risotto is studded with chewy fresh corn kernels, making for a nice mix of textures. Making your own corn stock deepens the flavor of this dish, but if you don’t have the time, chicken stock will work. The dish is also pleasingly light, for risotto — finishing the dish by folding in airy whipped cream adds richness without also adding heft. Add the cream quickly and carefully right before serving. If it sits in the hot risotto it will melt — which wouldn’t be the end of the world, of course, since you’ll still have a wonderfully creamy risotto.
Crispy Gnocchi With Tomato and Red Onion
Inspired by panzanella, the beloved Tuscan bread salad, this dish swaps out stale bread for pan-fried gnocchi. The plump, crusty dumplings do a surprisingly good job at soaking up the summery combination of tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and olive oil, while still maintaining their crisp edge. Shelf-stable gnocchi work best, as they are sturdier and crisp up well, but you could use frozen gnocchi, taking extra care not to move them around too much in the pan so they don’t break apart. Top with a sharp cheese such as Parmesan, pecorino or ricotta salata, for a hit of saltiness, if you like. This meal is best eaten immediately while the gnocchi remains crispy, but it can sit for up to 30 minutes, giving the flavors time to mingle. (However, don’t let it sit too long, as the gnocchi will turn mushy.)
Pan-Fried Salmon With Green-Coconut Chutney
Coastal flavors from India permeate this crispy-skin salmon. The coconut chutney carries the buzz of ginger and green chile, while a drizzle of tadka — a hot, bright red oil infused with mustard seeds, curry leaves and Aleppo flakes — is the crowning glory of the dish. For perfectly crisp skin, resist the urge to fidget with the fish until the appropriate amount of time has passed; the skin will start to crisp at the edges and the fillet will release with ease. Use fresh or frozen coconut to make the chutney. (Desiccated coconut simply doesn’t work as well here.) You can use freeze-dried curry leaves instead of fresh, but you might need to double or even triple the amount, as their intensity is noticeably weaker in comparison.
Roasted Broccoli With Vinegar-Mustard Glaze
On its own, roasted broccoli is a treat: caramelized and crisp-tender, with frizzled florets and sweet stems. To prevent overcooking, roast at a high heat and on one side the whole time. Flipping the broccoli to brown on both sides increases the chance that it will dry out or turn to mush before the outsides are as caramelized as you like. To give the broccoli a little pizzazz, this recipe takes inspiration from a classic mustard pan sauce, which makes chicken breasts or steaks sparkle. Toss the broccoli with butter, vinegar and Dijon mustard right out of the oven, and the heat from the sheet pan will meld them into a silky, bright sauce.
Broccoli Toasts With Melty Provolone
A beautifully assembled toast can make a lovely light dinner. In this version, blanched broccoli is cooked in olive oil that's been infused with garlic and anchovies (always optional) until it’s very tender, then it’s piled onto toasted bread. Grated extra-sharp provolone, which is a nice complement to the mildly sweet broccoli, is sprinkled on top, then the toasts are broiled until the cheese is melted and golden brown. You can use cauliflower, broccoli rabe or thickly sliced sweet peppers in place of the broccoli, but be sure to cook your vegetables until they are velvety soft — it provides a nice contrast to the crunchy bread. While these toasts work well on their own, they make an equally good accompaniment to roast chicken or grilled fish.
Peanut Fish Stew
Luscious and delicate from coconut milk, with distinguishable nuttiness from ground peanuts and peanut butter, this fish stew would be a welcome addition to the comfort food repertoire for every home cook who isn’t allergic to the namesake ingredient. This recipe from Ricky Moore, the chef at Saltbox Seafood Joint in Durham, N.C., comes together quickly with an approachable ingredient list. It also has deep, penetrating notes from ginger and garlic that give this stew subtle yet superlative depth. The diced tomatoes are an essential ingredient: Their acid cuts the creaminess of the dish and their color imparts a warm reddish hue. This stew is best served with rice and topped with spiced pickled celery.
Make-Ahead Fried Chicken
Fried chicken is one of the few fried foods that tastes just as good served at room temperature as it does when it's served hot enough to burn your fingers. This recipe has been specially engineered to be made in advance. It’s seasoned assertively, so the flavors won’t dull as it cools. But the real key is double-dipping the chicken in the flour mixture before you fry it, making for an extra-crunchy crust that holds up all afternoon. And it lets you serve fried chicken to your guests and still have enough time to clean the kitchen and take a shower before they arrive. Although the recipe calls for all drumsticks, which won’t dry out as they sit, feel free to substitute other chicken parts.
Alice Waters’s Seasonal Minestrone
Alice Waters often recommends that cooks master a good minestrone. It’s communal and seasonal, two pillars on which she has built her cooking career. This summer recipe came from the cookbook that is her top seller: "The Art of Simple Food." It uses the best of the season’s green beans, tomatoes and squash. In the spring, fresh peas, asparagus and spinach would make a good vegetable trio, with some fennel standing in for the carrot in the sofrito. In the fall, cubes of butternut squash, a small can of tomatoes and a bunch of kale would star, with rosemary and a little chopped sage instead of thyme for seasoning. Winter might bring a soup built from turnips, potatoes and cabbage. If the turnips have greens, add them, too. Start with a large pot that has a heavy bottom. Always cook the vegetables through, about 10 minutes. They should look good enough to eat on their own. Add the beans about 10 minutes before serving. A cup or two of cooked pasta can be stirred in at the last minute. Don’t overcook the pasta. The olive oil and cheese garnish should be added once the soup is in the bowls. Ms. Waters likes to pass those at the table, once everyone is served. Pesto makes a lovely garnish, too, and gives a garlicky, herbal punch to the soup.
Miso Soup
In the United States, especially in Japanese American restaurants, the standard version of miso soup usually involves little more than soft tofu, seaweed and a lily-pad suspension of scallions. Think of this recipe as your blank canvas: You could add thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms at the end, or replace the katsuobushi entirely with dried shiitakes for a vegan version. Fried tofu, clams and even chicken are all fair game when cooking miso soup at home. The chef Seiji Ando, of Benkay restaurant in Portland, Maine, adds sake and mirin for balance, and says even a tiny bit of butter can be delicious.
Black-Eyed Peas With Ham Hock and Collards
For the New Year’s good fortune, a plate of black-eyed peas or other beans is considered auspicious, auguring wealth and prosperity. In the American South, they are traditionally eaten on the first day of the year. Adding cooked greens (the color of money) is said to make them even luckier. Simmered with onion and a meaty ham bone (other options are salt pork, bacon, pig’s feet, hog jowl and ham hock), black-eyed peas are often seasoned quite simply, with just salt and pepper. They may also be made highly seasoned with hot pepper and spices. Freshly baked cornbread is the perfect accompaniment.
Kale and Brussels Sprouts Salad With Pear and Halloumi
Salty, fried halloumi cubes are the star of this bright, lemony kale and brussels sprouts salad. Crispy, melty and squidgy all at once, they are delightfully textural. Though the kale and brussels sprouts mix can sit in the fridge for a few hours before serving, for best results, you should fry the halloumi just before you plan to eat.
Charlie Bird’s Farro Salad
There are two essential steps to a stellar farro salad. The first is cooking the farro with enough salt and aromatics so that it delicious before you combine it with the rest of the ingredients. The second is to use very good olive oil in the dressing. This farro salad, from the restaurant Charlie Bird in SoHo, hits both these marks. The chef Ryan Hardy cooks the farro in apple cider seasoned with bay leaves and plenty of salt, which renders it good enough to eat on its own. But it’s even better after he adds loads of olive oil, plus pistachio nuts and Parmesan cheese to make it even richer. Then, before serving, he folds in fresh vegetables to brighten it up: juicy tomatoes, radishes, arugula and plenty of herbs. There are many farro salads of this ilk out there. This is one of the best.