Lunch
2842 recipes found
Avgolemono Chicken Soup With Gnocchi
This no-fuss, one-pot recipe is inspired by avgolemono soup, a traditional Greek rice soup that is prized for its silky texture and bright flavor, thanks to egg yolks and an invigorating dose of lemon. This soup achieves similar results while replacing the rice with store-bought gnocchi for a heartier take and a texture boost. The approach is simple: Simmer rotisserie chicken with stock, lemon zest and gnocchi, then thicken the soup with egg yolks and lemon juice. To prevent the eggs from curdling in the soup, you’ll want to first temper them by whisking some of the warm stock into the egg yolks before stirring the mixture back into the soup. Finish everything with torn fresh dill, lemon zest and black pepper for the perfect spoonful.
Spicy Miso Lentil Soup
This soup is simultaneously comforting, fresh and nasal-clearing — as good for sick days as for those crisp days of spring. The key is a spicy bright-green slurry made by blending a bunch of raw spinach, miso, lime juice, fresh chiles and ginger. Because it’s poured into the soup pot of tender lentils and rice right at the end, its color and flavor stays vibrant. For pops of savory nuttiness, top your bowls with slivers of shiitake mushrooms that have been browned in sesame oil. They make this soup especially satisfying, but you could also top bowls with stir-fried or roasted vegetables like asparagus and winter squash.
Chickpea Noodle Soup
With a golden broth, creamy chickpeas and bouncy angel hair noodles, this quick vegan soup will remind you of chicken noodle soup. To create a savory broth, sizzle carrots, celery and onion with nutritional yeast, turmeric and herbs in oil. A generous amount of oil adds silkiness to the broth and helps carry the flavor of the aromatics, while nutritional yeast gives the broth the soul-satisfying properties of chicken bouillon. While you can use broken pieces of any long noodle, angel hair is especially wonderful; delicate, soft and highly slurpable, they mimic the fine egg noodles found in many delis’ chicken noodle soup.
Mini Kabob’s Chicken Lule Cutlets
Juicy, buttery and well-seasoned, the ground-chicken lule cutlets that the Armenian American chef Armen Martirosyan serves at Mini Kabob in Glendale, California are comforting, savory and incredibly versatile. After culinary school, Mr. Martirosyan learned to make chicken lule from his father at his family’s 290-square-foot restaurant. The chicken mixture is simple, with just five ingredients; fragrant white pepper adds an earthy, grassy flavor and the generous amount of onion helps the patties stay moist and light. Sometimes Mr. Martirosyan grills the lule kebab on wide metal skewers, but here they’re hand-formed into patties and seared in butter until golden brown and tender. Serve them with roasted tomatoes, hummus, rice or parsley and sumac-marinated onions.
Hangover Kimchi Soup
Garlicky, gingery and full of bright flavors, this panacea will heal you from within. The amount of spice is up to you, but know that a little red chile lends immeasurable flavor in addition to heat. If your ginger root is especially young and tender, consider peeling then cutting it into fine 1-inch matchsticks to eat in the soup for an even deeper, punchier warmth. White beans offer protein in this brothy meal, which becomes even heartier with the addition of white rice or noodles. (You can also sop it up with a slice of cornbread.) Reheat this nourishing soup throughout the week, adding more broth and various crisper-drawer vegetables you need to use up, like cabbage, kale, arugula, watercress and bean sprouts. Quick-cooking proteins like shrimp and tofu taste great in place of the beans, too.
Chickpea Picadillo
This plant-based take on a Mexican picadillo trades the traditional ground meat for a deeply savory mix of mushrooms, tofu and chickpeas, simmered with tangy tomatillos, poblano and scallions until everything melds into a rich, comforting hash. A box grater gives the tofu a ground meat-like texture that crisps beautifully in the pan, while the tomatillos add a tart freshness that keeps each bite lively and light. This weeknight-friendly dish is flavorful and deeply satisfying — especially when served alongside rice and beans or made into tacos or burritos. Make a double batch and freeze the leftovers: This is the kind of comfort food whose flavor gets better with time.
Vegetarian Pad Thai
When dining out or ordering in, a vegetarian pad Thai can be hard to come by, as fish sauce is often used to attain the signature salty, savory flavors of this popular dish. While the complex umami of fish sauce can be difficult to replicate, this combination of lime juice, soy sauce, maple syrup, miso and tamarind creates a comparable sauce that effectively delivers pad Thai’s balance of sour, sweet and salty notes. The seasoning sauce keeps well, too, so it can be made ahead and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. Soaking the noodles in boiling water softens them quickly, just enough to make them pliable enough to stir-fry without overcooking and breaking apart. The broccoli and snow peas, sugar snap peas or green beans can easily be replaced with whatever vegetables you have on hand. To make this dish vegan, simply omit the eggs.
Ginger-Scallion Stir-Fried Shrimp
Supremely quick and easy, this is a delightful anytime recipe that enhances the flavor of shrimp with three dynamic ingredients: garlic, ginger and scallions. The shrimp gets coated with cornstarch before cooking, which keeps the shrimp tender and adds body to the pan sauce. Whipped together with little more than tomato paste and water, the pan sauce soaks up the flavors of the scallions, ginger and garlic. This dish is best enjoyed with rice or noodles.
Miso Rice Cakes With Spinach and Peas
Tteok (oval rice cakes) partner up with spring’s abundance of greens to produce an easy, lightning-fast weeknight dinner. The firm, precooked rice cakes often found in soups and stews become amazingly absorbent after a quick soak, drinking in the surrounding miso sauce, becoming glossy and rich with umami. Spring offers ample opportunity for substitutions: Fragrant green garlic can swap in for the usual garlic cloves, magenta spring onions for red onions, fresh peas instead of frozen, and twirly pea shoots for baby spinach. This dish welcomes scallions, chives, parsley or any tender herbs that may need to be used up. Quick-cooking or already-cooked proteins such as shrimp, white beans or tofu are happily accommodated here, if a protein boost is desired to top off this very vegetable-forward vegan meal.
One-Pot Sesame Salmon and Quinoa
This vibrant and satisfying one-pot meal pairs quick-cooking quinoa with rich, silky salmon. Broccoli and garlic are softened in olive oil to create a flavorful vegetable base for the quinoa, which steams in the pot until al dente. Cubed salmon is added during the last 10 minutes of cooking to ensure juicy, tender and flaky fish. The punchy dressing combines just three ingredients — ponzu (a pantry flavor bomb), tahini and lemon juice — yet creates a rich and tangy sauce that can be doubled to use later in the week on roasted chicken or leafy green salads.
Lemony Turmeric Potato Soup
This humble, bright yellow soup hails from Stone Town, Zanzibar, and is a popular street food known as Zanzibari Mix or Urojo. It’s affordable, filling, and reflective of the island's cross-cultural history. Traditionally served with various accompaniments like lentil fritters, cassava chips, chutneys, and sometimes hard-boiled eggs for protein, this dish has become synonymous with the island. This version features a classic interpretation of the simple soup base but relies on ultra-crispy, spicy jalapeno-flavored kettle-cooked potato chips for the crunch and heat usually provided by the toppings. Don’t be fooled by the modest ingredient list; this soup packs a punch.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/20240327-SEA-SmokedSalmon-VyTran-hero-9f8934c47ed34ce1a78ae3ef1b8e85d8.jpg)
Hot-Smoked Salmon
The basic method for hot-smoked salmon is simple: Brine the fish with salt and sugar, then rinse and dry thoroughly before smoking it. The result is silky, rich hot-smoked salmon that's even better than store-bought.
Grilled Asparagus With Burrata and Furikake
There’s something truly special about this combination of charred asparagus and scallions, milky burrata and crunchy furikake, a Japanese condiment of seaweed, sesame seeds and fish flakes. Maybe it’s the umami of the naturally savory asparagus, which intensifies on the grill; or the nubbly seeds blanketing the soft cheese; or the ingredients so redolent of land and sea. It’s probably best to not overthink it, and just dig in. Serve it alongside lentils, grains or grilled chicken, seafood or mushrooms for a full meal.
Mushroom and Tofu Sticky Rice
Sticky rice, known as lo mai fan in Cantonese, with its signature chewy texture and natural whisper of sweetness, feels like a celebration dish but is easy enough to whip up on a weeknight. This version is vegan, and dotted with toothsome shiitake mushrooms, bouncy extra-firm tofu and, if you like, nutty roasted chestnuts. While sticky rice is often steamed or made in a rice cooker, this one can be made in any heavy pot and cooks slowly on low heat, resulting in grains that are sticky but not mushy. Start by soaking the sticky rice (boiling water cuts the soak time to just 30 minutes), which helps it cook more evenly. Naturally gluten-free, sticky rice is sometimes sold as sweet or glutinous rice and is available from most Chinese markets, as well as larger Asian grocery stores.
Yakhni (Chicken Soup With Cilantro and Green Chiles)
This Pakistani-style chicken soup uses a delicately spiced yakhni, or broth, as its base. Whole spices like black peppercorns, cloves and cinnamon sticks permeate the nourishing, gelatin-rich soup made from a whole chicken (bones and meat), slowly simmered over a few hours. The addition of a blackened onion adds sweet smokiness, while the spices and a nub of ginger add depth and complexity. Though the base of this soup is formidable, the fixings do most of the talking. Lemon juice and green chiles provide a much-needed zing, freshly ground black pepper adds even more warmth and cilantro brings a touch of herbaceousness. Adjust the fixings to your liking and preferred spice level. Add white rice to the soup for a more robust meal.
Hoisin Garlic Noodles
Fans of garlic noodles and soy sauce noodles rejoice: Here is a new, weeknight-friendly noodle dish for your repertoire. A staple Cantonese ingredient, thick and fragrant hoisin sauce is often used as a glaze for meat, but also serves as a robust, sweet and salty seasoning for these noodles. The garlic is bloomed briefly in oil, which tames its pungency and unlocks a rich, nutty flavor. Allow the noodles to cook undisturbed for a few minutes to crisp underneath, adding texture and a hint of smokiness. This recipe calls for dried wheat or egg noodles, but if you don’t have Asian-style noodles on hand, you could substitute with spaghetti or linguine. Bulk up the noodles with tofu, eggs or whatever vegetables you have on hand; these noodles welcome toppings.
Roasted Carrots With Whipped Tahini
For a spectacular vegetable side at home, try this tried-and-true formula: A swoosh of sauce on a plate topped with a cooked vegetable and a confetti of finely chopped garnish. For this iteration, blend the base (a cloud of yogurt, tahini, citrus and garlic) and chop your garnish (a pretty pile of pistachios, dill and chives) while the carrots roast. Set on a platter, served hot or at room temperature, it’s a special side dish that can also hold its own as a vegetarian main, supplemented with chickpeas, quinoa, couscous or toasted bread.
Chickpeas all’Arrabbiata
A quick rummage through the pantry brings these saucy beans to life in this humble meal that leans on the power of a few dusty cans that may be lingering on your shelves. Let chickpeas swim in this fiery, garlic-heavy arrabbiata sauce built from canned tomatoes and they take on the vibes of the best slow-simmered red sauce classics in a fraction of the time. Slip a pan of no-stir creamy polenta into the oven before getting the beans started and it will be ready to catch every drop of sauce, but you could also toss the chickpeas with pasta or simply spoon them over toast.
Minorcan Clam Chowder
Though it shares similarities with mild-mannered Manhattan clam chowder, thick, briny, spicy Minorcan clam chowder gets its signature, fruity heat from datil peppers, and its Bolognese-like texture from a vegetable purée, plus a generous simmering time. Minorcans descend from indentured servants who, in the late 18th century, were recruited from around the Mediterranean, assembled on the Spanish island of Menorca and sent to Florida to farm indigo. Many Minorcan families still live near St. Augustine, Fla., and visitors to the Spanish-settled city can eat the chowder in a number of restaurants. However, the pinnacle of Minorcan clam chowder cooking is achieved just once a year at the St. Ambrose Spring Fair, for which Mary Ellen Masters — who is known as the “Queen of Minorcan Clam Chowder” — oversees the annual effort to prepare 180 concentrated, clammy gallons.
Ham and Potato Soup
Cooked ham lends a surprising amount of flavor to this simple, hearty soup. Easy to put together using leftover ham or a ham steak, this recipe is perfect for a weeknight or a busy weekend.
Herby Asparagus Salad With Beets and Prosciutto
Asparagus is absolutely a symbol of spring, so what better way to celebrate the season than by centering them in a salad. A platter of green spears, bathed in a mustard-tinged vinaigrette, would be perfectly fine, but for something more celebratory, it’s nice to dress things up, with finely slivered raw beets, a shower of dill, parsley and mint leaves, and chopped (or quartered) soft-cooked egg. A few slices of prosciutto complete the colorful assembly. For the best flavor, look for the freshest firm, shiny asparagus available, whether pencil thin, medium or hefty.
Roasted Cabbage With Capers and Garlic
It sounds so simple — roasted cabbage with a garlicky caper oil — but the resulting dish is anything but plain. Sharp from briny capers and unapologetically pungent from the garlic, with a bold kick of zesty lemon, the flavored oil serves as both a marinade for the cabbage and a finishing glaze. As the cabbage roasts, it turns savory and caramelized while the capers develop a crunch. Make this dish heartier by roasting chickpeas alongside the cabbage, serve alongside a protein like quinoa or pan-fried tofu, toss through pasta, or simply serve with bread to mop up every last drop.
Broken Egg Salad
This dish has all the elements of a classic egg salad — eggs, mayonnaise and mustard — with one radical change: The cooked eggs are simply torn into deliciously irregular chunks of whites and yolks in a more laid-back approach. Egg salad recipes usually call for hard-boiled eggs, but since they stay largely intact here, this recipe calls for just-set yolks that are golden and jammy at their core. When cooking eggs, every second counts, so make sure you set a timer as soon as the eggs hit the water to avoid overcooking. Eat this egg salad as you would the classic: with bread as a sandwich or tartine, tossed with some chickpeas or grains, or served alongside roasted veggies.
Beef Fried Rice
Fried rice is perfect for easy and fast weeknight cooking, as it is highly customizable and can be made with all sorts of veggies and protein. This beef version employs a traditional Chinese technique of velveting meat that quickly tenderizes tougher cuts. Simply mix the beef with cornstarch and oil (seasoned here with soy sauce) and let stand for 30 minutes (or even just 15 minutes, if that’s all you’ve got) before stir-frying until browned. Feel free to add more vegetables to this fried rice, like shredded cabbage or snow peas. Be sure to have all of your prep ready before cooking, as the process goes quickly.