Lunch
2775 recipes found
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The Greenest Broccoli Soup
A luscious, bright green broccoli soup that’s rich and velvety without any dairy. When dotted with morsels of charred broccoli, melted leeks, and crisp-tender snap peas, it’s a nourishing one-pot meal that comes together in under an hour.
Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Tofu With Chile Lime Dressing
Roasted brussels sprouts and tofu come alive when tossed with this sweet and spicy nước chấm-inspired chile lime dressing. The crispy edges of the sprouts and the firm texture of the tofu provide a perfect contrast to the tangy, umami-rich sauce. Pile on the soft herbs such as Thai basil, mint and cilantro, which add freshness and aromatic complexity to the dish. Serve alongside steamed rice for a flavorful and satisfying weeknight dinner that balances textures and tastes in every bite. For added crunch and flavor, top with chopped peanuts and crispy fried shallots. If you crave more heat, don't hesitate to add a generous serving of sriracha to kick things up. To make this vegetarian, swap out the fish sauce for a vegan one, or add tamari to taste instead.
Chicken and Red Lentil Soup With Lemony Yogurt
If you’re feeling a bit worn down, one bowl of this hearty lentil soup will bring you back to life — or at least fool you into thinking so. The broth is simply (and deeply) flavored with charred onions and six garlic cloves, plus a generous pinch of turmeric that stains the soup gold. As they cook down, the lentils melt into the broth, making it thick and rich. A healthy dose of black pepper brings gentle heat to clear your head, and the final sprinkle of fresh dill and parsley adds a bright, herbal finish. This soup is soothing and satisfying on its own, but feel free to add a few extras: hearty greens like kale or spinach to wilt, a soft-boiled egg, or even chile oil for some heat.
Beet Salad With Celery and Pomegranate
It’s nice to make this beet salad in winter when pomegranates are available. For the best result, cook your own beets — simply boil or roast them any time you have a free moment, even a day or two ahead. Then, slip off the skins while the beets are still slightly warm. Slice them just before you make the salad. Sumac, available in Middle Eastern grocery shops, adds tartness, as would a spoonful of pomegranate molasses. To serve, toss with chopped celery and mint, then garnish with pomegranate seeds. It’s a feast for the eyes.
Roasted Cauliflower With Nước Chấm Sauce
Hearty slabs of cauliflower are deeply caramelized in the oven on high heat then dressed with a riff on the traditional Vietnamese nước chấm sauce — an umami-rich mix of fish sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, garlic and chiles. Fish sauce and garlic add pungency, vinegar brings a touch of sourness (in place of more traditional citrus), sugar rounds out these strong flavors with some sweetness, and chiles bring the heat. Mild, subtly sweet cauliflower benefits a great deal from getting burnished in the oven, and again from the sauce, while crushed roasted nuts add texture and bring out the vegetable’s nuttiness. Serve this dish as a starter or side, or supplement with rice to make it a main.
Leafy Greens With Turmeric Dressing and Spicy Pistachios
If there’s going to be a salad at any celebration, it deserves to feel as festive as the rest of the menu — but it should also be simple. Golden turmeric dressing will add brightness to any greens you choose, but it works especially well with bitter ones. The quick candied nuts add crunch, plus a dose of heat that keeps guests coming back for another forkful. If you tend to snack on what you’re cooking as you go, make a double batch of nuts so there will be enough to go around.
One-Pot Beans, Greens and Grains
Many filling, flavorful and flexible meals are within reach with this technique: It produces fluffy grains, just-soft-enough greens and creamy and garlicky beans all in one pot. Customize your mix based on your cravings and your pantry: Use any dark leafy greens and any cooked legumes. Use quinoa, rice or a mix of the two for a variety of textures; for other grains, refer to the cooking instructions on their package and add the greens in the last 5 to 7 minutes. You can infuse the grains with flavor by stirring ground spices or other seasonings into the pot. Add brightness with lemon and garnish wildly — or not at all. This meal can be eaten warm or cold, which means lunchtime grain bowls are now easier to pull off.
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How to Make the Ultimate Chicken and Dumplings
Cozy up with a bowl of thick chicken broth packed with vegetables, shredded chicken, and light, fluffy dumplings.
Yamitsuki (Addictive Cabbage)
In Japanese, “yamitsuki” means addictive — a precise description of this seemingly humble side dish of cabbage, gently torn and simply anointed with sesame oil and seeds, garlic, black pepper and a fingerprint’s worth of salt. So few ingredients, so little time required, and you can’t stop eating it. Often served at izakayas, the Japanese equivalent of pubs, the cabbage is especially good for refreshing the palate and easing the stomach between bites of richer, fattier foods. Aiko Cascio, an instructor for the New York-based League of Kitchens cooking school, prefers tearing the leaves by hand rather than using a knife because the rougher edges absorb more of the sesame oil. This recipe, from “The League of Kitchens Cookbook” (Harvest, 2024) by Lisa Kyung Gross, Rachel Wharton and the women of the League of Kitchens cooking school, calls for flathead cabbage, also known as Taiwanese cabbage, which is soft and tender, with space between the ribs. If you can find only green, Ms. Cascio advises cutting it into smaller pieces and letting it rest a little longer in salt, for greater pliancy.
Vegan Latkes
You don’t need to use an egg substitute like flax seeds or aquafaba to make excellent vegan latkes. The key is to use flour to bind the potato strands together, then leave the latkes alone in the pan as they cook thoroughly on the first side before flipping them. (Too much flipping can cause them to fall apart.) Once the latkes form a golden-brown crust on the first side, carefully turn them over to finish cooking. For the crispiest result, you can add the potato starch lost in squeezing back into the batter (see the Tip for details). It does add an extra step and 15 minutes to the process, but it’s easy and worth it for latkes lovers who live for the crunch.
Tortitas de Espinaca (Spinach Fritters)
Tortitas are Mexican fritters that are great as an appetizer or as a meal served with a vegetable side or salad and are always enjoyed with a spicy hot salsa to dip and pour over. They can be made with whatever you like or have: mashed potatoes, shredded chicken, chorizo, sautéed mushrooms, squash, greens. They’re a great way to use up leftovers; just throw them in a bowl with eggs, cheese and flour or bread crumbs and fry them up. These spinach and cheese tortitas are incredibly comforting and come together fast enough for a quick and easy weeknight meal.
Simple Boiled Greens
Greens, boiled in properly salted water, make an ideal companion to almost any dish. Served with spiced duck, or a similar saucy braise, they provide soft, nourishing relief to every eater and gallantly soak up what’s on the plate. Dinosaur kale (also known as lacinato or Tuscan kale), Savoy cabbage and brussels sprouts are particularly suitable during winter. Let the greens drain and steam dry fully before drizzling with olive oil or topping with a knob of butter.
Shorbat Adas bil Hamod (Lentil Soup With Greens)
This traditional Lebanese soup is as simple as it is special. “Hamod” means sour in Arabic and, in this case, refers to the generous amount of lemon juice that brightens the lentil soup at the end. This acidity, paired with the flavorful garlic and cilantro oil that's poured all over the top, is what makes this otherwise humble soup stand out. If you don’t have brown lentils, then green ones will do. You can also swap out the chard for another leafy green like spinach, and play around with the spices. If you prefer a thinner soup, add in a splash more stock or water to your desired consistency.
Roasted Squash and Bacon Salad
This sweet and savory sheet-pan recipe has everything you want in a full-meal salad: caramelized winter squash, crisp bacon, mustard-dressed kale, maple-toasted pecans and piquant blue cheese. By using one sheet pan for all the cooking, the bacon’s smoky drippings coat the squash for added flavor, and clean-up is a breeze. This salad can be eaten right when it’s made, warm or at room temperature — leftovers are great for lunch the next day. If you have them, feel free to add fresh apples or grapes, dried dates or cherries or another bitter green like radicchio or frisée.
Nasi Lemak
Nasi lemak is the name of a Southeast Asian coconut rice that’s fragrant with lemongrass, pandan leaves, ginger, galangal and spices, though sometimes you’ll see it referring to a meal that includes ikan bilis (crispy fried dried anchovies with peanuts), hard-boiled eggs, sliced cucumbers and sambal oelek. The latter presentation of nasi lemak, which is the recipe that follows, is common in Malaysia and Singapore, according to Zulfikar Fahd, the chef and owner of Java Bali Kitchen, an Indonesian pop-up restaurant in Toronto. A more Indonesian iteration might pair nasi lemak with chicken, sweet tempeh or an omelet. All of which is to say that this gorgeous, easy coconut rice will perfume your home and be a wonderful anchor to your meal.
Mie Goreng
The key to achieving the signature sweet-smoky-salty flavor of Indonesian stir-fried noodles is to let the noodles cook, undisturbed, over high heat until you see small wisps of smoke. Javanese sweet soy sauce, also known as kecap manis, can be very sweet, so giving it a good cook will bring just enough of a bitter edge to its sweetness. If you’re making this dish for a crowd, don’t prepare more than two servings at a time, otherwise the noodles will crowd the pan and not brown properly, and you won’t get that smoky wok hei flavor. But don’t let all of this scare you from making mie goreng. This recipe, from Zulfikar Fahd, the chef and owner of Java Bali Kitchen, an Indonesian pop-up restaurant in Toronto, is satisfying and versatile, a quick and filling meal that uses up the odds and ends in your fridge.
Kilt Lettuce
“Kilt, as in ‘killed,’ is how mountain folk describe once-lively lettuce that has been forgotten and left to wilt on the counter (or in the back of the fridge for the modernists),”the chef Ashleigh Shanti explains in her cookbook, “Our South” (Union Square & Co., 2024). This dish speaks to the resourcefulness of Appalachian cooks, who found a way to make delicious meals out of produce that may have been past its prime. With a few staple ingredients, a head of iceberg lettuce becomes a tangy and slightly sweet salad that pairs well with a simple roast chicken or mustard-glazed pork tenderloin, and can also serve as a main course with simply cooked rice or roasted vegetables alongside.
Turkey Kimchi Pancakes
These crispy but delicate fritters are a riff on pajeon, savory Korean pancakes that can include vegetables (like these vegetable pajeon), meat or seafood (like these scallion pancakes with squid). This version, inspired by Thanksgiving, features leftover turkey and fresh green beans, along with common pajeon ingredients like scallions and kimchi. The ingredients are bound by a light batter using flour, egg and water and then fried. Serve the pancakes right away, while hot and crunchy, but if you happen to have any left, they can be reheated in the oven at 350 degrees on a baking sheet to recrisp.
Hobakjuk (Korean Squash Porridge)
Traditionally made with kabocha squash, this soothing porridge showcases the natural velvety texture of winter squash. Make this when squash is in season, as the flavor of the porridge will be best when the gourds are at their peak, both nutty and sweet; use kabocha, butternut or any orange-fleshed squash or pumpkin. Sweet white rice, also known as glutinous rice, becomes sticky and thickens the mixture naturally as it cooks. Typically topped with slivered Korean dates and pine nuts, a more modern, crunchier nut-and-seed topping contrasts this creamy, bisque-like soup. Leftovers freeze very well.
Cranberry Grilled Cheese
Somehow, there is always leftover cranberry sauce after all of the other Thanksgiving leftovers have disappeared. The classic grilled cheese sandwich comes to the rescue, welcoming any cranberry sauce you have on hand into its warm, melty embrace. A meat-free alternative to the traditional Thanksgiving leftover sandwich, this cranberry sauce grilled cheese thrives with mild or sharp Cheddar, though any cheese is welcomed here. Adding in a layer of Dijon mustard and of course, a few slices of turkey, are also great ideas.
Matty Matheson’s Leftover Turkey Clubhouse Sandwich
Eating a club sandwich at a diner is a delight. The presentation has a very royal vibe. Even a bad club sandwich is special. I like to add pickle and cheese, so this is kind of a club deluxe. I also like mayo on the side because sometimes I want to spread just a little extra on top of a bite like a bad boy. Every once in a while, I'll make the clubhouse sandwich from my book, “Soups, Salads, Sandwiches,” with Thanksgiving leftovers like I do here. I eat it with a side of stuffing and some gravy, which is a huge flex. A club sandwich with side fries and gravy is all-time one of the greatest meals in the world.
Spicy Black Bean Soup
There are a lot of things to love about this soup: It comes together in 20 minutes in just one pot with fewer than 10 ingredients. But most importantly, minimal effort results in a velvety yet bright soup. The cocoa powder accentuates the fudginess of the black beans, while the salsa verde adds surprising tartness. The tomatillos in the salsa also contain pectin which, along with the starchy bean liquid, quickly thickens the soup. While the soup’s cooking, ready your garnishes as you’ll want plenty to top the bowls. Leftover soup keeps for up to three days, but will stiffen as it sits, so thin with water as needed or turn it into refried beans.
Hoisin-Peanut Shrimp and Slaw
Inspired by Vietnamese fresh spring rolls dipped into peanut sauce, this simple-to-prepare meal features sticky glazed shrimp and a lively salad of crunchy vegetables, sprightly herbs, crispy fried onions and a creamy peanut dressing. Hoisin sauce helps streamline the ingredient list; the sweet, salty, umami-filled condiment coats the shrimp before a quick broil and adds depth to the dressing. And by using a coleslaw blend, preferably one with a mix of vegetables, chopping is minimal, too. This recipe quickly feeds a crowd, but it can also be halved to serve four on a weeknight. For a heartier meal, eat with rice noodles or rice.
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Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese
This luxurious take on baked mac and cheese is our go-to make-ahead meal in the fall.