Main Course
8665 recipes found
Asparagus and Tofu With Black Bean Sauce
While asparagus shines with light spring-like flavors, it also carries bigger and bolder seasonings extremely well. Here, tender asparagus is quickly seared to unlock its juiciness and then tossed with a salty, spicy and funky Chinese black bean sauce. Known as dou si (Cantonese) or dou chi (Mandarin), fermented black soy beans are made by inoculating cooked black soy beans with a mold similar to koji (which is used to make miso paste), followed by salting and drying them. While they look like wrinkled and shriveled watermelon seeds, they are intensely savory, with multidimensional umami that also hints at sweetness and bitterness. While store-bought black bean sauce is an easy convenience, making your own at home using fermented black beans allows more control over salt and spice levels (see Tip). This sauce will quickly become a weeknight workhorse, a quick way to inject a savory kick to vegetable or meat stir-fries, stews like mapo tofu and even salad dressings.
Crunchy Tortilla Fried Chicken Cutlets
This dish may not exist in Mexico, but its heart is unmistakably Mexican. It celebrates three beloved staples of the cuisine: corn masa, fiery salsa and Milanesa-style fried cutlets. Here, chicken cutlets are coated in a crisp, golden crust made from masa harina and crushed tortilla chips and pan-fried until deeply crunchy. A smoky, just-spicy-enough salsa made with tomatoes and chiles de árbol adds brightness and bite, while a shower of queso cotija brings the salty finish. It’s comfort food rooted in tradition, but reimagined for an easy weeknight meal.
Sheet-Pan Roasted Salmon With Tuscan Bread Salad
Panzanella, the peak-summer bread-and-tomato salad, turns into a satisfying dinner when you toss in tender flaked chunks of salmon. A simple anchovy-Dijon vinaigrette does double duty as both a quick marinade for the fish and the dressing for the colorful salad. Roasting the fish and toasting the bread on a single sheet pan makes for easy cleanup. This salad is delicious served as soon as it’s been tossed, when the bread cubes retain a crouton-like crunch, but it can rest a bit, too, at which point the bread cubes soften after soaking up the dressing and tomato juices.
Kai Jiew (Crispy Fried Thai Omelet)
This classic Thai omelet — with just enough fish sauce and sugar to enhance its pure eggy flavor — is equally friendly to home cooks, serving as a staple in dorm rooms and home kitchens alike. Unlike its French cousin, cooked softly in butter, kai jiew is cooked through in a generous amount of oil, making it delicately crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Beaten with cornstarch and poured into a hot pan, the eggs puff and sizzle as they cook. Serve this as is over a pile of fragrant jasmine rice or alongside curries or stir fries.
Sheet-Pan Shrimp Oreganata
This breezy weeknight meal loads fresh shrimp with fistfuls of garlicky, seasoned bread crumbs, which crisp and brown on top and plump up and soften underneath as they roast, soaking up the buttery wine sauce at the bottom of the sheet pan. It’s inspired by the Italian American classic clams oreganata, clams stuffed with bread crumbs and dried oregano, but instead swaps out the bivalves for shrimp. Slip the sheet pan in the oven to melt the butter, then stir in white wine before adding the shrimp and bread crumbs, creating a quick, tasty pan sauce that reduces as it cooks. A final spritz of lemon as soon as the pan comes out of the oven adds a nice zippy finish. Serve as an appetizer (plate required!), or alongside a plate of pasta or vegetables.
Miso Crab Cakes
These meaty crab cakes, bound with puréed scallops and enhanced with miso and ginger, can be made a day in advance, along with the dipping sauce. But arguably the most fun part is pickling the daikon. Once peeled and cut paper-thin, sprinkled with salt, sugar and rice wine vinegar, and tossed with some slivers of ginger, it’s ready to eat in an hour or so. Stored in a jar in the fridge, it’ll keep for a week.
Chilled Cucumber-Spinach Soup
This chilled soup is easy to put together and most welcome on a hot day. The soft tofu garnish, dressed with sesame oil and soy sauce, is a lovely contrast to the bright green base. It is worth hunting down shiso leaves or Thai basil at an Asian grocery. Their bright flavors add interest.
Tamarind-Glazed Chicken Thighs
In this rich, schmaltzy chicken roast, the energetic pucker of tamarind joins forces with the sweetness of orange juice to create a refreshing glaze. Tamarind is one of those magical ingredients that adds complexity through fruity, caramel and sour notes. Although prepping fresh tamarind is a straightforward task, jarred paste is becoming more widely available and is oh-so-easy to use. Ensure your chicken thighs are bone-dry before seasoning and searing to get a deep, even color on the skin and the flesh, which is a crucial first step in developing the flavor of the dish. Finishing the chicken thighs slowly in a low-heat oven guarantees tender, juicy results.
Spaghetti Napolitan
Spaghetti Napolitan should be thought of as a yaki (“fried”) noodle dish more than an Italian-style pasta. This smart, effortlessly delicious version comes from ketchup lover Chiaki Ohara of Davelle, a Japanese café on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Frying the ketchupy noodles and vegetables over high heat, in a generous amount of oil, results in a deeply satisfying sauce, so don’t be afraid of a little fire (or oil, for that matter). This is Japan’s yoshoku (“Western-style”) interpretation of Italian tomato spaghetti, a dish that’s hard to get right, but Ms. Ohara’s Napolitan ratios are quietly precise and genius. If you can relish it, the soft fried egg on top adds so much.
Lamb Barbacoa
In classic preparations of barbacoa, large chunks of meat are coated in a chile-and-vinegar marinade, topped with avocado leaves, wrapped in banana leaves and buried underground in a pit to roast gently. It’s found throughout Mexico, with different seasonings and accompaniments. Geared to home cooks, this recipe roasts the lamb gently in an oven. Wrapping the meat with banana leaves is optional, but they add an earthy aroma that will fool you into thinking you just pulled your barbacoa out of an earthen oven. Serve with warm corn tortillas, minced onion, cilantro and lime wedges, plus a bowl of the cooking liquid set alongside for dipping.
Spicy Cucumber Noodle Salad With Clams
Based on the classic Korean banquet dish, golbaengi muchim (sea snail or whelk salad), this refreshing noodle salad makes use of lovely canned clams in place of the snails. When paired with chile, lemon and umami, the seafood in this recipe recalls shrimp cocktail at the Grand Central Oyster Bar and eating local conch in the Bahamas. In other words, it’s a party. The key to this recipe is using the liquid from the canned clams to both season and thin out the dressing so it can really coat the luscious, bouncy noodles. If you have fresh herbs like perilla or mint lying around, use them here with great abandon.
Lemon-Miso Tofu With Broccoli
Inspired by Cantonese-style lemon chicken, this vegetarian version features crispy tofu and broccoli coated in a citrusy sweet and savory sauce. This lemon sauce is neither overly sweet nor tart, but has a soft umami hum thanks to the addition of miso paste. The simple technique of dusting the tofu with cornstarch before pan-frying delivers crispy tofu that is light yet robust enough to carry the sauce. (The tofu and broccoli can also be cooked in an air-fryer with comparable results; see Tip for instructions.) Once the crusted tofu hits the sauce, it will soften and become velvety, though if you prefer more crunch, you can serve the lemon sauce on the side for dipping.
Oregano-Garlic Chicken With Big Croutons
Tender, crispy chicken and big hand-torn chunks of toasty bread are the main elements here for this laid-back sheet-pan dinner. To make sure the chicken is thoroughly flavorful, a quick sauce of warm garlic oil, vinegar and oregano is spooned over. The croutons also become saturated in the sauce, creating a double texture of crunchy and chewy. Golden raisins offer little surprise bursts of sweetness and tang, too. When you’re choosing bread for this, something hearty with an open and airy crumb works well. Try ciabatta, Pugliese, a rustic sourdough loaf or even a baguette. Enjoy the croutons however you like – with your hands, a fork, or straight from the baking sheet. A sprightly salad or roasted zucchini would round this meal out nicely.
Fideo Verde Seco (Garlic Shrimp and Cilantro Noodles)
Fideo, a staple comfort dish in Mexican home cooking, is prepared in two popular styles: sopa de fideo, a tomato-based broth soup typically served as a first course, and then there's fideo seco — the spoonable main course where pasta is toasted in olive oil until golden and nutty (just like a rice pilaf), then drowned in a bright-tasting, herby salsa verde made with whatever’s hanging around your fridge (cilantro! sad spinach! that half-used bunch of basil!). All the greens get blitzed with jalapeño for a subtle kick. Right before the pasta absorbs all that flavor, add thinly sliced asparagus or other quick-cooking vegetables, like peas, for a fresh summer moment. Finish with a drizzle of crema, a shower of crumbly salty cheese and more fresh herbs. Top it with garlicky shrimp and eat it with a fork, or stuff it into a tortilla.
Soy Butter Fish and Peas
Some dishes feel like they take hours to develop deep flavor, but this one comes together in minutes. The fish gently steams in a rich, buttery soy and black pepper sauce, soaking up its deeply savory notes while staying perfectly tender. Just before serving, snap peas (or snow peas) are tossed in, adding a fresh green crunch. Everything cooks in one pan, making this dish fast, effortless and packed with flavor. Feel free to swap in other quick-cooking vegetables like bok choy or asparagus for a different take.
Light Soup With Mushrooms
Impossibly rich but never heavy or thick, light soup is a Ghanaian favorite, made by gently simmering dried fish or meat in a pot, then briefly adding onion, tomato, ginger and chiles to the broth. This version replaces the protein with mushrooms and is endlessly adaptable. You can add any summer vegetable of your choice, such as baby potatoes, spinach, squash or zucchini. If you prefer to add fish, toss in some chunks of a simple white fish at the end of the cooking process. The choice is really yours.
One-Pot Bean and Tomato Stew With Cod
This hearty white bean stew comes together super-quickly thanks to canned beans, a true pantry hero. Onion, carrots and sweet bell peppers sizzle in olive oil with garlic and anchovies to start the rich sauce. Evanescent but memorable, the anchovies disappear as they cook but lend their prized saltiness and savory depth. There’s a double dose of tomatoes from the use of tomato paste, which cooks until caramelized, and fresh sweet cherry tomatoes. Cod fillets are added on top of the thickened stew and steam gently until flaky and juicy. The meal comes together in one pot; it’s low-effort but full of layered flavor.
Creamy Artichoke and Charred Scallion Pasta
For a comforting, veg-forward meal, this one-pot recipe transforms dozens and dozens of charred scallions into a cheesy pasta dish. Through charring, fresh scallions transition from sharp and savory to smoky, mild and sweet, creating the perfect flavor foundation for a pasta sauce. To speed up the charring process, start with a smoking-hot pan, oil-coated scallions and a grill press or skillet to weigh down the scallions and increase surface contact. For additional body and texture, meaty canned artichokes are stirred with the pasta, along with fresh lemon zest and juice to brighten. A shower of Parmesan at the end will lead to an irresistibly silky, creamy sauce.
Creamy Tomato Spaghetti With Preserved Lemon
Something magical happens when preserved lemon and tomato are cooked together. In this quick and simple pasta, fragrant lemon permeates the tomato paste, creating a beautifully aromatic (and pantry-friendly) sauce with the addition of heavy cream. Spaghetti is tossed with the sauce, which ends up subtly sweet and yet bright and tangy — a comforting weeknight twist on the always beloved tomato pasta.
White Bean, Feta and Quick-Pickled Celery Salad
Pickling celery for just fifteen minutes is a game changer: The acid tames its grassy notes, brings out savoriness and transforms its texture from simply crunchy to crisp-tender. Here, celery is quickly pickled with red onion to create a sweet-and-sour foundation for this hearty cannellini bean salad. The cumin seeds are optional, but they add a deeply earthy and aromatic edge to the pickles; feel free to substitute or experiment with other whole spices such as caraway, coriander, fennel or star anise. Creamy and salty feta balances the sharpness of the pickles. This is a great no-cook dish for easy weeknight eating, but it also improves with age, so can be made ahead for potlucks, picnics or other gatherings.
Sizzled Scallion Rice With Sardines
This sardine rice recipe unites some likely kitchen inhabitants, such as onions, garlic and leftover rice, to make a quick, allium-perfumed weeknight dinner. Since fat is an excellent courier for flavor, giving the olive oil time with the aromatics and sardines ensures a satisfying amount of each ingredient's fragrance and flavor throughout the rice. Is it fried rice? Technically, yes, but the taste drifts toward the Caribbean. The dish stands alone, as any seafood fried rice can, but would also welcome a soft-boiled egg on top, if you’re up for getting another pot involved.
Ginger Chicken and Rice Soup With Zucchini
A simple base of aromatic garlic, ginger, bay leaf and turmeric flavors this cozy and nourishing chicken soup. Tender chicken, zucchini and chewy brown rice provide bite and substance, and simmer together at the same pace. The rice will swell and soften in the broth as the soup sits, and you can cook it longer than called for to give this soup more of a stewy or even porridge-like texture, depending on your preference. Add more water or stock to thin the broth as needed if reheating. Serve with a drizzle of chile crisp or a squeeze of lemon and sprinkle of fresh cilantro.
Spiced Couscous With Fragrant Steamed Fish
Like any carb cooked in a tomato sauce, this dish is deeply comforting. Pearl couscous simmers in a spiced tomato base, absorbing its rich flavors while developing a lightly golden, crispy bottom, much like a tahdig. Just before the couscous finishes cooking, sea bass fillets are gently steamed on top, staying tender as they soak up the fragrant sauce. A final flourish of hot garlic oil, inspired by Cantonese steamed fish, adds warmth and depth. This meal is easy enough for a weeknight, but special enough for a celebration.
Beef Boti (Marinated Grilled Kebabs)
In Pakistan and across the Indian subcontinent, grilled meat is a streetside staple, especially during Eid al-Adha, when families gather to cook and share festive meals. Tender, flavorful beef boti is a particular favorite. The secret lies in the marinade: a mix of yogurt, spices, lemon juice and puréed papaya, which acts as a natural tenderizer. After marinating for at least 12 hours, the cubes of beef are threaded onto skewers, sizzled on the grill, and served with a tangle of raw onions and a squeeze of lemon. Toasting the cumin and coriander elevates the dish, though ground spices work well in a pinch. With just a handful of pantry ingredients and a bit of patience, this recipe delivers bold, smoky flavor and irresistible tenderness. It’s perfect for a weeknight dinner or weekend gathering, as it can easily be doubled for a crowd.