Main Course
8665 recipes found
Risotto
Creamy and complex, classic risotto requires only a handful of simple ingredients to transform into a luxurious meal. In this most basic version, the dish is finished with just enough butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano to add rich creaminess while still allowing the rice flavor and texture to shine. Though it’s delicious on its own, this dish can serve as a blank canvas. For quick, easy upgrades, stir in 1 cup of frozen peas or 1 pound of cleaned shrimp during the last few minutes of cooking, or top the risotto with whatever cooked seasonal vegetables you desire.
Vietnamese-Style Soup With Broccoli and Quinoa
Here, Ms. Shulman adds a high-protein grain to her vegetarian pho broth instead of traditional noodles. The broccoli is thinly sliced and steamed or blanched separately.
One-Pot Turmeric Coconut Rice With Greens
No matter how you modify this one-pot rice, it can’t help but simultaneously comfort and enliven: The rice is cooked with turmeric, black pepper and rich coconut milk, which is all brightened by a mix of coconut, sesame seeds and lime. The greens, which conveniently cook on top of the rice, can be swapped out for anything that steams in 10 minutes, such as frozen peas or edamame, green beans, broccoli, grated carrots or sliced fennel. While a meal all on its own, this rice would also be great accompanied by tofu, white fish, chicken thighs or stewed black beans. Prepared as written, this dish has a relatively pure, mild flavor, so if you want more oomph, add more turmeric and saffron and season with plenty of salt and pepper as you cook.
Baked Rice With White Beans, Leeks and Lemon
Baking is a fail-safe, hands-off method for making perfect rice every time. Add roasted leeks, lemon peel, almonds and white beans, and it becomes a company-worthy vegetarian dinner inspired by prasorizo, the classic Greek rice-and-leek dish. Finished with Parmesan and fresh herbs, it's an excellent one-pan meal, but it would also be great served alongside grilled fish, shrimp or chicken. If you like, you can make it even more filling by adding other vegetables like tomatoes, zucchini or broccoli florets with the leeks and almonds, or stir in spinach, arugula or sliced snap peas after it comes out of the oven in Step 4. Omit the Parmesan and it’s vegan, too.
Spiced Yellow Lentils with Quinoa
This lentil dish is inspired by Mark Bittman’s revelatory article and dal recipes that ran in The New York Times Magazine on Dec. 2, 2012. I didn’t have a fresh green chile in the fridge so I used a little cayenne instead to spice it up. I wanted to introduce some color so I added half of a red bell pepper that was in my refrigerator to the mix. I am making the cilantro optional because I didn’t have any even though normally I would have used it; the dish was fine without it.
Crisp Quinoa Cakes With Almonds, Rosemary and Dijon
Green Bean Salad With Lime Vinaigrette and Red Quinoa
This is a green bean salad with quinoa as opposed to a quinoa salad with green beans. Red quinoa is secondary to the green beans here. The two ingredients provide a colorful contrast. The salad is alive with texture, the crisp-tender green beans with the crunchy almonds and the chewy, comforting quinoa. The flavors here are Mexican: lime juice, chile, cilantro, white or red onion. It’s simple to put together but the sum is complex.
Quinoa Bowl With Crispy Brussels Sprouts, Eggplant and Tahini
There’s a lot going on in this satisfying grain bowl, topped with crunchy vegetables, a creamy lemon-tahini dressing and plenty of fresh mint. Feel free to substitute any cooked grain for the quinoa: Brown rice or millet would work just as well as a base for the roasted brussels sprouts with their blackened edges, and the soft, velvety eggplant. If you love tahini dressing, consider doubling it. Any left over will keep for a week in the fridge and can be used as a salad dressing or dip.
Oven-Roasted Salmon, Quinoa and Asparagus With Wasabi Oil
Seasoned oils like the wasabi oil I buy at my local specialty grocery can embellish a simply cooked piece of fish, a bowl of grains or steamed vegetables. Here the salmon is cooked in the oven, and the wasabi seasoned oil (mine is canola oil-based) is drizzled on just before serving. It’s served with quinoa, which you can also dress with the oil, and vegetables in season.
Nava Atlas’s Quinoa Pilaf
Contributed to “Vegan Holiday Kitchen” by Barbara Pollak, a longtime reader of Ms. Atlas’s, this pilaf is attractive when made with a combination of red and white quinoa, but either color can be used on its own. It is a veggie-filled way to celebrate quinoa’s becoming standard Passover fare.
Crisp Tofu Katsu With Lemon-Tahini Sauce
Katsu, the Japanese-style fried cutlet dish, is made just a bit healthier in this version prepared with tofu slabs. Here, the slabs are dredged in seasoned bread crumbs, baked, not deep-fried, and paired with quinoa, making it full, protein-dense meal. Note, too, that the leftover katsu here reheats nicely: Simply put it in your oven at 400 degrees, and bake for 10 minutes.
Quinoa Bowl With Artichokes, Spring Onions and Peas
Lately I’ve been into “big bowls” — layered grain and vegetable meals in a bowl — in a big way. I cook up a pot of grains and let the vegetables I’m finding at the market inspire how I’m going to build the bowl. Spring onions, artichokes and peas are the focus of this seasonal bowl, and there’s a lot happening here as far as flavor goes. The onions and peas are sweet, but roasting also gives the onions a lovely bitter-edged char, as it does for the artichokes. I’m a recent convert to roasted artichokes; you coat them with olive oil after trimming them, and throw them into a hot oven, where the hearts soften while the edges of the leaves crisp and char. The flavors are intense. I hardly want to prepare them any other way. Garlicky yogurt garnishes and moistens the quinoa and vegetables, and brings more lusty flavor to the dish. You can be flexible with big bowls. If you don’t have quinoa in the pantry, use another grain: bulgur, rice, farro. Couscous would also work. If you want more protein, add a poached egg or even some shredded or sliced chicken breast. And if you want to sprinkle a little feta or Parmesan over the top, be my guest.
Quinoa With Thai Flavors
This recipe for quinoa seasoned with mango, lime juice and red onion, was brought to us from Susie Fishbein by way of Julia Moskin. Ms. Fishbein is the author of the popular Kosher by Design cookbooks, which have sold more than 300,000 copies. Quinoa is popular among kosher cooks because although it tastes and chews like grains, which are forbidden during Passover, many religious and botanical authorities consider it a berry.
Crisp Quinoa Cakes With Cilantro, Scallions and Sriracha
Crispy Spiced Chickpeas With Peppers and Tomatoes
This vegetarian sheet-pan supper has verve to spare. You will need two sheet pans to make it, but that’s about all the kitchen equipment necessary. On one of them, spice-coated chickpeas are roasted until golden and crisp, while juicy peppers, tomatoes and onions caramelize on the other. Handfuls of bright fresh herbs and sweet pomegranate seeds add color and crunch. Serve this by itself for a light dinner, or with couscous or rice for something more substantial.
Spicy Couscous Salad With Tomatoes, Green Beans and Peppers
Pearl couscous, also called Israeli couscous, is a round pellet-shaped pasta, larger than regular couscous. You may substitute Lebanese mograbiah or maftoul, or the large Moroccan couscous called mhammsa. All are available in Middle Eastern food shops. Fregola from Sardinia is also an option.
Stuffed Roasted Yellow Peppers or Red Peppers in Tomato Sauce
These roasted yellow peppers are filled with a savory mix of quinoa seasoned with garlic and parsley and tossed with Manchego or Parmesan cheese. The roasted peppers make a nice contrast in color and flavor to the sweet tomato sauce. You’ll get plenty of Vitamin C and lycopene from both the peppers and the sauce in this dish.
Roast Shoulder of Lamb With Couscous-and-Date Stuffing
Moroccan-Style Cornish Hens with Couscous
Couscous with onions and raisins and seasoned with cumin delivers many levels of flavor with rich little Cornish hens, massaged with spices. How many birds you need for four guests will be determined by their size (the birds’ and perhaps the guests’, too). Whether you grill or roast them depends on your mood, your kitchen and the weather. The couscous could even be stuffing for smaller hens, one per person, roasted at 375 degrees for about 50 minutes.
Quinoa and Rice Bowl With Kale, Kimchi and Egg
Easy, healthful and infinitely adaptable, grain bowls are equally ideal for feeding a family (picky eaters can build it to suit their own tastes) and using up leftovers in the fridge. You could also cook up the ingredients at the beginning of the week, and mix and match ingredients at will as the week progresses. Try rice, quinoa, kamut, farro, freekeh, wheat berries, barley and grits for the grain (this recipe calls for mixing brown rice and quinoa for a nice variety of textures, but feel free to use just one or the other). Put your grains in a large bowl, then arrange small piles of vegetables, protein and something pickled or spicy over the grains. Top with a sauce that brings together all the ingredients in the bowl. Crunch — here, sesame seed and dried seaweed — is a nice finishing touch.
Couscous With Mussels and Shrimp
This one-pot mixture of seafood and coarse-grained couscous offers echoes of paella, and a bottle or two of rosé alongside makes for a happy summer dinner.
Brothy Cod With Peas and Mushrooms
In this recipe, tender, flaky cod is poached in a light, flavorful broth that optimizes bottled clam juice, a versatile yet underused ingredient. The juice is perfect for weeknight cooking, when shortcuts to big flavor are key, and it adds a subtle, briny backbone to any broth. This broth is also infused with rich shiitake mushrooms, aromatic garlic and a generous boost of bright ginger. Pearl couscous gets toasted before boiling, adding nutty notes to the soup. It also contributes delightful chewiness, but other small pastas like ditalini or orzo are also good substitutes, though cook time may need to be adjusted accordingly.
Spring Vegetable Ragoût With Brown Butter Couscous
The amazingly flavorful couscous here is the result of a trick from the chef Mourad Lahlou, whose San Francisco restaurants, Aziza (currently closed) and Mourad, feature a modernist approach to Moroccan cuisine. Freshly steamed couscous is tossed with sizzling brown butter, lots of chopped preserved lemon and a splash of saffron. It is seriously good with just about anything, especially seasonal vegetable ragoûts. (Saucy braises of lamb, chicken or fish also pair well with it.) The recipe below uses spring vegetables, but you can substitute others throughout the year.
Jambon Beurre
Unlike ham and cheese, a sandwich that’s ubiquitous across the globe, jambon beurre (ham butter) is strictly French. Though it’s a seemingly sparse construction — simply baguette, cooked ham and butter — the ingredients for this interpretation from L’Ami Pierre in New York require careful selection. High-quality baguettes are now sold in many bakeries. High-butterfat butter enhances the sandwich, providing more fat than 80 percent supermarket standard, and the ham, preferably silky jambon de Paris, a cooked ham sliced, in the finer shops, from a bone-in joint, can make it or break it. French-style or similar cooked ham is available in many areas; to avoid are boneless, often waterlogged deli hams. Like most sandwiches, this one is designed as a treat for one, but, cut into smaller sections and served on a platter, it can enhance a buffet, even at holiday time.