Main Course
8665 recipes found
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.
Beef Dumplings With Zucchini, Tofu and Chives
These beef dumplings are packed with zucchini and tofu, which keep the filling tender and juicy. The ground meat is lightly marinated before mixing with plenty of buchu, a lovely allium with long flat leaves and a mild garlic flavor. (You can find these fragrant Korean chives in any Korean market). There’s a hidden surprise here, too: Buttery pine nuts get tucked into each dumpling before enclosing them.
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.
Saltfish Fritters
A festive fixture in the Caribbean, these fritters — which are sometimes referred to as stamp and go in Jamaica — are fun to eat, relatively easy to make and best served piping hot. The rewards for a direct line from pan to plate are crispy edges and fluffy, chewy centers, thanks to a little lift from baking powder. For entertaining success, prepare the salt cod and seasoning ahead of time, and then simply mix and fry the batter as guests arrive. If possible, use coconut oil for frying to add an additional layer of tropical aroma. Serve fritters as is, or with a spicy dipping sauce like pepper sauce.
Cranberry-Orange Chicken
Cranberries make the perfect foundation for a sweet-and-sour chicken skillet that is appropriate for the holidays, or any day of the week. First, chicken thighs are seared until browned, then schmaltzy, cinnamon-spiced cranberries are slowly simmered in freshly squeezed orange juice, alongside melt-in-your-mouth orange slices and sweet shallots. The chicken returns to the cranberry mixture, simmering gently, then gets drizzled with honey and caramelizes under the broiler until the skin crisps for an irresistible bite. Spoon the tart, sweet and jammy sauce all over the chicken, and pair with an optional glass of crisp white wine.
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.
BBQ Pepper Shrimp
This dish, inspired by the BBQ pepper shrimp at the Lobster Pot (the busy seafood restaurant in Provincetown, Massachusetts, that the McNulty family began operating in 1979), is a rich, satisfying shrimp dinner that comes together quickly. Chef and owner Tim McNulty came up with the idea for the dish after trying New Orleans-style BBQ shrimp. He blends those spicy flavors with the richness of beurre blanc, a classic French butter sauce. “It’s a big seller for us,” McNulty says of the dish, which has been on the menu for more than 10 years. The sauce is an ideal topping for pasta or crusty bread and is a perfect match for any seafood: “It's a great base recipe and you can add scallops or lobster to it instead of the shrimp.” The sauce also makes a luscious topping for steak, similar to an au poivre.
Crispy Trout With Creek Sauce
When researching her family history, the chef Ashleigh Shanti found aunts and cousins that fried fish and sold it on the streets of Virginia Beach, yelling “Good hot fish!” to people walking or driving by. This recipe, from her book “Our South” (Union Square & Co., 2024), is Ms. Shanti’s version of fish sticks, featuring crunchy, savory and salty trout, fried until golden brown and served with the chef’s take on Alabama white barbecue sauce. Serve as part of a spread with salad or hush puppies as Ms. Shanti does at her Asheville, N.C., restaurant.
Butter-Soy Chicken and Asparagus Stir-Fry
How do Chinese restaurant stir-fries deliver silky and tender meat with a sauce that seems to cling? The secret is a technique called velveting. When meat is velveted (a two-step process of marinating in a cornstarch mixture and blanching in either oil or water), even lean cuts like chicken breast become supremely juicy. Here, velveting does the heavy lifting in this lightning-quick stir-fry, featuring a sublimely savory sauce of butter, soy sauce and lemon. To speed things along further, you can prep the vegetables while the chicken marinates.
Ballerina Farm’s Beef Stroganoff
This is a typical family dinner for Hannah Neeleman of Ballerina Farm, who is raising eight children, tending sheep and chickens, and making almost everything her family eats from scratch on her dairy farm in Utah. In many ways, she’s a traditional Mormon farm wife; untraditionally, she broadcasts her daily life to 22 million followers on social media. This recipe uses lean beef and yogurt, both of which are in constant supply on the farm. The tangy sauce is great with any kind of fresh or egg noodles; of course, Ms. Neeleman makes her own.
Espagueti Verde (Creamy Roasted Poblano Pasta)
At weddings, baptisms and other special occasions across Mexico, pots of spaghetti coated in creamy green sauce sit on most every banquet table. Smoky with charred peppers and tangy with crema, it’s the dish everyone loves. Throughout the country, the herbs in it change — there may be epazote, cilantro or parsley — but there are always roasted poblanos. Traditionally, the chiles are pureed into a sauce to coat the pasta, but you can skip that step to highlight even more of their flavor and texture. Cream, Mexican crema and queso fresco temper any lingering heat and round out the whole dish to a tangy finish.
Saltine-Crusted Pork Tenderloin
In the Midwest, especially in diners throughout Indiana and Iowa, you’ll find pieces of pork tenderloin pounded flat and fried — some as impressively wide as a hubcap. In this homestyle version, the Midwesterness is amplified by encrusting the pork cutlets in crumbled saltine crackers and pan-frying them in a mix of butter and oil to enhance flavor and richness. The result is crisp, tender, golden pork that’s delicious as a main course with mashed potatoes and applesauce, stacked high on a roll, or cold straight from the fridge the next day.
Maitake au Poivre
Hold the steak. This vegetarian take on steak au poivre, from Manhattan’s Café Chelsea, boasts the same generous application of crushed black pepper, mellowed with cream, stock and a vibrant splash of Cognac, but calls for slabs of maitake mushroom instead of beef. To strut its meaty swagger, the dish is listed on Café Chelsea’s menu among the grilled choices (a grill pan or skillet works just as well) rather than being relegated to the vegetable section. The restaurant opts for large slices of maitake, but the recipe works with several smaller pieces as well. Though quick to assemble, it’s not easy to scale up, so think intimate dinner or Valentine’s Day.
Portobello Mushroom Milanese
Milan. The city’s name represents a recipe. You know it: a flattened, crisply breaded surfboard of veal or chicken that’s often big enough to cover the plate. Sometimes fish is called on. Or pork. Here, the technique is applied to large mushrooms, which are also flattened and then treated to the step-by-step of a dusting of flour to dry the surface, then an egg wash to grab the final coating of crumbs. (The same technique will also produce a schnitzel.) Marissa Lo, the executive chef at Boat House in Tiverton, R.I., was inspired to try the technique with big portobello caps after visiting Italy. Serve them dressed with a tangle of salad greens, or top with tomato sauce and melted cheese like a Parm. However you serve your Milanese, consider a platter of them for a holiday party.
Lamb Stew With Rosemary and Olives
This warming lamb stew is good any time of year, but especially great in winter. Best of all, it can be prepared well in advance, even a day before serving, and reheats beautifully. You can ask a butcher to cut the lamb shoulder into cubes; there will be less waste, but avoid precut lamb stew meat, which is made from leg and often too lean.
Ipo Pain Perdu (Coconut-Bread French Toast)
Pain perdu, which Americans know as French toast, traditionally calls for crusty French bread. Heimata Hall, who runs food tours on his native Mo‘orea in French Polynesia, uses ipo, a Tahitian bread rich with grated coconut and coconut milk. The dough should be as sticky as possible — so sticky, you think it must surely need more flour or liquid, but no. Some recipes call for baking or boiling, but Mr. Hall prefers steaming because it holds in moisture and gives the bread a smooth, clean finish. For pain perdu, he cuts the ipo into thick slabs and dunks them in coconut milk, just enough so they’re coated but not sopping, then in egg. The pan gets a brushing of butter (not too much), to crisp the outside of the bread and caramelize the coconut. The finish: fresh mint, nuts, whatever fruit is in season, and, for extra luxury, a spoonful of coconut cream complete the dish.
Pavo al Pastor (Sweet and Smoky Shredded Turkey)
The iconic tacos al pastor (shepherd’s style tacos) — made and eaten across Mexico and in the US — are normally made with adobo-marinated pork steaks, flame-kissed on a vertical spit called a trompo and served with grilled pineapple and onion on corn tortillas. In this recipe, which takes advantage of leftover turkey, canned chipotles in adobo evoke the flavor of al pastor’s spicy adobo sauce, while the chipotles’ smokiness mimics the spit-roasted pork. Extra al pastor sauce can be used like a barbecue sauce to flavor cooked shredded meats like chicken or pork, or as a marinade for meat before cooking. For plant-based tacos, toss the sauce with roasted vegetables or brush over raw cauliflower, winter or summer squash, eggplant or mushrooms and roast or grill until charred and tender.
Birria de Pavo (Turkey Birria)
Originally, birria was developed as a way to tame tough and gamey goat meat by marinating it in a rich and spicy adobo sauce then slow cooking it until it was falling off the bones. The meat was shredded and served in bowls with the braising liquid (called consomé) ladled over top. The consomé-infused meat was put into tortillas with cilantro, onion and salsa and eaten with more consomé on the side or used as a dipping sauce. Because this recipe takes advantage of leftover turkey that is already cooked, the carcass is used to make a quick consomé flavored with canned fire roasted tomatoes, dried chiles and spices. Add the shredded turkey at the end to warm it up and let it soak up all the flavor. For the salsa, use leftover cranberry sauce; homemade or canned both work great. If using canned and you have a choice between whole-berry and jellied, choose the whole-berry sauce — the salsa will have even more texture.
Kristen Kish’s Squash and Coconut Milk Custard
In my take on a Thai dish called sankaya faktong, roasted squash halves are filled with coconut milk that’s cooked into a savory crème brûlée of sorts — delightfully jiggly — then topped with brown butter and walnuts. I like to serve it as a starter or as a side with roasted chicken; the coconut flavor gives the squash that sweet-savory mix. This recipe, adapted from “Kristen Kish Cooking” (Clarkson Potter, 2017), is a great autumn dish that would make a nice veggie option at Thanksgiving.
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.