Main Course
8665 recipes found
Grilled Turkey Burgers
There are a couple steps to ensure a crisp on the outside, juicy on the inside and all around delicious grilled turkey burger. Grated onion and barbecue sauce give the patties savoriness and provide additional moisture, so they don’t dry out from the high heat of the grill. Coating the patties in a mixture of barbecue sauce and mayonnaise guarantees a seared and glazed exterior. If you’d like to turn these into cheeseburgers, simply drape sliced cheese — preferably Cheddar or pepper Jack — over the patties in the last two minutes of grilling and cover the grill.
Vegetable Pulao
Pulao is a weeknight staple in many Desi households, as it can be made in one pot, has a flexible ingredient list and makes no sacrifices on flavor. Whole spices, which give the pulao its intense, complex flavor, are key in this recipe. But the beauty of pulao is that it can be easily adjusted according to your preferences and what you have around. You can swap the carrots for cauliflower, or the potatoes for sweet potatoes. In a pinch, a frozen bag of carrots, peas and corn will work just fine. And if you don’t have one of the spices, fret not and carry on. Pulao is often served with achaar, or pickle, yogurt and papad — but it’s also wonderful by itself.
Filipino-Style Breakfast Sandwiches
Breakfast is hugely important in Filipino culture, a legacy of the country’s rich agricultural past, when farmworkers ate large morning meals to get through the day. Accordingly, the morning after Thanksgiving, the brothers Chad and Chase Valencia — who own the Filipino restaurant Lasa in Los Angeles's Chinatown — make breakfast sandwiches for their family out of leftover asado (a salty-sour pork dish), ham or turkey. The sandwiches are endlessly customizable: Chase mixes the asado and its accompanying sauce into the eggs, like a scramble, to become the base of the sandwich, while Chad crowns his with a fried egg. But the constants are the queso de bola, a nutty Filipino cheese (similar to Edam cheese) served during the holidays that melts elegantly atop the meat, and pan de sal, a slightly squishy, yeasted roll whose sweetness stands up to all the savory components of the sandwich. Both the cheese and the pan de sal are readily available at many Asian grocery stores, and well worth getting to make superior sandwiches.
Fruit Sandwich
The origins of the fruit sandwich are believed to go back to Japan’s luxury fruit stores and the fruit parlors attached to them. This version comes from Yudai Kanayama, a native of Hokkaido who runs the restaurants the Izakaya NYC and Dr Clark in New York. Fresh fruit — fat strawberries, golden mango, kiwi with black ellipses of seeds, or whatever you like — is engulfed in whipped cream mixed with mascarpone, which makes it implausibly airy yet dense. (In Japanese, the texture is called fuwa-fuwa: fluffy like a cloud.) Pressed on either side are crustless slices of shokupan, milk bread that agreeably springs back. The sandwich looks like dessert but isn’t, or not exactly; it makes for a lovely little meal that feels slightly illicit, as if for a moment there are no rules.
Marinated Venison Steaks
“Thanksgiving here is about hunting rather than football,” said Errol Rice of the Montana Stockgrowers Association. The season for hunting big game comes to a close in the last, best place on the Thanksgiving weekend, and those who have not yet bagged a buck are known, said Dennis Konopatzke, the proprietor of Great Northern Brewing Company in Whitefish, to rush their holiday dinners in order to get out to the woods to hunt. You’ll find huckleberries on Thanksgiving tables in Montana, Mr. Konopatzke added, or the Norwegian cured fish known as lutefisk, or pork pies and stuffed pasties, all nods to the state’s history of settlers from afar. But game is the game. What follows is a recipe honed over the years by the members of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation for a marinade that works on wild venison perfectly and most other proteins as well. Broil some steaks and pair the result with traditional Thanksgiving side dishes.
Ken Hom's Classic Kung Pao Chicken
This recipe is adapted from the great Chinese-American chef Ken Hom, for a Sichuan stir-fry is made with chunks of boneless chicken (breasts or thighs, though we prefer thighs), peanuts, chile peppers and plenty of garlic, scallions and ginger. Making it is not at all difficult, but it does require one fussy step: The chicken takes a dip into a combination of egg white, salt, sesame oil and cornstarch before it goes into the hot wok. This step creates a lovely crust on the chicken that sears in moisture and later serves to hold onto the savory-sweet soy-sesame sauce. The dish is quite spicy, so serve it over rice or plain pasta to foil the heat, alongside an ice cold beer.
Uncle Glenn’s Onaga (Steamed Red Snapper With Somen)
In Hawaii, onaga is the most prized kind of snapper and the centerpiece of festive meals. Glenn Yamashita steams the whole fish, Chinese-style, with a sour-salty stuffing, a topping of preserved vegetables and a tumble of aromatics. Two of the ingredients are readily available in Hawaii but may require more of a search elsewhere: chung choi, salted turnip wrapped in its own leaves — pickled mustard greens are a fine substitute — and scallop powder, which can be approximated with fish sauce. Skeins of Japanese somen noodles are tucked beneath the fish and hot oil poured over at the end. Done right, it crackles.
Baked Fish
Cooking fish for 10 minutes per inch of thickness is an old rule of thumb that works perfectly when roasting fillets or steaks. It’s just enough time to cook the flesh through so that it’s opaque, but not so much that it flakes. The only hitch comes with fillets that are uneven. Use your judgment but err on the side of less is more. You can always put any undercooked parts back in the oven, but you can’t undo overdone. Serve these as is in their purist form, or add your favorite sauce on the side. A pesto, aioli or vinaigrette would work well.
Spaghettini With Bottarga and Colatura
In the Middle Ages, monks on Italy’s Amalfi Coast were tasked with preserving anchovies, the local catch. They discovered that the amber liquid exuded by the aging fish — colatura di alici, literally “anchovy drippings” — could be used as a briny seasoning. Nodding to this tradition, the chef Diego Rossi, at the acclaimed trattoria Trippa in Milan, unites colatura and bottarga di muggine (cured gray mullet roe) in a pasta that is powerfully marine. The sauce isn’t cooked: Instead, he lets the ingredients — bottarga, yellow tomato sauce, colatura, basil, garlic, lemon and chile — melt among the strands of hot spaghettini. The sweetness of the tomato tempers the bitterness of the bottarga. (It’s best to make the pasta in single servings, to control that bitterness, and to eat it immediately.) The umami is everywhere, in the bottarga, the tomato, and, delicate yet insistent, the colatura, calling back to a remembered sea.
Halloumi With Corn, Cherry Tomatoes and Basil
Seared cubes of halloumi get melty and soft on their insides and dark brown and a little crisp on the surface, making it almost impossible not to devour them all as they come out of the pan. But try to resist, because they’re even better tossed with a quick sauté of summer corn and tomatoes, seasoned with basil. Slivers of red onions, folded in raw at the end, add crunch and sweetness, while a squeeze of fresh lime makes everything tangy and fresh. Although this dish is at its most sublime made with fresh summer corn and ripe tomatoes, it’s nearly as good in winter made with frozen corn. Serve it for a light, meatless dinner or a substantial side dish with roasted or grilled chicken or fish.
Sweet-and-Spicy Grilled Vegetables With Burrata
A colorful platter of soft, grilled vegetables in a sweet-and-spicy sauce can be the centerpiece of a light summery meal; just add some creamy cheese for richness and crusty bread to round things out. This recipe is extremely adaptable. You mix and match the vegetables, increasing the amounts of your favorites (or the ones you can get your hands on), and skipping anything you don’t have. And if your grill is large enough, you can make several different kinds of vegetables at the same time. Just don’t crowd them so they cook evenly.
Vegetable Soup With Tamarind and Lemongrass
Tamarind is the prominent flavor in this soup, showing up as a subtle sour ingredient that gently awakens the senses. This light, brothy soup packs a delicious punch from ginger and lemongrass, with a breath of heat from chiles. It’s closely modeled after Sundanese sayur asem, Isan tom klong pla and Timorese sour fish soup, which all so successfully achieve the delicate balance of tart and spice. Like those, this soup provides a wonderful base for variation and nods to convenience. Medallions of sweet potato and daikon are poached, just enough to remain crisp, while tender tofu (soft or silken) absorbs the essence of the fragrant stew. A shower of fresh herbs adds the finishing touch. Serve piping hot, by itself or ladled over steamed rice or noodles.
Chicken Enchiladas With Salsa Verde
Don’t let the one-hour prep time on these enchiladas scare you. Use some leftover roast chicken, or buy a roast chicken at the market on the way home, and you’ll save at least 20 minutes, making the dish a terrific weeknight feed, alongside a green salad. (At El Real Tex-Mex restaurant, in Houston, the great Tex-Mex scholar and restaurateur Robb Walsh serves his version with lightly smoked chicken, which if you can find or make is superb.) The salsa verde is dead simple to make and the rest is assembly — a task that grows markedly easier each time you do it.
Eggs in Purgatory
It’s unclear whether "purgatory" refers to the bubbling red tomato sauce used to poach the eggs in this easy skillet meal or the fire of the red-pepper flakes that the sauce is spiked with. In either case, this speedy Southern Italian dish, whipped up from pantry staples, makes for a heavenly brunch, lunch or light supper. Note that the anchovies are not traditional, but they add a subtle fishy richness to the tomatoes. However, feel free to leave them out.
Roasted Salmon With Miso Cream
A whole fillet of salmon cut from one side of a fish looks spectacular but takes only a little longer to cook than smaller portions. Crème fraîche spread all over the fish keeps it moist as it roasts and adds a savory richness when a dollop of miso is stirred into the mix. That same pair is gently warmed into a sauce that’s finished with tart citrus juice so that it tastes both creamy and light. This can be served simply with salad and bread or be offered with other vegetables, like potatoes, asparagus or brussels sprouts.
Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup
Flavored with warm spices, sugar and fermented broad bean chile paste, Taiwanese beef noodle soup is traditionally made with gelatinous beef shins and tendons, giving the broth a sticky richness. The flavors and technique suit meaty short ribs, which come out meltingly tender and moist. Adding a packet of powdered gelatin to the braising liquid gives it the same lip-sticking richness that braised tendons offer in the traditional version.
Chicago Thin-Crust (Tavern-Style) Pizza With Sausage and Giardiniera
Tavern-style pizza is not particularly difficult compared with other styles, but it does take a good amount of time from start to finish — several days in fact — but it’s largely hands-off. And, on the actual day of baking, you don’t have to deal with stretching or tossing dough, making it perfect for parties or for topping with kids. This recipe is part of our complete recipe for a Chicago thin-crust pizza. View the recipes for the dough, Chicago-style Italian sausage and accompanying sauce.
Buldak Pizza (Korean Fire Chicken Pizza)
Buldak (literally “fire chicken”) is a modern South Korean drinking dish of marinated chicken grilled and bathed in a spicy-sweet sauce flavored with gochujang, soy sauce, sweet rice syrup and hot chile flakes, often served with a topping of broiled, browned, bubbly mozzarella. The sweet-savory-smoky-cheesy combination and beer-friendliness is so reminiscent of barbecue chicken pizza that it’s worth putting the two together. With some tweaking, it works.
Fried Shallot Caesar Salad
The dressing here is great on this salad, but it can find a second (and third, and fourth) life in so many other simple meals. Use it as a dip for grilled asparagus and broccolini; slather it on burgers and BLTs; or combine it 50-50 with Greek yogurt and add chopped dill and black pepper to make a fried shallot Ranch dressing for dipping crudités (or chicken wings). Add it to a roast beef sandwich (or just serve it with the roast beef). It’s a great party dip for chips (or anything you’d serve French onion dip with). This recipe calls for making the mayo from scratch, but you can use store-bought mayo as the base to make it even easier.
Best Thanksgiving Leftovers Sandwich
The sandwich you make with all the prized leftovers the day after Thanksgiving might be even better than the main event. Assembling this leftover Thanksgiving sandwich is easy, but the details matter. The white and dark turkey meat each get special love and attention: The breast is warmed in butter, while the dark meat is shredded, then warmed in gravy. This club ditches the usual third slice of bread for a slab of crisp, fried stuffing instead. When heating the stuffing, make sure your pan is good and hot so the stuffing fries up fast without falling apart in the skillet. A generous swipe of cranberry mayo brings the whole thing together.
One-Pot Roasted Squash Soup
You could make pumpkin or squash soup by roasting the pumpkin on a sheet tray while sautéing onions, carrots and ginger on the stovetop before combining it all with stock and blending it. But it’s tedious compared with tossing everything into an oven-safe pot, roasting it all, then blending it directly in the same pot. The onions cook a little unevenly using this method, and that’s a good thing: Some slices sweeten gently while others deeply caramelize as they roast, giving the soup more complexity. For a little sweetness, some apples or pears are added to the roast as well, but you can omit them if you prefer a more savory soup.
Caldo de Costilla (Colombian Beef Rib Soup)
This hearty soup from the Colombian Andes uses a handful of ingredients and takes only a few minutes of active time to put together. It’s traditionally served for breakfast (especially after a night of dancing and drinking) along with hot chocolate and arepas, but it’s hearty enough to serve for any meal. Because of its relatively neutral flavor profile, it’s good to make in large batches (the beef broth can easily be doubled or tripled through Step 4) to be doctored into different dishes (see Tip).
Roasted Squash With Spiced Onion Gravy
Make a meal out of this smothered squash by having it with rice and salted yogurt, or serve it as a side for roast chicken or a seared pork chop. The mild winter squash gets a punch from a spicy and tart onion gravy that comes together while the squash roasts in the oven. Be sure to season the gravy aggressively with salt so the vinegar, chile and spices pop.
Amu’s Chicken Korma
This Bangladeshi-style chicken korma, named for my mother, Amu, is gently spiced and enriched with yogurt instead of cream or nuts, resulting in a light and bright sauce. This style of braising adds very little liquid, allowing the chicken to stew in its own juices. For full flavor, cook the korma until the fat breaks out of the sauce and pools on the surface. Keep it traditional and serve with paratha or rice, or pull the meat off the bones and pile between mayo-slathered white bread to make a chicken korma sandwich — and, of course, cut on a diagonal.