Main Course
8665 recipes found
Spiced Brown Lentils With Yogurt
In India, dal refers to a number of lentil-shaped legumes. They are served with rice and curries, and are usually soupy, unlike this thick rendition, which resembles refried beans in consistency. If you prefer a soupier dish, double the amount of liquid.
Quick-Braised Cod With Herbed Yogurt
In this blissfully easy weeknight dinner, cod and shallots are braised in butter and wine, then topped with an herbed, garlicky yogurt sauce. It’s fast, flavorful and comforting, especially when served with mashed potatoes to drink up the pan juices. You can substitute any other mild-fleshed fish for the cod. Hake, sea bass, flounder and porgy all work nicely, though you may have to adjust the cooking time, depending on the thickness of the fillets.
Turkey Potpie
No one knows when people started making pies, but they were common in medieval Middle Eastern and European cooking. “The Oxford Companion to Food” speculates that the English word may come from the word “magpie,” because magpies collect random items in the way a pie often houses varied ingredients. It’s appropriate, then, that this pie is here to accommodate your Thanksgiving leftovers: turkey, of course, but also leftover roasted squash or sautéed mushrooms in place of peas, chop up half a rutabaga instead of carrot and celery, or a stray leek or shallot instead of onion. Any fresh soft herbs can go in the biscuit topping. For an even simpler version, use canned biscuits arranged on top of the filling as the crust, or defrosted puff pastry with a vent cut in the middle. For a more assertive flavor, use the larger amount of mustard.
Miniature Home-Cured 'Ham'
My version of Southern biscuits and ham exposes me as a Yankee impostor, since it's not made with real country ham. It is, instead, a much smaller brine-cured pork tenderloin, easy to cure and cook (though it does take some advance planning). Serve with tender, hot biscuits, sweet butter and mustard.
Mushroom Bourguignon
Meaty mushrooms simmered with pearl onions, wine and carrots make for a rich, wintry Bourguignon-style stew. The quality of the stock here makes a big difference, so if you’re not using homemade, buy a good brand. If you’re a meat eater, beef broth adds a familiar brawny character to this dish, but mushroom or vegetable broth work just well, especially because the whole dish is rounded out with a tamari for depth. For the best flavor, use as many kinds of mushrooms as you can get, and let them really brown when searing; that caramelization adds a lot of depth to the sauce. Maitake mushrooms give this a brisketlike texture, in a very good way.
Mushroom-Butternut Squash Strata
This golden-topped strata has a savory mushroom and butternut squash filling, which gives it a complex, earthy flavor. Mozzarella adds mild richness, while the Parmesan gives everything a hit of salt and depth. You’ll need to let the strata sit in the fridge for at least eight hours (and preferably overnight) before baking. This allows the bread to soak up all the custard. Then, run it under the broiler after baking so the edges become crunchy and pleasingly singed. It’s a lovely main dish for a celebratory brunch or meatless supper, or a hearty side dish with roast chicken or fish for dinner.
Root Beer Ham
Despite its regal countenance, a glazed holiday ham is surprisingly easy to cook — though “cook” is misleading here, as most supermarket hams already come fully cooked and just need to be heated through in the oven. Here, a bone-in half ham (try not to get the spiral-sliced kind, which can dry out easily) gently bakes in an aromatic pool of shallots, bay leaves and root beer, a variation on the Southern classic made with cola. The root beer braising liquid is reduced with brown sugar and Dijon into a sticky glaze that lacquers the scored ham with caramelized luster. Save the braising liquid and serve alongside to spoon onto slices for even more flavor and juiciness.
Pasta e Patate (Pasta and Potato Soup)
Pasta e patate is a fortifying, soothing Italian soup made for blustery days. The starchy combination of pasta and potatoes makes for a rich and satisfying broth. Avoid the temptation to use chicken or vegetable broth instead of water, and be assured that the pancetta, Parmesan rind, olive oil and starchy potatoes all add ample flavor and body to the humble soup. (In southern Italy, tomatoes are also added for a red version of the dish.) If you use bacon instead of the pancetta, be mindful that the results will be smokier and saltier.
Stuffed Standing Rib Roast
A juicy, beautifully pink rib roast is one of the most impressive dishes imaginable for a holiday spread. (It's also one of the most expensive. Invest in a digital, oven-safe thermometer and there will be no reason to worry you're overcooking it.) This recipe elevates the classic by adding a stuffing of spinach, sausage and mushrooms that is most appropriate for use with the lean beef of grass-fed steers.
Raisin Cinnamon Roll Wreath
Perfume the house and decorate the table with this whimsical wreath made of buttery, sweet cinnamon rolls. Arranging the rolls into a ring makes it easy to tear away individual servings. The extra protein in bread flour yields a sturdier dough that’s easier to shape, but all-purpose flour works too. If you assemble these a day ahead and refrigerate them overnight before baking them the next morning, be sure to let the rolls rise three-quarters of the way before placing them in the fridge. A few hours before baking, allow them to come to room temperature on the counter. Have fun, and complete the wreath decoration with dehydrated orange wheels, cinnamon sticks, sugar-dusted cranberries or even a red ribbon bow.
Roast Turkey With Orange and Sage
The butter, massaged under the bird's skin, does a lot to help keep the breast meat moist, and the juice and wine in the pan below the bird create a deliciously steamy environment for the roasting. The combination leads to an interesting outcome: a bird that crisps up nicely not at the beginning of cooking, but at the end. The sweet-savory drippings make for excellent gravy.
Farro and Bean Soup
This is a thick, hearty Tuscan-inspired potage with farro and beans. Red, kidney, pinto or borlotti beans (or a blend) most resemble the beans used in Tuscany. The farro and beans are soaked together, then cooked with aromatics, tomatoes and pancetta. The pancetta can be left out for a perfectly delicious vegetarian version.
Porchetta Pork Chops
Here's a more manageable version of the traditional Italian recipe for whole roast pig seasoned with a garlic, rosemary and fennel. This one comes together so quickly, you can make it on a whim.
Turkey BBQ Sandwiches With Pickles and Slaw
Most turkey sandwiches are best made with slices of white meat stacked neatly between two slices of bread. Not this one. With a saucy, spicy filling piled onto a hamburger bun, it’s perfect for dark meat and any scraps you may have leftover from the carcass. The cabbage slaw adds crispness and tang to the soft turkey, and bread-and-butter pickles give the sandwich a touch of sweetness. If you don’t have leftover turkey in your refrigerator, this recipe works just as well with the meat torn off a rotisserie chicken.
Beef Wellington
In this British classic, tender beef fillet is blanketed with browned mushrooms and shallots, then wrapped in layers of prosciutto and buttery puff pastry before being baked until golden and flaky on the outside, juicy and rare within. Worthy of the most elegant, blow-out meal, save this one for Christmas, New Year’s Eve or your next big birthday. One thing to note: You really do need a full pound of puff pastry here to cover all the meat, so if your package weighs less (some brands weigh 12 ounces), you’ll need to supplement with another package.
Stew Chicken
Raised as a Seventh Day Adventist and vegetarian in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the chef Rawlston Williams rarely got to eat stew chicken growing up, he said, but he did help cook this complexly flavored meal with friends — smitten even then with its scent. Like many peasant dishes, Mr. Williams said, stew chicken was often made with leftover scraps like chicken backs, and you could do the same, though the recipe here has been adapted for bone-in chicken thighs or the more economical chicken leg quarters. At the Food Sermon, his restaurant in Brooklyn, he’ll serve it with rice and beans, but his preferred method is his own twist with chickpeas, sweet potato and the Caribbean version of paratha roti, an Indian flatbread he updates with fennel seed.
Roast Chicken With Shallots, Thyme, Bacon and Garlic Confit Sauce
This recipe was designed for new parents, who must cook stealthily to keep from waking an infant. The silent chef must follow a few simple, yet unforgiving rules: any busy, attention-demanding work has to happen before baby's bedtime; recipes must easily tolerate a lengthy span between prep and finish, ideally resting at room temperature to lessen the mess and effort involved in refrigerating and reheating; and the final steps, after baby's bedtime, have to be both quiet and fairly routine.
Honey-Cured, Hickory-Smoked Shoulder Ham
A true ham, weighing 15 to 20 pounds, comes from a hog’s hindquarters. It’s a formidable piece of meat, requiring several weeks of curing and 24 hours or more of smoking. A shoulder ham (sometimes called picnic ham) has a similarly magisterial appearance and profound umami flavors, but in a size that will fit in your refrigerator and can be cured and smoked inside a week. When possible, buy a heritage pork breed, like Berkshire or Duroc, preferably from a local farmer or butcher.
Creamed Greens Potpie
This one-skillet, vegetarian pot pie trades the traditional chicken filling for creamy, garlicky greens. Hearty greens turn silky in a mixture of heavy cream, garlic, shallot, thyme and Parmesan under a lid of flaky puff pastry. Using store-bought puff pastry in place of homemade pie crust ensures a perfect result every time. It also steers pot pie into the weeknight-possible category. Greens and heavy cream require a good amount of salt to taste like their best selves, so taste and season well when the recipe says to do so.
Shanghai Stir-Fried Chunky Noodles
This Shanghainese noodle recipe, from the British cook and food writer Fuchsia Dunlop, can be made vegetarian by omitting the pork. Do seek out light and dark soy sauces; light soy sauce adds salty-umami flavor and dark soy sauce adds color. Traditional woks are made from carbon steel, and must be routinely seasoned to keep from rusting. To season, heat the wok on high, turn off the flame and use a paper towel to wipe the interior with vegetable oil. Repeat if necessary. A deep frying pan with high sides will work for this recipe if you don't have a wok.
Caramelized Onion Galette
This rich, autumnal galette takes its inspiration from the flavors of French onion soup. Seasoned with Gruyère and lots of cracked black pepper, the galette dough takes the place of the crostini, and the caramelized onion filling is fortified with beef broth and sherry. The dish is great for entertaining — it can be prepared in advance — but requires a little bit of patience: You’ll need to let the dough rest for at least four hours, which allows the flour to hydrate and will make the dough less crumbly to work with. Let the tart rest for about 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Eat it while it’s hot or serve at room temperature alongside a salad or steak.
Roasted Halibut With Mussel Butter Sauce
This is a stunning seafood main course that needs only a side dish, such as braised fennel or orzo salad, and some crusty bread served alongside for a delicious dinner party. Halibut is a mild yet buttery and rich fish with firm, meaty flesh. Here, the fish is wrapped in seaweed, which imparts subtle sea flavor and keeps the fish tender and juicy while it roasts. Mussels are steamed open in a bath of clam juice and kelp broth, releasing their flavorful juices into the liquid, which becomes a silky sauce. Earthy saffron adds depth and beautiful color, and just enough butter and cream round out the sauce without making it too heavy. For a festive presentation, top the fish with vibrant salmon roe, which look like jewels and offer pops of brininess.
Red Peas Soup
This hearty soup, a favorite of Jamaican restaurants and home cooks alike, can easily pass as a stew. In fact, think of it as a chili alternative, just as thick and spicy. The dumplings are easy, and cook in the soup, but they’re entirely optional. Other versions of this soup may call for salted pig tails, but here, they’re swapped out for smoked turkey necks. Either one adds a deep smokiness. Cock-flavored soup mix, such as one from Grace, gives this soup yet another layer of flavor; you can find it in the international aisle of most supermarkets.
Will Horowitz’s Watermelon Ham
When Will Horowitz, a chef and an owner of Ducks Eatery in Manhattan, unveiled his watermelon ham in 2018, he sparked an Instagram revolution, inspiring foodies from as far away as Germany and Japan to try incarnadine slabs of his brined, smoked watermelon. It sure looked like ham, right down to the crosshatch scoring on the surface. It sure smelled like ham, fragrant with the smoky scent of hickory. It even had some of the briny umami tang you associate with ham. Though it didn’t really taste like ham, it did firmly establish plant-based charcuterie as a big thing. This watermelon “ham” starts with a tamari-herb brine, is smoked low and slow for the first four hours, then seared. This recipe is adapted from “Salt Smoke Time” by Will Horowitz, Julie Horowitz and with Marisa Dobson (William Morrow, 2018).