Main Course
8665 recipes found
Grilled Chicken With Parsley-Olive Sauce
Boneless, skinless thighs are a boon to grilling because they’re almost impossible to overcook. Breasts are a bit trickier because they are low in fat and can dry out quickly. But this technique works beautifully for both. If you have the time, dry brine in advance (see Tips). When ready to eat, grill the chicken longer on the first side to get a little color (if the breasts are uneven in thickness, pound them until they’re even first), finish cooking on the other side, then plunge it into a bright sauce for up to 30 minutes for added juiciness. The sauce here is made with parsley, olives, chile, lemon juice and small bits of lemon rind for tartness and texture, but adjust flavorings as you wish. Serve the chicken with plenty of sauce, and perhaps a salad, grilled bread or vegetables. (Save some for the next day’s lunch, too; the smokiness will develop as it sits.)
One-Pot BBQ Pork and Beans
Two beloved barbecue staples are cooked together in one pot (or a slow cooker) for mutually beneficial results. As the pork shoulder braises, the pork juices flavor the barbecue sauce and the sauce tenderizes the pork. Beans are then added to soak up the deeply concentrated sauce. The recipe uses store-bought barbecue sauce enhanced with the smoky heat of canned chipotles in adobo and brown sugar, which helps glaze the pork. Because every barbecue sauce is different, taste and adjust yours as needed. (To mimic a North Carolina-style sauce, add apple cider vinegar with the beans, or yellow mustard for a South Carolina-style sauce, or even gochujang and soy sauce for a Korean-inspired take.) To serve, slice the pork or shred it into pulled pork. Cornbread, biscuits or Texas toast are great additions.
Smothered Pork Chops
Get the best pork chops you can, and the thickest, and give yourself a good 12 hours or more of lead time to soak them in the brine. If you are omitting the anise in the brine, you could add some flavor to the dredging flour — chili powder, say, or smoked paprika.
Grilled Shrimp Salad With Melon and Feta
A colorful mix of juicy fresh melon, salty feta and grilled shrimp, this easy-to-make salad is perfect for a quick and light summer dinner. A little minced chile adds heat, balancing the sweetness of the melon and shrimp, while the toasted whole coriander seeds lend a nice crunch. You can use any one type or a combination of melon here, and the riper the better. Serve this with something to catch all the tangy sauce — bread, rice or even a spoon.
Bhatti da Murgh (Indian Grilled Chicken With Whole Spices)
Adapted from the chef Chintan Pandya of Adda Indian Canteen in Long Island City, Queens, this fiery, aromatic recipe calls for marinating whole chicken legs in yogurt, ginger-garlic paste and ground spices, then coating them in cracked whole spices before roasting. The ground spices imbue the meat with flavor while the whole spices add pungency and a wonderful crunch. At Adda, Mr. Pandya cooks these in a tandoor. But you can roast them in your oven, or cook them on the grill using indirect heat and a baking sheet. In either case, brushing the sizzling chicken skin with plenty of melted butter is the key to its rich taste and burnished crispness.
Hibiscus Quesadillas (Quesadilla con Flor de Jamaica)
Dried hibiscus is cheap and plentiful, usually available in specialty grocery stores or international supermarket bulk bins. It has a place in kitchens around the world, in drinks and syrups and remedies and stews. The calyxes of the flower — the part we actually eat — also happen to have a high pectin content, making them ideal for jelly making. Lately, the ingredient has been marketed as a kind of health food, or meat substitute, but the ingredient has deep, ancient roots and stands on its own. Adriana Almazán Lahl, who owns a catering business in San Francisco, rehydrates the flowers and sautés them with onion and chiles, then folds the spicy mixture into flour tortillas with a little cheese. The result is a quick, delicious meal, and an excellent way to use up the entire flower. Be sure to rinse the hibiscus well before you get started; grit hides in its folds.
Chicken Thighs With Cumin, Cayenne and Citrus
Chicken thighs have a huge advantage over lean breasts. The skin browns nicely and the meat stays juicy even when thoroughly cooked, which makes them ideal for grilling or broiling. The dark, rich meat also responds brilliantly to the strong equatorial flavors often associated with grilling. The Mexican-inspired treatment here, a quick liquid rub for the thighs, packs plenty of punch, even if you use just a little cayenne. What makes it evoke Mexico is the combination of two characteristic spices, cumin and oregano, with a mixture of orange and lime juices to simulate the sour orange that is used in the Yucatán but is rarely seen in this country.
Gorditas de Flores de Jamaica (Spicy Hibiscus-Stuffed Gorditas)
Flor de jamaica is a type of hibiscus flower that is dried and often boiled with sugar and spices to make agua fresca, a sweet-tart beverage found across Mexico. In a savory main, the boiled flowers, which have an almost meaty, mushroomlike texture, are often pan-fried, seared or charred. But here, they’re stewed with dried chiles, cinnamon and sweet potato to make a saucy filling for a gordita — a thick corn patty that’s griddled, split and stuffed.
Thit Heo Kho Trung (Pork and Eggs in Caramel Sauce)
Tet is for savoring abundance, which explains why this rich, savory braise of pork and eggs in bittersweet caramel sauce is a must-have on many southern Vietnamese Lunar New Year menus. It’s an extravagant treat. Pork leg with the skin attached (fresh ham) is the cut of meat traditionally used, but pork shoulder or belly also offers the delicious balance of fat and lean meat. The eggs lend an interesting contrast of chewy white and buttery yolk, while the sauce featuring coconut water is softly sweet. Searing the meat and including peppercorns are modern touches that induce greater complexity. The cook time can be cut nearly in half by making the braise in a pressure cooker. Crunchy pickled bean sprout salad is the traditional accompaniment, along with plenty of rice. Stir-fried greens can be served alongside too.
Indonesian Chicken Soup With Noodles, Turmeric and Ginger (Soto Ayam)
Soto ayam, an Indonesian version of chicken soup, is a clear herbal broth brightened by fresh turmeric and herbs, with skinny rice noodles buried in the bowl. It is served with a boiled egg, fried shallots, celery leaves and herbs, and is hearty enough for a meal.
Grilled Soy-Basted Chicken Thighs With Spicy Cashews
Here's a hack I performed on a recipe for an appetizer portion of skewered chunked chicken thighs that the great live-fire cooks and cookbook writers Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby wrote many years ago, and that I have slowly altered into a main-course grilled dinner. The skinless chicken browns nicely over a medium flame, and the sugary soy basting sauce lacquers it beautifully in the final few minutes of cooking. It's terrific with rice, or as a topping for a salad of sturdy greens. You may wish to double the recipe for Sriracha-roasted cashews. Those are addictive, and for them you will find many delicious uses.
Joojeh Kabab ba Holu (Saffron Chicken Kababs With Peaches)
An Iranian barbecue would be incomplete without the dizzying scent of saffron chicken kababs on the grill. Saffron, the primary seasoning, is ground and then steeped in water to draw out its sweet scent, flavor and rich hue. This method is also the most economical use of the precious threads. Nothing goes to waste in this preparation; even the onion from the marinade is cooked to serve as an accompaniment. In this version, grilled peaches are plated alongside the traditional blistered tomatoes for a delightful tangy bite. An overnight marinade will guarantee the juiciest kababs, but don’t worry if you’re short on time; a couple of hours is sufficient. Serve with rice with tahdig and cucumber and herb yogurt, or with bread and herb salad for a light meal.
Coconut Curry Chicken Skewers
These small brochettes, about 2 ounces each, are perfect party food. Ideally they are grilled outdoors over coals, but also work fine on a stovetop cast iron grill or under the broiler. Threading each piece of meat onto two skewers, rather than one, keeps the meat from twirling and makes it easier to grill. (If using bamboo skewers, soak them in warm water for 15 minutes, so they won’t catch fire.) The spicy curry sauce is used both as a marinade and a dipping sauce.
Pulled Pork Sandwiches
This recipe takes a good deal of time, but it yields a lot of sandwiches, more than enough for a sloppy, spicy dinner party feast. You’ll roast a dry-rubbed pork shoulder in the oven until it’s pull-apart tender, 3 or 4 hours that you can spend doing other things while your kitchen fills with the aroma of the cooking meat. Then you’ll assemble a quick slaw and simmer a tangy barbecue sauce for about 10 minutes before putting it all out on the table with soft rolls. Serve the combination warm, at any time of the year, for a weekend project well worth an afternoon’s work.
Cauliflower, Cashew, Pea and Coconut Curry
While this curry from Meera Sodha’s cookbook “Made in India” is rooted in tradition and complexly flavored, it’s also easy enough for a weeknight. She transforms cauliflower from a humble vegetable to a rich centerpiece with the addition of cashews, coconut, fresh ginger and a flurry of spices you’re likely to have in your pantry. Serve with rice for an exceptionally good vegan supper.
Gochujang BBQ Ribs With Peanuts and Scallions
The simplest dishes are the hardest to get right, and barbecue ribs are no exception. That is why the chef Joseph Lenn, of J.C. Holdway in Knoxville, Tenn., always quick-cures the ribs with an overnight rub of salt, black pepper and brown sugar. This ensures the meat is seasoned evenly throughout, and is something he recommends for any slow-cooked or braised meat. Mr. Lenn’s mop sauce, a homage to the Dixie Sweet sauce at Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint in Nashville, is fired up with gochujang, a Korean chile paste. It works equally well on bone-in chicken breasts and wings.
Gingery Grilled Chicken Thighs With Charred Peaches
Coated in a balsamic vinegar glaze that’s spiked with ginger, garlic and soy sauce, these chicken thighs are sweet-tart and irresistibly sticky. They’re served with grilled thyme and honey butter-basted peaches, which become soft and wonderfully jammy on the fire. The yogurt is optional. It adds a cool and creamy counterpart to the char and smoke, but the dish is just as satisfying without it.
Beer-Can Chicken
The moist environment created by smoke-roasting a chicken vertically, atop a half-full can of beer, turns out to be a nearly fail-safe way to achieve barbecue perfection. A smoky-sweet dry rub adds complexity. The dish can also be made in an oven, in a roasting pan. (You can even buy stainless-steel vertical roasting stands for this very purpose.) What follows is a recipe for a traditional, spice-rubbed version of the dish. But once you have dialed in your technique, feel free to experiment. Coating the chicken with a paste of miso, mirin and soy, then replacing the beer in the can with sake, is one way to start.
Pork Tenderloin With Shallots and Prunes
Porc aux pruneaux, which is a classic, is by no means fancy, and it is always much more old-fashioned bistro or grandmotherly than high end. Simply put, it is a pork roast with red-wine-soused prunes. Hardly elegant, although it doesn’t have to be heavy either. In France, countless versions of the dish are made in neighborhood joints and at home. Sometimes a large loin or shoulder roast is used, sometimes pan-fried chops. Here we use a lightly brined pork tenderloin, adding stewed shallots to the sauce for depth and texture, and a touch of ginger for brightness. While the roast is in the oven, the shallots simmer with the wine and prunes for the sauce. The dark red sauce (rather unctuous really) is both sweet and tart, with a boozy hint of Madeira. It strikes a Middle European chord somewhere deep within. Serve with sweet potatoes or garnet yams roasted in their skins.
Crispy Cilantro-Chile Shrimp
These zesty, pan-fried shrimp are inspired by the cuisine of Maharashtra, the state on the west coast of India that includes Mumbai. Maharashtrian cooking often features lots of seafood and bright, fresh flavors, like the wallop of cilantro that flavors this dish. (Puréeing cilantro, as in this recipe, changes the enzyme that makes it taste soapy to some people, and reveals a deeply savory, almost mellow side to the herb.) A coating of farina, of which Cream of Wheat cereal is made, gives a dramatically craggy, crunchy texture; rava or semolina flour also work well. Be sure to pat the farina onto the shrimp before frying to help the coating adhere. Serve the shrimp with flatbreads, like chapatis.
BBQ Beef Ribs
Just before being served, these ribs are grilled, imparting a crisp, charred crust and an inviting whiff of wood smoke.
Smoke-Roasted Chicken Thighs With Paprika
These chicken thighs are roasted in the heat of a covered grill, smoke commingling with the tint and flavor of paprika to create, thanks to caramelized honey, a sort of crust that makes it very difficult to stop eating. You start by making a paste of sweet and hot paprikas, honey, lemon juice, garlic and butter. Rub that all over the meat, then cook the chicken on a charcoal grill over indirect heat until done. If using a gas grill, make sure one side of the grill is unheated, and either swap out the paprika for the smoked version known as pimenton de la vera or wrap two small mounds of moistened wood chips in heavy aluminum foil and pierce the tops of the packets with the tines of a fork. Place those on the hotter side of the grill before roasting the chicken.
Grilled Chicken Parm
Chicken parm – crisp chicken served with tomato sauce, draped in mozzarella and anointed with grated Parmesan, served perhaps on a hero roll or beside a tangle of pasta – is among the finest dishes of the Italian diaspora in America. There is sweetness and salt to the dish, along with the base creaminess of cheese and the satisfying crunch of the chicken’s crust. These combine, especially under a spray of red pepper flakes, to deliver immense satisfaction. This recipe, adapted from one the chef Justin Bazdarich uses at the Speedy Romeo restaurants in New York, moves the preparation of the dish to the grill, and delivers a dish that is smoke-scented and beautiful, with flavors that manage to be both delicate and robust.
Grilled Baby Back Ribs
We think of ribs as an all-day affair, the meat cooked in smoke and low heat until it begins to pull from the bone. But baby backs are quicker and can be grilled as well, and the result is delicious. This recipe benefits from a basting technique used by the chef and barbecue madman Adam Perry Lang, who thins out his barbecue sauce with water, then paints it onto the meat he’s cooking in coat after coat, allowing it to reduce and intensify rather than seize up and burn.