Main Course
8665 recipes found
Vinegar Chicken With Crisp Roasted Mushrooms
Not quite a braise and quicker than a roast, this saucy, tangy one-pot vinegar chicken can be prepared in under an hour with ingredients you probably have on hand. Feel free to use a whole chicken broken down into parts or any combination of breasts, legs, thighs and-or drumsticks, making sure whatever you use is bone-in and skin-on. While the crisp roasted mushrooms and lettuces are optional, they’re unfussy ways to elevate this dish without adding much time to the preparation. Crunchy toast to soak up all the juices is another low-key, brilliant item to add to the table, as is a bowl of seasoned sour cream, which will act as part dressing for the lettuces, part topping for the toast and part dipping sauce for the chicken.
Persian Tamarind Fish
In this complexly flavored and highly sophisticated dish from the cookbook author Louisa Shafia, tamarind, caramelized onion, ground almonds and barberries are made into a thick and tangy paste that gets spread over fish fillets before baking. Thinner fillets work better here than thick, center-cut pieces. You want more surface area on which to spread the herbal barberry mixture, which can be made a day ahead and stored in the fridge. If you can't find dried barberries, use dried cranberries instead.
Oven-Barbecued Pimentón Brisket
Classic Chili Con Carne
This is a classic recipe from Robb Walsh, a Texas food historian and a restaurateur: no beans. In the Texas spirit, it does, however, call for three pounds of meat — boneless chuck, buffalo or venison. There is also some bacon for good measure. This is a hearty meal, great for a cold day when the best thing to do is to stay in and watch that other Texas religion, football.
Olive Oil-Poached Cod With Green Pepper Purée
Unlike many cooks, John Willoughby loves what he describes as the fresh, cool and slightly bitter taste of green peppers. This dish uses the liquor from the roasted peppers in addition to pepper purée.
Duck Legs Braised With Red Wine and Lime
Cherry Tabbouleh
Like authentic tabbouleh, this is primarily an herb salad with a little bit of bulgur and the wonderful juicy surprise of cherries in each bite.
White Beans, Polenta, Roasted Tomatoes and Garlic
Sabzi (Spinach and Lamb Stew)
Sabzi is one of the traditional dishes served during Afghan Nowruz, the celebration of the new year and vernal equinox, and Durkhanai Ayubi included this recipe from her mother, Farida Ayubi, in their cookbook “Parwana: Recipes and Stories From an Afghan Kitchen.” The rich green hue of this dish symbolizes the arrival of spring and new life. In the book, Ms. Ayubi uses a pressure cooker for the lamb — you can as well — but the stovetop version below doesn’t take very long. Either way, the lamb becomes tender in an intensely flavorful broth of onion, garlic and chile. It then simmers in cooked spinach, fragrant with fried cilantro and garlic chives. This soul-affirming sabzi, along with its traditional accompaniment of challaw, a spiced Afghan rice dish, is a welcome way to celebrate the reawakening of nature.
Slab-Bacon Tacos With Burned-Scallion Crema
This is candied bacon, essentially, on corn tortillas with a creamy, smoke-flecked sauce that tastes of scallion and lime. I like it with pineapple salsa as well, and a salad of cilantro, mint and soft lettuce. You could make it with your standard sliced bacon from the market, but it’s far superior with the thick-cut variety or, best of all, with a chunk of uncut bacon that you can slice as thick as you like.
Grilled Tomatoes and Onions With Feta-Harissa Pine Nuts
This falls somewhere between a mezze salad, a sauce and a dip. It is rich and intense on its own but great as part of a meal with warm flatbreads, soft-boiled eggs and perhaps some labneh or thick yogurt on the side. Try to get your hands on the best-quality tomatoes you can find; the simplicity of this dish really lets the fresh vegetables sing. This is lovely eaten warm or at room temperature. It reheats quite well, its flavors intensifying as they sit overnight, and can be repurposed as a sauce spooned over grilled meats, couscous or pasta.
Tita Em’s Chicken Wings Adobo
Tita Em is a nickname for Zosima Arceo Phojanakong, also known as Emma, who happens to be the mother of King Phojanakong, the chef at Kuma Inn on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Her background is Filipino, and Mr. Phojanakong’s recipe for chicken wings is a spin on something that his mother used to cook every week for her family when the chef was a boy: a whole chicken simmered in a silky, peppery adobo gravy. In Mr. Phojanakong’s version, that sauce gets extra creaminess from coconut milk. At Kuma Inn, the wings have become a signature dish.
Creamy Tomato Gazpacho With Crunchy Pecorino
At lunchtime on a steamy day, I got the unlikely idea to cross a smoothie with gazpacho. Given my languid state, I had wanted something icy and filling, but not too taxing to prepare. That’s when the idea to merge a gazpacho and a smoothie crept into my head. I’d swap tomatoes for the usual berries; add garlic, oil, vinegar and salt to punch up the flavor; and keep the yogurt for heft. As the blender whirled, my stomach growled, and I nibbled on pieces of crunchy cheese cracker I had left over from a recent salad. Instead of croutons, I like to fry grated cheese until crisp, then crumble it over greens. For this batch, I had used pecorino, which seemed like a natural complement to the sheep’s-milk yogurt. So I saved some for garnish.
Tomato Frittata With Fresh Marjoram or Thyme
One of my summer favorites, this frittata makes a perfect and substantial meal served cold or at room temperature.
Spicy Tamarind Pork Ribs With Scallions and Peanuts
This recipe balances richness with a tart sweetness, and features a two-part approach to cooking the meat that yields complex flavor. Pork spare ribs are marinated, covered and baked until just tender. They’re then brushed with a glaze made with an invigorating combination of tamarind, ginger, nutmeg and scotch bonnet chile. You can finish the ribs in a hot oven or on the grill; the glaze caramelizes nicely either way. They are delightful as a finger food or as a main dish with practically any accompaniment, like this cool cucumber salad.
Braised Brisket With Pomegranate Juice, Chestnuts and Turnips
Eggs Poached in Marinara Sauce
In southern Italy this dish has the evocative name Uova al Purgatorio. When I make tomato sauce in the summer, I freeze it in half-cup portions, which makes this meal for one easy to throw together.
Scratchy Husband Pasta
In spite of the very few and very commonplace ingredients in this dish, there is an alchemy of sorts that takes place, transforming them from humble to holy-smokes-delicious in a way you will crave for the rest of your days. Be generous with your pinches, your grinds of the pepper mill, your scatter of cheese, your slivers of garlic and your final portions. It makes the difference.
Orecchiette With Brussels Sprouts and Bratwurst
This zesty pasta is a playful riff on choucroute garnie, the classic Alsatian dish. The usual suspects (pork and cabbage) show up in the form of bratwurst, brussels sprouts and sauerkraut. Instead of potatoes, pasta joins the party and everything comes together in a tangy sauce of Parmesan, sour cream and fresh dill. Buy sauerkraut that looks fresh and crunchy for best flavor and texture. For a more kid-friendly meal, swap in shell pasta. If you happen to find yourself with leftovers, they make a tasty cold pasta salad.
Lamb Stew With Peaches and Verjuice
Kimchijeon (Kimchi Pancake)
At Pyeong Chang Tofu House in Oakland, Calif., Young S. Kim’s golden kimchijeon are a revelation. Tart with pungent kimchi, the pancakes are both satisfyingly chewy and shatteringly crisp. At the Tofu House, where Mrs. Kim turns 1,400 pounds of Napa cabbage into kimchi each month, her homemade kimchi is the secret to her kimchijeon’s unsurpassed flavor. Use the most flavorful traditionally prepared kimchi you can find — it’ll make all the difference in this simple recipe. This version, adapted from Mrs. Kim’s original recipe, comes together quickly: Just combine kimchi and its juice with a few dry ingredients into a simple batter, then fry it in a cast-iron skillet into a mouth-watering pancake. Serve it to a crowd as an appetizer, or eat it on its own as a filling meal.
Charred Tomato Soup With Coriander and Cilantro
A chilled tomato soup is most welcome on a sweltering summer day. Charring the tomatoes over coals or under the broiler adds a rustic smoky flavor to this one, while quartered and dressed cherry tomatoes and a spoonful of fresh ricotta or thick yogurt add substance and texture.
Risi e Bisi
The classic Venetian dish of rice and peas known as risi e bisi makes for a perfect springtime Sunday lunch. This version includes the addition of baby zucchini, which is an acknowledged departure from tradition but a mighty delicious one. The desired final consistency is loose, almost brothy, not tight and creamy like risotto nor drippy like a zuppa. The Venetians use the term “all’onda,” a reference to the swell of waves in the sea. Short-grain rice helps get that distinct starchy quality, but the rice can’t do the job by itself; there has to be stirring throughout. Pour yourself a glass of a good Soave while you stir. You can have a nap after lunch, which is totally traditional.
Cassoulet-Style Lamb Shanks and Beans
This is not a full-blown cassoulet, chock-full of sausages and duck confit, but it is so satisfying nonetheless. It takes a couple of days to put together because you have to cook the lamb and cook the beans, combine them, and bake them twice. The result is a dish of enchanting deep flavor. (Simmering the seasoned lamb results in a delicious broth.)