Main Course
8665 recipes found
Chickpea and Herb Fatteh
Fatteh is a popular Middle Eastern dish made with stale bread and accompanied by a host of hearty ingredients. Serve it for brunch, with eggs, or as a vegetarian main course with cooked seasonal vegetables — simply be sure to plan ahead and soak the chickpeas the night before. You can cook the chickpeas and prepare all the toppings in advance, but you'll want to assemble the herb paste and toss everything together just before serving to ensure that it all stays green and vibrant, and that the fatteh is the right consistency.
Gogola (Banana Beignets)
These tender banana doughnuts are traditionally prepared for Phagwah (called Holi in India), a Hindu holiday celebrated in Trinidad and Guyana that commemorates the escape of the prince Prahlada from the burning lap of the demoness Holika. A kadhai, an all-purpose domed pot like a Chinese wok, is used to deep-fry a batter of ripe bananas, flour and sugar into plump bites called gogola. The batter is scented with mixed essence, a popular Caribbean flavoring with notes of vanilla, almond and cinnamon. Mixed essence is meant to replicate the scent of the South American tonka bean, which is rare and expensive (and illegal to use as a flavoring in the United States because it contains a chemical the Food and Drug Administration considers dangerous).
Cumin-Baked Pork Chops
This fast, easy recipe for succulent pork chops came to The Times in 1997, part of a deep dive on cumin by the writer Molly O'Neill. It is simple to prepare and can be a delicious end to a long day. Using crushed cumin instead of ground will give the chops a bit of fresh texture, but if you don't have cumin seeds, feel free to substitute.
Indian Lamb Curry With Basmati Rice
This wonderfully spiced dish is halfway completed before you start cooking. I’ve slowly begun to realize that my most successful lamb dishes were made from what was left over from a meal of lamb shanks. When braising season began, I cooked two sizable lamb shanks and, of course, enjoyed them. But I really got into it over the following couple of nights, when I wound up using them to create marvelous meals.
Gruyère-Stuffed Roasted Red Peppers With Raisins and Olives
My usual method for roasting peppers is to sit each pepper on an open flame, letting the skin turn black and ashen in spots. It’s time-consuming, especially if I’m roasting more than four peppers at once (I have a four-burner stove), so I blacken them all together under the broiler. (You could also use a grill.)
Pork Chops With Shiitake Mushrooms
In this simple dish, thick pork chops are pan-seared, then finished in the oven. Served with a pungent grainy mustard vinaigrette and crisp-edged shiitake mushrooms, it makes a tasty, hearty weeknight meal.
Slow-Cooked Red Chile Turkey
Anyone who has spent time in New Mexico knows that fiery red chile sauce, made with local dried chiles, finds its way into most meals there, enhancing plates of huevos rancheros or enchiladas. But just as often, it is the base for a meat stew, usually beef, pork or lamb. The dish is known as carne adovada, and it is insanely good. Yes, there probably is a roasted turkey in most homes for Thanksgiving, and maybe a steaming pot of tamales. But the thought occurred to me that turkey thighs (the tastiest part of the bird) simmered in red chile would be a welcome substitute. It turns out I was right. Slowly braised for 2 hours, this spicy turkey is succulent and tender.
Spicy Glazed Chicken Breasts
This one-skillet chicken has a spicy, pleasantly tart and punchy glaze that’s built on frying a little tomato paste in garlic- and almond-infused oil, then deglazing with lemon juice. It tastes like you sun-dried lots of tomatoes for weeks. (But you don’t need to do that.) The final flourish is the crunchy fried almonds and garlic. You could skip them, but they add a special touch that belies how fast the dish comes together. Besides chicken, the dish also can be made with any other ingredient that browns well, like tofu or even broccoli.
Sautéed Scallops With Crushed Peppercorns
Sweet, meaty sea scallops are best in winter. Buy “dry-packed” fresh scallops — anything else has been doused in preservatives. This quick-cooking dish gets a boost from three types of peppercorns: green and black (both true pepper), and rose (not really pepper — they are the fruit of a different plant — but peppery nonetheless, and pretty, too). Crush the peppercorns in a mortar or grind very coarsely in a spice mill.
Shad Fillets Braised With Wild Mushrooms And Tomatoes
Turkey Pitas With Cucumbers, Chickpeas and Tahini
These vibrant, crunchy, creamy turkey sandwiches have all the flavors of falafel, but without the frying. They’ve got a lemony tahini dressing, soft chickpeas, and a cumin-scented tomato and cucumber salad, all packed into pitas with leftover turkey (use dark or white meat). The pickled red onions give these a wonderful brightness, and they’re well worth the 10 extra minutes they take to make.
Sazón-Spiced Shrimp and Okra
Fresh okra is wonderfully versatile, and searing it in a hot pan is one way to lend texture while preserving its shape. This dish comes together entirely within a large skillet; you’ll work in stages to cook the okra and then the shrimp. A dusting of annatto-infused sazón adds aromatic and earthy flavors, and a tinge of spice. Finished with fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime, this dish is perfect for a light evening meal or as part of any warm-weather menu.
White Wine-Braised Rabbit With Mustard
This is a version of lapin à la moutarde, a homey, traditional French dish still popular in old-fashioned Parisian bistros at lunchtime. Yes, there are quite a few steps required to put this dish on the table, but probably no more than 30 minutes of active work. It is essentially a one-pot meal, with a little fiddling. The pleasingly sharp, succulent, saucy result is worth the extra effort. Get your rabbit in a butcher shop if possible, and ask to have it cut up; if your only option is a whole rabbit, it’s not much more difficult than cutting up a chicken. Serve with noodles if you'd like, or rice, mashed potatoes or steamed new potatoes.
Cornmeal-Crusted Smelts With Corn Dressing
Chicken Tagine With Olives and Preserved Lemons
This rich and fragrant chicken stew is laden with complex flavors and spices reminiscent of the sort you might encounter in a mountainside cafe in Morocco. Save yourself the cost of a plane ticket, however, and make this at home. First, rub the chicken with a redolent combination of garlic, saffron, ground ginger, paprika, cumin, turmeric and black pepper, then pop it into the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours to marinate. Once that's done, brown the chicken parts, and remove from the pan, making room for a pile of sliced onions that you'll sauté until golden brown. Nestle a cinnamon stick into the tangle of onions, pile the chicken parts on top and scatter with slices of preserved lemons and olives, a combination of green and kalamata. Add a bit of chicken stock and lemon juice, then cook over low heat until the chicken is cooked through, and your house smells amazing.
Algerian Spiced Striped Bass Tagine
Lamb With Whole Spices (Kharu Gos)
Spiced Maqluba With Tomatoes and Tahini Sauce
Maqluba is a layered rice cake eaten throughout the Arab world. It’s a bit of a showcase dish, made for special occasions, traditionally layered with chicken and vegetables and unmolded after cooking. This vegan take has a savory top layer of caramelized tomatoes, like an upside-down cake. The crispy shallots, available at Thai or Asian food markets, add a welcome crunch but don’t worry if you don’t have them: The dish works well without.
Pan-Seared Pork Chops With Sage, Dates and Parsnips
This easy dish combines sage, brown butter and dates for a blast of sweet-salty flavor. Brining the pork chops in advance ensures tenderness: You can allow them to sit in the thyme-infused brine overnight, but even two hours of marinating will improve the taste and texture of the chops. This recipe calls for parsnips, but sweet potato or roasted squash would also work well. (And if you can’t find medjool dates, pitted prunes are a worthy stand-in.)
Pork Chops Puttanesca
The muscular sear and smoky, crisp burnish of grilled food has immense appeal. But achieving it requires time and attention to hot coals. The grill master may scoff, but I have increasingly come to rely on my oven, sealing the deal with a slow bake after a quick sizzle atop the grill or stove. That’s how I made these pork chops, with their lusty Neapolitan topping to accompany a sturdy aglianico. The slow cooking gently brings the meat to tenderness, guarding its juices. It also grants the cook nearly an hour to assemble the rest of the dinner, and what does the grill master know about that? (You might consider moving the meat away from the fire and covering the grill, but the temperature will not be as consistent and will require monitoring.) Penne or other modest macaroni dressed with just olive oil and chile flakes is excellent alongside, to share the sauce with the meat.
Pork Tenderloin With Orange
Turkey and Hominy Chili With Smoky Chipotle
Making an authentic pozole — the fragrant Mexican hominy stew — has been on my list of things to do for years, but it can be very labor intensive. One recipe by Diana Kennedy, the author of Mexican cookbooks, calls for trimming hominy and boiling a pig’s head. Just reading about it causes my enthusiasm to wane. This stew is a compromise; a sort of a pozole-chili hybrid, loaded with ground turkey, bell peppers, hominy and pinto beans. Chile powder adds heat, jalapeño brightness and canned chipotle chile in adobo smokiness and depth. A bottle of beer provides a pleasant bitterness that complements the spice. This recipe makes a very large batch perfect for entertaining or for stocking the freezer, but you can easily half it to feed a family of four.
Tamarind-Glazed Pork Chops
Wild King Salmon With Savory Whipped Cream
The wild king salmon season opens in May on the West Coast and continues through summer, from Alaska all the way to San Diego. The first wild salmon in spring has brilliant red flesh, a mild sweet flavor and a velvetlike texture. Farmed salmon doesn’t compare. In this recipe, the salmon is cut on the diagonal into thin slices that cook quickly. They are topped with softly whipped cream that's seasoned with mustard, cayenne and lemon zest.