Main Course
8665 recipes found
Main Dish Salad with Tuna and Vegetables
For the past couple of decades restaurant menus have named any salad that features tuna, whether fresh or canned, raw or cooked, a Niçoise salad. Few of them resemble the traditional summer salad of Nice made with tomatoes and thin-skinned green peppers, cucumbers and other local vegetables such as fava beans and baby artichokes, olives, anchovies, hard-cooked eggs and oil-packed tuna. I often make a meal of a tuna, potato and vegetable salad. If tomatoes are out of season, I shred a carrot; and if green beans don’t look good I use broccoli. Make sure to include lots of minced fresh herbs.
Pizza Marinara with Tuna and Capers
This pizza tastes like Southern Italy. The hot red pepper flakes are especially nice, but don’t overdo it. Just a light sprinkle will give the pizza a little heat.
Tortilla-Chip Casserole
Grilled Striped Bass With Charred Kale and Yellow Squash
Grilling striped bass is a great way to cook the fish because the skin takes on a char that goes well with other strong flavors like oregano-laden chimichurri sauce. Usually paired with meat, chimichurri plays off of bass just as beautifully, as long as you use a light vinegar like champagne or rice wine, rather than balsamic. In preparing the fish, make sure the grill is hot first and be patient about flipping — you usually want about 4 minutes per side for a 7 to 8 ounce piece. Drop some local lacinato kale and thinly sliced yellow squash onto the grill as well for a charred vegetable side.
Roasted or Grilled Whole Fish With Tomato Vinaigrette
There are a number of good reasons to roast or grill a whole fish. Fish tastes better cooked on the bone. It’s just as easy as roasting meat or fowl, and is done in half the time. And a whole fish is apt to be fresher than many of the other choices at the fishmonger. A two-pound fish will serve two.
Buffet Farfalle With Tuna and Tomatoes
Farfalle With Crawfish and Artichokes
Marcella Hazan’s Roast Chicken With Lemons
When Marcella Hazan died in 2013, The New York Times invited readers to share their favorite recipes from her books. While her tomato sauce with butter and onion was the clear favorite, this astonishingly simple roast chicken and her Bolognese sauce were close runners-up.
Seared Salmon With Mashed Vegetables and Seaweed
Chicken Paillard With Black Olive Tapenade
Paillard is the French word for a thin slice of meat that cooks quickly. (Sometimes, a thicker piece of meat is pounded with a mallet to make it thinner.) This recipe is an easy way to make a chicken paillard without much pounding. Essentially, you butterfly a boneless, skinless chicken breast, slicing horizontally to make a flat, heart-shaped breast, then pound it lightly. Unfortunately, a chicken breast is often dry and tasteless, but it doesn’t have to be. Seasoned and cooked correctly, it should be tasty and moist. A dab of tapenade, a traditional Provençal black olive paste, makes a perfect accompaniment.
Steamed Mussels With Garlic and Parsley
This is absolutely the simplest way to cook mussels, and perhaps the most satisfying. A big pot of them makes an easy, festive dinner any night of the week.
Farfalle With Shrimp and Asparagus
Curried Shrimp and Crab Gumbo
Arvinder Vilkhu is chef of Saffron Nola, the New Orleans Indian restaurant he owns with his family. Mr. Vilkhu developed this gumbo recipe over the 30-plus years he’s lived in New Orleans, incorporating curry leaves, fresh ginger and other ingredients and spices from his native India. At the restaurant, Mr. Vilkhu places the black pepper, cilantro and scallions in the bottom of the bowl to serve, and the pours the gumbo over them, which he believes keeps the flavors of the ingredients sharp.
Farfalle Casserole with Radicchio and Mushrooms
Arctic Char With Soba Noodles, Pine Nuts and Lemon
Soba, the slender buckwheat noodles from Japan, are pale brown in color, earthy in flavor and springy in the bite. Pair them with a silky, pink piece of fish to create a simple, elegant study in contrasts. The fish here, Arctic char, is reminiscent of salmon but has a more delicate texture. It’s seasoned with cumin seeds that, in a clever move, are briefly toasted in a pan then steeped in oil. The deeply scented oil and seeds are then spooned over the fish for a rich coating of flavor. The fish is roasted about 10 minutes, to desired doneness, while the noodles are tossed in a dressing of finely ground pine nuts, garlic, lemon zest and juice, along with a ribbon of olive oil. The recipe calls for Meyer lemons, which are smooth-skinned, sweet, fragrant and juicy, without the acidic tartness of more commonplace lemons. Meyers are easier to find than they used to be, but are still something of a delicacy in the produce aisle. Regular lemons will do fine.
Pasta Macedonia
Bean and Tuna Salad
Warm Potatoes With Cheese Sauce
New-Wave Macaroni And Cheese
Sauteed Chicken With Vinegar Glaze
Pasta Fagioli
Simple Grilled Sardines
Grilled fresh sardines are often offered on restaurant menus, but it’s very easy to make them at home, whether over hot coals or under the broiler. At the fishmonger, look for firm, shiny, glistening specimens. Sardines are a sustainable fish choice and are high in healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Most importantly, they are extremely delicious. For a Mediterranean touch, grill the fish on fig leaves: After cooking the sardines on one side, lay four fig leaves on the grill and place two fish, cooked side up, on top of each leaf to finish cooking. The fig leaves will add a subtle perfume to the sardines (they look beautiful, too), but they are not edible.
Orecchiette With Corn, Jalapeño, Feta and Basil
Sweet, peak season corn is at the heart of this flavorful and simple-to-make summer pasta. The jalapeño offers a pleasant kick, and the feta cheese tossed in at the end melts slightly, giving the sauce a silky texture. It’s worth seeking out orecchiette here, as it nicely catches the corn kernels, creating perfect bites. If you can’t find it, fusilli or farfalle would work in its place. Serve with a bright, simple salad alongside and fresh fruit for dessert.
Grilled or Pan-Cooked Albacore With Soy/Mirin Marinade
If you’re concerned about which fish are environmentally safe to eat, you can’t do better than consulting the Web sites of the Monterey Bay Aquarium or the Environmental Defense Fund for their handy pocket guides for buying seafood (or choosing it in a restaurant). You won’t break the bank buying fresh fish, but there can be a better selection of moderately priced varieties in the freezer department. Among my findings were albacore steaks, one of the few types of tuna that we can still enjoy with a clear conscience, and a great fish if you’re trying to eat more omega-3s. This is a sweet/savory marinade that I also use for tofu. If you are concerned about the quantity of soy sauce, know that most of it stays behind in the bowl when you cook the fish. If you are using frozen albacore steaks, wait until they are partly thawed before marinating.