Weeknight
3433 recipes found
One-Pan Zucchini-Pesto Orzo
Keeping pesto on hand (store-bought or homemade and frozen) is one of the greatest kitchen time-savers, since stirring just a spoonful into a dish can add so much herby, garlicky flavor. Here, pesto builds on a pan of orzo loaded with zucchini and onions that have been sautéed together until golden brown. Cooking the orzo in vegetable or chicken stock bolsters the pasta’s flavor as the broth reduces into a silky sauce. Then, pesto is added at the very end to preserve its brightness. Finally, just before serving, a caprese-like mix of marinated mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and fresh mint is stirred into the pan. Filled with vegetables and milky cheese, this dish is especially satisfying and very easy to make.
Melon Salad With Pistachio Dukkah and Basil
Forget the beach, summer melons are the biggest reason to look forward to hotter temperatures. Run by husband and wife team Zaid and Haifa Kurdieh, Norwich Meadows Farms in upstate New York grows some of the best local produce using traditional techniques from Egypt. Their melons burst with sweet, floral nectar that plays off the basil perfectly, and the dukkah is a nod to the Egyptian farmers that work on their farm. But don’t worry if you can’t get a Norwich melon, this dukkah can exalt any supermarket fruit. A crunchy, nutty spice blend typically made with a widely varying variety of pounded nuts, seeds and spices, dukkah can be found throughout Egypt, sold in tightly wrapped newspaper cones as a quick snack. Be sure to hold onto any leftover dukkah; it’s great with crudités or mixed with olive oil to make a quick dip for warm bread.
Furikake Tomato Sandwich
In this variation on the classic Southern sandwich, a sprinkle of furikake, the savory-sweet Japanese rice seasoning that makes food sing, enhances the flavor of glutamate-rich summer tomatoes. The furikake’s seaweed, as well as its monosodium glutamate, lends you that extra burst of umami (the fifth taste after sweet, sour, salty and bitter), helping the tomatoes taste even more of themselves. Here, soft, just-toasted slices of brioche or milk bread should sandwich thick sheets of your favorite mayonnaise, completing the harmony of fruit, carb and condiment.
Grated Tomato Pasta
It’s tough to highlight peak summer tomatoes in pasta. To make the most out of their bright flavor, summer tomatoes should be minimally cooked. This recipe gently warms the fruit, so they keep their acidity and succulence. Since the tomato hasn’t had the liquid cooked out, it doesn’t cling to the spaghetti the way a cooked pomodoro would, but this keeps the dish light and bright, and makes it perfect for a hot summer day. Be sure to serve with plenty of bread to sop up the cheesy sauce that is left behind at the bottom of the bowl. If juicy, ripe tomatoes aren’t around, swap out for cherry tomatoes and blend them instead of grating to get a similar effect.
Soy-Butter Corn Ramen
This easy, one-pot noodle recipe employs the sweetness of summer corn to balance out the umami of the butter and soy sauce. It’s a nod to wafu pasta dishes, which fuse Japanese and Italian cooking traditions, flavors and ingredients. Corn cobs are used in this recipe to create a quick, sweet corn-infused water to cook the noodles. (Don’t be tempted to add more water, as the amount specified will yield perfectly al dente noodles with just the right amount of broth, which intensifies as it concentrates.) The corn kernels go in at the last minute, which mutes any raw notes while maintaining sweetness and crispness. Though light enough for summer, this dish has depth.
Grilled Steak With Sauce Rof
A combination of onion, parsley, scallions and chile, this classic Senegalese sauce adds complexity to dishes. Typically used to stuff fish as a marinade and top it as a bold relish, it is also great for tempering the smoky char of grilled chicken or steak. In this recipe, some sauce rof is used as a marinade and served as a topping. Thinned with a dash of olive oil, the relish also gets lemon juice to add a lovely sparkle. Go for a nice marbled cut of meat — the fat intensifies the flavor of the grilled meat and the sauce rof cuts through the richness. This condiment can be made up to 24 hours in advance and refrigerated in an airtight jar.
Salt and Vinegar Kale Chips With Fried Chickpeas and Avocado
These salt-and-vinegar kale chips from “Tenderheart” by Hetty Lui McKinnon (Alfred A. Knopf, 2023) feel decidedly snacky, but team them up with fried chickpeas, avocado and an optional frizzled egg and they become a delightfully textural meal. To encourage maximum crunch for your chips, it is crucial to dry your kale well after washing, and give the chips ample time in the oven to crisp up, since they’re doused in vinegar for extra verve. Customize your chips, if desired, by adding other seasonings: Paprika and harissa impart more intense flavor, while nutritional yeast, grated Parmesan or Cheddar will add more umami. The key point to remember is that salt will make your kale soggy, so only sprinkle it on your chips after roasting.
Cashew Celery
This vegan cashew and celery stir-fry, which is adapted from “Tenderheart” by Hetty Lui McKinnon (Alfred A. Knopf, 2023), offers a lovely jumble of textures that form a dish that is uncomplicated but elegant. Celery is an ingredient that performs well in stir-fries, as it perfumes the entire dish and delivers a gratifying, crisp-tender crunch. You can use any leafy greens in this dish, but if they have thick stems (like gai lan), make sure you cut them in half lengthwise, which will help them cook quickly and evenly. Cashews add a creamy nuttiness, and tofu provides substance — but you could opt for shiitake mushrooms in its stead.
Oven BBQ Chicken
Lacquered with barbecue sauce, this juicy chicken swaps constant flipping on the grill for a mostly hands-off process using the oven and one smart trick: The dry-rubbed chicken roasts most of the way on top of barbecue sauce. The resulting sauce becomes thickened and glossy from the chicken’s rendered fat. It’s then spooned onto the chicken and roasted until sticky, caramelized and rich with flavor. Serve the extra sauce with dinner, for dipping chicken, or spooning directly into your mouth. (For boneless barbecue chicken, try this stovetop method.)
Paneer Chile Dry
Served at restaurants on both sides of the Pakistan-India border, this spicy, sticky paneer’s popularity is testament to China’s culinary influence on the region. The word “dry” in the title references the preparation’s consistency compared to more saucy, gravy-rich dishes. Coating paneer in batter then frying it gives the mild fluffy cheese a crispy crust, then tossing it in a thick chile-soy sauce imbues it with salt and heat. Onion and bell pepper provide just enough fresh, sweet relief until the next bite. The dish forms a deluge of pleasurable textures and fiery flavor in 30 minutes. If you’d like, you can substitute tofu for the paneer and skip the batter frying.
Basil-Butter Pasta
This pasta captures the essence of basil, without pesto’s garlic, nuts and salty cheese tussling for attention. It smells like a sun-warmed basil plant, one of summer's greatest moments. To make it, simply blanch basil leaves to lock in their color, then blitz them with butter. As the bright-green basil butter melts onto hot pasta, it carries the sweet pepperiness (and the smell, too!) of the herb into every nook and cranny.
Zucchini Tofu Udon
Fuyu, or fermented tofu, is the umami star of this quick noodle dish, delivering a briny, tangy saltiness that is also creamy. Also called furu or doufuru, it is made by fermenting soybean curds in a brine of rice wine, water, salt and spices. It has a strong flavor on its own, but when used to stir-fry noodles (or greens, as it is commonly employed in Chinese cooking), its punchiness mellows into a subtly sweet hum that is redolent of buttery blue cheese. This dish is finished with a generous amount of black pepper, giving it unmistakable cacio e pepe vibes. In a dish where black pepper is front and center like this one, freshly ground is preferred, but measuring it can be cumbersome, so if you are using a grinder, 1 teaspoon amounts to about 50 to 60 turns.
Bloody Mary Tomato Salad
A Bloody Mary is more than a hangover cure or acceptable brunch tipple; it is also an excellent example of precise and intentional ingredient pairings. There’s tart tomato, balanced with crisp celery, pepped up with piquant hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce and black pepper, then rounded out with lemon. These elements are the inspiration for a simple summer tomato salad, sans the vodka, of course. A brief pickle in lemon juice softens the celery and takes the bite out of the onions. This salad is vegan so rather than Worcestershire, which contains anchovies, soy sauce and balsamic vinegar are used to deliver that same umami and tang. (Vegetarians and vegans, remember this combination for other recipes that ask for Worcestershire!). Serve on its own, with bread to mop up the tasty juices, or toss it through pasta and serve as a salad. This salad will keep and will taste just as good (or even better) the next day.
Turkey Sandwich With Savory Blueberry Jam
Inspired by summer lunches in Maine, this beautiful turkey sandwich comes from the chef Matthew Cahn of Middle Child sandwich shop in Philadelphia. A spiced, savory blueberry jam anchors turkey and cheese on a toasted ciabatta roll. When it comes to this dreamy sandwich, the devil is in the details: Dressing peppery arugula with vinegar, oil and raw grated onion lends yet another layer of flavor that balances the comforting richness of the other ingredients. Store-bought garam masala works in a pinch, but for the full effect, try making your own from whole spices (see Tip).
Pepperoncini Tuna Salad
This verdant tuna salad looks and tastes classic (but with the saturation levels all the way up). Acid and crunch come in the form of delightfully sour, salty pickled pepperoncini and their neon-green brine. Sweet relish anchors the salad with balance, as does deeply aromatic and nutty toasted sesame oil. Any canned or jarred tuna works; just be sure to drain it very well. This recipe calls for celery to be folded in at the end for crunch, but any vegetable would work: thinly sliced cucumbers, iceberg lettuce, watercress, green peas, asparagus, even raw onion. Eat this on a bed of peppery arugula or stuffed into a split, just-warmed croissant or brioche bun.
Melon and Cho Cho Salad
This melon salad, from Denai Moore’s “Plentiful: Vegan Jamaican Recipes to Repeat” (Hardie Grant, 2023) is a delight on a summer day, and a quick, surprising start to the rest of your meal. Consisting largely of sliced cantaloupe and chayote (also known as cho cho), the dish requires minimal effort: chopping, tossing and serving. The amount of acidity and herbs can be adjusted and calibrated to your preference, or the crowd that you’re cooking for. As Ms. Moore writes, “This is a salad to be eaten seasonally, as it uses so few ingredients, so it’s important that each one has the best opportunity to shine.” Nodding toward a vibrancy of flavor, confluence of textures and an eye to pleasure, it’s a salad to look forward to.
Roscioli Roman Cacio e Pepe
The Roscioli family has built its own culinary empire in Rome since the 1960s, including bread bakeries, a pastry shop, a wine bar and a salumeria that moonlights as a restaurant. It’s a straight-from-the-airport destination for many American chefs, who go to taste the best food and wine from all over Italy, plus perfected Roman classics like cacio e pepe. The Roscioli method involves making a “crema” of cheese, pepper and water in advance. (It can also be refrigerated for later use.) The cheese needs to be grated until fine and feathery, so that it will melt quickly, and the hot pasta water must be added slowly. Unlike many recipes, the pasta here should be fully cooked, not al dente; it won’t cook any further once it’s added to the cheese.
Smashed Cucumber and Chicken Salad
A few simple elements — shredded rotisserie chicken, smashed, salted and drained cucumbers, and a sweet and spicy dressing — come together quickly in this Sichuan-inspired salad. The end result: a fresh, crunchy, flavorful main, served cold with no cooking time, perfect for hot summer days when turning on a stove feels like a Sisyphean task. It keeps in the fridge for a few days and tastes even better once the cucumbers have had a chance to marinate and soak up the briny dressing overnight. For a whole other salad, add chickpeas to whatever’s left, or sandwich leftovers between a couple of slices of bread to make a far-from-ordinary lunch.
Sardine Pasta Puttanesca
Pasta puttanesca packs a punch, loaded with flavorful pantry staples like capers, olives, garlic, anchovies and red-pepper flakes. This version adds sardines and swaps the canned tomatoes for plump cherry tomatoes, which both bring meaty bites to this simple dish. It’s best in the summer, when the tomatoes are especially ripe and juicy. Keep the pasta quite undercooked, so it can become tender while simmering in the burst tomato sauce. The sauce will look thin at first, but just keep vigorously stirring and it will get glossy and emulsified.
Roasted Chicken Thighs With Blueberries
This easy roasted chicken dinner packs a bright, puckery blueberry punch. The whole-grain mustard gives the sauce spice and a satisfying pop that plays off the jammy blueberries. Patting the thighs dry and starting them in a cold pan allows the skin plenty of time to render brown and crisp. The most important thing is to ensure the skins are getting full contact with the skillet’s surface. (If your thighs are large and crowd a medium pan, use a large skillet instead, so they brown rather than steam.) Save any leftover sauce as a mustardy sandwich condiment.
Strawberry Pudding Cake
Studded with jammy strawberries, this pudding cake requires just one easy batter but yields three pretty, textured layers: crisp golden topping, tender cake and a saucy, pudding-like layer. It’s like a (delicious) science-class experiment: As it bakes, cake batter rises above a surface of hot, syrupy liquid to brown and create a crust, while that liquid forms a custardy sauce below. Every oven is a little different, so baking time is an approximation, making it important to consider doneness by looks, too — overbaking this will result in a firmer, bread pudding-like texture. This cake is best enjoyed within a couple hours of baking. Though this dessert begs to be eaten directly out of the skillet, served warm, family-style, with a handful of spoons, it’s also delicious in a bowl with whipped cream.
Taco Salad
This Mexican American classic has roots at Disneyland. Charles Elmer Doolin, a cofounder of the Frito Company, created an edible cup out of Fritos and served it at his Disneyland restaurant, Casa de Fritos, in 1955. It was the size of a teacup, filled with ground beef, beans and sour cream, and called the Ta-Cup (a portmanteau of taco and cup). The creation was a hit, with recipes for taco salad made with various corn chips proliferating in the ’60s, becoming a staple in school cafeterias, and eventually growing into the jumbo version added to the Taco Bell menu in 1984. (The menu item was retired in 2020.) You can use any corn chip for this recipe, and there’s no need for it to be in cup form, but opt for Fritos, if you want that authentic taste.
Grilled Tofu Tacos
Inspired by zesty Baja tacos, which typically feature fried fish, these quick vegetarian tacos are filled with tofu that has been marinated in a spicy adobo sauce, then grilled for smoky flavor. All of the typical toppings work perfectly here: Shredded cabbage adds crunchy texture and a creamy, cilantro-spiked crema tames the heat. If you don’t have access to an outdoor grill, the tofu can be cooked indoors on a lightly greased cast-iron skillet for charred flavor that’s enhanced by the adobo sauce.
Pepper Steak
The Chinese American stir-fry dish, pepper steak, celebrates the oft-maligned green bell pepper in all its savory, vegetal glory. In this version, thin slices of flank or skirt steak, marinated in a flavorful mix of soy sauce, honey and black pepper cook up beautifully tender yet burnished and caramelized at the edges. Be sure to chop all of your vegetables before you start cooking, since time at the stove is hot and fast with this easy recipe.