Weeknight
3434 recipes found
Ginger-Scallion Steamed Fish
Connie Chung wanted to add steamed whole fish — a dish served at the Cantonese banquet meals of her childhood — to the menu at Milu, her restaurant in New York City. But to make it work in a fast-casual setting, she needed to make some changes. She wanted to keep the tender fish heady with soy sauce, ginger and scallions, but it had to hold up during delivery and be easy to eat. She landed on steaming cubed fish with soy sauce and a ginger-scallion stock, a forgiving method that isn’t stinky or splattery and results in deeply seasoned, buttery fish. While any firm fish works in this adaptation, Ms. Chung uses salmon, her mom’s suggestion. At Milu, this dish is served with rice, charred broccoli, a watercress-cilantro salad and a ginger-scallion oil, but would also be great in a nori hand roll, over salad greens or tossed with ramen.
Bengali-Style Mustard Oil Fish
Mustard oil is a key ingredient in many South Asian dishes, but is especially important in Bengali cuisine. Its earthy, astringent flavor can bring complexity to a simple cooked vegetable, pickle or tadka. This weeknight dish is inspired by bhetki paturi, a mustard oil-coated fish that gets cooked in a banana leaf. In this recipe, foil is a stand-in for banana leaf (though feel free to use the leaf if you have one!), steaming the fish gently and infusing it with flavor. Coconut and mustard oil are a stellar combination here, as the sweetness of the coconut tempers the bitterness of the mustard oil and seeds. The juices that pool around the cooked fish are especially delicious; be sure to spoon those over the cooked rice.
Citrus-Glazed Turnips
A sleeper-hit vegetable side dish on a predominantly seafood-rich menu, these sweet and tangy turnips are a loud statement for this idea: At a restaurant, order the unexpected thing. Get the salmon dinner at a brick-oven pizza joint; take a chance on the oatmeal cream pie at an oyster bar. More often than not you’ll be rewarded for your transgression. This dish, birthed by Nicole Cabrera Mills, the chef de cuisine of Pêche Seafood Grill, in New Orleans, is an unassuming celebration of the underappreciated turnip, which gets a lovely lacquer of citruses, chiles and butter.
Slow Cooker Italian Wedding Soup
Italian wedding soup has many variations, but it is characterized by a rich broth, hearty greens and bite-sized meatballs. It’s a beloved part of the Italian-American canon, derived from minestra maritata, or married soup, which is not a soup served at weddings, but meaning that meat and vegetables are joined together. For this easy slow cooker version, instead of taking the time to make meatballs, use loose Italian sausage rolled into balls. (If you can’t find loose sausage, buy it in casings and then just cut the casings open, discard them and use the meat inside.) Italian wedding soup often features a small pasta, like couscous or ditalini, which makes for a heartier, less brothy soup. If you are using the optional pasta, use 7 cups of broth instead of 6.
Tahini Ramen Salad
A breeze to make on busy weeknights, this fresh, colorful ramen salad is equally tasty at room temperature or chilled — which means it’s particularly picnic-friendly. Chickpeas add creamy texture, contrasting the crisp bite of vibrant veggies. Use your favorite combination: Yellow bell peppers, cucumbers, snap peas, radishes, celery, asparagus and cabbage are all great options. You can make the salad an hour ahead and let the savory tahini-garlic sauce soak into the noodles (at room temperature); just give it a quick toss before serving so that everything is evenly coated in the luscious sauce. If chilled, pull the salad from the refrigerator 10 minutes before serving to allow the sauce to soften, then give it a nice mix.
Miso-Honey Chicken and Asparagus
This quick and easy sheet-pan meal is broiled instead of baked, which chars the marinade slightly on the chicken, browns the asparagus for maximum flavor and cuts the cooking time to around 10 minutes. The miso-honey mixture packs a punch, with lots of garlic, ginger and as much hot sauce as you like. It doubles as a marinade for the chicken and a sauce to spoon over the chicken and asparagus once cooked. Make sure to arrange the chicken thighs in a single layer, so they cook and char evenly, and keep an eye on the pan, as some broilers have hot spots. Feel free to substitute broccolini for the asparagus, and serve with steamed rice, if desired.
Harissa-Honey Pork Tenderloin
For juicy pork tenderloin with a sweet, smoky and spicy glaze, coat it with honey and harissa before searing and roasting it. The two-ingredient coating caramelizes and chars in spots, developing a sticky glaze that’s much more complex than the work that went into it. Because pork tenderloin is such a lean meat, it’s easy to overcook, despite good instructions and intentions. If you find the sliced pork is not as juicy as you’d like, stir together a little more harissa and honey and spoon it on top. Eat the pork with yogurt sauce or a juicy citrus or tomato salad.
Basmati Rice
How to cook rice to its perfect texture is an art: too much water and it’s gloppy; too little, and it’s dry and brittle. If it’s cooked for too long, it smushes together; not enough time and it’s grainy and hard. Different types of rice require different cooking methods, too. This recipe, specifically for long-grain basmati rice, boils it down to a science. The rice-to-water ratio used here is 1 cup rice to 1 1/2 cups water, but thoroughly drained rice, heat levels, cook time and resting time can all impact results. Even the size of the pot matters; you’ll want to select a small one in which the water level rises an inch above the rice level. Follow the steps exactly and cooking long-grain basmati rice is no longer an experiment but a formula.
Kerala-Style Vegetable Korma
A korma can be made with any combination of meats and vegetables, braised or stewed. In the Indian coastal state of Kerala, where coconuts are abundant, vegetable korma is made with desiccated fresh coconut and coconut milk. This quick, convenient version uses the same foundation — onion, tomatoes, ginger and garlic — while skipping the fresh coconut. It works just as well with whatever combination of fresh or frozen vegetables that might be handy. Cashew butter is used in place of making a paste from soaked cashews. Black mustard seeds add complex bitterness; Thai green chiles, black pepper and garam masala give it a kick. Cutting corners doesn’t quell any flavor in this recipe.
Lamb Meatballs With Pea Pesto
These garlic-and-oregano lamb meatballs are an ideal weeknight meal, since they roast up in just 15 minutes. The ground lamb emerges tender and juicy in this recipe, thanks to milk-soaked bread crumbs and whole egg, while black pepper and red-pepper flakes provide heat. While classic pestos traditionally combine cheese and olive oil with nuts and basil, this recipe blends sweet, lightly blanched peas with basil, garlic and olive oil for a textural sauce that is as verdant as its inspiration. Fresh peas will provide the best flavor and texture, but you can use frozen peas for convenience. The sauce can easily be doubled and used on pasta or roasted chicken throughout the week.
Roasted Radishes
When roasted, radishes are no longer snappy and spicy but rather juicy, meaty and sweet. You’re in luck if they come with their greens attached, because they roast into delicate chips that provide great textural contrast. A drizzle of honey accentuates their sweetness, though the radishes could also be finished with something bright (like a soft herb or some lemon juice), spicy (like grated garlic or red-pepper flakes) or savory (like miso butter or anchovy butter). Eat as a light side dish to grilled fish, crispy chicken or stewed lentils, or folded into a grain or green salad.
Stuffed Peppers
These classic stuffed peppers are as flexible as they are delicious: The filling combines lean ground beef with sautéed vegetables and cooked white rice (the perfect use for leftover takeout rice!), but ground turkey, chicken or pork can be substituted in its place. Topped with melty mozzarella, these peppers will feed a hungry crowd. For a speedy weeknight dinner, make the filling, stuff the peppers and refrigerate for up to 24 hours before baking.
Gochujang Buttered Noodles
These garlicky, buttery noodles are perfect for when you need a stellar pantry meal lickety-split. A packet of fresh or even instant ramen speeds up the meal prep and is ideal when cooking for one (see Tip). Honey and sherry vinegar round out gochujang’s deep heat into a mellowness that’s at once sweet, savory and tangy. The brick-red butter sauce, emulsified with a splash of the pasta cooking water, coats spaghetti here, but you can use whatever noodles you like.
Gochujang Potato Stew
Plush baby potatoes braised in an aromatic gochujang broth form the heart of this satisfying, vegetable-packed stew. The spice-timid can lower the amount of gochujang, the Korean red-pepper paste, and heat seekers should feel free to add more to taste at the end. Canned white beans and dark-green Tuscan kale (also called lacinato or dinosaur kale), stewed with soy sauce and honey, create a deeply savory flavor that is reminiscent of South Korean gochujang jjigae, a camping favorite starring pantry staples, and dakdori tang, a gochujang-based chicken and potato stew.
Blackened Cauliflower
Blackening cauliflower brings out its best, giving it deep color and flavor. What results is a dish that is delicious enough that you’ll want to eat it on its own, but also great as part of something bigger, paired with salmon, tossed in a salad, or set atop a grain bowl. While blackening cauliflower may seem complicated, it’s not. The florets are tossed with rich spices (smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, red-pepper flakes, thyme and sumac, if you like), then roasted at a high heat until the edges crisp up and darken. Double or triple this recipe and make it part of your meal prep; it keeps well for a few days in the refrigerator.
Egg and Onion
Served to start the Sabbath dinner or as a simple breakfast on weekends, this Ashkenazic dish of mashed hard-boiled eggs and ultracaramelized onions feels indulgent in its rich flavor. Lisa Goldberg, a founder of the Monday Morning Cooking Club in Sydney, Australia, shares her grandmother’s Polish Jewish recipe for this beloved, time-honored dish, also called “eier mit tsibeles” in Yiddish. The key to deep, complex flavor is in the onions, which should be cooked slowly until caramelized, with a slightly burned texture. Save the leftover onion-infused oil to add flavor to vegetables or chicken. Serve this as an appetizer, with good bread or matzo, or as breakfast, with bagels or matzo.
Creamy Meyer Lemon Pasta
With their friendly flavor, Meyer lemons are thoroughly enjoyable from peel to pith to juicy flesh. In this simple weeknight meal, they add complexity to the classic pasta al limone with notes of orange and tangerine, a sweeter tang and a softer, more tender pith. Each bite of pasta is studded with a sautéed mix of tangible lemony bits and garlic slivers cloaked in the dill-forward cream sauce. If you’re in need of a protein here, try with a rotisserie chicken or some seared shrimp.
Turmeric-Black Pepper Chicken With Asparagus
In this sweet and spicy stir-fry, black pepper, honey and rice vinegar help accentuate turmeric’s delightfully earthy qualities. Thinly sliced asparagus doesn’t need much time to cook, but feel free to swap with any other vegetables that cook in just a few minutes, like thinly sliced green beans, frozen peas or baby spinach. Serve this with rice or rice vermicelli noodles, or tuck it into a lettuce cup or pita with yogurt and fresh herbs. You could also trade the chicken for tofu, shrimp or cubed pork shoulder.
Ricotta Pasta Alla Vodka
In a 1974 cookbook, the Italian actor Ugo Tognazzi published a recipe for pasta all’infuriata, "furious pasta," a chile-vodka-spiked tomato number. It’s one of the first written accounts of vodka in pasta. The alcohol is said to help fat disperse more evenly, keeping the sauce emulsion glossy and creamy, and to help you smell, and in turn taste, the sauce's flavors in a heightened way. The ricotta serving suggestion draws inspiration from the creamy tomato soup with three dollops of cool, sweet ricotta on top from the now-closed Caffe Falai in Manhattan’s NoLIta neighborhood. The ricotta lends coolness both in temperature and in flavor, offering relief between bites of spicy booziness.
Butter-Poached Shrimp With Dill Mayonnaise
Poaching shrimp in a combination of butter, lemon juice and white wine gives them a bright, tangy flavor and plump, succulent texture, and it takes only about five minutes. Served in bowls with a little of their broth and a dollop of dill-speckled mayonnaise, they’re rich and soupy, perfect with a hunk of crusty bread on the side to mop up every last drop.
Parmesan Cabbage Soup
This warming, nourishing soup, thickened with rice, is full of soft strands of green cabbage. Parmesan is used here in two ways: The rinds are simmered in with the broth, and the cheese is grated and sprinkled on top, adding complexity and body. If you like a kick, you can increase the red-pepper flakes, or leave them out entirely for a supremely gentle broth. Add a squeeze of lemon right at the end if you like your soup on the tart side.
Shrimp Tacos
Spiced shrimp and quick-pickled red cabbage fill corn tortillas for dressed-up tacos that are easy to put together and sure to be a favorite. The seasoned shrimp is cooked in a heated skillet for a slight char, but resist the temptation to move the pieces before the contact side is properly browned. You can keep the add-ons simple with slices of creamy avocado, bits of fresh cilantro and acidic bursts from lime slices. Or bulk up with dollops of guacamole, chunky pico de gallo, and sour cream. The choice is yours!
Mushroom Scampi
While most scampi recipes feature shrimp rather than the namesake small, lobster-like crustaceans, this mushroom version is a joyful meat-free alternative. All of the signatures are here – garlic, butter and white wine – and the mushrooms add a rich, earthy umami element. There is room to vary your mushrooms; while cremini or button mushrooms are great because they remain juicy and plump, oyster or shiitake mushrooms would add a pleasing, chewier texture. This dish is also parsley heavy; some is cooked with the mushrooms and the rest is added fresh, delivering a clean herbaceousness that brightens the dish. Eat with pasta, noodles or bread.
Roasted Fish and Broccolini With Tamarind and Black Pepper
A single skillet is all you need for this delicious, convenient and comforting weeknight meal. With its caramel-like tang and pleasant pucker, tamarind enlivens the marinade for fish fillets in this simple baked fish recipe. Rich with coconut milk and infused with garlic, ginger and freshly ground black pepper, the quick marinade glazes the fish and bathes the vegetables. Broccolini is used here, but cauliflower, brussels sprouts or hearty leafy greens such as chard, turnip or beet greens can be substituted. This sauce is versatile and pairs well with most fish, so go with the fillets that look freshest at the market.