Weeknight
3491 recipes found
Braised Chicken With Tomatoes, Cumin and Feta
Pleasantly reminiscent of shakshuka, this one-pot dinner has a similar spiced tomato sauce, but uses crispy skinned, cumin-laced chicken thighs instead of eggs. The harissa-spiked sauce is best spooned over an herbed rice or enjoyed with crusty bread to scoop up the melty feta. Roasted vegetables like kale or broccolini would round out the meal nicely. Harissa tends to differ in heat level from brand to brand, so adjust the heat accordingly.
Doenjang Salmon Rice Bowl
This speedy meal is for seekers of the sweet-salty, known as dan-jjan in Korean. Doenjang, a glorious Korean fermented soybean paste, anchors the sauce with funk and umami. This sauce, balanced with sweet mirin and tangy rice vinegar, both marinates and lacquers salmon, which is quick-roasted. Cutting the fish into cubes allows more surface area for the salmon fat to render quickly, while the centers cook to a medium-rare, melt-in-your-mouth tenderness, a satisfying contrast to the still-crunchy, just-charred onions. This soul-warming breakfast, lunch or dinner tastes best with white rice, kimchi and whatever other accompaniments you might enjoy.
Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Halloumi and Lemon
Inspired by Mediterranean and Moroccan dishes, this tangy, earthy roasted cauliflower salad is a satisfying vegetarian meal. Spiced cauliflower, salty halloumi, peppery arugula, buttery avocado and a honey-lemon vinaigrette fill it with contrasting textures, temperatures and flavors. There’s lots of room for substitutions or additions: Swap in orange zest and juice for the preserved lemon, smashed green olives for the avocado or kale for the arugula. If looking to bulk it up, you could toss in some seared shrimp, roasted chicken, pearl couscous or whole grains.
Sheet-Pan Roasted Chicken With Pears and Arugula
In this hearty sheet-pan meal, thick pear wedges and chicken thighs seasoned with earthy, warming spices are roasted until soft and tender. During the last five minutes, crunchy sunflower seeds are scattered on the pan to sizzle in the pan juices, gaining a salty flavor that balances out the sweetness of the pears. A final topping of arugula soaks up any lingering juices and turns this into a full-on meal. Using firm, not-quite-ripe pears prevents them from becoming mushy and falling apart during the cooking process. Swap baby spinach for the arugula and sherry vinegar for the lemon juice, depending on what you have on hand. Serve any leftovers on a bed of fresh arugula, dressed with lemon and olive oil.
One-Pot Orzo With Shrimp, Tomato and Feta
Inspired by a Greek appetizer, shrimp saganaki, this one-pot recipe adds orzo and grape tomatoes to make a complete meal. Blistering the grape tomatoes coaxes out their natural sweetness, which pairs well with the salty feta. For a vegetarian version, skip the shrimp and stir in some spinach or arugula at the end. Warm up leftovers by adding a splash of water to loosen the sauce, then drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with crumbled feta.
Soy-Butter Basted Scallops With Wilted Greens and Sesame
This simple dish was inspired by a recipe for steamed scallop and butter rice found in “Donabe: Classic and Modern Japanese Clay Pot Cooking” (Ten Speed, 2015) by Naoko Takei Moore and Kyle Connaughton. Here, sweet sea scallops are seared in a hot pan and basted with melted butter and soy sauce to finish cooking. Tender greens are sautéed in garlic oil, then the scallops are placed on top and everything is drizzled with the remaining soy-butter and a bit of sesame oil. Finish the dish with a good squeeze of lime, thinly sliced scallions and a smattering of sesame seeds. It’s wonderful served over steamed white rice, so be sure to get that on the stove before you begin cooking the scallops, as the rest of the meal comes together in no time at all.
Cannellini-Bean Pasta With Beurre Blanc
This recipe, like so many great straightforward, inexpensive go-tos, starts with little more than a can of beans — then transforms it into a luxurious meal. Jack Monroe, the British food writer, uses a classic beurre blanc to do that work, simmering a splash of wine, vinegar and butter together, then tipping it into a pot of boiling beans and pasta, letting the liquid reduce to a starchy, nearly creamy consistency. If you think of beurre blanc as fancy and fussy, this simple, unexpected use for it may change your mind. You can also build on the basic recipe, adding a bunch of chopped chard or mustard greens in with the sauce, or covering the top with torn herbs.
Farro With Mushrooms
Farro is chewier than Italian rice and doesn’t release starch when it’s cooked, so there’s no need to stir it the way you’d stir a risotto. This hearty dish has a rich, earthy flavor. Although it takes about twice as long as a risotto to cook, it doesn’t require tending.
Reuben Sandwich
Like many classic dishes, the Reuben sandwich has multiple origin stories: Some accounts trace its origins to the since-shuttered Reuben’s delicatessen in New York City, where Arthur Reuben created a special for one of Charlie Chaplin’s leading ladies in 1914, using ham, turkey, Swiss cheese and coleslaw on rye. Another origin story points to a customer, Reuben Kulakofsky, who was said to have ordered a corned beef and sauerkraut sandwich at Blackstone Hotel, in Omaha, where Bernard Schimmel obliged by rounding it out with Thousand Island dressing, Swiss cheese, rye bread and a hot grill. Today’s Reuben sandwiches feature corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and a healthy smear of Russian dressing between toasted, buttered rye. Homemade dressing has a brighter, fresher flavor than the bottled variety, and comes together in just a few turns of a whisk. To achieve the prized crispy crust and gooey cheese, keep the heat low enough to allow the buttered bread to toast while the cheese melts.
Vegan Broccoli Soup With Cashew Cream
This nourishing, three-vegetable soup is thick and creamy, even without dairy. It takes very little skill and only 25 minutes to make, but success lies in proper blending: Use a high-powered blender for the creamiest soup, or let it go a few minutes longer in a standard blender. Fennel and celery provide welcome depth, and the quick cashew cream feels luxurious spooned over the top or stirred right in. Save any extra to drizzle on other blended soups or even roasted vegetables. Finish this vibrant bowl with celery leaves, parsley or dill, and two basic but crucial ingredients: an extra drizzle of olive oil and a dusting of freshly ground pepper.
Brothy Chicken Soup With Hominy and Poblano
This vibrant, hearty weeknight chicken soup is reminiscent of pozole, and achieved in record time. It starts with a base of onion and poblano pepper spiced with cumin, coriander and oregano. Broth is added, chicken thighs are simmered, then shredded, and cooked hominy is added for heft (though cooked rice would work equally well). The toppings stray from tradition: Crumbled tortilla chips provide crunch, as do snappy radishes; richness comes in the form of avocado or sour cream. Lay out bowls filled with various garnishes and let guests assemble as they like.
Pasta With Roasted Broccoli, Almonds and Anchovies
This no-fuss weeknight pasta makes marvelous use of basic ingredients found in almost every kitchen — and calls for some smart multitasking: Get the broccoli roasting while the pasta cooks, then create an easy emulsified sauce using butter, anchovies, red-pepper flakes, lemon juice and a splash of pasta cooking water. A sprinkle of toasted almonds provides texture and crunch. This dish is endlessly adaptable: Go for cauliflower instead of the broccoli (or a combination of the two); use parmesan or any other hard cheese in place of pecorino; opt for walnuts or pistachios instead of the almonds — or bypass nuts altogether and use toasted panko or breadcrumbs. If you don’t have campanelle or fusilli, that’s fine too. Any pasta with plenty of nooks and crannies to capture the buttery sauce will do.
Creamy White Beans With Pecorino and Pancetta
These superfast, incredibly delicious beans are inspired by pasta alla gricia, a classic Roman dish that is similar to pasta carbonara but without the egg yolks. Because the dish is so simple, it helps to use good pancetta (or guanciale, if you can find it) and not the pre-diced kind. (It often comes in a roll; just unroll it and slice it up. You could even use good thick-cut bacon instead of pancetta, if that is easier to find.) Cut into fat batons, the pork crisps up into chewy, salty little nuggets that contrast with the soft beans. The starch from the beans along with the fat from the pancetta plus Pecorino cheese and hot water all emulsify into a creamy, peppery sauce when stirred together vigorously. Because of its salty ingredients, this dish is unlikely to need added salt, but taste at the end and add it if you like.
Miso Fish Chowder
This twist on New England clam chowder features a lighter broth that gets its depth from caramelized miso and smoky bacon, and its briny seafood flavor from bottled clam juice. New potatoes are in season during summer months and have tender, thin skins, but peeled Yukon Golds are a great alternative. To ensure flaky, tender fish, it is gently poached in the broth during the last five minutes of cooking. For a meatless chowder, simply omit the bacon and add a few pinches of smoked paprika in its place.
Roasted Mushrooms in Ata Din Din
Earthy mushrooms hold their own among a piquant red pepper relish — a riot of flavors. The relish’s base is known in Yoruba as ata din din, a condiment like sauce common throughout West Africa made from ground bell pepper, onions, chiles and sometimes tomatoes. Roast the mushrooms until lightly browned and crisp, as they absorb a lot more flavor when they've been slightly dehydrated. Pickled onion adds crunch and a hint of acid, and a scattering of fresh herbs gives it all a refreshing lightness, while being a pretty garnish. Serve over steamed rice and fried sweet plantains, or reserve as a vegetable filling for moin moin.
Spinach and Sardine Sandwich
Whenever I fly, I like to go armed with lunch, as the food in airports tends to be both appalling and expensive. Lately I’ve hitting the road with sandwiches that combine produce with canned fish, like sardines, herring, trout or smoked salmon — all of them high in omega-3 fatty acids, packed with protein and delicious. In some of this week’s sandwiches, I used small whole-wheat English muffins that were lightly toasted. The muffins won’t fall apart, even with a juicy filling like Greek salad, and I like the size. This is inspired by the classic Mediterranean combination of sardines and spinach. I like to use lightly smoked sardines in olive oil for it.
Pasta With Mushrooms, Fried Eggs and Herbs
This fall-inspired, earthy pasta uses a combination of mushrooms for depth of flavor and is topped with a runny egg, which silkens up the sauce. Supermarkets these days generally have a good selection of different varieties such as cremini and shiitake, but if your standard white-button mushroom is all that’s available, this dish will still be a winner. If you’re not feeling pasta, the mushrooms are equally good served on top of creamy polenta or on their own. Red wine not optional.
Smashed Chicken Burgers With Cheddar and Parsley
These fresh, flavorful chicken burgers have a crunchy exterior, a tender interior and a healthy slathering of limey Dijon mayonnaise. They’re paired with salad that’s prepared using leftover burger ingredients, and a little avocado and lettuce. Serve the burgers between lightly toasted buns, as the recipe suggests, or skip the bread and enjoy them without for a lighter dinner.
Shrimp and White Beans With Fennel and Pancetta
This quick, one-pan meal relies heavily on pantry staples. Browning pancetta or bacon adds richness to the tomato sauce, but skip it if you like. Anise-flavored fennel and seeds are incorporated into the soffrito, which plays nicely with the sweetness of the shrimp and the creaminess of the beans. But if you don’t like them, leave them out. Serve the dish in deep bowls with thick slices of garlic-rubbed toast, finish the dish with a flurry of fresh herbs, and pair it with a glass of something red, light and bright.
Tomato-Ginger Chicken and Rice Soup
Chicken and rice soup is meant to be gentle, and this one is. But it’s also subtly spicy from fried ginger, and a little sweet from tomatoes used twice: in paste form to build a caramelized base and in fresh, bright bursts. The final additions of fish sauce, lime and sesame or chile oil make the soup reminiscent of sizzling rice soup and tom yum, and allow you to adjust how robust you need the soup to be. Add less for a calming, mild soup and more if you need something powerful and pungent to clear your mind and congestion.
Baked Cod With Buttery Cracker Topping
Baked, stuffed fish is an old-school restaurant staple in New England; covered in lemony, butter-soaked cracker crumbs, it’s a wonderful way to eat mild white fish like cod or haddock. The dish has a long history and relies on two ingredients New Englanders have in abundance: fresh seafood and crackers, which are descended from sailors’ hardtack. Fannie Farmer’s 1896 “Boston Cooking-School Cook Book” has a recipe for cracker-stuffed halibut, seasoned with butter, salt, pepper and onion juice. Some modern versions use saltines, others use butter crackers like Ritz, and many enrich the crackers with crab meat. This recipe is an easy weeknight variation: Instead of rolling the fish up around the stuffing, which requires long, thin filets, it is generously covered in the stuffing and roasted until the cracker topping is toasted and the fish flakes.
Skillet Greens With Runny Eggs, Peas and Pancetta
Whether you serve it for brunch or supper, this dish of skillet-baked eggs, greens and crunchy bits of pancetta is a light but deeply savory meal. In spring, ramps give the chard a particularly pungent kick, but milder scallions work just as well and are a lot easier to find all year round. If you want to make this vegetarian-friendly, skip the pancetta and add a dusting of cheese right at the end. Serve this with a side of toasted country bread or scoop it out onto a bed of buttery polenta.
Pasta, Green Beans and Potatoes With Pesto
The most elegant pasta dish that Italian cooks have ever invented is astonishingly simple to make. Here, the magical green sauce is tossed with trenette (or any long pasta you can twirl around a fork), tender slices of potato and barely blanched green beans.
Seared Scallop Pasta With Burst Tomatoes and Herbs
Although usually designated as a “something special” ingredient, scallops make a perfect weeknight dinner because they cook in minutes. To get a good, crisp sear, be patient (it's hard for us, too) and let the pan get quite hot before adding the scallops. Once you do, leave them alone to ensure a deeply golden crust. Toss them with pasta and candy-colored cherry tomatoes that burst and get coaxed into a jammy sauce. Finish with a showering of fresh, tender herbs and a drizzle of olive oil.