Weeknight
3493 recipes found
Quick Chicken Karahi (Spicy Chicken and Tomatoes With Chiles)
Chicken karahi is emblematic of Pakistani cooking, with its concentrated flavors that come from tomatoes simmered down to their sweet and tangy complexity. It is traditionally made in a karahi, a wide-mouthed, high-sided pan similar to a wok, which makes the cooking process quick and easy. (A deep 10- to 12-inch skillet works well, too.) Myriad spices — Kashmiri chile powder, cumin, coriander and turmeric — adds layers of heat. Finishing with plenty of thin matchsticks of ginger provides cooling freshness. Typically made with bone-in chicken pieces, this recipe calls for cubed boneless chicken thighs for a quicker cook time, so this classic dish can be enjoyed often.
Skillet Chicken Thighs With Broccoli and Orzo
A one-pan meal is always a good option for a weeknight. This one is nice and bright because of the white wine and lemon, and rich from the olive oil and butter. You can save on prep time by using precut fresh or even frozen broccoli florets to get dinner on the table even faster. For those who like crispy bits, keep the skillet on the stove for a little bit longer so that the orzo browns where it meets the pan, as it would in a paella or fideuà.
Oven Rice
Linguine With Shrimp and Lemon-Pistachio Bread Crumbs
Pangrattato, or bread crumbs in Italian, is the secret star of this dish. When mixed with sweet pistachios, bright lemon zest and fresh mint, it makes for a crunchy, flavorful topping that pairs well with garlicky shrimp and linguine. The citrus and herbs provide welcome complexity to an otherwise simple dish. Serve with a shaved vegetable salad of fennel, radishes and Parmesan.
Braised Lamb Shanks With Lemon
Many of us had our earliest experiences with braised foods not at the pricey restaurants that have recently rediscovered their appeal but at the Greek diners that never forgot it. So it's not surprising that I associate braised lamb shanks with egg-lemon sauce, a Greek staple. But when I set about to recreate this standard dish I found the sauce superfluous. Though a slow-cooked pot of braised lamb shanks and root vegetables becomes so sweet that it begs for something to counter it, it is also so rich that the thick sauce (a primitive form of béarnaise, really) is overkill. Better, it seems to me, is to finish the braised shanks with what you might call lemon-lemon sauce, using both a lemon's zest and a lemon's juice. That little touch converts this dish from a delicious but perhaps one-dimensional stew to something more, a braise that may never look particularly elegant but tastes that way.
Chicken Scaloppine With Lemon
In order to make this chicken scaloppine, you'll first make a paillard, which just means you'll flatten the thighs by pounding them with a meat pounder, a wine bottle or the bottom of a heavy skillet. That broadens the surface area of the meat, which in turn browns and becomes crisp during cooking. It's delightful with this simple and bright lemon and white wine sauce.
Broiled Fish Tacos
There’s no reason to reserve fish tacos for vacation or a night out. Put your broiler to work, and make them an easy weekly affair. Paprika and coriander give meaty white fish like mahi-mahi or halibut tons of impact, but the real star here is the lime-laced herb salad, which makes every bite pop. Make sure to start with the best corn tortillas you can find. And don't worry about loading the tacos up with cabbage and pico de gallo: There’s no need here. These are at their best (and easiest) when they're pared down.
Salad Greens With Creamy Cucumber Dressing
Chicken Legs in White Wine Sauce
Roasted Chicken Thighs With Garlicky Cucumber Yogurt
In this simple, homey weeknight dinner, boneless chicken thighs are tossed with garlic, herbs and red-pepper flakes, then roasted along with lemon wedges in the pan. As the lemons brown, their acids mellow, becoming softer and sweeter. When squeezed over the chicken for serving, they offer a rounded tang that’s complemented by dollops of cucumber-flecked yogurt and chopped fresh mint. The combination of cucumbers and yogurt is a classic across many cultures, from Indian raita to Persian mast-o khiar to Greek tzatziki and beyond. For this recipe, be sure to use thick Greek-style or other strained yogurt (such as labneh) or substitute sour cream. Thinner yogurt will make the sauce runny. Serve this over rice or with flatbread to catch the juices and the cucumber yogurt.
Butter Chicken
Butter chicken is a great, ever-evolving, cross-continental dish found in Delhi, London, New York, Perth and most points in between. In its purest form, it is yogurt-and-spice-marinated chicken dressed in a velvety red bath comprising butter, onions, ginger and tomatoes scented with garam masala, cumin and turmeric, with a cinnamon tang. This version was adapted from Amandeep Sharma, a young kitchen hand at the restaurant Attica, in Melbourne, Australia, who used to make it for staff meal. It is wildly luxurious. Serve with basmati rice and mango chutney, with papadums or naan if you can find them, with extra rice if you cannot.
Spicy Grilled Tuna Steaks
Cumin Steak With Kale, Fennel and Feta Salad
Want a juicy steak dinner on the fly? Skirt steak is fast, flavorful and forgiving. With a searing-hot grill and a quick marinade (30 minutes does the trick), you can yield a deeply charred, flavor-packed crust with a tender inside. Make sure not to overcook this; medium to medium-rare is ideal. The equally fast side of shaved kale, fennel and crumbled feta is a willing accompaniment to any steak dinner, and just as at home with a pork tenderloin or chops. Raisins, a subtle addition, add a bit of natural sweetness, but skip them if you’re raisin-averse.
Crenshaw Soup
Soba Noodle and Steak Salad With Ginger-Lime Dressing
Soba, which are buckwheat noodles common in Japanese cooking, work well for a weeknight meal: They take just a few minutes to cook and can be served warm or at room temperature (which means they make great leftovers). Hanger steak is quickly seared in a drizzle of oil, and once done, the bok choy is cooked in the residual fat left behind, leaving you with one less pan to wash. This flexible dish also works well with seared or grilled shrimp or chicken. Shredded cabbage or tender broccolini could also be swapped in for the bok choy. Soft herbs like basil or cilantro would also be nice. The only thing you need to round out this meal is wine, preferably chilled and pink.
Slow-Roasted Salmon With Mushroom-Leek Broth
This warming dish is inspired by Japanese ochazuke, a comforting bowl of rice with green tea poured on top. Traditionally, the meal may also be finished with grilled fish, sashimi or other toppings, but there is room for variation: You could swap out the hot tea for dashi, broth or other liquids. In this approach, the salmon is slow-roasted — which helps render some of the fat and keeps the fish meltingly tender — while a light shiitake mushroom and leek broth simmers. Divide cooked rice among bowls, spoon the salmon and vegetable broth on top, and finish with fresh ginger and a drizzle of sesame oil.
Spicy Minced Shrimp With Rice Noodles
This is an easy dish to make, but the method is a bit unusual. First, you make what is essentially a flavorful sausage-like mixture of chopped shrimp (which could also be used as a won ton filling), then stir-fry the mixture over high heat until it crumbles, releasing its flavor into the pan. To make it a simple, satisfying meal, this stir-fry is tossed with cooked rice noodles. If you can find it, dried shrimp, available in most Asian or Latin American grocers, add depth: Keep an eye out for some from Louisiana, made with wild shrimp.
Baked Eggs With Beans and Greens
Consider this a heartier version of the classic Italian dish “eggs in purgatory,” which works well for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It’s also very forgiving. If you’d rather keep this a vegetarian meal, skip the sausage. No chickpeas? No problem. Any white bean will work well in its place. Same with the greens. Use what you have (anything that wilts works). Sprinkling the dish with grated cheese before serving is not required, but it sure does taste good. Serve with thick slices of toasted sesame bread slathered with plenty of softened butter.
Turnip and Barley Soup
Veal Scaloppine With Hazelnuts and Balsamic Vinegar
Escondido Codfish Salad
Pork Noodle Soup With Ginger and Toasted Garlic
This soup, based mostly on pantry staples, can be made with a variety of proteins, noodles and greens depending on what you have on hand. Snow pea leaves are exceptional here, which can be found in many Asian grocers year-round, but spinach, Swiss chard or other dark leafy green would work well. Don’t skip the raw onion, the soup’s finished complexity depends on it.
Coconut Rice With Peas
Traditional accompaniments for jerk chicken are savory rice with crowder peas or red beans, plantains, sweet potatoes or yams, and a fried corn bread called festival. I had the idea to make my rice with coconut milk and fresh spring peas, which may not please purists, but it's delicious.
