Most of this week cooks fast. The tortellini, steak sandwich, tofu, and gochujang chicken are all real weeknight dinners — counter to table without a lot of waiting. The lentil potpie is the exception: a real project with simmered lentils, puff pastry, and real oven time. Save that one for a night with room to breathe and scatter the rest wherever they fit.
This Week's Recipes
- One-Pot Tortellini with Prosciutto and Peas
- Open-Face Steak Sandwich with Parmesan Dressing
- Miso Broiled Tofu
- Crispy Gochujang Chicken
- Lentil Soup Potpie
1. One-Pot Tortellini with Prosciutto and Peas
This is the kind of one-pot dinner that feels like cheating — tortellini and peas simmered together in a creamy chicken broth until everything is tender and the sauce thickens as it cools. You crisp prosciutto first, set it aside, and then the pot takes care of almost everything else. Twenty-five minutes, one pan.
At step 2, once the tortellini and peas are tender and the sauce has come together, scoop out kid portions before you stir in the lemon zest, juice, and pepper. Set up a little topping station with prosciutto bits, extra Parmesan, and more peas so kids can build their own bowls. For children under four, mince the prosciutto into pea-sized pieces or smaller to avoid any choking risk. The tortellini and peas are already soft from simmering, so they're easy to chew as-is.
Once kids are served, stir the lemon zest and juice into the remaining pot, season with pepper and a touch of nutmeg, and crumble that crispy prosciutto over the top. The lemon lifts everything and the prosciutto adds salt and crunch — and honestly, it's already a very good bowl of pasta before any of that.
The Split: Adults get lemon zest, pepper, and crispy prosciutto on top; kids get a creamy tortellini topping station.
Serves: 4 | Time: 25m | NYT Cooking →
2. Open-Face Steak Sandwich with Parmesan Dressing
A well-seared steak, ciabatta toasted in the leftover drippings, and a blended Parmesan dressing thick enough to stand up to all of it. Sear the steak and let it rest, soak some onion in cold water to tame it, blend the dressing, toast the bread in the reserved skillet. It all comes together at assembly and it doesn't take long.
At step 5, instead of composing a full sandwich for kids, lay thinly sliced steak alongside ciabatta cut into dipping strips with the Parmesan dressing in a small bowl on the side. The dressing has mustard blended in, so kids get a milder version of that same tangy Parmesan flavor without the peppery arugula and raw onion piled on top. For children under four, slice the steak paper-thin — an eighth of an inch or less. Cook their portions to medium (160°F) rather than medium-rare for safer handling. Trim any hard ciabatta crust edges before serving so the bread is easy to bite.
For adults, this is the full thing: toasted ciabatta drizzled with dressing, layered with dressed arugula, scattered with drained red onion, and topped with thinly sliced steak. More dressing over everything, a final hit of salt, and you cut the whole thing crosswise into pieces. It eats like a salad and a sandwich at the same time.
The Split: Adults get a composed arugula-and-onion sandwich; kids get a deconstructed steak-and-bread dipping plate.
Serves: 4 | Time: 35 minutes | Epicurious →
3. Miso Broiled Tofu
Broiled tofu is a tough sell for a lot of kids, so this one leans hard on the strategy: a sweet miso-and-sugar glaze that caramelizes under the broiler into something that tastes more like candy than health food. You press the tofu, tear it into bite-sized pieces, coat it in the marinade, and broil until browned and crisp at the edges. If your kids are on the fence about tofu, the char and sweetness here are your best shot.
At step 2, before you stir the cayenne into the marinade, scoop out a portion of the miso-sugar-soy-vinegar mixture for kids. Their tofu gets the same sweet-savory glaze and will caramelize and crisp exactly the same way under the broiler — just without any heat. Serve it over rice with steamed edamame or cucumber sticks on the side. For children under four, pop edamame out of their pods before serving. Cut cucumber into small matchsticks, roughly a quarter-inch thick, so they're easy to manage.
For adults, the cayenne rounds out the glaze into something sweet and salty with real heat behind it. The broiler chars the edges while the miso-sugar coating goes sticky and dark. Keep an eye on it — broilers have hot spots — and rotate the pan as needed so everything crisps evenly.
The Split: Adults get a sweet-spicy cayenne-miso crust; kids get the same caramelized glaze without the heat.
Serves: 4 | Time: 35m | NYT Cooking →
4. Crispy Gochujang Chicken
This is breaded chicken done right — thin cutlets dipped in seasoned flour, dragged through an egg wash with a touch of gochujang, pressed into panko, and air-fried until deeply golden. The crust shatters when you bite in. It comes together in about 35 minutes and once the breading is done the air fryer handles the rest, so the hands-on part is mostly just the dipping and pressing.
At step 5, before you brush on the gochujang-butter-garlic sauce, pull the kids' pieces off the tray. There's a trace of gochujang in the egg wash from the breading, but it reads as a faint warmth rather than real spice — this is still just crispy breaded chicken to most kids. Offer honey, ketchup, or ranch on the side for dipping. Use a meat thermometer to confirm the chicken hits 165°F, which matters especially with air fryers. For children under four, cut pieces into one- to two-inch bites and make sure the panko crust isn't so firm that it's hard to chew.
For adults, whisk melted butter with gochujang and grated garlic and brush it over every piece while the crust is still hot. The glaze goes sticky and sweet-spicy against the crunch. Slice it up and serve on a board with whatever vegetables you have around.
The Split: Adults get sticky gochujang-butter glaze; kids get crispy panko chicken with mild dips.
Serves: 4 | Time: 35m | Pinch of Yum →
5. Lentil Soup Potpie
This is the weekend project in the lineup — a simmered lentil-and-vegetable filling topped with a full sheet of puff pastry and baked until golden and bubbling. The filling comes together in a skillet with onion, garlic, carrots, celery, tomato paste, cumin, and thyme, then lentils and broth go in and simmer until thick. About 80 minutes start to finish, but most of that time you're just waiting.
During step 2, before you drape the pastry over the adult skillet, ladle some filling into small oven-safe ramekins for kids. Let them use cookie cutters to stamp out pastry shapes — stars, hearts, whatever they want — and lay them on top of their own little potpies. At step 3, slide the ramekins in alongside the big skillet; they'll finish about ten minutes sooner, and kids can check on their own potpies through the oven window. The lentils and vegetables are soft and safe for all ages after simmering. If dairy allergies are a concern, check the puff pastry packaging — most commercial brands contain butter or milk.
The adult version is the full skillet with a puff pastry crust that rises and browns across the top. The filling underneath has cumin and thyme running through it, with a splash of balsamic vinegar for brightness. Let it sit a few minutes before you break through the crust — the filling thickens as it rests.
The Split: Adults get a dramatic skillet potpie; kids get individual ramekins with cookie-cutter pastry lids.
Serves: 4 | Time: 1h 20m | NYT Cooking →
Start with the tortellini. It's the fastest thing here, it's one pot, and nobody ever pushes back on creamy pasta with peas.
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