Nothing on this week's menu is going to sneak up on you at 6 PM — most of these dinners run about forty minutes, with the pot pie needing closer to an hour once the puff pastry goes on. Not a marathon, but not something you're throwing together in fifteen minutes either, so plan to give yourself a little breathing room each evening. The shrimp and grits and the butter-basted steak are the ones worth paying attention to; the pork chops and pot pie will basically take care of themselves.
This Week's Recipes
- Butter-Basted Steak With Asparagus
- Grilled Pork Chops
- Easy Weeknight Chicken Pot Pie
- Spinach Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
- Garlic Basil Shrimp and Grits
1. Butter-Basted Steak With Asparagus
A good seared steak doesn't really need a sauce, and this one proves it. The richness comes from a quick baste of foaming butter right at the end, and that's enough. The asparagus goes alongside in a soy glaze, which rounds out the plate and makes the whole thing feel more like a restaurant dinner than a weeknight.
The two plates stay identical until step 4, when the butter goes in with garlic, ginger and thyme. Pull the kids' slices before that baste and finish them with plain melted butter instead: same steak, just without the aromatics. Slice their portion thin so it's easy to chew, and serve the asparagus on the side so they can take what they want. For children under 4, cut the asparagus into one-inch pieces to keep it from becoming a choking hazard, and check that the steak has reached at least 145°F.
For the adults, let the butter foam up with the garlic, ginger and thyme and spoon it over the steak until it's glossy, then finish with cracked pepper and a squeeze of lime. With the soy-glazed asparagus alongside, it tastes like you fussed far more than you did.
The Split: Adults get steak basted in garlic, ginger and thyme butter; kids get the same steak basted in plain butter.
Serves: 2 | Time: 45m | NYT Cooking →
2. Grilled Pork Chops
Pork chops on a hot grate are about as reliable as weeknight cooking gets. The crosshatch marks and a little sweetness in the rub make them an easy sell for kids, and everything cooks on the same grate at once so cleanup stays honest.
The split happens at the very start. In step 1 the chops get rubbed with salt, pepper, paprika and brown sugar. Before any of them hit the grill, season the kids' chop with just salt and a little brown sugar and set it aside. Two small bowls of seasoning, same grate, no extra work. Cut their cooked chop into bite-sized pieces no bigger than half an inch, check carefully for any bones or bone fragments before it goes on the plate, and verify the pork has reached at least 160°F.
The adult chops carry the full barbecue rub: salt, pepper, paprika (or pimentón if you have it) and brown sugar, grilled to a smoky medium with clean crosshatch marks. It's a simple plate that tastes like the first real cookout of the season.
The Split: Adults get a smoky paprika-and-brown-sugar rub; kids get a chop seasoned with just salt and a little sugar.
Serves: 4 | Time: 40m | NYT Cooking →
3. Easy Weeknight Chicken Pot Pie
Chicken, carrots and peas in a creamy sauce under a golden puff-pastry lid, and it's nearly impossible for kids not to like this one. The filling does most of the work; the pastry just needs to go on and bake until it puffs. Even with the full hour it takes, this one feels manageable on a weeknight.
The filling comes together in step 2, where thyme, salt and a little cayenne go in. Make the base without the cayenne, set aside the kids' share, then stir the heat into the adult half only. For the youngest eaters, shred or finely dice the chicken into pieces no larger than a quarter inch, and cut the carrots very small too. For children under 4, mash or halve the peas to reduce the choking risk, and confirm the chicken has reached 165°F.
The adult pie gets that gentle background warmth from the cayenne, just enough to register under the flaky crust without tipping into spicy. Same creamy filling, same golden top, one just runs a little livelier than the other.
The Split: Adults get a gentle cayenne warmth in the filling; kids get the same creamy filling without the heat.
Serves: 6 | Time: 60m | Serious Eats →
4. Spinach Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
A whole roasted mushroom cap is a hard sell for most kids, and the earthy, meaty portobello is exactly the texture a lot of children push to the edge of the plate. The good news is that the filling is the best part anyway: a melty three-cheese spinach mix that works just as well out of the mushroom as in it.
The filling goes into the caps at step 3, and that's where you split. Set aside a portion of the cottage-cheese, mozzarella and feta spinach filling and bake it in a ramekin, or spoon it over buttered toast or pasta: all the melty cheese, none of the mushroom. Make sure the spinach is finely chopped and fully wilted so it doesn't turn stringy or leafy in their mouths. Worth flagging: there's dairy throughout, between the cottage cheese, mozzarella and feta.
The adult version mounds that filling into roasted portobello caps and bakes them until the tops brown, finished with a little marinara. It's a satisfying meatless plate, and giving the kids the filling on its own means nobody's negotiating over the mushroom.
The Split: Adults get the cheesy filling baked in roasted portobello caps; kids get the same filling over toast or pasta.
Serves: 4 | Time: 40m | Budget Bytes →
5. Garlic Basil Shrimp and Grits
Creamy grits under garlicky shrimp is good, honest comfort food, and the fresh tomato-and-basil sauce keeps it tasting like spring rather than something heavy. The grits are soft and forgiving, which makes them genuinely friendly for younger eaters.
The shrimp cook plainly in step 2, and the sauce comes together in step 3, so before the tomatoes, garlic and basil go into the pan, pull a bowl of creamy grits and a few plain shrimp for the kids. Same dish, just simpler. Cut each shrimp into pieces no larger than half an inch to prevent choking, and make sure they're fully cooked — opaque, firm, and at 145°F — before they go on the plate.
For the adults, the shrimp finish by simmering into that bright tomato-garlic-basil pan sauce, which spoons right over the grits and ties the whole bowl together. It's the kind of dinner that tastes like it took longer than forty minutes.
The Split: Adults get shrimp simmered in tomato-garlic-basil sauce; kids get plain shrimp over creamy grits.
Serves: 4 | Time: 40m | Pinch of Yum →
If you're figuring out where to start this week, go with the grilled pork chops. It's just a rub and a hot grate, and keeping a plain salt-and-sugar chop separate for the kids is about as easy as the splits get.
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