This week is all about quick, high-heat cooking. Most dinners wrap up in under forty minutes. The shrimp and chicken cutlets are true weeknight sprints. The sheet-pan feta mostly cooks itself once it hits the oven, and the Dijon chicken keeps you at the stove. The panzanella is your no-cook relief, aside from a quick blanch of the corn for younger kids, though you may need to do some selling at the table.
This Week's Recipes
- Chicken Cutlet Sandwiches with Savoy Cabbage Slaw
- Sheet-Pan Feta With Chickpeas and Tomatoes
- Dijon Chicken With Tomatoes and Scallions
- Panzanella Salad
- Gambas al Ajillo (Spanish Garlic Shrimp)
1. Chicken Cutlet Sandwiches with Savoy Cabbage Slaw
Crispy panko chicken on soft bread with crunchy slaw is the kind of dinner that makes everyone at the table happy. The slaw comes together first and sits while you bread and fry the cutlets, and the whole thing eats like a really good sandwich shop dinner you made yourself.
At Step 1, toss the red onion with salt and let it soften, then rinse. Set aside a handful of shredded cabbage for the kids before the rest joins the onion, vinegar, and oil in the bowl. Dress their cabbage with just a touch of oil and keep it on the side or tucked into their sandwich. Their slaw stays mild and crunchy without the sharp vinegar bite. For the adults, add vinegar and pepper to the rest and pile it high. Cut the fried cutlets into small strips or bite-sized pieces for younger kids. Make sure the cabbage is finely shredded so no large chunks end up on their plates.
The adult sandwiches get the full tangy slaw with softened onion and vinegar cutting through the rich, crispy chicken. It is a perfect balance of hot and cold, crunchy and tender, and it comes together faster than takeout.
The Split: Adults get tangy vinegar slaw with onion; kids get mild cabbage with oil.
Serves: 4 | Time: 35m | Epicurious →
2. Sheet-Pan Feta With Chickpeas and Tomatoes
Roasted feta turns creamy and spreadable in the oven, surrounded by jammy tomatoes and crispy-edged chickpeas. It is a hands-off dinner that mostly works while you handle the rest of the evening, and the results feel more impressive than the effort suggests.
At Step 1, divide the mixture between two sheet pans before roasting. On one pan, add honey and chile flakes for the adults. On the other, keep it simple with just olive oil and a pinch of salt for the kids, and add extra chickpeas to their pan for familiar protein. Mash or halve the chickpeas before serving to younger kids, since whole chickpeas can be hard to chew. If you are serving kids under six, consider using a lower-sodium feta or reducing the amount to keep their sodium intake in check.
The adult pan emerges sweet and spicy from the honey and chile flakes, with the feta collapsing into a sauce you drag bread through. The kid version is mild and savory, still creamy and satisfying without any heat to push back against.
The Split: Adults get honey and chile heat; kids get plain olive oil and extra chickpeas.
Serves: 4 | Time: 40m | NYT Cooking →
3. Dijon Chicken With Tomatoes and Scallions
This is a one-pot chicken dinner where tomatoes burst into a pan sauce and scallions soften into sweet ribbons. It feels like proper cooking without requiring you to juggle multiple pans, and the cleanup is minimal enough to keep the evening sane.
At Step 2, once you have flipped the chicken and the scallions have softened, lift the kid portions into a small pan before the mustard and wine go in. The chicken is only part cooked at that point, so finish theirs there with a splash of chicken broth and gentle seasoning. The adults stay in the pot for the full treatment of white wine, Dijon mustard, garlic, and oregano. Cut the cooked chicken into bite-sized pieces for younger kids. Slice the scallions into very small rounds, since they can be stringy and hard to manage in larger pieces.
The adult version finishes with a sharp, tangy pan sauce that clings to the chicken and coats the burst tomatoes. It is the kind of sophisticated weeknight dinner that makes you feel like you actually cooked, not just assembled.
The Split: Adults get Dijon-wine pan sauce; kids get mild broth-finished chicken.
Serves: 4 | Time: 40m | NYT Cooking →
4. Panzanella Salad
This is the harder sell of the week, and I will not pretend a bread salad is every kid's dream dinner. The concept is brilliant for adults: juicy summer fruit, ripe tomatoes, and cubed crusty bread soaking up a sharp dressing. For kids, it takes some reframing.
The raw onion goes into the dressing back at Step 1, so scoop out a little plain corn before it does if you want the kid bowl completely onion-free. Otherwise, at Step 2, reserve a scoop of the dressed corn before the tomatoes go in and lift out any onion slices. The bread and peaches arrive in that same step, so hold back a handful of bread cubes and a few peach slices and build their bowl separately with a drizzle of mild olive oil. The dressing from Step 1 already has garlic and mustard in it, so their version will carry those flavors in a lighter, less concentrated way rather than being fully absent. Cut the corn kernels in half or off the cob entirely for younger kids, since whole kernels can be a choking hazard. Blanch their kernels for a minute until soft before they go in the bowl.
The adult salad builds into something complex and acidic, with raw onion bite and tomato juices soaking into every cube of bread. It is peak summer eating for anyone who already loves a good panzanella, and the kid version at least lands in familiar sweet-savory territory without the challenging textures.
The Split: Adults get full tomato and onion panzanella; kids get corn, peach, and bread salad.
Serves: 4-6 | Time: 30m | Love and Lemons →
5. Gambas al Ajillo (Spanish Garlic Shrimp)
Garlic shrimp is one of those dinners that feels like a treat but comes together in the time it takes to pour a drink. The shrimp cook fast, the garlic infuses the oil, and the whole thing demands good bread to mop up what is left in the pan.
At Step 2, the recipe drops the garlic and chiles into the oil together, so change the order. Add the garlic on its own, let it sizzle gently for a minute, and spoon some of that plain garlic oil into a second small skillet before the chiles go into the main pan. Cook the kid shrimp in the garlic-only skillet while the adult shrimp hit the chile pan at Step 3. Finish theirs with a squeeze of lemon. The adults get the full garlic-chile oil, simmered until fragrant and spicy. Cut shrimp into bite-sized pieces for younger kids, since whole shrimp are slippery and small enough to pose a choking risk. Make sure all shrimp reach 145°F before serving.
The adult shrimp emerge fiery and fragrant, the chile oil pooling around them and begging for crusty bread. The kid version is still genuinely flavorful, just without the heat that would shut them down before they start.
The Split: Adults get garlic-chile shrimp in spicy oil; kids get mild garlic shrimp with lemon.
Serves: 4 | Time: 25m | NYT Cooking →
Start with the garlic shrimp if you want the easiest entry point. Twenty-five minutes, and spooning off a little garlic oil before the chiles go in feels almost effortless once you see it in motion.
Every Sunday
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