By Emily Weinstein, The New York Times
There is good weeknight cooking, and then there is great weeknight cooking: streamlined and smart, leveraging a few magic ingredients and a great technique to produce maximal flavor in minimal time.
We have Kay Chun’s hand rolls, for which she takes inspiration from the sweet sauce that is typically used to glaze eel in Japanese cooking, and makes her own version to glaze salmon. There is also Yewande Komolafe’s quick peanut and pumpkin soup, inspired by the long-simmered stews found in cuisines across West Africa. I could go on.
Braised Chicken With Tomatoes, Cumin and Feta
By Yasmin Fahr
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.
Yield: 4 servings
Total time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 6 thighs)
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 2 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced (about 2 1/2 cups)
- 3 large garlic cloves, minced or grated
- 1 to 2 tablespoons harissa paste
- 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta
- 1/4 packed cup roughly chopped cilantro or flat-leaf parsley leaves and fine stems
- Crusty bread or herbed rice, for serving
Preparation
1. Pat the chicken dry, trim away excess fat, then season well all over with salt, pepper and 2 teaspoons cumin.
2. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy 12-inch skillet over medium until shimmering. Add the chicken thighs, skin-side down. (Itap OK if they are a little snug; they will shrink as they cook.) Cook without moving until the skin is crispy and easily releases from the pan, about 8 to 10 minutes. Use tongs to turn over and cook until the bottom is lightly browned, 3 to 4 minutes more, then transfer to a plate.
3. Add the onions to the rendered chicken fat in the skillet, season with salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until they start to soften, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon cumin and the garlic, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the harissa and let cook for about 1 minute. Add the crushed tomatoes, and season with salt. Bring the mixture to a boil over high, then adjust the temperature to maintain an active simmer. Cook until it becomes a deeper red color, about 5 minutes more.
4. Add any juices that collected on the plate, stir to mix, then nestle in the chicken thighs, skin-side up, so that the skin is above the sauce. Adjust the heat to maintain a simmer, then partly cover and cook until the chicken is tender and cooked through, 15 to 18 minutes. (If you’d like crispier skin, pop the chicken under the broiler for a minute or two.)
5. Garnish with the feta and cilantro and serve with bread or herbed rice.
Soy-Glazed Salmon Hand Rolls
By Kay Chun
Unagi sauce is a sweet, thickened soy sauce traditionally used on grilled eel. Here, the simple sauce of soy sauce, sugar and mirin is enhanced with the addition of aromatic garlic and ginger, transforming it into a savory glaze for buttery salmon. Once the salmon is roasted and lacquered in the sauce, it becomes the perfect filling for customizable hand rolls. A perfect roll is assembled with the flaked salmon and some creamy avocado and crisp cucumbers for bites that are rich, fresh and crunchy all at once. Including cooked short-grain rice in the filling is traditional, but these rolls would be a great place to use other leftover grains like farro or quinoa.
Yield: 4 servings
Total time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons neutral oil, such as safflower or canola
- 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/3 cup mirin
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (Diamond Crystal), plus more for seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon peeled grated ginger
- 1 (1 1/2-pound) skinless salmon fillet (preferably center-cut)
- Toasted seaweed sheets, quartered
- Cooked short-grain rice and wasabi paste (optional), for serving
- 3 Persian cucumbers, halved crosswise and cut lengthwise into thin spears
- 1 to 2 avocados, pitted and thinly sliced
Preparation
1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. In a small saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over medium. Stir in garlic until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add soy sauce, mirin, sugar, black pepper and 1/4 teaspoon salt, and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce is reduced by about a third and has thickened slightly, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in ginger and remove from heat. You should have about 1/2 cup sauce; reserve half of the sauce in a small bowl for serving and set aside.
2. Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil. Place salmon on the prepared sheet, rub with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and season with salt. Coat the salmon on both sides with the other half of the sauce.
3. Roast salmon for 5 minutes, then baste with the sauce thatap dripped onto the sheet tray. Continue to roast until salmon is just cooked to medium, about 5 minutes longer. Transfer salmon to a large plate.
4. Flake salmon into bite-size pieces and drizzle with the reserved sauce. To build hand rolls, top seaweed with some rice (if using), cucumbers, avocado and salmon. Wrap and enjoy. Serve with optional wasabi on the side, and dab a little onto the salmon for a spicy hit.
Penne With Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
Recipe from Paola di Mauro
Adapted by Amanda Hesser
This exquisitely simple recipe came to The New York Times in a 2001 article about Paola di Mauro, an Italian winemaker in Marina, a small town southeast of Rome. She was one of a band of cooks who helped distinguish “cucina casalinga,” roughly translated as “housewives’ cooking.” From her humble kitchen, di Mauro mentored some of the best Italian chefs and restaurateurs in the United States, including Mario Batali, Lidia Bastianich, Piero Selvaggio and Tony May. Her recipe is easy and calls for just five ingredients — cherry tomatoes, olive oil, pecorino romano and penne pasta — but get your hands on the best ingredients you can afford. Di Mauro intended this to serve four as a first course, but if you’re making this for dinner, double the recipe. — Amanda Hesser
Yield: 2 to 4 servings
Total time: 35 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 pound small cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus 2 to 3 tablespoons for tossing
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup freshly grated pecorino romano, more for serving
- 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/2 pound penne
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line bottom of casserole dish with cherry tomatoes in a single layer, halved side up. Pour oil on top, season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle cheese and breadcrumbs on top. Bake until tomatoes have wilted, about 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season with enough sea salt so that water tastes mildly of salt. When tomatoes are just about done, add penne to water and cook until al dente (it should be pliable, but still firm in center). Scoop out about a cup of pasta water and reserve. Drain pasta and add to casserole. Fold tomatoes and pasta together, adding another 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil, to coat. Taste and adjust seasoning. If it is dry, add a little reserved pasta water. Serve, passing more grated cheese at the table.
Spicy Peanut and Pumpkin Soup
By Yewande Komolafe
This recipe is a promise of warmth on those cool autumn nights. Habanero chiles and peanuts both feature heavily in Nigerian cuisine, and this soup is an adaptation of a long-simmered stew common to much of West Africa. Don’t be afraid of a chile with seeds: The fragrant oils from these peppers are worth every bite. The peanut butter and coconut milk mellow the warmth of the chile to a gentle, lingering heat, but you can also take the chile out before the soup is puréed. An optional spoon of honey to the soup will round out the flavors, and a dollop of crème fraîche or yogurt will further temper the heat. Serve with a baguette or sourdough bread for dipping.
Yield: 4 servings
Total time: 35 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, peeled and diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 4 garlic cloves, smashed
- 1 (1-inch) piece ginger, peeled and chopped
- 1/2 habanero or bird’s eye chile
- 1 (14-ounce) can pumpkin purée
- 3 cups water or chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 (13-ounce) can coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon agave or honey (optional)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened natural peanut butter
- Salt
- 2 tablespoons sliced fresh chives
- 1/4 cup crème fraîche or yogurt (optional)
Preparation
1. In a large stock pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and ginger, and cook, stirring frequently until softened and just beginning to brown around the edges, about 4 minutes. Stir in the chile and pumpkin purée, and whisk in the water or stock. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and allow to simmer on low, giving an occasional stir, for 20 minutes or until slightly reduced and thickened. Remove the chile after the soup simmers if you don’t care for much spice.
2. Add coconut milk, agave or honey (if using), and peanut butter to the pot. Using an immersion blender or working in batches in a standing blender, purée the soup until smooth. Season with salt and keep warm over low heat. Do not bring soup up to a simmer or boil at this point. (This reduces the risk of the oils in the peanut butter separating and breaking the soup’s smooth texture.)
3. Divide soup between bowls, sprinkle with the chives and a dollop of crème fraîche or yogurt, or a drizzle of olive oil to make it vegan. Serve with a warm crusty baguette or chunks of warm sourdough for dipping.
This article originally appeared in .
