Hello and welcome to Five Weeknight Dishes. I’m back from maternity leave, though “back” in the current moment means I’m quarantined at home with a laptop and an entire carafe of coffee. Thank you to Julia Moskin for filling in.
If we haven’t yet met, I’m one of the Food editors at The Times. I love to cook, as you might imagine, but often don’t have much time to do it, which is how this newsletter came to be devoted to brilliant recipes for busy people. That shortage of time is especially acute now as my husband and I swarm the tasks of the day. We are like a tiny nonprofit devoted to keeping everyone in our household somewhat clean, reasonably happy and well fed.
Speaking of feeding: We eat like wolves now. The demands of quarantine, and the cravings they produce, have returned me to favorites like grilled cheese, canned tuna with oil and capers, and anything with lemon. I rediscovered the high of pulling a pan of bacon from the oven at breakfast. We eat pancakes every weekend and sometimes on weekdays, too.
So how are you? Have you made sourdough bread in your free time? Will you ever have free time again? Tell me what you’re cooking, and what you’d like to be cooking, at [email protected].
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Here are five dishes for the week:
1. Sheet-Pan Paprika Chicken With Tomatoes and Parmesan
Chicken, cherry tomatoes and peppers are a power trio in the oven. The tomatoes burst like juicy bubbles, the bell peppers collapse into sweet tangles, and the juices from the chicken flavor it all. You can make this even if you don’t quite have a quorum of the ingredients: It’d be simpler but still delicious with just chicken, tomatoes and spices; or chicken, tomatoes and peppers; and so on.
2. Salmon With Whole Lemon Dressing
I am a convert to Alison Roman’s salmon-roasting method: low and slow(ish). The roughly 10 extra minutes in the oven yield far silkier fish. The dressing deploys finely chopped whole lemons, which is a more bracing path than juice and zest alone — bitter, floral and intensely lemony. For lemon lovers, it’s revelatory. Skip the salad if your supplies are low; anything green will work in its place.
3. Pasta With Garlicky Spinach and Buttered Pistachios
Please welcome Dawn Perry, one of our newest contributors, to the dance floor. Her recipes are cleverly conceived, delicious to eat and, in the case of this fast pasta dish, sensitive to your needs as a weeknight cook. Almonds or hazelnuts can stand in for pistachios.
4. Herby Pork Larb With Chile
Now that my grocery list has changed to prioritize longer-lasting ingredients, fresh herbs bring me even more joy: I feel rich when I open the crisper and see emerald-green bundles of mint, cilantro and dill. I use them in sauces, as a generous garnish and in recipes like this one, a favorite of mine. I skip the toasted rice powder, which makes this a very fast meal, but also makes it not larb, the Thai salad on which it is based.
5. Spring Minestrone With Kale and Pasta
If you’ve only ever had store-bought minestrone, a homemade batch with freshly cooked vegetables will be eye-opening. Kay Chun’s fast green version uses asparagus, kale and peas, though you can play with whatever vegetables you have, and use frozen vegetables if you need. If you have homemade stock in the freezer, now is the time to defrost it; the boxed stuff works but is better used in a supporting role.