Weeknight Kitchen

Ever since I discovered the golden-edged, caramelized joys of roasted cauliflower, I’ve hardly prepared it any other way. Roasting condenses its juices, browns the crevices, and renders the whole thing sweet and irresistible. Whenever I serve roasted cauliflower to a group, I need to sit on my hands to avoid eating every last floret before my friends and family have had their fill.

This is what I make for dinner practically every single night, tossing it with my hands so I can get a feel for the moment when the leaves are nicely coated with the dressing (though use utensils if you want to avoid olive oil on your fingers). You can use any salad greens you like; I tend to go for the dark, slightly bitter ones of the arugula/spinach variety, but this recipe will work with whatever you have in your fridge.

These fluffy pieces of shredded tofu are like soft, tiny dumplings and cook up in no time at all. Here, ground chicken gives them a meaty depth and a caramelized flavor while edamame adds texture and a vegetable to the mix. If you want to make this vegetarian, leave out the meat, and instead sauté 4 ounces of chopped fresh shiitake or cremini mushrooms with the scallions and ginger. Make sure to get the shiitakes nice and golden; you need the extra flavor that caramelization provides. Serve this by itself or with a simple salad of baby spinach dressed with a little sesame oil, salt, and lime juice.

Golden, crunchy, and covered in a salty, frico-like layer of baked Parmesan, this is sort of like a giant gougère-style cheese puff meets Yorkshire pudding, with a crisp outer crust and a soft, cheesy, custardy interior. If you’re not shy (or not serving this to a shy group), feel free to tear this apart with your hands to eat, licking the salty bits of cheese and herbs off your fingers when you’re done (if this is too tactile for you, use a large spoon for serving). You can serve this for dinner with a big salad or with some kind of roasted meat, or try it for brunch in place of the usual sweet and fruity Dutch babies that people expect. Or, for something completely out of the box, this also happens to make a fantastic cocktail nosh—serve it right out of the oven, still in the pan, to your guests and let them tear off pieces. It’s quite delicious with a gin martini.

The classic fish for this intense and sweetly aromatic recipe is catfish. In Vietnam, thick bone-in catfish steaks are simmered in a dark and highly peppery caramel for upwards of an hour, until the fish practically falls apart in its bittersweet, pungent sauce. Here, I’ve replaced catfish with salmon, which has a rich succulence that can stand up to the ginger, chiles, and black pepper. And by using brown sugar instead of making my own caramel, I’ve also hastened the process so that the whole thing is ready in less than thirty minutes. The salmon still has time to absorb all the intense flavors of the caramel, but it doesn’t overcook, staying firm but tender. Serve this with some kind of rice as a gentle foil for all the rich spiciness on the plate.

When it comes to fried eggs, there are some people who prefer a pristine, pillowy white, without any trace of browning or crispness. I am not one of them. When I want a cushion of soft egg white, I poach. For me the perfect fried egg has a white that curls and ruffles as soon as it makes contact with the hot fat in the pan, turning lacy and crunchy at the edges while remaining plump and soft at the yolk, which should run like hot lava at the merest touch of your fork. This recipe achieves exactly that, using olive oil as the frying medium. But what really elevates this dish are the sweet fried scallions and woodsy fried sage leaves that get caught in the white. They turn a plain breakfast staple into an unusual and very quick dinner. Serve this with toasted country bread or flatbread, and maybe a big salad if you need some vegetables. Consider this a light dinner, for nights after you’ve had a big lunch, when you’re peckish rather than starving.

Green beans are big in India, especially for vegetarians. They are cheap, very healthy, easy to cook and go with almost any dish. I’ve added the bell pepper and chili sauce to add some oomph to this nutritious dish. This recipe is a wonderful addition to my weekly dinners because of the speed with which it gets made and how much nourishment it provides.

This is a wonderful dish of vaguely Vietnamese origins, where it is more commonly served with dill than coriander (cilantro). Both work well in my opinion, or use a mixture of the two herbs.

This week’s recipe is a super simple take on the kabob that can be done with or without a grill. Sabrina Ghayour’s recipe for Spice-Marinated Beef Kabobs from her book, Feast, relies on that powerful combo of spices plus time. Sirloin steak is cut into generous pieces and marinated with smoked paprika, turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, lots of garlic, lemon juice and oil.  She sears the marinated beef on the stovetop until crusty and then threads them on skewers for the table. If you have a grill at the ready, don’t hesitate to grill them on the skewers over medium heat until crusty. If the beef marinates a little longer, say overnight, it will be even more flavorful.

The first time I saw a Caesar salad served with quartered heads of lettuce, I was horrified! Since then, I have come to embrace the “lazy lettuce method,” as I now call it. While this isn’t a classic Caesar (it pains me to eat a salad with more calories and fat than a burger), it is a lovely variation, and the eggs make it a complete and rather filling meal.