Sara’s Weeknight Meals Season 1
Cataplana
Makes 4 servings Hands-on time: 10 minutes Total preparation time: 30 minutes 8 whole allspice berries 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 large or 4 small dried bay leaves 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 6 cloves garlic, sliced 1 small onion (3 to 4 ounces), cut into 1/4-inch dice 1 small to medium…
Boston Baked Scrod
Makes 4 servings Hands-on time: 15 minutes Total preparation time: 30 minutes 4 skin-on baby cod or small haddock fillets, about 8 ounces each About 3 tablespoons vegetable oil Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 ripe medium tomatoes, thinly sliced 1 cup Buttery Crumbs (recipe follows) Adjust an oven…
Ham, Potato, and Black-eyed Pea Salad with Creamy Garlic Dressing
Makes 4 servings Hands-on time: 15 minutes Total preparation time: 25 minutes Here’s where the American south (ham and black-eyed peas) meets the classical French (creamy garlic dressing). In truth, anything tossed in this dressing tastes good. Feel free to put it on sauteed shrimp, roast chicken, or grilled vegetables. (It was…
Thai-style Steak Salad with Spicy Mint Dressing
Makes 4 servings Hands-on time: 35 minutes Total preparation time: 35 minutes This is a fun summertime meal. I have given instructions for cooking the steak in a skillet, but you could also just throw it on the grill or a grill pan for a little smoky taste. You can either give…
Ramen in Curry Sauce with String Beans and Ground Pork or Turkey
Makes 4 servings Hands-on time: 20 minutes Total preparation time: 20 minutes Use Chinese ramen that is sold in bulk packages, usually 8 or 10 stacked square cakes in each. 1/4 cup vegetable oil 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 large shallot, minced 1 tablespoon curry powder 12 ounces coarsely ground pork or…
Cold Soba Noodles with Shiitake and Baby Bok Choy
Makes 4 servings Hands-on time: 25 minutes Total preparation time: 25 minutes You can add any protein such as grilled shrimp, chicken, pork, or beef skewers for a complete meal; cold soba means you can prepare this dish ahead of time as well. Grilled protein should be cooked just before serving, however.…
Pad Thai with Shrimp, Tofu, and Mung Beans
Makes 4 servings Hands-on time: 30 minutes Total preparation time: 30 minutes This classic dish is easy to prepare at home. With rice noodles be sure to use a nonstick skillet to reduce the amount of oil needed to prevent noodles from sticking together too much. Medium rice stick look like linguini…
Duck Confit in an Oven Bag
Makes 4 servings Hands on time: 15 to 20 minutes Total preparation time: 2 hours 45 minutes 1 1/2 table spoons kosher salt 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme 3/4 teaspoon ground allspice 1 bay leaf, preferably Turkish, crumbled One 5-pound duck, cut into 8 pieces,…
Braised Short Ribs
Makes 4 servings Hands-on time: 30 minutes Total preparation time: 3 hours This is actually an adaptation of a recipe by a very talented New York chef named Tom Valenti. Who (no pun intended) is known for his stick to your ribs cooking. We ran the recipe in Gourmet many…
Roasted Salmon with Warm Lentil Salad
Makes 4 servings Hands-on time: 20 minutes Total preparation time: 30 minutes My favorite way to cook salmon when I am in a rush is simply to drizzle it with a little olive oil and lemon and then to roast it in the oven. As long as you don’t overcook it, the…
Seared Snapper with Gazpacho Vinaigrette
Makes 4 servings Hands-on time: 25 minutes Total preparation time: 30 minutes Every cook knows that fish has to be perked up with a little acid, even if it’s just a spritz of lemon or lime. This gazpacho vinaigrette addresses the problem head on. Gazpacho is a Spanish soup with many variations,…
Steamed Mussels in Curried Coconut Broth
Makes 4 servings Hands-on time: 15 minutes Total preparation time: 20 minutes This is about as exotic as any recipe in this book. It calls for a few ingredients that you might have to search for: Kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, and curry paste. You can find all of them in Asian markets…
Grilled Swordfish with Salsa Giallo
Makes 4 servings Hands-on time: 15 minutes Total preparation time: 35 minutes Salsa Giallo always ends up on the menu at A Voce in the summertime, when we have beautiful local peppers and tomatoes. Salsa Giallo is my fancy name for “yellow sauce.” It’s super-super-easy, and great with grilled fish like tuna or…
Chicken Leg Cacciatore with Sweet Peppers, Fennel, and Green Olives
Makes 6 servings Hands-on time: 10 minutes Total preparation time: 30 minutes I love Chicken Cacciatore. When I opened up A Voce, some – what do you call them? – ah – food snobs, and even some chefs (who will remain unnamed) busted my chops about it. “Who puts chicken cacciatore on a…
Lemon Chicken
Makes 4 servings Hands-on time: 15 minutes Total preparation time: 35 minutes For the longest time torikatsu chicken was one of my favorite Japanese takeout items. In fact, I loved this dish so much that I pretended it wasn’t fried. Alas, one day I confirmed the awful truth. Heartbroken, I decided to…
Chicken with Sausage and Hot Cherry Peppers
Makes 4 servings Hands-on time: 20 minutes Total preparation time: 50 minutes This is based on an Italian dish called scarpariello – sort of a “turf and turf.” I love the combination of chicken and sausages to begin with, and when you throw in the pickled peppers, the whole dish takes on…
Poblanos Stuffed with Spinach and Goat Cheese (Chiles Rellenos de Espinachas)
Makes 6 servings Hands-on time: 20 minutes Total preparation time: 45 minutes Seven 6 ounce bags (or six 7 ounce bags) baby spinach or 2 1/2 pounds loose baby spinach or 2 (10 ounce) packages frozen 6 large poblano chiles (about 1 1/4 pounds) 1/4 cup mild olive oil 1/2 cup raisins…
Swiss Enchiladas (Enchiladas Suizas)
Makes 6 servings Hands-on time: 20 minutes Total preparation time: 40 minutes plus prep time for salsa if making 4 cups Cooked Green Salsa (recipe follows) or store bought green salsa 2 poblano chiles, roasted (see page 21), peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped. 1 cup heavy cream 12 (6-inch) corn tortillas 1/4 cup…
Adobo-marinated Chicken Quesadilla (Quesadilla de Pollo Adobado)
Makes 2 to 4 servings Hands-on time: 10 minutes Total preparation time: 10 minutes plus prep time for chicken and sauces 1 1/2 cups coarsely shredded queso Chihuhua (about 6 ounces) Adobo-marinated chicken, cut into 1/4 inch slices Four 10-inch flour tortillas Pico de Gallo Guacamole Pasilla de Oaxaca Tomatillo Salsa Make…
Grilled Lamb and Onion Kabobs with Olive Aioli
Makes 4 servings Hands-on time: 10 minutes Total preparation time: 35 minutes Lemon, olive oil, rosemary, and garlic – this is my favorite marinade for lamb, whether I am cooking a roast or skewering kabobs. They work well together because both the marinade and the lamb are products of the Mediterranean. The…
Korean-style Beef with Spicy Cabbage
Makes 4 servings Hands-on time: 25 minutes Total preparation time: 25 minutes Skirt steak is one of those ingredients you would have to be very talented to mess up. It is a well-marbled (butcher’s way to say there is significant fat running through it) tough cut of meat that should be cooked…
Linguini with White Bean, Sun-dried Tomato, and Olive Sauce
Makes 4 servings Hands-on-time: 10 minutes Total preparation time: 20 minutes Mashing up white beans instantly produces a creamy pasta sauce – without cream – that’s capable of binding together all the ingredients in a dish. Here I’ve “beefed up” the sauce with sun-dried tomatoes and olives from the pantry. Of course,…
Fried Rice
Makes 4 servings Hands-on-time: 15 minutes Total preparation time: 15 minutes If you order Chinese takeout (and who doesn’t?), chances are you often have cooked white rice on your hands. I can’t think of any better use for it than to transform it into fried rice. The kids love it. I have…
Asian Turkey Burgers with Wasabi Sauce
Makes 6 servings Hands-on time: 20 minutes Total preparation time: 30 minutes Sure, ground turkey is a nice lean alternative to ground beef, but its very leanness guarantees that it will usually be quite dry. How to juice it up? Vegetables – in this case Napa cabbage, which gives off moisture…