Hello, Five Weeknight Dishes readers! I’m filling in for Emily today; she’ll be back at it next week, like many of us.
This week has been a time to hibernate, braise and simmer, with wild weather across the country in addition to the usual interholiday lull. (We will not soon forget the couple in Williamsville, N.Y., who cooked for nine unexpected house guests from South Korea.)
But next week brings the start of 2023 and, for most, a return to routine. It’s a time for easy food — and recipes that help clear your kitchen and your head. If you stockpiled root vegetables, alliums, herbs, greens and the like for holiday cooking, the recipes below will help you face the future. Cheers!
1. Smoky Lentil Stew With Leeks and Potatoes
To adapt this wintry vegetarian dinner from David Tanis to whatever you have on hand, you can use roasted squash or sweet potato instead of white, and any combination of scallions, onions and shallots instead of leeks.
2. Chicken and Herb Salad With Nuoc Cham
Yewande Kolomafe’s five-minute dinner salad is a weeknight classic for the tired and flavor-starved. I like this with dried rice noodles, which I simply soak in water, drain and then sear in a little peanut oil, with crushed peanuts on top.
4. Chile-Oil Fried Eggs With Greens and Yogurt
If you already have chile oil in the pantry, this brunch plate from the lamented MeMe’s Diner, which closed its doors in Brooklyn in 2020, makes a quick and spectacular dinner with warmed flatbread or seeded whole-grain toast. (You can skip the sprinkle of seeds, or use a sesame-based mix like gomasio or everything-bagel seasoning.)
