Recipes

Sarah DiGregorio · NYT Cooking

Lentils check so many cooking boxes, they feel like a minor miracle: If you’re in a hurry, on a budget, vegetarian, health-conscious or just want to eat something really delicious, lentils are your friend. This lush, easy soup partners red lentils with rich coconut milk and earthy turmeric. Frozen greens are an easy addition, but you could also throw in one large bunch of chopped fresh hearty greens about one hour before you want to eat. The slow cooker works beautifully here because lentils love braising, and it makes the timing very forgiving: You can set this in the morning and let it cook and then hold on warm until you’re ready to eat. (In that case, pick the recipe up at Step 2, cooking on low.) If you’d prefer to cook this on the stovetop, sauté the onion and the ginger and garlic in the coconut oil, then add the remaining ingredients and let the soup simmer over medium heat until the lentils are tender, about 35 minutes.

Sarah DiGregorio · NYT Cooking

This 25-minute meal channels all the herbal, tangy richness of green goddess dressing in one-pot dinner form. The effect is akin to a big salad, complete with a cool, tart drizzle of buttermilk over the warm vegetables, but it’s satisfying enough for cooler weather. Searing the chickpeas in butter builds a toasty, nutty flavor in just a few minutes. Using an entire bunch of scallions ensures big allium flavor, and as a bonus you won’t be left with stragglers in the crisper drawer. Top with the fresh herbs you like best, adding a smaller amount of the more assertive herbs, like tarragon, chives and dill, while basil can go on in heaps. Any kind of buttermilk will work, but thicker versions are best for this.

Sarah DiGregorio · NYT Cooking

This recipe is inspired by green (or hara) masala, a cilantro-forward seasoning used in many regions of India. Here, a quickie version gets blitzed in a blender, which reduces any chopping. The bright and tangy masala lavishly seasons the chicken thighs while the cumin-scented rice steams on top. If you are cursed with the cilantro-tastes-soapy gene, don’t automatically skip this recipe — there’s evidence that crushing the leaves reduces or eliminates the soapy taste. Take care with rinsing the rice: It can get gummy in the slow cooker if you don’t remove the starch. Top with a crunchy nut of your choice — almonds or cashews are great — and more cilantro.

Sarah DiGregorio · NYT Cooking

This pantry-friendly, one-pot meal is inspired by Italian chicken diavolo, a chile-slicked grilled chicken dish. But it’s most similar to the Italian-American invention fra diavolo, a spicy, tomato sauce often served with seafood. Here, chicken thighs braise in a rich, olive-oiled mix of tomato paste, peppers and sun-dried tomatoes. There’s no need to add extra liquid because all those ingredients give off their moisture as they cook, creating enough sauce to cook the orzo that’s added at the end. Enrich with a splash of cream to bring it all together and tame the heat, just a little. If your crushed red pepper flakes are fresh, one teaspoon will yield a medium spicy result. Feel free to adjust up or down, depending on your taste.

Sarah DiGregorio · NYT Cooking

Similar to vermicelli, fideo are short, delicate noodles that are often used in Spanish and Mexican cooking, as in the Mexican classic, sopa de fideo. This nontraditional slow-cooker dish puts fideo to good use in a medium-spicy, smoky chicken and bean braise. You can dial the heat up and down by including more or fewer chipotles in the mix. It’s a comforting stew of tender chicken, pinto beans (you can sub in black beans) and toasted noodles. The toasting step adds a deeper flavor to the finished dish, but you can skip it if you’re pressed for time and simply break the noodles up directly into the slow cooker. Serve with plenty of cilantro and avocado.

Sarah DiGregorio · NYT Cooking

For effort-to-flavor ratio, you can’t really beat a jar of kimchi and a pack of bacon. This five-ingredient dinner is a riot of deliciousness: Sweet potatoes roasted in bacon fat provide a sturdy base for bacon-enriched kimchi and pillowy mozzarella. (You can use low-moisture, pre-shredded mozzarella in a pinch.) The drizzle of honey amplifies all the other ingredients, much like honey on pepperoni pizza does. Any variety of sweet potato will work nicely, but if you have a choice, look for garnet sweet potatoes. They’re a darker orange-red than other varieties and have very sweet, creamy flesh.

Sarah DiGregorio · NYT Cooking

The best parts of porchetta — an Italian pork roast — are the darkly crisped skin and the punchy seasoning, often rosemary, fennel, garlic and red pepper. This 20-minute vegetarian recipe channels those pleasures into a super-fast, high-protein chickpea and egg skillet that’s made from pantry ingredients. First, half of the chickpeas get coarsely mashed and seared in olive oil to create browned, crisp bits and then the other half are stirred in whole, so you get different textures from one ingredient. Be sure not to disturb the chickpeas as they sear so they get deeply browned. It might seem counterintuitive to then add water, but it soaks into the chickpeas almost immediately, leaving the nubbly bits intact while also making sure the chickpeas don’t feel dry. Serve this dish as it is, or over olive-oiled arugula.

Sarah DiGregorio · NYT Cooking

With only five ingredients, these easy patties are tender with olive oil and frizzled scallion and pleasantly nubbly with mashed chickpeas. The recipe uses a whole bunch of scallions, so there aren’t any stragglers left to languish in the fridge, and it also calls for both the zest and the juice of a lemon. The earthy savoriness of lamb is delicious with lemon and turmeric, but feel free to substitute ground beef or dark-meat ground turkey. (White meat will be too lean.) Serve patties tucked into pita bread with hot sauce and tomatoes, or put them on top of rice or arugula (or both!) with a drizzle of olive oil and yogurt.

Sarah DiGregorio · NYT Cooking

Mojo is an enchantingly simple, intensely flavorful Cuban marinade, traditionally made with sour oranges, lots of garlic and oregano. Sour oranges are hard to find in many parts of the US, but a punchy mix of lime, orange and lemon is a great substitute. This easy slow-cooker version of the classic is ideal for weeknight dinners: Just set it before you leave for the day. The mixture holds well on the warm setting after the six hours of cooking have elapsed. Adding beans to the rich pork makes it a meal, versatile enough to go on top of rice or tortillas, or to be tucked into rolls or enchiladas. It also freezes well.

Sara Dickerman · NYT Cooking

Sara Dickerman · NYT Cooking

Sara Dickerman · NYT Cooking

Sara Dickerman

Sara Dickerman · NYT Cooking

The journalist Joseph Wechsberg introduced many Americans to the pleasures of Austro-Hungarian food, including this liptauer spread. The recipe is adapted from "The Cooking of Vienna's Empire," Mr. Wechsberg's 1968 entry in the Time-Life Foods of the World series. Cottage cheese and butter are the base for paprika, caraway seeds and briny capers. This dip is a fine accompaniment for crudités or hearty slices of rye on a brisk autumn afternoon. Sara Dickerman

Sara Dickerman · NYT Cooking

Sara Dickerman

Sara Dickerman · NYT Cooking

Sara Dickerman · NYT Cooking

Sara Dickerman

Sara Dickerman · NYT Cooking

Sara Dickerman · NYT Cooking

Sara Dickerman

Sara Dickerman · NYT Cooking

Sara Dickerman

Sara Dickerman · NYT Cooking

A drizzle of honey and a blast of heat transform a standard block of crumbly feta into an unexpectedly luscious, creamy spread for pita and vegetables. This, with a hunk of crusty bread and a glass of chilled white wine, is the perfect warm weather supper. If you can't get your hands on thyme honey, the regular sort will do just fine.

Sara Dickerman · NYT Cooking

Sara Dickerman

Sara Dickerman · NYT Cooking

Halloumi, a Greek cheese, has a squeaky texture and high melting point and maintains its bounce even if you grill it or sauté it to a golden crust — which is exactly what you’ll do for this riff on a simple cheese sandwich. Fresh baguette, grilled zucchini and onion, the soft-crisp cheese? It is a sandwich rich and savory enough for dinner.

Sara Dickerman · NYT Cooking

Sara Dickerman

Sara Dickerman · NYT Cooking