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Hello and welcome to Five Weeknight Dishes. Some recipes announce themselves as weeknight-friendly in warm, breezy tones, only to reveal their true nature when you’re already in deep. That’s the moment you realize the spices are supposed to be toasted and hand-ground. The tomatoes are cut into 64ths. The process requires a pot, three pans, a rolling pin and a blender. You deflate, just a little.
We are not about those recipes. With the dishes below, what you see is what you get; all are easy to make, with electric flavors and no hidden fussiness.
You may have noticed we’re sending this newsletter a little later than usual today. What do you think? Any other thoughts, feedback, kitchen dilemmas? Email me at dearemily@nytimes.com. I love hearing from you.
Here are five dishes for the week:
2. Cumin-Roasted Salmon With Cilantro Sauce
This easy recipe flies on its flavors: cumin, paprika, cilantro and chives, though cilantro loathers can use parsley instead. Boil small potatoes to go with the fish and drizzle it all liberally with the sauce. (You may want to double that sauce to use later on chicken, eggs or roasted carrots.) Salad with a super-simple lemon vinaigrette works alongside; so does steamed broccoli, for littler diners.
3. Garlicky Steak With Carrot, Walnut and Dill Salad
Beautiful, right? Those carrots are simple to pull off, but use the freshest, best-looking ones you can find, nothing that seems like it’s been languishing at the supermarket since time began. I’m not a good morning-of (or even night-before) meal prepper, but it’d be ideal to get ahead and marinate this steak for several hours. If you’re like me, set the steak aside to marinate while you heat the grill or oven, put a pot of water on to boil for barley or farro, and pour a glass of wine.
4. Creamy White Beans With Herb Oil
When you start with canned beans, dinner is nearly done. This recipe anoints them with delicious basil-cilantro oil (which is similar enough to the sauce with the salmon above that you probably could get away with using any of that here, too). Crusty bread and salad are all you need to serve with it, though sautéed or baked broccoli rabe would be nice. For more heft, add an olive-oil fried egg to each bean bowl.
5. Harissa Chicken Thighs With Shallots
We couldn’t stop eating this chicken, which is cloaked in a sauce spiced with cinnamon and harissa, the North African pepper paste and a strong shortcut for weeknight flavor. The shallots melt into the sauce, which is precisely as good as it sounds. Serve with rice or Israeli couscous, and a baby spinach salad dressed with lime.
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