Hello and welcome to Five Weeknight Dishes. My daughter said something kind of funny the other day at lunch: “Dinner is coming for us, Mama!” She was just narrating the events of the day as she expected them to unfold, using her toddler syntax. But she had divined a feeling I often have these days: Dinner is coming for us! Run!
I’m finding that the best way to surf the daily cooking waves is to try to steal bits of time to prep for meals to come. Chopping at 11 a.m. makes life far saner at 5:30 p.m., and provides a plump little break from the other tasks on my list.
The recipes below include elements that can be made ahead when you have time: I made herb sauce midafternoon the other day, and a double batch of scallion sauce for noodles, too. I cooked bacon after breakfast so we’d be prepared for BLTs at lunch. I even made a meatball mix to stick in the fridge one morning after I’d gotten up early while everyone else slept late, and the house was delectably quiet. (This was a high-water mark in my short career of prepping food ahead.)
Questions? Ideas? I’m at dearemily@nytimes.com. It’s always good to hear from you.
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Here are five dishes for the week:
1. Chicken and Rice With Scallion-Ginger Sauce
This is exactly what I want to eat right now: plush, gently cooked chicken; fluffy rice; and a scallion sauce with a bit of an edge from jalapeño and vinegar. I’d double that sauce for meals to follow, like a breakfast of leftover rice topped with a fried egg.
2. Penne With Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
Simple in its bones, this dish can be made simpler still by skipping the pecorino and bread crumbs. You could also roast the tomatoes ahead: I did that with four pints of cherry tomatoes and kept them in the fridge. Reheat in a skillet with oil, maybe garlic, and a little pasta water; toss with pasta; serve.
3. Grilled Fish With Salsa Verde
Italian salsa verde is made with parsley, garlic, capers and several glugs of oil, which makes it a good candidate to store in the fridge at length. The herbs will lose some of their vibrancy, but the sauce will remain delicious, and more important it will already exist, removing one item from your to-do list. Cook the fish however you’d like. Just keep it simple.
4. Egg Curry
Boiled eggs are an underrated staple to keep on hand; even soft-boiled eggs can be stored and reheated gently. This recipe, from Tejal Rao, could make supreme use of those eggs: a saucy, highly spiced, rich and warming dinner. (The onions could be caramelized in advance too, shaving 30 minutes off dinner prep later.)
This Melissa Clark recipe is for all the last-minute cooks. I am still one of you at heart. Do not prep this ahead. Pull everything out of the fridge when you’re on the edge of being ready for dinner. Toss the shrimp in the melted butter. Broil. Eat.