Hi and welcome to Five Weeknight Dishes. So, as you may know, my day job is being a food editor, and one thing food editors love is a sexy ingredient: lots of chiles, turmeric, torn herbs. And yet lately I’m drawn to distinctly unsexy ingredients: lots of beans, egg noodles, celery. I’ve been eating even more jarred tuna than usual, and I had some very creamy chicken liver out at dinner one night last week. (Have I lost you?)
But, but! Those ingredients are great. (Have you even had buttered egg noodles lately? They transcend.) Beans, in particular, have really captured my attention: I’ve been cooking so many pots of dried beans at home. This means I’m actually planning my schedule for and around beans. Who am I?
That’s the real report from my kitchen. But Five Weeknight Dishes can’t just be beans. There must be chicken! There must be squash! There must be meatballs! It’s all here for you below, and you can send me thoughts or requests at dearemily@nytimes.com.
[Sign up here to receive the Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter in your inbox every Friday.]
Here are five dishes for the week:
1. Weeknight Fancy Chicken and Rice
Some recipes are high-low. This one is sexy-unsexy. It’s an easy one-pot chicken dish, but one that’s redolent with turmeric, star anise and cardamom. There are a lot of five-star ratings on this recipe, because everyone who makes it goes crazy for it.
_____
3. Italian Wedding Soup With Turkey Meatballs
You know I love a meatball. These are engineered to be fast and plump, made with turkey that is generously seasoned, quickly broiled to brown, then plunked into broth to absorb its flavor. The addition of greens makes it a full meal, and why yes, there’s orzo in that bowl.
4. White Bean Piccata Pasta With Broccoli
More beans, and pasta, and lemon, and capers — basically this is everything good in one bowl, and it takes only 15 minutes to boot. This recipe was written for canned beans, but of course, if you have a passion for cooking, dried ones would also be delicious.
_____
