Welcome back to Five Weeknight Dishes. As the weeks wear on, I am missing so much food I would like to be eating — hot popcorn at the movies, ice-cold Caesar salad at a restaurant, fried oysters on a planned beach trip — that it feels right and necessary to indulge in small ways, like melted cheese.
I’ve reached the stage of provisioning in which there are leathery stumps of eight different hard cheeses stuffed into the door of the fridge, not to mention half bags of shredded mozzarella and stray Kraft singles. Our recipes often call for Gruyère for melting, but here’s a good thing to know: Most hard cheeses (like Cheddar, Comté, Manchego and generic “Swiss”) can be combined with a little bit of processed cheese (like American or shredded mozzarella) in any recipe that calls for a layer or topping of melted cheese. (For an all-cheese dish, I would be more picky, but who is in the mood to dig the fondue pot out of storage? Not me.)
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Here are five real-world recipes for the week:
I usually add extra cheese, minced scallions and garlic to make this satisfying as a main course. Prepare a salad with a juicy, crunchy element, like apple slices or red pepper strips, to serve on the side.
2. Curry Chicken Breasts With Chickpeas and Spinach
Crisp-fried chicken breasts have great texture, but they often need extra flavor, like this bath of melted butter, curry powder and lime juice that Kay Chun devised as a sauce for the chickpeas that go alongside. Try to get some of each element — chicken, earthy chickpeas, sweet spinach — in each bite.
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3. Roasted Tomato and White Bean Stew
Yes, more beans, but hear me out: The roasted cherry tomatoes add depth and sweetness that most bean stews are missing. Plus, when the fresh parsley and lemon zest hit the top of the stew, they have just the brightness that your eyes and nose need at dinner time.
4. Linguine With Chickpeas, Broccoli and Ricotta
This is a great dinner at the end of a day fueled by quick, unhealthy snacks — at the moment, that is most days around here. (Frozen pigs in blankets are my lunchtime weakness.) You can skip the separate kale chips to make it even faster — just use extra broccoli — and use a whole pound of pasta if that’s what your household needs.
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