Hello and welcome to Five Weeknight Dishes. On Wednesday, the temperature was projected to hit roughly 50 degrees in the New York area. My husband and I reacted as though it were going to be 70, and we’d be wearing shorts and drinking gin and tonics. “Let’s have a barbecue!” he suggested. When we actually stepped outside, it was cold. “A chilly 50,” I sighed. We had pasta for dinner.
Such is life in colder climates in the Covid era. I desperately want it to be spring so we can escape our home. Last I checked, it is not yet spring.
Here are recipes for this drawn-out shoulder season, some very easy for anyone who’s done with cooking for the moment, others vaguely springy but still hearty. Nothing too heavy, all of it bright. I know some of you out there are in warmer places, and all I can say is I wish I were there. How are you doing? What are you cooking? You can reach me at dearemily@nytimes.com.
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Here are five dishes for the week:
1. Extra-Creamy Scrambled Eggs
Here is J. Kenji López-Alt’s new and already much-cooked recipe for scrambled eggs, a superb light supper and a very springy one, too. There is a secret ingredient here, and it makes the eggs outrageously creamy. (And, yes, you can reduce the butter.) I cooked this the other day, and it lives up to the hype.
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2. Skillet Hot Honey Chicken With Hearty Greens
I made this Ali Slagle recipe for dinner on Monday, and it was great. Cooking the chicken on the stove got us a nice sear on the skin, but the greens, tossed in the pan schmaltz with honey and cider vinegar, were what we really loved. We ate it drizzled with bottled hot honey, though any hot sauce would do, and biscuits would be ideal on the side.
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3. Vegan Coconut-Ginger Black Beans
The combination of beans and coconut is woven throughout countless cuisines, found in dishes like frejon, for instance. That pairing inspired this recipe by Ali Slagle, a light and delicious vegan main course, and something you could vary or garnish any number of ways.
4. Pasta With Green Puttanesca
Melissa Clark’s ode to spring in pasta form, this recipe takes the olives, anchovies and garlic of classic versions, removes the tomatoes, and adds spinach. The sauce comes together in the time it takes for the water to boil and the spaghetti to cook — the best kind of weeknight pasta dish.
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