Weeknight Meals

Full of mushrooms and carrots, this dish tastes great with Herbed Fillet of Sole (page 118).

A light cream sauce enhanced with Parmesan cheese coats fresh spinach in this side dish. Try it with pork chops, fish fillets, or turkey cutlets.

With this recipe, you don’t need to buy many ingredients or spend much time in the kitchen to get a colorful and tasty side dish.

Roasting veggies over high heat retains those delightful concentrated flavors.

Dinner is on the table in minutes when Pacific Rim Flank Steak (page 180) or other cooked steak becomes part of this entrée salad.

This salad gets its flavor from cumin, jalapeño, lime juice—and, surprisingly, a touch of honey.

Make a batch of this wonderful sauce ahead of time for the best blending of flavors. It will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week, or pour it into a freezer container and freeze it for up to six months.

The combination of fresh basil and lime in the dressing makes this dish distinctive and delightful. It’s a nice and easy way to work some fish into your week.

Fresh spinach adds a new dimension to basil-based pesto. Try the pesto as a topping for chicken, fish, or pasta.

Spice up lean grilled hamburgers, chicken breasts, or pork tenderloin with this wonderful salsa, which gets its smoky flavor from the chipotle chile. Regulate the heat from mild to spicy by the amount of chipotle you add.

This main-dish salad, topped with a sesame-wasabi dressing, is an interesting combination of colors, textures, aromas, and flavors.

Couscous, a quick-cooking Moroccan staple, gets a Mediterranean makeover with fresh lemon juice, oregano, mint, and feta.

A just-right blend of sweet and tart, this salad is a great accompaniment to Curried Chicken Kebabs with Yogurt Dipping Sauce (page 138) or Pork Chops with Herb Rub (page 196). Spoon the salad onto leaves of butter lettuce or radicchio for an especially attractive presentation.

Lentils and potato provide wholesome fiber in this hearty main-dish soup. While it simmers, bake some Corn Muffins (page 286) and toss a salad with one of the vinaigrettes on pages 96–97.

A garden of vegetables teams up with barley and lean chicken to make this “souper” nutritious. The cooking water from the chicken serves as a flavorful low-salt base for the soup.

Fresh asparagus and dill turn this soup into a flavorful celebration of spring.

Enjoy a bowl of this soup for a light lunch, or pair it with a dark green or spinach salad or Balsamic-Marinated Vegetables (page 78) for a heartier meal.

A touch of spicy curry paste makes this sweet-potato soup sing. It is an obvious choice to serve with Asian food, but don’t overlook it for other meals as well. Try the soup with roasted turkey for Thanksgiving, serve it tonight with Pork Chops with Herb Rub (page 196), or warm up a fall picnic by sharing some of it from an insulated container.

Easy enough for weeknights and special enough for guests, this dessert pairs cool and creamy ricotta cheese with liqueur-soaked fruits. You can substitute two cups of almost any other fruit you like, and you may want to try other flavors of liqueur as well.

Bananas Foster goes tropical with the addition of pineapple and toasted coconut.