My favorite recipes to cook at home aren’t the showiest or the most elaborate. They’re the simple ones that have something I think of as a “lightbulb moment” — an idea, technique or ingredient that makes a dish distinctive, maybe even brilliant. You know a recipe has a lightbulb moment when you make it and you can’t get over how good it is, how excellent its ratio of effort to flavor.
Take our roasted chicken thighs with hot honey and lime. You brush the chicken with a mixture of butter and hot sauce while it’s still in the oven, for glossy heat. And this pepper steak with celery stir-fry is perked up with sunny strips of lemon peel and a big squeeze of lemon juice to serve. Those extra touches help these dishes shine.
Those recipes and more are below for your cooking pleasure. Ideas? Requests? Email me at [email protected]. I love to hear from you.
I’m also making:
Brown butter chocolate chip cookies. That’s about it; I’ve been traveling!
1. Roasted Chicken Thighs With Hot Honey and Lime
Vallery Lomas’s five-star recipe is all the more amazing because it’s made with pantry ingredients. Serve it with simple sides (rice, sautéed kale or other greens) to let those spicy-sweet flavors shine.
2. Blistered Broccoli Pasta With Walnuts, Pecorino and Mint
You can make this entire recipe from Dawn Perry in the time it takes for the pasta to cook. It’s so simple and so great. (I made it for the “Today” show yesterday if you want proof of how easy it is!)
3. Pepper Steak and Celery Stir-Fry With Lemon
I couldn’t stop eating this peppery dish when I made it last week. It’s by Andy Baraghani, and it must be one of the best dinners you can make from scratch in 30 minutes.
4. Baked Cod
This is one of those recipes you need in your rotation: an easy, fast and very tasty method for cooking cod, courtesy of Lidey Heuck. I sometimes buy frozen cod so I can make a meal like this on short notice, and you can use a mix of fresh or dried herbs to flavor it, depending on what you have in the kitchen.
5. Creamy Butternut Squash and Coconut Noodle Soup
You simmer squash directly in coconut milk broth to make this new soup from the supremely talented Christian Reynoso. I know it’s tempting to cook the noodles directly in the soup — but don’t! Boil them separately for best results.
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