As holiday cooking season begins, weeknight cooking inspiration is needed now — maybe more than the rest of the year — because of all the indulgent cooking projects to sidetrack our everyday eating. That's why we're blessed to have a slate of five new weeknight dishes from author and recipe developer Dawn Perry.
Dawn's new cookbook "Ready, Set, Cook: How to Make Good Food With What's on Hand" (Simon & Schuster, 2021) publishes Nov. 2 and is packed with smart, pantry-friendly hacks to liven up the everyday meal. Fittingly, her recipes for our monthly Week of Meals package stick to that theme.
You spend just 30 minutes on Sunday prepping some condiments that will last you the rest of the week, used in different ways. A turmeric-spiked tahini sauce gets drizzled over avocado and tofu bowls served with crunchy, lime-y cabbage, another fridge-friendly side topping. That same cabbage is used as a topping for simple bacon, egg and cheese, breakfast-for-dinner tacos later in the week, also drizzled with a bright and tangy herb sauce that Perry appropriately names Zing! sauce.
For another meal, breaded and baked chicken tenders are dipped in that golden turmeric-tahini sauce and served with high-low sides of a celery, red grape and cheddar salad and french fries — a heavenly trio. That celery salad and the breakfast tacos also get a generous sprinkling of easy pickled red onions to add crunch and acid. Her method of eyeballing all the ingredients for it is brilliant.
Red-sauce Italian flavors take over for the remaining recipes, in the form of a pan of caramelized autumnal vegetables baked under a blanket of canned tomatoes and mozzarella cheese until bubbling and gooey. And finally, a throw-on-all-the-leftovers-friendly sheet pan pizza ends the week on a whimsical note, allowing you to sprinkle on whatever's left in your fridge or to top it with a simple fried egg and some chile flakes. Simple but resourceful is the name of the game in Dawn's world, and these recipes are your ticket into her world of fun and craveable cooking.
Tofu Bowls With Avocado, Cabbage and Turmeric Tahini
This recipe shows that seasoning tofu can really be as simple as letting it soak up soy sauce before a quick sauté to get the edges crisp and browned. Adding on avocado, creamy turmeric-tahini sauce and cooked grains makes it filling and texturally exciting to eat.
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Cook time: 30 minutes.
(Lindsay Kreighbaum / For The Times)
Oven-Baked Chicken Tenders With Celery and Grape Salad
Baking tenders instead of frying them requires a tad more work on the front end, but toasting bread crumbs — or whatever you're using — in butter before coating the cutlets ensures they'll end up golden and irresistible, no hot fat needed. And a handful of sweet grapes, shaved cheese and pickled onion brine elevate humble celery into a fantastic crunchy, cold salad to balance the tenders.
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Cook time: 40 minutes.
(Lindsay Kreighbaum / For The Times)
Vegetable Mozz With Spicy Spaghetti
Tomatoes and mozzarella go pretty nicely on a lot of things. Use jarred marinara if that's the tomato product you have around. Serving the vegetables with this spicy, garlicky spaghetti is perfect, but good ol' toast works wonderfully too.
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Cook time: 30 minutes.
(Lindsay Kreighbaum / For The Times)
Bacon, Egg and Cheese Tacos
This recipe is as easy to make for four people as it is to make for one. It's not really a recipe as much as it is a method. While the bacon is baking, you can scramble the eggs and get the tortillas and cheese ready to go so once the bacon is out, you just have a few more minutes of broiling until dinner is ready.
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Cook time: 30 minutes.
(Lindsay Kreighbaum / For The Times)
Sheet Pan Pizza
The best way to use up leftovers is to throw them on a big pizza. You can top this finished pie with whatever bits and pieces need eating or just enjoy it as a classic Margherita. Bake the pizza with just the sauce first. That way, the crust will be perfectly cooked (all the way through and crisp on the bottom) by the time the cheese is melted and bubbly on top.
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Cook time: 1 hour.
(Lindsay Kreighbaum / For The Times)
