Easy Italian-inspired recipes for your next week of dinner
Despite this weekend’s uptick in hot temperatures again, it’s starting to feel a little bit like fall outside. And so I’m excited to be cooking more hearty fare for dinner throughout the week, getting ready for all things that bring to mind eating outside while dressed in a sweatshirt to keep me warm until dinner is done and the sun falls below the horizon. And because it’s the beginning of the month, that means a new slate of easy “Week of Meals” recipes, this time from food writer and recipe developer Thea Baumann.
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Thea’s recipes are incredibly simple and, truly, require little effort to pull off when you’re strapped for time or energy. In one dish, she caramelizes half a head of cauliflower to add umami depth to simple penne pasta, flavored with lots of lemon and chile flakes. The rest of that cauliflower gets grated into rice-like shreds to add body and extra veggies to a hearty lentil-and-rice bowl — teeming with cumin and topped with cilantro and yogurt — later in the week.
Grated, salted and drained zucchini adds loads of moisture (and more veggies) to lean ground lamb for grilled burgers topped with a garlicky yogurt sauce and served with a tart arugula salad. More arugula comes into play another day in a crunchy-cold salad with sliced fennel that helps enliven a deeply-flavorful roast chicken and bread dish — the kind of miracle all-in-one-pan dinner that cooks itself in the oven, the bread soaking up all the chicken’s juices and fat to become crunchy croutons.
And lastly, there’s a hearty chickpea soup made with tomatoes and escarole and topped with crunchy homemade bread crumbs that makes plenty of leftovers. It’s just the type of dish you want to keep in the fridge or freezer to pull out on the next dip in temps for a warming dinner while you dream of much cooler nights to come next month.
Penne With Caramelized Cauliflower, Garlic And Chile
Caramelized cauliflower quickly and easily adds lots of umami and body to this simple pasta dish. Make the sauce ahead and reheat it just when the pasta is done for the easiest, quickest weeknight meal ever.
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Cook time: 35 minutes.
Lentil And Rice Bowls With Grated Cauliflower, Spinach And Yogurt
Grated cauliflower, lentils and rice add texture to this easy, one-pot vegetarian dish dotted with steamed spinach and scented with cumin. This dish also works well as a side for fish or chicken.
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Cook time: 45 minutes.
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Lamb And Zucchini Burgers With Yogurt And Arugula
Grated and salted zucchini adds moisture and extra veggies to lean ground lamb for these burgers, which are topped with a simple lemony yogurt sauce. The ciabatta works wonderfully here to soak up all the juices from the burger patty and sauce, but use whatever you have.
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Cook time: 40 minutes.
Roasted Chicken And Bread With Fennel-Arugula Salad
This simple chicken dish basically looks after itself with minimal attention needed from the cook. While the chicken roasts, it renders its fat and juices into the bread below, which gets exceedingly crunchy — like a giant crouton. The acidic fennel and arugula salad lightens the chicken well, and can be made with any salad greens you like.
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Cook time: 1 hour.
Chickpea And Escarole Soup With Crispy Bread Crumbs
Fresh, crunchy bread crumbs add contrast to this light soup that eats like a hearty meal. Use another type of canned bean if that’s all you have and also feel free to switch the escarole for your favorite green, like Swiss chard or kale.
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Cook time: 50 minutes.
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