Weeknight Kitchen

When “salt,” “honey” and “butter” combine with just about any food, you know it’s going to be delicious. These cashews are so easy to eat, they should come with a warning label.

This is one of those simple soups that, after making and enjoying it just once, you won’t even need a recipe for it. The addition of Chinese five-spice, with its combination of star anise, fennel seed, Szechuan pepper, clove and cinnamon, really enhances the humble carrot and apple combination, giving it a well-rounded flavour complexity with minimal effort.

I cannot begin to describe how delicious these are: toothsome from the bulgur, salty from the feta and fresh from all that parsley, whose innate bitterness brings the fritters into balance. They are, of course, inspired by that classic Middle Eastern salad tabbouleh and—just as in that dish—the parsley is not merely a herb offered up for a bit of additional flavor, it is used as a green leafy vegetable in its own right.

Growing up in a Greek community on Long Island, I did not eat meatloaf as a kid because that was always thought to be very much an American dish. But as an adult, it’s one that I have really adopted as my own, and I love it as an easy, high-protein main dish for weeknights. I also think it’s a perfect vessel for Greek flavors like Kalamata olives, feta, and oregano, with tzatziki served on the side. As a nod to the classic, I give you the option of an American-style, ketchup-based glaze, which I am partial to, but it’s easy to leave out, based on your preferences.

A coffeeshop staple that’s easy to recreate at home, these cakey cookies are nicely spiced and finished with a beautiful brown butter-maple icing. The recipe halves easily

If you ask me what you should make for a vegetarian main, I will most likely suggest this whole roasted cauliflower. It’s hard for me to find more vegetarian-forward main dishes that leave me satisfied, but this one really delivers. Garlicky tahini is drizzled over soft and tender shawarma-spiced roasted cauliflower, then rounded out with crunchy quick-pickled dilly onions. It has the heat from the shawarma spice, the cooling effect from the tahini, and the crunch from the onions—quite literally an all-in one meal. Trust me, you will be comin’ back for seconds (and thirds).

Tigania, from tigani, the word for “frying pan,” usually refers to a dish of quickly seared small pork cubes finished with wine that is one of Greece’s favorite carnivorous mezedes. But vegetarians and vegans are having their day in Athens, too, and despite the incredible wealth of traditional plant-based dishes that are part of Greek cuisine, there’s also a move toward redesigning the classics to appeal to a growing audience of vegetarians. This dish in so many ways represents the new Athens: Greek but international, too, culled from tradition but changed, a mix of well-known Greek ingredients like honey, with newcomers like soy sauce, which would have been an unthinkable, even unknowable, addition a generation ago.

Keema Mattar was one of the great comfort foods of my childhood, and a staple of my family’s Sunday brunches. It is marvelously versatile—in addition to serving it as is, my mother used it as a filling for stuffed vegetables and flatbreads, and as the base for her shepherd’s pie. Leftovers were transformed into breaded cutlets, or croquettes, and enjoyed with tea the following day. Keema pizza and keema tacos are also excellent ideas.

Simple and easy to make, adding some of the pasta cooking water to the ricotta makes this dish creamier. My family used to use ditaloni pasta – a short pasta shaped like small tubes – which is eaten with a spoon, but here I’ve used spaghetti. We would also mix a tablespoon of sugar into the ricotta, without adding extra grated cheese... a real indulgence! 

A happy marriage between a roulade and a quiche! Usually roulade is sweet, but the technique works well for a savory treat too. The creamy celery root and parsnip filling adds a touch of luxury and finesse. I usually serve this as an appetizer, but it also makes an ideal veggie entrée to feed 4 people.