Weeknight Kitchen

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.

Rich, creamy, made in one pan – is this the ideal relaxed dinner-party dish? I think so! You can halve this recipe to serve two, or scale it up and use a large roasting dish to feed a crowd in a fuss-free manner. Use canned cherry tomatoes if you can find them: they add beautiful texture and are sweeter than regular canned tomatoes. Delicious served with couscous, short pasta or rice, and a dressed green salad.

This is one of those dishes I make at home a lot because it relies mainly on store-cupboard ingredients and uses an ingredient that I always keep in the freezer for emergencies: frozen raw peeled prawns. It really takes no time at all to throw together and works especially well with orzo, but you can use any pasta you like.

This is a recipe for Sweet Corn Risotto with Chili Crisp that uses a smart technique to get the very best out of an ear of sweet corn. In this take from Jessica Darakjian’s new book One-Pot Meals, she grates all but one ear of corn on a box grater to get every last drop of milk and juice. Then, she cuts the kernels off the remaining cob to add some chunkiness to the finished dish. Imagine: creaminess without the cream.

— Sally Swift