Weeknight Kitchen

Not a side dish at all, this is a well-stocked breakfast entrée. Make sure the potatoes are diced — that is, in 1/2-inch cubes. They must be small and evenly sized to cook in the stated time. Skip processed sandwich meat and look for whole, roasted smoked ham at the deli counter. Have the butcher cut it into 1/2-inch slices to make the dicing easier for you.

After achieving my active wellness mode goals, I added a little organic, grass-fed steak back into my way of eating. I did it less so for the sake of eating meat again. The flavor is certainly incomparable but it’s not essential to my palate. I make a steak now and again more so to honor a past food ritual and share a hearty dining experience with someone I love.

A DIY lunch, especially one with edible dinnerware in the form of vegetable wraps, is soul-satisfying comfort food for me. Filling but not at all heavy—just on flavor—it works both inside and outside of the box for away and at home. This lunch box easily transforms to be vegetarian. See the Lunch Note for the perfect plant-based protein replacement.

This comforting soup is wonderfully creamy, with warm and satisfying hits from coriander, cumin and, most importantly, fresh turmeric. When in season, fresh turmeric is available from many supermarkets and Indian grocery stores, and you may well be able to find it online. You could use ground turmeric for this recipe if you can’t find fresh, but bear in mind its flavour is more powerful than that of fresh. The lentils and chicken work very well together, but if you prefer you can make a vegetarian version by omitting the chicken and doubling the quantity of lentils. And, as a change from soup, you could try this dish with rice and a dollop of yogurt on top.

Smoked fish has saved me on more than one, more than two, more than twenty occasions—it’s just that fast and easy to build a meal around. Think of using it anywhere you’d use jarred tuna: in a salad, in a sandwich, in cold pasta, or simply flaked and eaten with crackers.

Traditionally, carnitas are slow cooked for hours in a large copper cazo (pot) filled with manteca de cerdo (pork lard) and stirred occasionally with an oversize (4- to 6-foot) wooden spoon. While the resulting little pieces of crispy fried pork are absolutely irresistible, the reality is: Ain’t no one got time for that. But with the Instant Pot® you can enjoy a healthier and more flavorful version of carnitas in about an hour. Make a feast out of this easy weeknight meal by serving with beans and rice, or serve the carnitas as a simple taco filling and top with chopped onion, cilantro, a squeeze of fresh lime juice, and your favorite salsa.

When it comes to cooking matzo balls, there are two schools of thought. Some people like to simmer them in their own pot of stock or heavily salted water and then add them to the soup bowls for serving. This gives you the clearest soup, without the starch of the matzo balls clouding the broth. Others go the simpler route, cooking the balls directly in the soup pot. This recipe follows the latter, easier path. The broth does get a bit cloudy, but the flavor is not impacted, and I’ll go for ease over looks any day. If you do, however, want a  crystal-clear broth, you can make the soup, remove it from the pressure cooker pot, then cook the matzo balls in plain chicken stock or 2 quarts well-salted water on high pressure for 13 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the matzo balls after cooking, then add them to the soup just before serving

Spelt Spaghetti with Wild Mushrooms & Parmesan Cream
(Spaghetti di Farro con Funghi e Crema di Parmigiano)