A take on my mother-in-law’s traditional Kuku Sabzi, a Persian Herb Frittata. A great way to sneak in veggies, too with a portion of spinach!
Three quarters of a bunch of parsley goes into a pound of ground chicken, which sounds like far too much and is exactly right — the herbs are the dish here, not a garnish. The onions are grated rather than chopped and caramelized before anything else, so they melt into the patties instead of sitting in them as pieces. Let them cool before the egg goes in, then fry the patties until golden on both sides.
A chicken cutlet, meatballs and sauce, then a second cutlet on top — the sandwich uses no bread at all. The cutlets are breaded and fried in about ten minutes.
The meatballs are the three-hour part, so they are worth making the day before. Stir them gently every half hour while they simmer; they are soft in the sauce and a rough spoon turns them into bolognese.
This dairy-free chicken fettuccine alfredo gets its creaminess from a can of full-fat coconut milk and a proper flour roux, not cream — and the roux is the part to pay attention to. Whisk the flour into the onion and garlic for a full three or four minutes until it turns golden before any liquid goes in, or the sauce tastes of raw flour. It then needs about ten minutes on low to thicken. A tablespoon of lemon juice at the end cuts the coconut so it reads as alfredo rather than curry.
Recipe inspired by @buzzfeedtasty
A weeknight bolognese, which means it starts with a jar of marinara and nobody apologises for it. The work is in the onions — take them all the way to golden before the meat goes in and it tastes like it simmered far longer than it did.
Turkey, chicken or beef all work. Half a jar of sauce is enough for a pound of meat; more than that and you’re eating pasta with sauce rather than bolognese.
A pinch of chili flakes with the salt and pepper does more for it than any other single thing.
Everything goes into the slow cooker at once — no browning, no layering, no second pan. Coconut milk, peanut butter, ginger and garlic do the work, and the frozen riced cauliflower goes in straight from the freezer.
Stir it properly before the lid goes on. Peanut butter floats if you don't, and three hours later you find a seam of it sitting on top instead of through the sauce. Serve it over quinoa.
Recipe inspired by @dinnerthendessert
Four ingredients in the sauce — garlic, honey, lemon juice and coconut aminos — whisked together before the chicken ever hits the pan. That’s the whole marinade, and it doubles as the glaze.
Skin side down first in a hot oven-safe skillet, and leave it alone. The sauce doesn’t go in until you flip, because honey in a hot dry pan burns before the chicken is anywhere near done.
Then straight into a 400° oven in the same skillet. Thighs rather than breasts, which is what makes this forgiving.
Recipe inspired by @kitchn
Chicken rubbed with cinnamon, ginger and turmeric, simmered with sweet potato, while a handful of dried apricots reduces down to a glaze in a second pan. The two come together in the last ten minutes.
Brown the chicken in two batches the way the directions say. A crowded pan drops in temperature and the chicken steams instead of browning, and that browning is most of the flavour the spices have to build on.
Inspired by @epicurious
Breaded chicken cutlets under a sauce of apples cooked down with maple syrup, lemon and white wine. Nine tablespoons of maple against six of lemon sounds like a lot of both, and they hold each other in check.
Keep the sauce in its own pan until the plates are on the table. Poured over early it soaks straight into the breading, and the crust you spent ten minutes getting golden goes soft in about two.
Recipe passed down by Liv's uncle's mother
Spaghetti squash roasted until the strands pull apart with a fork, under a turkey bolognese built on caramelized onions and half a jar of marinara. About an hour, almost all of it hands-off.
Roast the squash cut side down over an inch of water. Face up, the exposed flesh dries out before the squash is tender; face down it steams inside its own shell and the strands separate cleanly. Forty-five minutes for al dente, an hour for softer.