Dinner

Introduction
One of the most thrilling moments of culinary discovery in my life was when, at age 16, a friend and I took ourselves out to dinner at a “fancy” restaurant with our babysitting money.

We were paying. We were without any grown-ups. And we could eat anything we wanted.

For the first time in my life, I didn’t have to order a “proper meal.” I didn’t even have to get an entrée. What I craved was two appetizers, the crab salad and the rustic pâté. Then my friend and I split three desserts. It felt both rebellious and liberating, and very adult.

I think these days a lot of us eat this way at restaurants, putting meals together from a variety of small plates and side dishes and splitting entrées and desserts. We aren’t afraid to mix it up to get what we really want.

But at home, dinner still often means a protein and two sides. A meat-and-two-veg. And this can make cooking dinner night after night a challenge because it ignores our evolution as a food culture. That’s not how most of us eat—or want to eat—on a daily basis. Today’s dinner can take a lot of different forms. But the conundrum for cooks is that we haven’t defined what those forms are. So it’s left many of us struggling in a void between what we think a proper meal should be, and what we actually want to cook and eat for dinner.

But the fact that our collective tastes have changed is a boon for the cook, an excuse to get creative. We’ve fallen love with all kinds of diverse ingredients: preserved lemons, kimchi, miso, quinoa, pork belly, panko. And now that these ingredients are becoming more available, they can become kitchen staples, expanding our horizons once we figure out how we like to use them.

And they’re a path out of the tyranny of a perfectly composed plate with three distinct elements in separate little piles. The chicken, the carrots, the rice. The meatloaf, the mashed potatoes, the peas. At least for me, even more pleasing is a giant salad filled with oozing, creamy Burrata cheese, ripe juicy tomatoes, and peaches (page 344). Serve it with a baguette you picked up on the way home or squirreled away in your freezer, and maybe some salami and that’s all you need for a meal. Likewise, a grain bowl made from brown rice or red quinoa and topped with corn, black beans, and avocado (page 278), or fried tofu and kimchi (page 328). Or how about curried lentils with runny eggs and cool spiced yogurt (page 243)? Or a simplified chicken pho with rice noodles and crispy chicken skin (page 324)?

These are one-pot (or bowl) meals that reach a very high bar, both in terms of taste and also preparation. Less is more here. More flavor, less work.

That’s what this book is about. It’s designed to help you figure out what to make for dinner without falling back on what you’ve eaten before. It’s about giving you options, lots of options. Are you a vegetarian or just a vegetable lover? I’ve got you covered. A die-hard meat lover? A fish enthusiast? A pasta aficionado? A culinary explorer ready to take on a challenge? Or the kind of cook who wants to revel in the comforting and familiar, but with a twist—a dash of Sriracha, a sprinkling of Turkish chile, a spoonful of minced preserved lemon or Indian lime pickle. Adding flavor in unexpected ways using condiments makes dinner better, but without any extra work once you’ve stocked your pantry (see pages 17-19). And the payoff is exponential.
In these pages, it’s all here for you.

Harissa Chicken with Leeks, Potatoes, and Yogurt
TOTAL TIME: 1 HOUR + 30 MINUTES MARINATING
SERVES 3

One of my all-time favorites, this sheet-pan supper has it all—spicy harissa-laced roasted chicken; sweet, browned leeks; crunchy potatoes; plus a cool garnish of salted yogurt and plenty of fresh bright herbs. It’s a little lighter than your average roasted chicken and potatoes dinner, and a lot more profoundly flavored.

The key here (and with all sheet-pan suppers) is to make sure the ingredients can all cook together on the same pan. This means cutting sturdy, denser things into smaller chunks that will cook at the same rate (chicken, potatoes), and adding the more delicate ingredients (here, the leeks) toward the end so they don’t burn. Another important note: don’t overpopulate the pan. You need to leave space between things so ingredients can brown and crisp rather than steam. If you want to double the recipe to feed six, you can, as long as you spread everything out in two pans rather than crowding them in one.

1 1/2 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and drumsticks
1 1/4 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 × 1/2-inch chunks
3 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons harissa
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
4 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed
2 leeks, white and light green parts, halved lengthwise, rinsed, and thinly sliced into half-moons
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/3 cup plain yogurt, preferably whole-milk (if using Greek, thin it down with a little milk to make it drizzle-able)
1 small garlic clove
1 cup mixed soft fresh herbs such as dill, parsley, mint, and/or cilantro leaves
Fresh lemon juice, as needed
 
1. Combine the chicken and potatoes in a large bowl. Season them with 2 1/2 teaspoons of the salt and 1/2 teaspoon of the pepper. In a small bowl, whisk together the harissa, cumin, and 3 tablespoons of the olive oil. Pour this mixture over the chicken and potatoes, and toss to combine. Let it stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
 
2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the leeks, lemon zest, ¼ teaspoon of the salt, and the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil.
 
3. Heat the oven to 425°F.
 
4. Arrange the chicken and potatoes in a single layer on a large rimmed baking sheet, and roast for 20 minutes. Then toss the potatoes lightly, and scatter the leeks over the baking sheet. Roast until the chicken is cooked through and everything is golden and slightly crisped, 20 to 25 minutes longer.
 
5. While the chicken cooks, place the yogurt in a small bowl. Grate the garlic clove over the yogurt, and season with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
 
6. Spoon the yogurt over the chicken and vegetables in the baking sheet (or you can transfer everything to a platter if you want to be fancy about it). Scatter the herbs over the yogurt, drizzle some olive oil and lemon juice over the top, and serve.