Weeknight Meals

Let your oven do the work on this juicy, piquant fish and the succulent red and orange roasted vegetables.

Bright green snow peas and rosy shrimp in a creamy, golden sauce—an elegant dish in only 20 minutes. (See photo)

Breaded fish is one of our favorites. The richness of pine nuts nicely balances the lemon and herbs to make an irresistible dish. Use just about any fish: flounder, salmon, tilapia, perch, cod, snapper, catfish.

Any firm fish is fine for this intensely flavored and aromatic dish. If you use thick fillets, such as salmon or tuna, and you have the time, coat the fish with the spice mixture and then cover and refrigerate for an hour or two to marinate.

This is one of the fastest yet most delectable fish preparations. Flounder is a delicate fish, so you need to use care (a wide spatula helps) when turning it to cook on the second side.

Up to a day before baking, Tortilla Melts can be assembled, wrapped in foil, and refrigerated. Bake in the foil for about 15 minutes and then remove the foil and bake for about 5 minutes more for the tortillas to crisp. Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to a week and reheat well.

These open-faced sandwiches are not very traditional, rather messy—and very satisfying.

This creamy vegan soup is spicy and a little sweet.

This is a sweet fried rice with a pleasing bite of ginger. Before you begin to stir-fry, cook rice if you don’t have any left over, and have everything prepped and close at hand.

Try this versatile omelet with traditional ingredients such as bean sprouts or water chestnuts, or look in your vegetable crisper and use that lonely stalk of celery or leftover carrot half, a handful of mushrooms or snow peas, some broccoli florets, etc. Try for a variety of colors and use up to 2 cups of chopped vegetables.

Fast, easy, warm, and inviting, this dish will quickly become a favorite part of your simple supper repertoire.

This might be just the ticket when you’re looking for something tasty and really fast.

One of our favorite home-style dishes at Hong Kong Restaurant in Ithaca’s Collegetown, this is the Chinese version of scrambled eggs and ketchup!

Why order takeout when you can create classic Chinese flavors so easily at home?

We think this inventive adaptation of a classic Italian dish is so good that it will soon show up on menus in the old neighborhoods. You never know.

You can make the sauce with other fruit spreads, such as peach, apricot, or strawberry. Make extra sauce—it will keep in the refrigerator for several weeks.

Is this really dinner? It is casual, messy finger food, but it has beans, grain, and cheese, it’s quite filling, and kids love it. We like Cheddar, Monterey Jack, or Mexican cheeses such asadero and queso quesadilla for this recipe.

Feta cheese, garlic, and artichoke hearts are some of our favorite ingredients; here, they’re combined in a very simple pasta dish that packs a lot of flavor. For this dish, we make an instant creamy sauce by stirring hot pasta-cooking water into feta.

Rich and delicious Walnut Pesto can be made in minutes in a food processor or blender—it will be ready before the pasta has cooked. Make extra; it keeps well for 3 or 4 days in the refrigerator and is good on boiled potatoes and steamed fish.

Shelled edamame (fresh soybeans) are available in the frozen food section of many natural foods stores and supermarkets. Whole wheat pasta is especially good in this dish. If you think you’ll be lucky enough to have leftovers for lunch tomorrow, instead of tossing the walnuts into the pasta, sprinkle them on top of each serving.