Weeknight Meals

Chocolate mousse would be a great simple ending to this meal for two.

This bread is turned out of the skillet to reveal a lovely array of whole sage leaves.

Red lentils, faster-cooking than other varieties of the legume, are the foundation of this earthy, rustic soup. Light but satisfying, it's a wonderful (and easy) start to an autumn meal.

Split and browned bratwurst provides contrast in a Normandy-style pairing of apples and cream.

Like an eastern European take on ravioli, this embodiment of Polish comfort food is right at home in a lively tomato sauce with dill and caraway seeds.

Requiring labor-intensive veal stock and a tableside flambé, this tony restaurant dish is usually impractical for the home cook. But we've found a shortcut you'll love: Using just a bit of puréed black-bean soup creates a wonderfully velvety—and completely convincing—sauce.

We often take black pepper for granted, grinding it onto every dish in sight. But the classic Roman dish cacio e pepe puts this distinctive spice front and center, which is exactly where we have it in this heartier whole-wheat version. Make sure you keep the robust, rib-sticking pasta as hot as possible—it will not only help melt the salty Pecorino but will also intensify the pepper's flavor.

Gently pickling the shallots mellows them and also adds hints of sweetness and acidity. Tossing them with some earthy, quick-cooked kale makes for a pleasing contrast in flavors.

A trilogy of apple—cider, cider vinegar, and ample chunks of Gala or Fuji— contributes sweet-tart goodness to this Germanic dish. It's a simple, straightforward celebration of fall.

These are the Jay Gatsbys of sloppy joes—suave, debonair. But we'd be remiss if we let the black-tie frippery of these cosmopolitan joes belie their true nature: Just as with Fitzgerald's famous hero, there's substance underneath all that class. These civilized sandwiches are hearty, delicious, and perfect for a weeknight dinner.

Long-grain rice won't do the trick here; short- and medium-grain have the perfect texture for the clay-pot chicken, not quite absorbing the sauce but supporting it in a delicious way.

Briggs takes iron-rich lean beef to another level by topping this steak with cantaloupe, one of the best sources of vitamin A, a nutrient that keeps your skin and eyes at their healthiest.

This appetizer from chef Joe Bonaparte, academic director of culinary arts at The Art Institute of Charlotte in North Carolina, provides bone-building calcium.