Weeknight Meals

A lovely vinaigrette, enhanced with pan juices and the flavorful punch of a little tapenade, makes this simple broiled fish taste deep and complex.

Can your local deli counter inspire a cool Vietnamese-style meal? Definitely. Here, roast beef, already cooked to medium-rare (perfection, in our opinion), is a main player.

One of the things we love about pesto is its versatility: Peas can take on basil's traditional role without missing a beat.

This no-cook soup defeats the summer heat — cucumber provides crunch alongside a hint of minutest, and avocado adds mouthwatering creaminutesess.

Catfish stays tender and moist when baked in a crunchy crust of bread crumbs and cornmeal. A take on traditional New Orleans rémoulade adds a piquant punch.

The vegetables, along with the canned Italian tuna, in this colorful tossed salad create a positively satisfying meal. (Using an imported brand of tuna will make all the difference.)

Quinoa is a fast-cooking, protein-packed whole grain. Steamed, it makes a perfect partner for lime-spiked black beans and fresh tomato.

Pouring a citrusy vinaigrette over hot grilled pork chops enhances their flavor and balances their richness. The chops go extremely well with the black-bean and tomato quinoa

For this Spanish-inspired pasta, you break the dried noodles and cook them more like rice — the result is a silky mix speckled with crunchy almonds, smoky chorizo, and aromatic saffron.

Serving flank steak (a favorite for the grill) Korean style is always a hit — guests make lettuce-leaf bundles with rice and thin slices of the meat and do the garnishing on their own.

We're convinced that red trout is well worth looking for. We love its firm texture, its delicate flavor, and its gorgeous pink flesh, which here contrasts beautifully with the green pesto—an all-purpose sauce that would taste great with just about any type of fish or pasta.

For easy eating on a picnic, chicken thighs and drumsticks are great because they can be firmly grasped without the use of utensils. This moist and flavorful recipe is delicious either warm or cold. Be sure to start the chicken marinating at least 30 minutes ahead.

These slender, snack-sized sandwiches, with rich rare beef, creamy avocado, lemon, and chives, will get appetites going, especially out in the fresh air.

To turn this starter into a main course, top it with skewers of grilled shrimp.

For burgers with the best texture, blend the meat and seasoning gently, trying not to overwork it, and then shape the mixture into patties.