Weeknight Meals

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from chef Neil Perry's book Rockpool. Neil also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. For your convenience, we've converted the measures — with as much accuracy as possible — from Australian to American. For those who have metric equipment and wish to follow Neil's recipe to the milliliter, we've included the original measures too. To read more about Neil and Australian cuisine, click here. This dish is a take on a Korean salad of raw beef with a sesame-oil dressing, raw egg yolk, Chinese cabbage and a combination of sesame seeds and pine nuts. The beef is almost frozen, and the crisp texture is offset by the silkiness of the egg yolk and the creaminess of the pine nuts. This dish is so good that in the old days Greg Frazer, Barry McDonald and I have been known to start with one and have another for dessert at the end of a meal. I decided to do a tuna dish inspired by this, and since it was raw and used an egg yolk, I called it Korean Tuna Tartare. The times I have taken it off the menu have been met with firm resistance from regular customers.

A crunchy and colorful salad with a lively dressing. Pomegranate juice and pomegranate seeds can be substituted for the cranberry juice concentrate and cranberries.

Serve with: Crusty French rolls and steamed new potatoes tossed with butter and chervil. Dessert: Meringues filled with purchased lemon curd and sprinkled with blueberries.

Creamed spinach and baked sweet potatoes drizzled with maple syrup make good partners for these crispy cutlets. Top vanilla frozen yogurt with fudge sauce and a few raspberries for dessert.

Serve over steamed basmati rice. Garam masala, a spice mixture, is available at Indian markets and some supermarkets.

This creamy mixture of spinach, cheese and basil is an unforgettable side dish.

To begin, fill a platter with slices of bresaola and mozzarella, and also serve a warm salad of roasted peppers. The spinach, basil and ricotta puree and orzo with lemon peel are terrific with the chicken, as is a dry white wine like a Greco di Tufo. Dessert should have an Italian accent, too: Try slices of fresh pears topped with mascarpone and a warm walnut-caramel sauce.

"On a visit to Miami Beach, a friend suggested we try the Gaucho Room at Loews Miami Beach Hotel," writes Anthony M. Stephens of Concord, California. "I have had many versions of Caesar salad, but none compare to the one I ate there; the house-made herbed croutons and dressing were so fresh. Would chef Frank Randazzo share his recipe?"

Serve with: Tossed green salad. Dessert: Chocolate sorbet with biscotti.

The onions can be made 3 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.

This is my son, Dante's, favorite summer dish at Craft, and it's not hard to figure out why; the white corn, already sweet to begin with, is served in a "cream" derived naturally from puréed corn, further intensifying the corn flavor. Unlike corn on the cob, which is best eaten straight from the field, corn that is a day or two old may work even better here, since some of the natural sugars will have converted to starch, allowing for a thicker cream.

This lemony pasta dish is great with sesame breadsticks and a salad of sliced tomatoes and Vidalia onions in a red-wine vinaigrette. End with hazelnut cookies and a mixed-melon compote splashed with Champagne.