Lemon-Garlic Chicken and Tomato Skewers with Basil Chimichurri

Lemon-Garlic Tomato and Chicken Skewers with Basil Chimichurri
Lemon-Garlic Tomato and Chicken Skewers with Basil Chimichurri

Grilled chicken doesn’t always need a long marinade to be full of flavor. These spend just a few minutes in a lemony-garlicky mix before they’re grilled to charred perfection. The hot chicken absorbs the flavor of the fresh basil chimichurri, and the grilled cherry tomatoes bring sweetness and acid.

(This recipe appeared earlier on Serious Eats.)

We need only the slightest of excuses to cook outside in the peak of heat-wave summer. Turn the stove on? Ah, no, thank you. Making a quick-marinated chicken dish that we can throw on the grill is an ideal solution. And, if we can use the Mediterranean heroes of the summer vegetable garden—tomatoes and basil—so much the better. Not only do tomatoes and basil taste great together, they also have a symbiotic relationship in the garden; companion gardening with the two plants in proximity improves their resistance to pests.

Lemon-Garlic Chicken and Tomato Kebabs with Basil Chimichurri
Prepping basil and parsley for the chimichurri

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Chorizo Quesadillas With Radish and Fennel Salsa

Chorizo Quesadillas With Radish and Fennel Salsa

There are days when you absolutely crave a quesadilla that is, in food-marketing parlance, “fully loaded.” But the more ingredients you put in your quesadilla, the more prep work and cooking you have to do, and some nights you just don’t have time for that. To keep this version under 20 minutes, we limited ourselves to two main ingredients in the tortilla itself, and paired it with a tart, crunchy chopped salsa that balances the richness of the quesadilla and elevates it from standard sports-TV fare. It may not be fully loaded with ingredients, but it’s definitely fully loaded with flavor.

Chorizo Quesadillas With Radish and Fennel Salsa
Spicy chorizo, gooey cheese and fresh scallions

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One-Pot Thai Curry Mussels with Rice Noodles

One-Pot Thai Curry Mussels with Rice Noodles

We spiced up our one-pot mussels with Thai curry sauce to make this red curry mussels recipe. It’s cheap, it’s delicious, and best of all, it’s ready in 20 minutes!

Note: you can also find this recipe on Serious Eats!

Mussels are perhaps not everyone’s first choice for a quick weeknight supper, but that assessment deserves to be challenged. They cook quickly and excel in simple recipes like this one. Most people have probably made a variation on moules à la provençale (mussels in a garlic-tomato sauce) or moules marinières (with white wine and butter). Today we’re using a Thai-style red curry paste and a quick vegetable sauté to create a bold, spicy broth that pairs perfectly with briny mussels. Add some easy rice stick noodles and you’ve got a complete meal on your hands in 20 minutes or less.

One-Pot Thai Curry Mussels with Rice Noodles
Fresh mussels cook in minutes which makes them perfect for quick meals.

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Frittata with Bacon, Corn and Gruyere

Frittata with Bacon, Corn and Gruyere

Sweet corn and smoky bacon make a delicious filling to this quick cooking frittata. Studded with cheesy nuggets of gruyere and spicy jalapeños, this is the type of quick dinner you’ll want to make all the time. 

***Note: Matt and I are thrilled to announce that we are now contributors at one of our favorite food blogs of all time, Serious Eats! I’m sure most of you are familiar with them but if you’re not, definitely check them out. I love their approach to cooking because they question everything (and just because something is always done a certain way, doesn’t mean that it’s always the best way). They test and test to make sure that recipes result in the best tasting dishes, with the most efficient and fool-proof techniques.

TL;DR[note]”Too long; didn’t read”, grandpa[/note] They’re even nerdier about cooking than we are!

If the egg is the versatile gymnast of the culinary world, the star of a thousand different techniques and dishes, the frittata is probably its signature move. It’s quick, it’s easy, and you can throw almost anything into it and come up with a winning recipe. You can whip one up in under 20 minutes, so it’s ideal for a quick weekday breakfast or weekend brunch, but we’re betting it will score a place in your dinner rotation, too.

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Ultimate Fried Chicken Sandwich with Basil Green Goddess Slaw

A fried chicken sandwich on a board

Ultimate Fried Chicken Sandwich with Basil Green Goddess Slaw

Our version of the ultimate, best-ever fried chicken sandwich: crisp, craggy crust, juicy, tender meat topped with a fresh Basil Green Goddess slaw. It’s unbelievably good. 

As a writer, I die a little inside every time I use an exclamation mark (enough already, Internet. I get it, you’re excited). But if ever a sandwich deserved some un-ironic enthusiasm, it’s this one. It’s crispy! It’s spicy! It’s tender and juicy and slathered with basil mayo!

I know I sound completely, utterly ridiculous but I don’t care! It’s that good.

Okay, I’m done shouting (for now).

Ultimate Fried Chicken Sandwich with Basil Green Goddess Slaw
That slaw though…

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One-pan Peri Peri Chicken and Rice

One-pan Peri Peri Chicken and Rice

So who is this ‘Nando’ and why is he so cheeky? No, seriously, I really want to know.

Being an American, the phrase ‘cheeky Nandos’ means almost nothing to me but for some inexplicable reason, it became stuck in my head the other day. I asked Matt (a Brit) what it meant and all he did was laugh, jump around and scream “Cheeky Nandos! Cheeky Nandos!” for about an hour until I was forced to distract him with a shiny Doctor Who marathon. Not helpful.

In this rare case, even the internet failed me. When I googled “What is cheeky nandos. Help, confused american.,” it suggested this article. This a sample explanation:

you know when you go down town with the lads and you all realize you’re hank marvin’ so you say “lads let’s go Maccers” but your mate Smithy a.k.a. The Bantersaurus Rex has some mula left on his nandos gift card and he’s like “mate let’s a have a cheeky nandos on me” and you go “Smithy my son you’re an absolute ledge” so you go have an extra cheeky nandos with a side order of Top Quality Banter  

One-pan Peri Peri Chicken and Rice
Peri Peri is a spicy sauce made with chilis, garlic and vinegar. Add some crispy chicken and creamy rice and you have a delicious, easy dinner.

So… yeah. Much clearer now. Thanks.

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