Every week, Executive Food Editor Keith Dresser pairs each main dish with a side to give you a complete, satisfying dinner without the guesswork. Look for the game plan section to learn tips on how to streamline your kitchen work so dinner comes together quicker.
Dinner 1: Chinese Stir-Fried Tomatoes and Eggs with Steamed Rice
Game Plan: Start by cooking the rice. As the rice cooks, prep and cook the stir-fry. If the rice is done before the stir-fry, allow it to stand off the heat, covered.
Xīhóngshì Chao Jīdà n is a hugely popular Chinese stir-fry (one of the first to incorporate tomatoes into a dish). We start by beating eggs with a little Shaoxing wine and toasted sesame oil to add savory notes as well as tenderness. Quickly cooking the eggs over medium-high heat promotes airier curds. For the tomato base, garlic, ginger, and scallions provide savoriness while canned tomatoes give us year-round consistency. Our Steamed Rice is soft enough to soak up savory sauces, yet sticky enough to pick up with chopsticks. Rinsing the grains removes some of their surface starch. Starting the grains in boiling water provides enough agitation to release the remaining starch, resulting in just the right amount of stickiness.
Printable Shopping Lists: Chinese Stir-Fried Tomatoes and Eggs with Steamed Rice
The Best Woks
After years of preferring nonstick skillets to woks for making stir-fries, we decided to take a fresh look at this traditional pan.
Read Our ReviewDinner 2: Potato-Leek Soup and Drop Biscuits
Game Plan: Heat the oven for the biscuits, then make the soup. After you remove the soup from the heat at the end of step 2, mix and bake the biscuits.
For Country-Style Potato-Leek Soup with a chunky, hearty texture, we start with creamy, lower-starch Red Bliss potatoes. Removing the pot from the heat allows the potatoes to finish cooking in the hot broth, thereby preventing them from overcooking and getting mushy. Our Drop Biscuits offer an easy-to-make alternative to traditional rolled biscuits, with the same tenderness and buttery flavor. The key is to let the melted butter clump in the cold buttermilk. These pockets of butter expand during baking, creating a light, airy crumb.
Printable Shopping Lists: Potato-Leek Soup with Drop Biscuits
The Best Rimmed Baking Sheets
A rimmed baking sheet is essential for baking but also for roasted veggies, proteins, and more. We found the best models in every size.
Read Our ReviewDinner 3: Turkey Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries
Game Plan: Start by prepping and cooking the sweet potatoes. As the fries roast, prep the burgers, but wait to cook them. Once the fries have been flipped in step 2, start the burgers.
For juicy Skillet Turkey Burgers, we start by adding baking soda and gelatin to help keep the meat moist as it cooks. A bit of melted butter adds richness while soy sauce and Parmesan contribute savoriness. For a nicely browned exterior and evenly cooked interior, we start cooking the patties in a cold skillet so the exteriors can slowly start to brown while the interiors have time to reach the 160-degree serving temperature. For easy, no-splatter Sweet Potato Oven Fries, we cut unpeeled sweet potatoes into wedges and cook them on an oiled, preheated baking sheet until they are crisp on both sides.
Printable Shopping Lists: Turkey Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries
To view more quick weeknight dinner ideas, check out the rest of the Dinner This Week series.
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