The holidays are as good a time as any to go all out with your cooking. For me, that means making relatively simple dishes that I rarely make the rest of the year, rather than spending days in the kitchen doing something one-off and involved. (The exception was December 2020, when I decided to make cassoulet for two adults, a toddler and a baby.)
Sometimes those festive, actually pretty simple dishes, like a roast, are fancy just by virtue of the quality and expense of ingredients involved. Season them right, don’t overcook them and you’ll do fine. More often, though, I’m cooking fish or chicken in an unfussy way. My go-to move: Chop some herbs, scatter them on top and suddenly it’s like you’re at a restaurant.
The top-rated recipes below live at this intersection of easy and fancy, and they’re charmingly casual, too — very “Oh this? I just threw it together.” If you’re a true beginner, start with Melissa Clark’s lemony roast chicken with potatoes, garnished with chopped dill, feta crumbles and extra lemon wedges; no condiments needed on the side.
If you need more holiday inspiration, we’ve got a lot of recipes right here. We also have an amazing new feature on New York Times Cooking: You can automatically convert measurements to metric on our app! Tap the little ruler at the top of the ingredient list on our iOS and Android apps to see. (This is the perfect moment to download our app if you don’t have it yet.)
Requests? Questions? Email me anytime at dearemily@nytimes.com.
I’m also making:
Cranberry spice Bundt cake; creamy Meyer lemon pasta; dumpling noodle soup.
1. Slow-Roasted Salmon With Salsa Verde
A large roasted salmon fillet is about as easy as it gets for a nice main course. Pair it with bright and herby Italian salsa verde, as Sheela Prakash does here, for extra color and zip. Sheela chops the herbs by hand, but a food processor works fine, too.
2. Chicken all’Arrabbiata
Ooh yes to spicy, saucy chicken. This dish from Dan Pelosi is fire-engine red, with flavor to match, from a combination of red pepper flakes and chopped Calabrian chiles (or hot cherry peppers if you like).
3. Borani Banjan (Afghan-style Eggplant in Yogurt)
This recipe from Zainab Shah is bejeweled with pomegranate seeds, and it’s as pleasing to look at as it is to eat. It’s a streamlined version of an Afghan staple, and you can simplify it even further by using an air fryer for the eggplant if you’ve got one.
4. BBQ Pepper Shrimp
Inspired by the BBQ pepper shrimp at the Lobster Pot in Provincetown, Mass., this recipe from Korsha Wilson combines the hot-sauced flavors of New Orleans-style BBQ shrimp with a French butter sauce. You could serve the shrimp with pasta, but all you really need is crusty bread and a salad to round out this extremely delicious meal.
5. Pork Chops With Kale and Dates
Dates and kale are an elegant match. Adding them to a bronzed pork chop, as Ali Slagle does, certifies this meal as holiday worthy. This would be perfect with roasted potatoes.
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