Cold poached salmon may be summer’s best meal: a make-ahead that’s ready for lunch on the deck or patio whenever the time’s right. Notice that the salmon poaches here at LOW pressure to preserve the meat and keep it from overcooking.
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Porcini and Orange Braised Short Ribs
Break out the slow cooker! This sweet-and-sour braise is a great meal on a very cold night. Make sure you crumble the dried porcini so they contribute the most flavor to the stew, providing an earthy contrast to the vinegary orange sauce.
Milk-Braised Chicken Legs with Spiced Rice
Milk may not seem a likely braising liquid, but it works beautifully, tenderizing the meat and combining with the chicken juices and spices to create the sauce. You can brown the meat in advance, assemble the braise and refrigerate it, then pop it into the oven just before you want to eat; in under an hour you’ll have a comforting main course that’s perfect for a snowy evening.
Faith’s Hearty Curried Lentil Vegetable Soup
This is one of Faith’s favorite go-to soup-as-a-meal recipes. She prefers red lentils, simply because she finds them beautiful, but you could use brown lentils if that’s what you have or what you like. As a last step, she uses an immersion blender to thicken the soup, but you don’t have to if you like the texture of the plump cooked lentils as they are.
Alex Province’s Seafood Soup with Sherry Wine
The same way I save the chicken carcass after a chicken dinner to make stock, I save lobster shells all summer long and turn them into broth. You can do this with shrimp shells, too. What do the shells add to the broth? A beautiful brininess. It’s the essence of the sea.
Skinnytaste Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore
Since the sauce is hearty and chunky, it’s perfect to make in the slow cooker. While any part of the chicken works great, Gina Homolka prefers to use skinless chicken thighs that are still on the bone. The chicken comes out so juicy and tender, and the bones add flavor to the sauce.
