My Go-To Weeknight Dinners

Rick A. Martínez’s frijoles de olla.Credit…Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Mariana Velásquez. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks.

Hello, and thank you to Mia Leimkuhler for taking time off so I can go on and on about my favorite thing: recipes!

When you find a trustworthy one, hold on tight. After a long day of developing and testing recipes, what a relief it is to cling to someone else’s unwavering recipe for my own dinner.

That’s why it’s exciting that on Tuesday, New York Times Cooking is coming out with a new cookbook, “Easy Weeknight Dinners: 100 Fast, Flavor-Packed Meals for Busy People Who Still Want Something Good to Eat.” You can order a copy here, and if you’d like a signed edition, click here. On launch night, Emily Weinstein and I are talking dinner at Talea taproom in Brooklyn. We’d love to meet you! Get your tickets here.

When it’s already 7:30 p.m., I turn to something like Sue Li’s new seared tofu with kimchi. The tofu plumps with kimchi juice and soy sauce and then flops dramatically over steamed rice. After eating it, I did the same on the couch.

Melissa Clark’s chickpea stew with orzo and mustard greens is a favorite when chopping feels like a salve rather than a slog. It’s cozy, with chickpeas and orzo, and colorful, with carrots, tomatoes, fennel and greens.

To get ahead on tomorrow’s lunch, I grill or broil Lidey Heuck’s yogurt-marinated chicken to eat with salad for dinner and to stuff into quesadillas for lunch.

Another common dinner-then-lunch is Priya Krishna’s soothing and suspiciously fast everyday dal. Instead of the chhonk’s sizzled spices, sometimes I drizzle it with a