LESS IS MORE

Five-ingredient peanut butter noodles a midnight win and other simple meals

Less is more: These are words to live by in the kitchen, especially midweek between 5 and 8 p.m. There are no trophies for the most time spent toiling on dinner after work, no awards for the most elaborate dishes sailing off your stove on a Tuesday evening.

I love a particularly ingenious less-ismore recipe, which is why I’m excited about Eric Kim’s new five-ingredient recipe for peanut butter noodles — a Parmesan-tossed classic in the making.

Eric’s noodles, and four other stunningly simple recipes, are below.

Peanut Butter Noodles

This nutty midnight pasta is a dream to cook, as it requires just a handful of pantry staples and one pot. Peanut butter (the less fancy, the better) anchors a creamy sauce swathed in umami. Accentuated by a good, salty Parmesan, these noodles recall those cheesy peanut butter sandwich crackers. They make an ideal dinner for one, but the amounts can easily be doubled or quadrupled as needed. For an equally gripping vegan alternative, try swapping out the butter for olive oil and the cheese for nutritional yeast. — Eric Kim

Yield: 1serving. Total time: 20minutes.

INGREDIENTS

Salt

4ounces spaghetti or 1individual package instant ramen (seasoning packet saved for another use)

2tablespoons creamy peanut butter 1tablespoon unsalted butter

1tablespoon finely grated Parmesan, plus more for serving

1 teaspoon soy sauce

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil (and salt it, if using spaghetti). Cook the noodles according to package instructions. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, then drain the noodles and return to the pot. Turn off the heat.

2. Add the peanut butter, butter, Parmesan and soy sauce. Vigorously stir the noodles for a minute, adding some reserved cooking water, a tablespoon or two at a time, until the sauce is glossy and clings to the noodles. Season to taste with salt.

3. Top with more cheese, if you’d like, and serve immediately.

One-pan Crispy Chicken and Chickpeas

This speedy, no-fuss meal comes together in one pan with a minimal ingredient list — and barely requires any chopping. The chicken skin crisps as it roasts, and the chickpeas, garlic and spinach soak up any juices at the bottom of the pan. A squeeze of fresh lemon juice at the end brightens up the whole dish. Make sure to stir the chickpeas and spinach together gently at the end to avoid breaking up the chickpeas too much. For added flavor, you could dust the chicken with smoked paprika, ground turmeric or your favorite spice blend before cooking. Serve this dish with yogurt and hot sauce on the side, and flatbread, if you like. — Yossy Arefi

Yield: 4servings. Total time: 45minutes.

INGREDIENTS

4bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 1 3/4 pounds)

Kosher salt and pepper

2 teaspoons olive oil, plus more as needed

2(15-ounce) cans of chickpeas, rinsed 4large garlic cloves, thinly sliced

4 (packed) cups or 1 (5-ounce) package baby spinach

1 large lemon, halved

Yogurt and hot sauce (both optional), for serving

1. Heat oven to 400degrees with a rack in the center.

2. Pat the chicken dry and season both sides with salt and pepper. Heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Put the chicken thighs in the skillet, skin-side down, and cook for 4to 5minutes, until light golden brown. Flip and cook for 2more minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate.

3. Add the chickpeas and garlic to the skillet and stir to coat in the oil and juices. If the pan seems at all dry, drizzle in a bit of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Place the chicken on top of the chickpeas, skin side up, in an even layer and transfer the pan to the oven. Bake for 30minutes or until the chicken is deeply golden and cooked through.

5. Remove the chicken to a clean plate, put the pan back on the stovetop over medium heat and add the spinach to the chickpeas in the pan, one handful at a time, stirring it until just wilted. Add the chicken back to the pan and squeeze a lemon half over the top; cut the remaining lemon half into 4wedges. Serve the chicken, chickpeas and spinach with the lemon wedges on the side, and yogurt and hot sauce for serving, if you like.

1. Preheat oven to 425degrees. In a large bowl, toss broccoli with 2tablespoons oil, coriander, cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and chile powder.

In a separate bowl, combine shrimp, remaining 2 tablespoons oil, lemon zest, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

2. Spread broccoli in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast for 10minutes. Add shrimp to baking sheet and toss with broccoli. Roast, tossing once halfway through, until shrimp are just opaque and broccoli is tender and golden around edges, about 10minutes more. Serve with lemon wedges, or squeeze lemon juice all over shrimp and broccoli just before serving. 3tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

5 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced

1/4 cup tomato paste

1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika

LINDA XIAO — THE NEW YORK TIMES Peanut butter noodles. This is easy cooking - a satisfying dish assembled from just a few brilliant pieces, and you can use either instant ramen or spaghetti for the noodles.

DAVID MALOSH — THE NEW YORK TIMES One-pan crispy chicken and chickpeas. Add spices to the chicken if you like, but definitely serve the dish with yogurt, hot sauce or both, as Yossy Arefi recommends.

TARA DONNE — THE NEW YORK TIMES Roasted broccoli with shrimp. This is an extremely quick and tasty recipe.

DAVID MALOSH — THE NEW YORK TIMES Orange-glazed baked salmon. The fish is drizzled with an orange-honey glaze and then gently cooked; reserved glaze is then tossed with olive oil and greens for a breezy salad. 2. Finely zest one of the generous amount of olive oil, 1 pound large shrimp, shelled oranges onto the salmon season well with kosher salt and deveined then squeeze its juice into and freshly ground black 11/4 teaspoons lemon zest a small skillet along with pepper, and place them on (from 1 large lemon) the juice of half of the other a baking sheet. Put it in the Lemon wedges, for serving orange. Bring to a boil over oven at a high temperature high and cook until reduced (in this recipe, 425degrees) by half, about 2minutes. and let the heat do the work. Let cool, then whisk in the The vegetables will soften honey. Drizzle half of the and caramelize, offering real glaze on the salmon; reserve depth of flavor. Here, we add the remaining. shrimp at the end, which 3. Thinly slice the remaining cooks quickly, to deliver an orange half into circles and easy weeknight meal. — lay on the salmon in an even Melissa Clark layer. Bake until salmon is Yield: 4servings. Total time: just cooked through and 30 minutes. slightly flaky, about 20 minutes. 4. In a medium bowl, toss the salad greens with the reserved glaze and the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and serve with the salmon.