Weekly Meal Plan: Crispy Chicken, No-Cook Puttanesca, and Smash Burgers on the Grill

There’s always another way to make dinner quickly. This week you’ll use a brick (or a heavy skillet) to speed up some chicken, and you'll make fast work of pasta by, um, not really cooking it at all. Mid-week, you'll make burgers, and a few days later you'll crumble those burgers to make cheeseburger nachos.

Yes, we said cheeseburger nachos.

All the details are below. But first, the grocery list:

Pantry

• Kosher salt

• Black pepper

• Crushed red pepper flakes

• Celery salt

• Extra-virgin olive oil

• Vegetable oil

• Sherry or red wine vinegar

• Oil-packed anchovies

• Dijon mustard

• Honey

• 1 cup Castelvetrano olives

• Capers

• Spaghetti

• Dill pickles

• Mayonnaise

• Ketchup

• Chipotles in adobo

• Green curry paste

• 8 oz. low-sodium chicken broth

• 1 (14-oz.) can coconut milk

• White rice

• Tortilla chips

• Pickled jalapenos (optional)

Produce

• 1 head garlic

• 1 large white onion

• 1 yellow onion

• Small piece fresh ginger

• 1 bunch parsley

• 1 bunch scallions

• 1 bunch basil

• 2 bunches curly kale

• 3 beefsteak tomatoes

• 1 pint cherry tomatoes

• 1 head iceberg lettuce

• 5 mini seedless or Persian cucumbers, or 1 small English hothouse cucumber (about 12 oz.)

• 1 red bell pepper

• 1/2 lb. sugar snap peas

• 3 lemons

• 2 limes

Dairy

• 2 oz. Parmesan

• Unsalted butter

• 8 slices American cheese

• 8 oz. Muenster cheese

Butcher’s Counter

• 8 skin-on, boneless chicken thighs (about 2 2/3 lb.)

• 2 1/4 lb. ground beef (20% fat)

Bakery

• 1 loaf crusty bread

• 4 potato rolls

MONDAY: Chicken Under a Brick in a Hurry with Simplest Kale Salad

This chicken is so fast you’ll be able to knock out a second batch to nextover and still get dinner on the table in about 30 minutes. You don’t have to double the salsa verde—but it’s so enticing, you may want to keep some on-hand for emergencies. Before you start on the chicken, throw together the kale salad; it’ll be perfect by the time the chicken is ready. Serve with crusty bread, and refrigerate the spare chicken for Thursday.

TUESDAY: Spaghetti with No-Cook Puttanesca

This time of year, tomatoes practically beg to be turned into no-cook pasta sauces. Tonight’s version uses both beefsteak and cherry varieties. As any respectable no-cook sauce should be, it’s ready in the time it takes to cook the spaghetti.

WEDNESDAY: Double-Stack Smash Burger Alfresco with Cheese with Smashed Cucumber Salad

Smashed burgers + smashed cucumbers = one smashing dinner. Cook four extra burgers to nextover for Friday—get those out of the way first, so the ones you eat tonight will be fresh off the grill. (Save half the white onion to use on Friday, too.) While the grill is heating up, smash up some cucumbers for a quick, kid-friendly side.

THURSDAY: Easy Green Curry with Chicken, Bell Pepper, and Sugar Snap Peas

Monday’s cooked chicken means tonight’s dinner is ready in about 20 minutes—don’t forget to discard the chicken skin before chopping the meat. Cook a cup of rice according to package directions, or make a big batch and freeze the extra.

FRIDAY: Cheeseburger Nachos

Want to end the week on a crowd-pleasing high note? Nextover your smash burgers into a big platter of nachos. These instructions are pretty loose; if you need more guidance, click here.

Originally Appeared on Epicurious