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-is-more 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.

1. Peanut Butter Noodles

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. Props styled by Sophia Eleni Pappas. Food styled by Sue Li. (Linda Xiao/The New York Times)

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.

By Eric Kim

Yield: 1 serving

Total time: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

Salt
4 ounces spaghetti or 1 individual package instant ramen (seasoning packet saved for another use)
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon finely grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
1 teaspoon soy sauce

DIRECTIONS

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

2. One-Pan Crispy Chicken and Chickpeas

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. Food styled by Simon Andrews. (David Malosh/The New York Times)

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.

By Yossy Arefi

Yield: 4 servings

Total time: 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS

4 bone-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
4 large 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

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 400 degrees with a rack in the center.
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 4 to 5 minutes, until light golden brown. Flip and cook for 2 more minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate.
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.
Place the chicken on top of the chickpeas, skin side up, in an even layer and transfer the pan to the oven. Bake for 30 minutes or until the chicken is deeply golden and cooked through.
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 4 wedges. Serve the chicken, chickpeas and spinach with the lemon wedges on the side, and yogurt and hot sauce for serving, if you like.

3. Orange-Glazed Baked Salmon

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. Food styled by Hadas Smirnoff. (David Malosh/The New York Times)

Baking salmon gently at a low temperature is a low-effort approach that results in a flaky, moist piece of fish. This simple preparation utilizes oranges, but lemons would work nicely, too. You’ll reduce some fresh orange juice in a skillet to concentrate its flavor, then whisk in some honey to sweeten. The glaze gets drizzled over the salmon before baking but also doubles as a dressing for salad greens. Keep this dish simple, with just its side of greens, or pair this easy weeknight meal with cilantro rice or olive oil mashed potatoes.

By Farideh Sadeghin

Yield: 2 to 4 servings

Total time: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 (2-pound) piece skin-on salmon fillet
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 oranges
2 tablespoons honey
5 ounces salad greens
2 tablespoons olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Place the salmon in a baking dish, skin-side down, and season the top with salt and pepper.
Finely zest one of the oranges onto the salmon then squeeze its juice into a small skillet along with the juice of half of the other orange. Bring to a boil over high and cook until reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Let cool, then whisk in the honey. Drizzle half of the glaze on the salmon; reserve the remaining.
Thinly slice the remaining orange half into circles and lay on the salmon in an even layer. Bake until salmon is just cooked through and slightly flaky, about 20 minutes.
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.

4. Roasted Broccoli With Shrimp

Roasted broccoli with shrimp. This is an extremely quick and tasty Melissa Clark recipe. Food styled by LIza Jernow. (Tara Donne/The New York Times)

Here is a fast, delicious one-pan supper that could not be simpler or tastier. Just coat your ingredients with a generous amount of olive oil, season well with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, and place them on a baking sheet. Put it in the oven at a high temperature (in this recipe, 425 degrees) and let the heat do the work. The vegetables will soften and caramelize, offering real depth of flavor. Here, we add shrimp at the end, which cooks quickly, to deliver an easy weeknight meal.

By Melissa Clark

Yield: 4 servings

Total time: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds broccoli, cut into bite-size florets
4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon hot chile powder
1 pound large shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 1/4 teaspoons lemon zest (from 1 large lemon)
Lemon wedges, for serving

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, toss broccoli with 2 tablespoons 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.
Spread broccoli in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast for 10 minutes. 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 10 minutes more. Serve with lemon wedges, or squeeze lemon juice all over shrimp and broccoli just before serving.

5. Cheesy, Spicy Black-Bean Bake

Whether or not you’ve fallen for this cheesy white-bean tomato bake, we’d like you to meet its bolder counterpart, smoky and spiced, with lots of melty cheese. Black beans shine in a deep-red mixture of fried garlic, caramelized tomato paste, smoked paprika and cumin. The whole skillet gets coated in a generous sprinkling of sharp cheddar or manchego cheese, then baked until melted. The final result is what you hope for from a really good chili or stew, but in a lot less time. For a spicier rendition, add a pinch of cayenne with the paprika or douse the final skillet with hot sauce. Serve with tortillas, tortilla chips, rice, a baked potato or fried eggs.

By Ali Slagle

Yield: 4 servings

Total time: 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
5 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 (14-ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup boiling water
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar or manchego cheese (from about a 6-ounce block)

DIRECTIONS

Heat the oven to 475 degrees. In a 10-inch ovenproof skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high. Fry the garlic until lightly golden, about 1 minute. Stir in the tomato paste, paprika, red-pepper flakes and cumin (be careful of splattering), and fry for 30 seconds, reducing the heat as needed to prevent the garlic from burning.
Add the beans, water and generous pinches of salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top then bake until the cheese has melted, 5 to 10 minutes. If the top is not as browned as you’d like, run the skillet under the broiler for 1 or 2 minutes. Serve immediately.

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The Chicago Bears and local schools are $100 million apart on the property tax valuations of the former Arlington International Racecourse, where the team wants to build an enclosed stadium.

The huge gap means that the two sides are likely to have difficulty reaching a compromise on the value and further complicates the team’s plan to move to Arlington Heights.

The ongoing issue came up Tuesday during a meeting of the Cook County Board of (Tax) Review.

The Bears presented two appraisals of the 326-acre property, for $60 million and $71 million, board of review officials said. The key to the Bears’ appraisal was categorizing the property as vacant residential land, which gets taxed at 10% of market value.

The local school districts have had the land valued at $160 million.

The Palatine Community Consolidated School District 15 appraisal classified the land for commercial use, which puts it into a 25% tax bracket.

In a tri-yearly assessment in 2023, Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi raised the appraised value from $33 million to almost equal to the $197 million the Bears paid for the land last year.

District 15, Arlington Heights-based Township High School District 214, and Palatine-based Township High School District 211, reached an agreement last year with the former owner, Churchill Downs Inc., to value the site at $8 million.

But Churchill Downs, which closed the racetrack to concentrate more on casinos, was eager to be rid of the property, and had to negotiate just one year’s valuation. The Bears are looking at a process that could set a baseline for the tax value for the property for years to come.

To lower the value of the site, the Bears demolished the racetrack last year to turn it into vacant land. But Kaegi then significantly increased the value of the land, which typically stays fairly stable.

“There’s no documentation or justification for such a substantial increase,” Cook County Board of (Tax) Review Chairwoman Samantha Steele said. “My concern is not that it’s the Bears or Arlington Park, it’s that each taxpayer needs to be treated fairly and make a prediction of what the tax bill will look like.

“They both have compelling arguments,” Steele said. “It’s in both parties best interests to come together. It’s like two children arguing, you want to figure it out before you go to Mom and she takes (the decision) away.”

Board Commissioner Larry Rogers, Jr. also was critical of the assessor’s valuation, forming a potential vote in the Bears’ favor.

When the Chicago White Sox unveiled a sparkling new stadium on 35th Street in 1991, owner Jerry Reinsdorf declared he was “awestruck” at its beauty and predicted it wouldn’t “take a back seat” to any stadium in Major League Baseball for years to come.

But since that April day after the Sox had shuttered the original Comiskey Park across the street, the South Siders’ current home stadium has been a consistent source of criticism, tension and angst, with fans clamoring for a change even as major improvements have been made.

This week, a new twist developed in that long-running saga when it was revealed that Reinsdorf and the White Sox were in discussions about building a baseball-only Sox stadium about 3 miles to the northeast at Roosevelt Road and Clark Street as part of a massive development at a property in the South Loop called “The 78.″

Ald. Pat Dowell, whose 3rd Ward includes The 78, confirmed Related Midwest, the developer that owns the parcel, wants to discuss a White Sox relocation to that site.

“I will meet soon with the developers of The 78 to discuss the possibility of a stadium being built for the Chicago White Sox,” Dowell said in a statement Thursday afternoon.

Ald. Nicole Lee, who represents the area that includes Guaranteed Rate Field, where the team plays now, said she will also meet with Related Midwest and the Sox on the proposal.

“The White Sox have proudly called Chicago and Bridgeport home for over a century,” Lee said. “As a lifelong fan and now alderperson of the 11th Ward, I am wholeheartedly committed to keeping the Sox on the South Side.”

While serious questions remain about how real the talks are, whether such a plan will get off the ground and how it would be paid for, the news the Sox might leave their longtime home in the Bridgeport-Armour Square neighborhood spurred dreams that a modern ballpark ringed by skyscrapers and closer to downtown could breathe new life into the team and its fan base.

“The ballpark is right now not really in a neighborhood, it’s in the middle of nowhere, and a not very attractive nowhere,” said Allen Sanderson, a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago who studies the economics of sports. “And getting to the ballpark, there is nothing wonderful about that experience.”

Related Midwest declined to comment through Tricia Van Horn, vice president of marketing and communications. The Illinois Sports Facilities Authority — which owns Guaranteed Rate Field — has not been involved in the talks, the organization’s CEO, Frank Bilecki, told the Tribune.

“I’m not part of the discussion, at least as of yet,” Bilecki said. “I truly know nothing. I’m a landlord and they’re a tenant, and they’re looking at options as tenants do everywhere.”

The Chicago Sun-Times reported Thursday that “serious” negotiations have taken place between the Sox and Related Midwest about the potential move to The 78.

The Sox and Mayor Brandon Johnson released a joint statement Thursday that did not address the possibility of a new stadium being built on the site.

“Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf met to discuss the historic partnership between the team and Chicago and the team’s ideas for remaining competitive in Chicago in perpetuity,” the statement reads. “The partnership between the city and the team goes back more than a century and the Johnson administration is committed to continuing this dialogue moving forward.”

Sanderson, a Sox fan who often attends games, and who is also a longtime critic of using public funds to finance stadiums, said a new ballpark may not do much to boost attendance.

“The bigger problem might be it’s a really bad baseball team, coupled with the fact that senior ownership hasn’t exactly endeared itself to the public,” he said.

But a new White Sox stadium could act as an anchor for the South Loop, much like Google will be a north anchor when it occupies the James R. Thompson Center, said Robert Sevim, a Chicago-based president of Savills, a commercial real estate firm.

“This would be transformative if it occurs,” he said. “You will be able to create an entire community around the ballpark. Wrigley Field has an entire community around it, and that’s what makes it special, and in some ways, a White Sox park might even do better because you have a clean slate.”

Sevim was a consultant on The 78 project several years ago, but was not involved in any potential deal with the White Sox.

A major league ballpark would likely help kick off other on-site development, perhaps including residences, offices, restaurants and retail, he added, all accessible to downtown residents and workers, he said.

Less clear is what losing the team would mean for the Bridgeport area that has been its home for over a century.

Bill Jackson, executive director at the University of Illinois’ Discovery Partners Institute, said a new home for the White Sox won’t interfere with his group’s plans to construct a $250 million headquarters at the 78.

DPI still plans to break ground this year on the eight-story, glass-and-steel dome, and complete it by December 2026.

Jackson added that he was shown drawings of the proposed stadium this week and believes having an on-site ballpark will help attract more scientists and startup firms to DPI’s future lab, research and office spaces.

He also expects the new infrastructure needed for the ballpark, including additional parking and transportation upgrades, will be useful to DPI as it expands.

A Sox stadium on The 78 site would be a huge positive development for the team and the city — but that doesn’t mean it will happen, said SportsCorp Ltd. President and consultant Marc Ganis, who is not involved with the proposal.

There are many roadblocks, Ganis said, the first being money. Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf is not known as a big spender, and Johnson has other priorities eating up resources, such as schools, pensions, public safety, and now, the migrant crisis.

“This site could be a great one for the Sox for generations to come,” Ganis said. “But a lot of things that make sense around here don’t happen.”

The question about how any new ballpark would be funded is significant. Guaranteed Rate Field — where the Sox lease runs through 2029 — was paid for using money raised through an increase in Chicago hotel room taxes in a last-minute deal in Springfield in 1988. The city and state also each kick in $5 million per year.

The ISFA still owes about $50 million toward the construction of the stadium, which opened near 35th Street and Shields Avenue in 1991.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has indicated he’s generally not supportive of state money going toward private, professional sports teams. He expressed this sentiment in the last year over rumblings about whether the Sox would move and in the Chicago Bears’ quest to find a new stadium in the city or suburbs.

As for the reports of the latest talks involving a possible new stadium for the Sox, Pritzker suggested he’d be open to listening to any proposals.

“Nobody’s made an ask yet, so having said that, I think you know my views about privately owned teams and whether the public should be paying for private facilities that will be used by private businesses,” the governor said during an unrelated event at an elementary school outside of Springfield. “Having said that, I mean, there are things that government does to support business all across the state, investing in infrastructure, making sure that we’re supporting the success of business in Illinois.

“So, as with all of the other (things), whether it’s sports teams or other private businesses, we’ll be looking at whatever they may be suggesting or asking.”

Where the Sox will be playing in the future has been a topic of conversation for several months.

In August, Crain’s Chicago Business reported the team was considering a move when its lease at Guaranteed Rate Field expires.

At that time, the Sox said in a statement: “We have not had any conversations about our lease situation, but with six years remaining, it is naturally nearing a time where discussions should begin to take place. The conversations would be with the city, ISFA and the state and most likely would be about vision, opportunities and the future.”

The Sox confirmed a meeting between Reinsdorf and Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell took place during the MLB winter meetings in December. But they did not disclose the topics discussed.

Nashville has long been mentioned in speculation as a city to consider if MLB decides to expand.

A Sox move could add a wrinkle to the Bears’ efforts to build a new enclosed stadium. The Bears spent $197 million to buy the former Arlington Park racetrack almost a year ago but have made little progress since then to get tax subsidies or resolve a dispute over property taxes with local school districts.

The Bears have also had discussions with Johnson about staying in the city and with officials about potential sites in Naperville, Waukegan and elsewhere.

Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes said he couldn’t speculate about how the Sox talks might affect the Bears’ options, saying he was still trying to arrange face-to-face meetings between the team and the schools.

“I don’t anticipate that this would negatively impact the momentum we’ve been trying to gain,” he said. “We’re very hopeful things are moving in the right direction, and we’re continuing to work on it.”

A Sox relocation to The 78 might be modeled on the Atlanta Braves’ Truist Park, which opened in 2017 as an anchor to The Battery, a surrounding area of restaurants, housing and entertainment.

Such a mixed-use development is what the Bears have proposed for Arlington Heights. But at 62 acres, the Chicago site is much smaller than the 326 acres at the former Arlington horse track.

Chicago Tribune’s Jeremy Gorner, reporting from Rochester, Ill., and Jake Sheridan contributed.

Eduardo Herrera quickly made an impression on Marco Paddy, the special assistant to the general manager, international operations, for the Chicago White Sox.

“When I saw him for the first time his strength, the way he played the game, his ability to compete, how polished he was as a hitter, I couldn’t help but to be attracted by this kid’s ability,” Paddy said during a video conference call.

The Sox have agreed to terms with the third baseman, one of four international signings announced Wednesday.

Herrera, 17, is the No. 11 international prospect according to MLB Pipeline. His deal includes a $1,800,000 signing bonus. The native of San Felipe, Venezuela, played for the Venezuelan U18 National Team at the age of 15.

“From a makeup standpoint, he’s a very good competitor, he knows to work on his body, spends a lot of time working on his body, strength and physical conditioning and things of that nature,” Paddy said. “As a competitor, we had opportunities to see him play for the Venezuelan national team. He played in a tournament in Mexico against good competition and he did extremely well as a 15-year-old playing with 18-year-old kids.

“Once we got all the information together and the evaluations, the looks, the at-bats, the time on the ground with him and knowing him as a person, we decided to move forward and we’re happy to have this young man become part of the Chicago White Sox organization.”

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Herrera bats and throws right-handed.

“We did not hesitate to go after him aggressively when it came to having the opportunity to sign him,” Paddy said. “In comparison to other guys we’ve signed in the past, most of the times when you get a guy that’s a power guy, you always question his full ability as a hitter. But in the case of this young man, he’s shown the ability to recognize (and) adjust. So we had no doubt about his ability as a hitter.”

The Sox also signed infielders Jurdrick Profar ($600,000) and Jesús Premoli ($550,000) and right-handed pitcher Jeziel Boekhoudt ($55,000).

The 6-foot-0, 190-pound Profar, 16, is the brother of longtime major leaguer Jurickson Profar — who spent 2023 with the Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres. A native of Willemstad, Curaçao, Jurdrick Profar throws and bats right-handed.

“You look at Profar and he doesn’t profile like his brother,” Paddy said. “He’s going to be a bigger, stronger kid and actually reminds me of Jonathan Schoop. That type of kid. He can play all over the infield. Profar has excellent hands and feet to play shortstop.

“He’s going to get bigger, stronger and shortstop might not be a fit. He plays second base extremely well. He has the ability to play third base, too.”

A left-handed hitting former catcher, Premoli now plays third and first base. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound 17-year-old is a native of Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Boekhoudt, 17, is 6-foot-4, 215 pounds and also a native of Willemstad, Curaçao.

Expect more international signings to be announced in the coming weeks.

“Jan. 15 is the first day they can sign but this is a process that may take a couple months,” Paddy said. “Once we sign those kids we know the job is complete but yes, the intent is to sign more guys that we have already pretty much agreed on.”

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