Five Weeknight Dishes: Chilly? Chili.

Chili has no season, really. Yet once we hit February it seems we all need a bowl of it, consciously or not, with the same urgency with which we need a clean slice of watermelon no later than July 1.

I didn’t grow up eating chili; it wasn’t a staple at my house. But I have come to love it deeply in its many manifestations. We have many good chili recipes on New York Times Cooking — helpful intel, since the Super Bowl is coming up on Sunday — but among the fastest and most cooked is the vegetarian skillet chili from Melissa Clark below, which you can truly make after work even if you’re dead tired. As with all bowls of chili, I believe you should garnish as maximally as you can.

1. Vegetarian Skillet Chili

If you keep canned beans, tomatoes, onion and garlic in your pantry, you can make this dish on any weeknight without having to shop. The pickled onions aren’t strictly necessary, but they are simple to make and add a welcome...