Good morning. Julia Moskin was in London recently, to speak with Fergus Henderson and his wife, Margot Henderson, celebrated British chefs and restaurateurs who have done a huge amount over the last 25 years to reinvent (some might say invent!) a particular kind of British cookery: minimalist, local and deeply seasonal. Julia’s article about the couple is a joy to read.
Naturally there are recipes to accompany the prose. The first is for Ms. Henderson’s chicken braised with potatoes and pine nuts, a one-pot meal that hints at Spanish and Portuguese flavors while remaining a decidedly home-cooked British meal. The second is for the beans and bacon (above) that Mr. Henderson serves at his St. John restaurant, a fragrant, richly flavored version of the dish that would later become, in the United States, a New England classic. Won’t you make one of those real soon?
Alternatively, do check out this new Yotam Ottolenghi recipe for grilled carrots with yogurt, carrot-top oil and dukkah, which as it happens leaves enough extra dukkah to sprinkle over a plate of fattoush later in the week. (Carrot Top is, of course, a strange figure in American culture, but carrot-top oil is amazing. If you don’t have any greens on your carrots, make the oil with parsley or tarragon instead.)
Or, if following instructions from us isn’t your jam on a Wednesday night, and you’d prefer to freestyle as we so often do in the middle of the week, please accept this prompt: soft-boiled eggs, rice, butter and soy sauce. Maybe on a bed of soft salad greens? All you need to know is, for soft-boiled eggs: Start them in a single layer in a sauce pan well covered by lukewarm water, then heat them until the water just boils, turn off the stove, cover the pan and let the eggs stand for 2 minutes. Rinse under cold water when the time’s up, peel and cut onto your bowl of buttered rice. Add soy to taste, you’re welcome.
There are thousands and thousands of actual recipes awaiting you on NYT Cooking. (Check out these loaded sweet potatoes with black beans and Cheddar. See what you make of this sheet-pan Italian sub dinner. Revel in this roasted salmon with jalapeño honey and lime.) Yes, you need a subscription to access them all. Subscriptions are the river from which we draw our sustenance, and survive.
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Now, it’s nothing to do with boned quail or cabbages, but Julie Bosman had a riveting story in The Times the other day about a great migration of black families out of Chicago, and it’s absolutely worth a read.
I cannot emphasize how much you need to watch “Cheer” on Netflix, perhaps especially if you downed it in one epic binge after it was released this year. There’s levels to it.