Good morning. I was on the road the last few days and there wasn’t as much cooking as I’d have liked but the eating was grand: Josh Berry’s butter-aged steak at Union in Portland, Maine; the almond croissants Michelle Berry makes at Moonbat in Belfast; pretty much the whole menu at Jon Merry’s River House in Damariscotta. I topped it all off with a gallon of gas-station coffee and powered my way back home through snow flurries and potholes: 20 hours of driving in a little more than 36, a tombstone every mile.
All of which is to say, if you think I’m cooking a recipe tonight, forget it. Instead: freestyle rice and beans (above) with a bunch of extras, including maybe a red onion sliced super thin and marinated in cider vinegar and pinches of salt and sugar, no recipe required for any of it. That is great to cook that way when you’re a little jumpy and unfocused, working on a kind of autopilot, improvising as you go along.
Later in the week, when I’m a little more settled, I might be able to take instruction. Hope so, because I like the looks of David Tanis’s recipe for a tofu and herb salad with sesame. Also, Ali Slagle’s recipe for chickpea harissa soup.
And Kim Severson has a great family recipe for Italian meatballs that I’ve always wanted to bring into the weeknight rotation, with a big bowl of spaghetti and Samin Nosrat’s outrageously flavorful herbed garlic bread.
There’s something poetical about Gabrielle Hamilton’s recipe for celery toasts. You need to make those flatties with great intention, as if you were making them for the chef herself, following her instructions tightly, improvising not a whit. (Do that three times and the recipe’s your own; you can do with it what you like.)
For certain, I’d like to make Tejal Rao’s recipe for rice noodles with spicy pork and herbs before the weekend. I think you’ll feel the same way. But if not, check out Melissa Clark’s cauliflower Parmesan, which may be a killer casserole but is also among my favorite fillings for an evening hero on the couch. Hey, here’s “Below Deck” on Bravo!
And while I’m at it with the recommendations? Maybe consider Alison Roman’s quick lamb ragù? It has big weekend energy of the sort that can be welcome in the middle of the week, especially since you can cook it in under an hour.
There are thousands and thousands more recipes you could cook tonight waiting for you on NYT Cooking. Go take a look around and see what piques your interest. (Yes, you need a subscription to do so. In return you can do a whole lot more than look. You can save recipes and share them, organize them as you see fit, send yourself grocery lists, save recipes from other sites, even learn how to make sourdough bread.)
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Meanwhile, if you find yourself in trouble with your cooking or our technology, please write for help: cookingcare@nytimes.com. We will get back to you.
Now, before you sketch out your dinner plans, do read Tejal on Usha Prabakaran, the pickle queen of India, in the Food section we delivered to doors across the country this morning. And, while you’re there, read Priya Krishna on the chain restaurants that served as culinary schools for some of the nation’s top chefs.
It’s nothing to do with my day job, but I think you’ll like this story from The Washington Post, about how the journals of a Maine hunting guide in the 1940s and ’50s are helping scientists understand the effects of climate change on the flora and fauna of northern New England.
Finally, check out this dog playing Jenga like a queen. Good dog! I’ll be back on Friday.
