Good morning. My meat consumption’s dropping, I’ve noticed. Mostly this is because I’ve been serving less of it. Sometimes I don’t serve it at all, which those who know me well regard with some suspicion, even alarm. I’ve generally been the guy who orders a veal Parm to accompany the steak. I think the proper number of sausages to accompany two eggs over easy is three. I like a little nugget of sizzling lamb fat a lot more than I do, say, a radish.
But not always. And less often now than ever before, for reasons of taste, health, the environment, my shopping habits, who knows.
That is to say, I jumped at Melissa Clark’s new recipe this week, which she learned from Sohui Kim, the Brooklyn chef and restaurateur who owns and operates the Good Fork in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and Insa in nearby Gowanus, with her husband, Ben Schneider. It’s for vegetable pajeon (above), Korean scallion pancakes, pan-fried and crisp, with a soft interior, comforting and robust all at once. With its simple batter and flavorful dipping sauce, it’s an easy weeknight preparation that takes advantage of whatever vegetables you have a taste for (brussels sprouts!) or happen to have in the fridge (carrots and onions). Cook that tonight, why don’t you?
Or you could make vegan queso, cashews whizzed up with tomatillos and chiles, and use it for nachos. Eat them in front of a screen in the manner of an enlightened slob, thrilling to their flavor while watching “Living With Yourself” on Netflix.
Some time this week, vegetarian delights notwithstanding, you ought to make these harissa chicken thighs with shallots. Also, these freestyle Italian subs with sausage and peppers, to which this week I think I’d add provolone instead of mozzarella, just because. Slow-roasted citrus salmon with herb salad? Yes, please. And a kale salad with cranberries, pecans and blue cheese the very next day.
Maybe you’re jammed for time already, the start of the week but children running everywhere and schedules clashing as surely as siblings do. We’ve put together 19 kid-friendly recipes that really can be ready in 30 minutes.
Or perhaps you’re flying solo. Here’s cauliflower chaat for one, which Tejal Rao scored from the chef Anita Lo. You could make tamagoyaki. There’s always chicken noodle soup for one.
Thousands and thousands more recipes to cook tonight and in coming days are waiting for you on NYT Cooking. Yes, it’s true: you need a subscription to access them. In exchange, we keep getting to do this work. (If you really want to support what we’re doing, consider purchasing someone a gift subscription today.)
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Now, take a moment to read Tyler Kord in Taste, on the pleasures of cooking with soup mixes and MSG. Tyler’s so smart.
(Me, not so much. Yesterday in this space I put the restaurant 7A, on Martha’s Vineyard, in the town of Tisbury. Of course it’s in West Tisbury, across the street from the library, where I ate my sandwich. Apologies!)
Patrick Symmes on the future of salmon in the Pacific Northwest, in Harpers? That’s a must-read.
Finally, it has nothing to do with food, but the Vineyard Gazette reported on a newsroom talk given by my colleague Carolyn Ryan this week. I was lucky to be in the audience, and to be on the island itself. Now, back to city living!
