Good morning. It would be nice to cook a project recipe this weekend, to spend Saturday tending to a brisket softening in wood smoke out in the yard, or assembling a lane cake at my kitchen counter. I could set up some gravlax to cure all week, for next Sunday’s breakfast. I could make a timpano or roll up a platter of kimbap. There are so many possibilities.
But today, tonight, after five days’ labor in the fetid heat of a New York City summer, alternating between the chill of offices and retail establishments and the rank fever of the open street? Perhaps all I can do, all any one of us can do, is stare at the cans and boxes in the cupboard and wonder if there’s a dinner in there among them, something to make quickly, with a minimum of fuss.
And of course there is. On a night when I’m right on the edge of despair, I like Melissa Clark’s recipe for pasta with tuna, capers and scallions (above). The recipe title belies the simple complexity of the dish: canned tuna amped up with olive oil, garlic and anchovies, run through with lemon juice, heightened by red-pepper flakes and made fragrant with torn herbs and sliced scallions, everything tossed with long strands of spaghetti or bucatini until they’re glistening in the steam.
Featured Recipe
Pasta With Tuna, Capers and Scallions
I twirl that onto a plate and think: Made it. The dish, yes, but also through the week. Eat well in celebration, sleep deeply and, tomorrow, explore the new.
