This is the time of year when kitchen burnout really sets in. You battled the holidays — and won! — then realized there was still cooking to be done. Every. Single. Day. You’ve braised and stewed, indoors, for months now, fantasizing about when the season turns and “cooking” becomes a matter of slicing and salting fragrant tomatoes, ripe melons and juicy stone fruit.
Am I projecting? Maybe! (This is Becky, by the way, filling in for Mia Leimkuhler this week.) It’s possible that you excitedly spring out of bed every morning, leaving a dream journal filled with dinner inspirations behind you on your night stand. I’m happy for you! Teach me your ways!
For the rest of us, I have some ideas. In philosophy, there’s the problem-solving method of Occam’s razor: Put roughly, the simplest explanation is usually the best one. And when applied to the problem of dinner, the simplest solution is … pasta. Ideally, pasta zhuzhed with olive oil and a few fragrant, savory additions from your pantry.
Enter: this midnight pasta with garlic, anchovy, capers and red pepper (above) from David Tanis. It’s a five-star recipe for a reason, mainly because it tastes luxurious, dressed with anchovies melted into garlicky, spicy oil, but also because it’s supremely simple.
