Hello again … and goodbye! Here we are, post-Labor Day, which means it’s the end of summer hours and the more laid-back attitude that often goes with them. This also means that Sam Sifton’s return is imminent, and he’ll be back in your inbox on Friday. Thanks for reading, it’s been a blast!
This week is also the start of the school year for much of the country. Is it your job to pack your kids’ lunches? It was mine up until this week, when my daughter started middle school. I’m a little sad about it to be honest — goodbye puppy lunch bag and endless Cheddar cubes. My daughter liked only about four lunches, but if yours is more adventurous, or if you’re packing a brown bag for yourself, we’ve got so many excellent lunchtime options to start September right. It’s not just sandwiches (though here are 15 great ones).
Now that I’m off lunch duty, I’ve decided to try upping my breakfast game. I made these blueberry muffins as a back-to-school treat, and they were as good as their five-star rating suggests (I added lemon zest to the batter). Are you more of a savory breakfast eater? I’ve been eyeing Sarah Copeland’s gorgeous green shakshuka with avocado and lime (above) since it came out. And Joan Nathan’s menemen, scrambled eggs with onion, tomato, herbs and peppers, looks deeply satisfying. You can eat those egg dishes for dinner, too, because eggs for dinner always seems a little daring, like a special treat.
Eggs are perfect for no-recipe recipes, too, since there’s so much you can do with them. I love them boiled until jammy-yolked and served with a coconut-onion-tomato sauce, as a simpler take on Julie Sahni’s great ande ki kari that we published couple of years ago.
Start by sautéing a thinly sliced onion in a generous amount of butter or coconut oil until golden at the edges (use high heat and keep the onion moving so it doesn’t burn). Add a lump of grated fresh ginger, a modest spoonful each of garam masala and ground cumin, and then a pinch of ground cayenne or other chile. Toast the ginger and spices for a few minutes, then add a small can of diced tomatoes and a splash of coconut milk. Let it all simmer, seasoning with salt and more spices as you go, until the oil separates out (20 to 30 minutes).
Meanwhile, make your eggs. Place as many eggs as you like in a pot and top with cold water. Bring to a boil, watching the pot (I swear it will boil even if you’re watching). When the water comes to a full, big-bubbled boil (not just a simmer), start the timer. My family likes five minutes for velvety yolks. Then, and this is an important step, use a slotted spoon to transfer the eggs to a waiting bowl of cold water to cool for two minutes so they can finish cooking, then peel and halve them. Spoon the sauce over the eggs and top with fistfuls of fresh herbs — mint, basil or cilantro, and a generous squeeze of lemon or lime, and some more salt and more chile if it needs it. Enjoy with rice or toast.
Then for dessert, have you tried the rye cranberry chocolate chunk cookies from Mokonuts in Paris yet, or Mark Bittman’s lemon-almond tart baked in a skillet?
If you’re in the market for a meatier meal, we’ve just published a new recipe from Colu Henry for flank steak with soba noodles and gingery, sesame-lime dressing that looks terrific. Chicken-and-broccoli enthusiasts could try one of Kay Chun’s variations on this theme — either the super simple coconut-gochujang glazed bird with broccoli, or her chicken, artichoke and broccoli bake with crunchy bread crumbs. And for chicken without the broccoli, there’s my recipe for sheet-pan tarragon chicken with sherry vinegar onions.
Serve any of it with a cucumber salad or zucchini carpaccio because it’s always nice to have something fresh and green on the side.
Having unlimited access to things fresh and green is a privilege I know I often take for granted. But it’s not the case for everyone, including residents of parts of Harlem and the Bronx who don’t have a lot of options for buying reasonably priced produce. In this week’s section, Amelia Nierenberg writes about summer farming and cooking camps for kids that are trying to help. It’s an important read.
There are a lot more stories and recipes available at NYT Cooking, and you can subscribe here. You can also check us out on our always informative and entertaining Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube accounts. If you encounter a glitch, send us a message at cookingcare@nytimes.com. We can help!
Lastly, here’s a final note about my summer reading. For the fourth summer in a row, I’ve been very slowly making my way through Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time,” volume by volume, and I’m up to “Sodom and Gomorrah.” While most people associate Proust with madeleines, over a thousand pages in, I can say that besides those spongy cakes, there’s almost no food in these chapters at all. And given the amazing, sumptuous descriptions of the world he moved in, it’s a noticeable omission. If only Marcel had given the Duchesse de Guermantes’s dinners even a smidgen of the attention he pays to her red shoes; I could happily read an eighth volume all about that.
So long for now!
