Good morning! Did you wake up today wondering where August went? Are you, like me, somewhat ambivalent? There’s one half of my psyche ruing the end of shorts-and-sandals season, while the other is itching to tighten my apron strings and get back to work, without the interruptions of travel, school vacations and the general languidness of the season getting in the way.
But first I might invest in a new apron because I can’t seem to wash salad greens without also soaking those shorts. Lucky for me, the Wirecutter has made the process of finding one a whole lot easier. The team tested dozens of aprons on people with different body types to find out what works best. If you’re in the market for an apron, you should check it out.
New apron or not, today I plan to do what I do every weekend — that is, wash a bunch of greens, wrap them in kitchen towels and store them in the crisper, so I’ve got instant salad and sautéing fodder all week long. Arugula, red oak leaf, frisée, baby lettuces, bunches of spinach: Whatever looks perky at the market is what ends up in my sink. Braising greens, too, like kale and collards and chard. Then, come Tuesday when the reality of September hits hard, I can easily whip up Samin Nosrat’s adaptation of Jessica Battilana’s greenest green salad (with green goddess dressing!), Julia Moskin’s kale-romaine Caesar (above) or Sarah Jampel’s tangy braised collard greens, spiked with cider vinegar. Any one of them would pair perfectly with Mark Bittman’s baked eggs with onions and cheese, especially if you let the runny yolks gush over the greens in such a saucy way.
What else could you cook this week? I’m thinking of turning to the dual comforts of pasta and spicy sausage in Kay Chun’s Spanish-style shrimp and chorizo pasta. Or for sausage in a more mellow incarnation, there’s Ali Slagle’s brand-new recipe for broiled sausage with peppers and tomatoes. Maybe I’ll serve it with her oat milk chocolate pudding for dessert, since I happen to have homemade oat milk in the fridge from another stint of recipe testing. (Soy, almond or coconut milks also work if you don’t happen to have oat milk on hand.)
On the more vegetable-forward side of weeknight cooking options, we’ve got two new late summer recipes to consider. One is from the always inspirational David Tanis, for corn bisque with a swirl of roasted pepper. And the other is something I’ve been making steadily since the tomatoes came into season in July — my sheet-pan ratatouille with melted goat cheese and crushed olives. I like eating this with a baguette to scoop up all those silky veggies, and maybe a bottle of the last of the summer rosés you’ve got stashed in the fridge, before Côtes du Rhône season sets in.
Also, did you read Tejal Rao on the Bakersfield, Calif., truck stop, Punjabi Dhaba? Don’t miss it, it will make you actively crave hot, crisp-edged rotis, if you don’t already. I certainly do.
There are plenty more articles and recipes available at NYT Cooking. You do need to subscribe to have access to them all. But you won’t regret it; the database runs deep (as in, thousands of recipes deep). You can also find plenty of free stuff on our Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube accounts. And if you want to email us directly, you can at cookingcare@nytimes.com. Tell us what’s on your mind; we really do what to know.
And this just in, from Julia Moskin, who wanted you all to see it even though her newsletter-writing stint came to a close, a piece about how food in film can develop characters and further storytelling. Read to the end; the description of straitjacketed people attempting to eat in Zal Batmanglij’s film, “The East,” is both disturbing and oddly touching.
See you tomorrow!
