Good morning. I had something close to a perfect dinner the other night at Houseman in New York, where the chef and owner Ned Baldwin was serving these fried porgy strips that were bursting with sweetness alongside a coleslaw run through with amba, the Middle Eastern pickled-mango sauce. There was other stuff, too — fiery grilled octopus and perfectly steamed asparagus with fenugreek mayo, a soft pile of slow-cooked lamb, lots of salads — but the morning after the meal I woke up thinking about the fish and the slaw, and about the simple bowl of cold Bing cherries Baldwin served for dessert. I woke up laughing, basically.
So what I’d do today, if I weren’t out in America putting 1,000 miles on the truck in the name of good parenting? I’d track down some amba at the store — later I’ll figure out how to make the stuff myself — and use it to replace the relish and mustard in my recipe for spicy coleslaw. I’d find some good fish as well — porgy is common in New York waters and cheap to boot, but you should use what’s available to you — and brine it just as if I were going to grill it. But I’d fry it instead, as Chris Schlesinger and Doc Willoughby taught, and serve the nuggets with the coleslaw and await applause.
For dessert? You could serve the best cherries you can find. But Erin McDowell’s s’mores blondies (above) are a kind of fantasia of American dessert, and really, really something. Make those today no matter what else you do.
My dream week of recipes follows. It starts on Monday night with cold noodles served with chile oil and citrus-dressed cabbage. You can make that dish as involved or as simple as you like. It’s Monday night. You might just make the noodles, slice a bunch of scallions and chop a bunch of peanuts, shred a rotisserie chicken, then toss that all together and top the thing with roughly chopped cilantro.
Tuesday: Melissa Clark’s sheet-pan cod and scallions with cucumber yogurt. (Me, I’ll be in coastal Connecticut by then, and eating something boring in a terrible restaurant, just to help young critics learn their craft. But I’ll be rooting for you while I do.)
On Wednesday night, my forecast calls for tofu makhani, lots of mango chutney, basmati rice, Nigella Lawson’s cucumber and cilantro raita.
To eat on Thursday night, maybe make Ali Slagle’s one-pan shrimp scampi with orzo? Or some soft-boiled eggs with anchovy toast? (Eggs for dinner = Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme.”)
Then you can round out the week with David Tanis and his recipe for summer squash caponata. Eat that on toast, then watch some Topic before it all goes away.
There are thousands and thousands more recipes to cook this week waiting for your attention. They reside on NYT Cooking, behind a subscription paywall that I hope you will climb, if you haven’t already.
You can find us as well on Facebook, and on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube too. I’m out there skylarking myself: @samsifton.
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Now, let’s not forget that a life of food and deliciousness also includes the news and the culture beyond it. Did you read Andrew Rice’s story about Cindy Yang, the Florida massage-parlor tycoon who became a Republican bundler before getting caught up in the prostitution scandal that engulfed Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots? TL;DR: Palm Beach is one crazy scene.
Why don’t you listen to Jon Caramanica on the Popcast podcast for The Times, talking about Hootie & the Blowfish?
I’m not sure that it really benefits anyone, but I like the summery vibes of the Bottle Cap Challenge, on social media.
Finally, I’ve been enjoying Janet Messineo’s “Casting Into the Light,” a memoir about Martha’s Vineyard and a life of surf-casting, taxidermy, hope, family, friends and fishing, fishing, fishing. Luxuriate in the cover art, at least, and I’ll see you tomorrow.
