Good morning. I’ve spent the week making like Danny Meyer, the restaurateur, who many nights makes it his business to visit the dining rooms he maintains across the city, even as his Shake Shack empire expands across the nation.
Of course I don’t own any restaurants. (That would be hilarious.) But this week The Times has been playing host to “The Nights,” a series of restaurant dinners connected with this weekend’s New York Times Food Festival, and I’ve been dropping in during some of the meals, just to say hi. This is exciting and fascinating duty, to meet strangers with common interests, and to talk with them about food.
But of course I’ve been missing the kitchen, and the chance to cook big for those around me. (I’ve also been missing the eating, and the lounging around all night afterward, tying flies and watching “Workin’ Moms” on Netflix.) And this weekend, if I weren’t scheduled to be on a stage in Bryant Park watch-helping the chef Angie Mar make venison Wellington, I’d absolutely make a size-large roast pork shoulder and serve it with maduros, rice and beans, hot sauce and plenty of well-buttered toasted supermarket baguette. That’s a Saturday night meal of great distinction.
(Sometimes I yellow the rice with Sazón — the Goya seasoning of coriander, garlic, cumin, annatto, salt and a ton of MSG. I take it to 11. That is a valid option. Don’t @ me, as they say on the internet.)
Maybe you’d like to make chicken francese this weekend, serve it with Utica greens, feel the whole upstate Empire State upswing and bake an apple pie for dessert. Perhaps you’d prefer to make a big bowl of farro with mushrooms (above), or of takeout-style sesame noodles, and follow it with a skillet brownie with ganache frosting.
Chimichangas filled with stewed brisket and cheese? That’s a yes for me, in my weekend dreams, with watermelon for dessert — dressed in lime juice and adorned with Tajín. Also: challah French toast. And pickled mushroom salad.
You can find many more ideas for what to cook this weekend on NYT Cooking. If you don’t have a subscription, though, you’ll feel a bit of chafe. Access denied! So please sign up today. We’ll work hard to keep you happy as a subscriber, and we’ll get to keep working besides.
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Now, it doesn’t have anything to do with tostones or this fantastic recipe for Ina Garten’s coquilles St.-Jacques, but Zadie Smith’s defense of fiction in The New York Review of Books is your lunchtime must-read.
