Tejal here, filling in for Melissa!
I was so sick last week that I had to hide away completely, living on miso soup and rice. It’s such a relief to scramble back up into the world and find that it is really and truly spring in Los Angeles. In my garden, the nasturtiums and lemon verbena are coming up, and the wisteria and borage are blooming.
The peas are fat and sweet, the radishes are small and peppery and I found a big, beautiful piece of trout in the freezer. It’s clearly time to make this roasted fish with radishes and peas from Kay Chun. I love the simplicity of this recipe: Get a slab of salmon or trout in the oven while the peas and radishes lather in miso, mustard and butter, which cooks the vegetables just a little and makes a quick pan sauce at the same time.
Featured Recipe
Roasted Salmon With Peas and Radishes
You could swap in other quick-cooking vegetables like zucchini, artichokes or whatever greens you have on hand and serve it with super creamy mashed potatoes, but I have to admit that it’s also perfect with a side of miso soup and rice.
What other delights will this week hold? A one-pot whole roasted chicken and rice from Naz Deravian presents an old-fashioned but nonetheless genius technique. The rice and chicken cook together in a saffron-scented broth, the chicken making the broth more complex as it cooks down in the oven, that broth flavoring the rice more deeply.
If you need a break from rice — I don’t, but I get it! — Hetty McKinnon’s recipe for creamy vegan tofu noodles involves two fast and essential sauces you should have in your repertoire. The first totally transforms a block of firm tofu; all you need is a blender or mini food processor to do the puréeing for you. The second is a quick dressing made with vinegar, soy sauce, scallions and ginger. Chewy wheat noodles, dressed first with the creamy tofu sauce and then drizzled with the vinegary sauce, are absolutely delicious and unexpectedly hearty.
I haven’t totally recovered so I’m not in the mood for a major project just yet, but I do want to bake with my toddler, who’s so ready to mix and pour. I was thinking that Claudia Roden’s wonderfully simple yogurt cake, made with thick Greek yogurt, would be perfect. We’ll have it with a pile of fresh fruit tossed with lemon zest, juice and a spoonful of sugar — something sweet we can slowly carve away for a few days.
Tejal Rao is a critic at large for the Food section and contributes regularly to The New York Times Magazine. More about Tejal Rao
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