Good morning. A couple of years ago, Bryan Washington wrote a moving piece for The New York Times Magazine about cheese enchiladas (above) that reminded me of a terrific few days I once spent in Houston researching their deliciousness.
I ate widely that week — at Teotihuacan on Irvington Boulevard, at one of the outposts of Molina’s Cantina, at the Original Ninfa’s on Navigation, at the Ninfa’s apostate El Tiempo Cantina next door, at Spanish Flowers, at Sylvia’s.
At El Real Tex-Mex on Westheimer Street, I learned to make enchiladas myself, at the elbow of the Tex-Mex scholar and restaurateur Robb Walsh. We knocked out enchiladas con carne, chicken enchiladas with salsa verde and cheese enchiladas with chili gravy that put me on a Velveeta kick, for how melty the processed cheese could get, even when used with a mixture of Cheddar for flavor.
“Enchiladas are warm hugs, enveloped in tortillas and blanketed in sauce,” Bryan wrote in his story. “Even the name alone — enchiladas! — becomes a catalyst for anticipation: Comfort is in the vicinity. It’s on the way! Everything (or at least the next 15 minutes) could very well turn out fine.”
Featured Recipe
Cheese Enchiladas
That’s my Sunday dinner, then! As for the rest of the week. …
Monday
I like Becky Hughes’s recipe for a vegan Caesar salad with crisp chickpeas not so much because it’s vegan as because the dressing — made of cashews, nori, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, garlic, caper brine, mustard and miso — is so astonishingly flavorful. Massaged into kale and tossed with romaine, croutons and roasted chickpeas, it elevates all that it touches.
Tuesday
Dan Pelosi has a great new recipe for chicken all’arrabbiata that sees the chicken roasted atop a fiery tomato sauce to serve over polenta, though you could just as easily make it to nestle into spaghetti dressed simply with olive oil, salt and black pepper. No one could be angry with that.
Wednesday
Could you make a dinner out of Melissa Knific’s recipe for crab and artichoke dip? You absolutely could — and should. Pair the rich and creamy mixture with toasts and a simple green salad and vinaigrette. You’ll see that dips aren’t just for cocktail parties. You can eat them with intent.
Thursday
The compound butter in my recipe for miso chicken could be used on fish, mixed into potatoes or spread on a tennis shoe. But try it as written. “This is arguably the most toothsome chicken I’ve ever tasted,” one subscriber noted on the recipe. “Five stars: most emphatically.”
Friday
And then you can head into the weekend with an ambitious but doable menu from David Tanis: a radicchio salad with pears and walnuts to start, followed by baked polenta with three cheeses and herbed mushrooms and chocolate amaretti cookies for dessert.
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Now, it’s a far cry from anything to do with baked apples or char siu on garlic bread, but I liked Michael Schulman’s profile of the actor and filmmaker Jesse Eisenberg, in The New Yorker.
In case you missed it, please read Richard Sandomir’s touching obituary for Patti McGee, skateboarding’s first female champion, in The Times. McGee died last month at 79.
I’ve been having a good time amid the thugs and the con men who populate Daniel Woodrell’s “Bayou Trilogy” novels. Bronson Pinchot performs the audio version.
Finally, Jon Pareles’s “Playlist” column in The Times put me on to a new Laura Marling track, “Caroline.” What a way to change an evening. I’ll be back next week.
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