Good morning. The weather hasn’t been frightful where I stay so much as uncertain, undecided, a little chillier than it’s meant to be, and damper. It’s kept my cooking cozier than it generally is this time of year, less summery, but no less flavorful for that.
This weekend last year, for instance, found me out in the yard, cooking blackened chicken breasts on a steel plancha that my friend Brendan made in his shop, with a grilled Caesar salad on the side. I don’t want to do that this year, under these mackerel skies.
Instead, I’m thinking I’ll lean toward Naples in my kitchen and make Andy Baraghani’s ace recipe for a spicy shrimp puttanesca. It’s intense: a sauce of garlic, anchovies, capers, olives, crushed red pepper and loads of tomato paste that’s thinned out ever so slightly with pasta water so that it clings to the shrimp and the spaghetti.
Puttanesca is a fantastic pantry preparation. Adding shrimp to the mix makes it just a little bit more special, and that’s exactly how I like to end a weekend.
Featured Recipe
Spicy Shrimp Puttanesca
As for the rest of the week …
Monday
Andrea Nguyen’s recipe for mapo tofu makes for a fantastic weeknight meal. Lately I’ve been using ground lamb in place of the traditional beef or pork. Others may prefer lots of mushrooms. (We have a vegan version of the dish, too, if that’s your jam.)
Tuesday
The pickled celery in Hetty Lui McKinnon’s new recipe for a white bean, feta and quick-pickled celery salad is a revelation. The acidity tames the grassy crunchiness of the vegetable and provides a great sweet-and-sour foundation for the beans and cheese. Leftovers actually improve overnight in the fridge, so there’s the chance of a killer lunch for you the following day.
Wednesday
Here’s a simple, ridiculously flavorful recipe for a northern Thai pork laab from Sherry Rujikarn, made largely with ingredients you can find in any American grocery store. Maybe you’ve never toasted rice and ground it into powder before. Once you do, you’ll be making this dish all the time.
Thursday
Carolina Gelen’s new recipe for creamy artichoke and charred scallion pasta highlights the magic of charring the alliums, taking their flavor from sharp and savory to smoky, mild, even a little bit sweet. Combined with meaty canned artichoke hearts, along with lemon zest and a shower of Parmesan, they make for an irresistible sauce for a short pasta shape, like gemelli.
Friday
And then, to round out the week, I like this Anissa Helou recipe for kabab karaz, Syrian meatballs in a sour cherry sauce, served over buttered pita. The meatballs are small, so make sure not to overcook them when you’re browning them. You’ll finish them off in the sauce, simmering them into perfection in about 15 minutes.
There are many thousands more recipes to cook this week waiting for you on New York Times Cooking. Go see what you find there. (You’ll need a subscription to do that, so if you haven’t taken one out yet, would you think about subscribing today? Thank you!)
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Now, it’s nothing to do with sea salt or summer savory, but I loved Dwight Garner’s review in The New York Times Book Review of Edward St. Aubyn’s new novel, “Parallel Lines.”
Michelle Orange has a fascinating, difficult essay in the Oxford American on “The Tangled Past and Unsettled Future of Greyhound Racing in West Virginia,” worth reading.
Man, it’d be cool to go to Madagascar and take in this Yinka Shonibare show at Fondation H. Check out his sculpture, “Refugee Astronaut X,” from 2024.
Finally, I don’t know if Bad Bunny’s “NUEVAYoL” is going to be the song of the summer. But I’ve heard it blaring out of cars and bars enough in the past few days to know it’s a contender. Listen to that while you’re cooking, and I’ll see you next week.
Sam Sifton is an assistant managing editor, responsible for culture and lifestyle coverage, and the founding editor of New York Times Cooking.
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