Good morning! Today we have for you:
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An announcement
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No-recipe bulgogi-style tofu
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And, my oven-roasted chicken shawarma, perfect for an evening with family and friends
Good morning. I’ve got some news. I’m moving from the warm humidity of my office kitchen to a new job on the newsroom floor of The Times, as the host of The Morning newsletter.
I’m going to take a couple of weeks off to recharge before getting started. But I hope you’ll subscribe when I do. I like being in your inbox, like sending you letters, like passing along what I’ve learned. We’re going to have fun.
It’s certainly been fun here, even on the darkest days. I’ve enjoyed bringing you recipes from chefs, from line cooks, from experiments of my own. I’ve relished shining a spotlight on the work of colleagues like Eric Kim, Yewande Komolafe and Genevieve Ko, and growing up (literally!) with Melissa Clark, Julia Moskin, Kim Severson and Emily Weinstein.
And I’ve loved, most of all, making the argument that cooking improves moods and circumstances, that it offers hope and happiness even when both are thin on the ground. That will remain true as long as we can continue to do it, for ourselves, for our loved ones, for anyone in or near our homes who needs a meal.
Today maybe that’s oven-roasted chicken shawarma (above). It’s a dish I developed in a South Florida kitchen a decade ago, to bring the taste of late-night rotisserie shawarma into my in-laws’ home, thousands of miles away from where I’d traditionally eaten it on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, in Berlin, in Melbourne. They’d never had shawarma. In the years since, they’ve had a lot of it. I’d like to think this recipe has brought people joy.
Featured Recipe
Oven-Roasted Chicken Shawarma
As for the rest of the week …
Monday
Another argument I’ve made here is that you don’t always need a recipe. Cook long enough and you can cook with instinct as much as by rote instruction, as with my no-recipe recipe for bulgogi-style tofu. I’ll give you a chord chart. You make up the melody, make up the words.
Tuesday
One of the children brought home some coconut yogurt the other day and I’ve been thrilled by its flavor and consistency. (Two spoonfuls for breakfast every day, so good.) I love it in Nisha Vora’s new recipe for crispy beans and juicy tomatoes over tahini yogurt, a simply roasted salad, essentially, served on top of the wonderfully sweet-sour taste of the yogurt, cut through with tahini, lemon and garlic. That said, if you don’t have coconut yogurt, try serving it over whipped tofu ricotta instead.
Wednesday
Sometimes I like a project in the middle of the week, something to remind me that I’m not a hamster on a wheel, that I can take an hour to make dinner and feel great about it, even on a Wednesday. Rick Martínez’s recipe for reina pepiada arepas answers nicely for that, stuffed with chicken and avocados, a Venezuelan queen. I’m with the readers who suggest putting the cooked arepas on a pizza stone in a hot oven for a few minutes before cutting them open to fill. They get crisp that way, and stay puffy and soft in the middle.
Thursday
Hetty Lui McKinnon’s new recipe for miso eggplant salad with chickpeas takes its inspiration from Japanese miso-glazed eggplant, but combines it with roasted chickpeas and a punchy vinaigrette to deliver a terrific, fast salad. Would adding some pan-fried cubes of tofu to the mix be overkill? It would not.
Friday
And then you can run out the week with one of our favorite recipes of all time, a welcome to fall: Molly O’Neill’s recipe for old-fashioned beef stew, which came to The Times in 1994. Truth be told, it’s even better the day after cooking, so if you’d prefer to eat delivery pizza in the kitchen while you simmer the stew, I am not here to judge you. Pizza while cooking is one of my favorite meals.
There are thousands more recipes to cook this week waiting for you at New York Times Cooking. Go see what you find. Then cook, and remember me when you do.
Now, it’s nothing to do with Swiss cheese or bread and butter pickles, but Alexandra Jacobs’s review of Kiran Desai’s long-awaited novel, “The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny,” left me excited to read the book on vacation.
I can’t wait to see “Skatepark” at Powerhouse: International later this month. Brian Seibert wrote about the show for The Times.
Likewise the Man Ray exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, rayograph images, photographs made without a camera.
Finally, some housekeeping. While I’m moving along to an exciting new pursuit, my colleagues at New York Times Cooking are going to keep taking care of you, bringing you the best and brightest and most useful recipes available on the internet, along with helpful tips, exciting stories and links to many lovely videos. (I imagine I won’t be able to stay away entirely, so I won’t say goodbye.) Watch this space.
Cue Simple Minds. I’ll be around!
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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