Go for the gold: What to Cook Right Now

View in Browser

Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book.

Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Wednesday, June 10, 2020

What to Cook Right Now

Sam Sifton

Good morning. Nicole Taylor leads the Food section we printed last night, with a story about how the coronavirus and protests over the killing of George Floyd have added complicated textures to the coming celebrations of Juneteenth, the June 19 holiday that honors the day in 1865 when, Nicole writes, enslaved Africans in Galveston, Texas, learned from Union soldiers that they were free, two years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

For her article, Nicole spoke to chefs from across the nation and came back with recipes: for Memphis ribs and Memphis mushrooms, using a dry rub from Greg Collier, and for his sweet potato pikliz; and for Edouardo Jordan ’s Juneteenth red punch (above). She also curated a collection of NYT Cooking recipes for the holiday.

Priya Krishna, meanwhile, took a look at how Sikhs in America are handling life amid a pandemic and against the backdrop of the protests: by cooking as an act of faith, and providing for people in need.

For her weekly column, Melissa Clark introduced us to a new recipe for strawberry shortbread, a kind of cross between strawberry shortcake and a strawberry tart.

And for his monthly column, David Tanis dug into the pantry to examine his collection of canned fish, emerging with three new recipes of his own: for crostini with sun-dried tomato and anchovy; for tuna-stuffed piquillo peppers; and for spicy clam pasta with bacon, peas and basil.

So there’s lots to read and cook today. Additionally, you might find yourself interested in Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe for roasted asparagus with buttered almonds, capers and dill, or Kay Chun’s recipe for roasted salmon with miso rice and ginger-scallion vinaigrette, or this recipe Jeff Gordinier secured from the chef Nick Anderer, back when he was cooking at Marta in New York, for grilled broccoli with apricot puttanesca.

I like that last one with grilled chicken thighs, no-recipe-style, brushed in oil, showered with salt and pepper, and cooked slowly on the other side of the grill from the broccoli. Hit them with fresh thyme and a squeeze of lemon when you serve.

Thousands and thousands more recipes, actual recipes, are waiting for you on NYT Cooking. A lot more of them than usual are free to use even if you aren’t yet a subscriber to our site and apps. But I hope you will think about subscribing all the same. Your subscription supports our work.

And please get in touch if anything goes wrong along the way. We are here to serve: cookingcare@nytimes.com. We will get back to you.

Now, here’s a fun idea for later today. Our Kim Severson and the food personality Ted Allen will gather virtually at 5 p.m. Eastern time to talk about cooking with kids. At least that’s the prompt. Kim takes the people she interviews on journeys. A lot of subjects should come up. You can sign up to watch them here, and I hope you’ll do so.

My former colleague Rochelle Oliver is the editor of Island and Spice, a digital magazine devoted to Caribbean cuisine and living. In it, you’ll find this terrific essay from Paula Madison, about growing up black, Chinese and Jamaican-American in Harlem in the 1960s.

Finally, it’s nothing to do with vanilla beans or blueberry pie, but you might want to check out this puppy cam situation at Guide Dogs of America. Soothing. I’ll be back on Friday.