Go for the gold: What to Cook This Weekend

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Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich

Friday, August 21, 2020

What to Cook This Weekend

Tejal Rao

A highlight of my week, every week, is the glorious mixed produce box I get from County Line Harvest. I make a run to the farmers’ market for extra bits and bobs when I can, picking up whatever looks good — herbs, flowering greens, plums. But since March, for a million reasons, I’ve been buying and eating way less meat than I used to.

Meat has become a luxury in my kitchen, reserved for special occasions and, this weekend, the occasion is Melissa Clark’s lamb chops with lettuce and ranch dressing (above)! It looks like a big, juicy feast of a salad, and it comes together quickly on the grill (or under the broiler). I love the clever technique of using half that paste of herbs to marinate the chops, and the other half as a base for homemade ranch.

You must know, by now, how I feel about dessert. (It’s crucial.) I saw damsons the other day, so after that lamb salad, I’m looking at Jerelle Guy’s pretty plum crumble with a buttery graham-cracker topping, which I’d have just the way it is, cooled down to room temperature, plus maybe a scoop of ice cream.

We’ve got thousands of recipes on NYT Cooking that are just perfect for a summer weekend, including this stunning, simple bibim guksu from Darun Kwak, and Lidey Hueck’s delightful baked crab dip with ritz crackers. Don’t sleep on the lobster salad from David Tanis — if you’ve never thought to buy lobster for a casual lunch before, read this report from Thomas Gibbons-Neff. The Maine lobster industry has been absolutely pummeled by the pandemic, and fishermen are struggling to find buyers.

You can access all our recipes with a subscription, which also helps to support our work. We’re standing by if anything goes sideways! Send us a note at cookingcare@nytimes.com, and someone will get back to you.

Who gets to be an artisan? Kim Severson has a must-read on the history of Black jam makers in the United States, and how so many of them have been excluded from the craft food movement.

Clarissa Wei produced a beautiful video for Goldthread about how biang biang noodles are made in Xi’an, in northwestern China. Warning: Watching this video will make you very hungry.

If you want to experience wonder — remember wonder? — listen to the great Evan Kleiman on KCRW as she talks about the joy of planting seeds, why trees grow toward the sky and the magic of wild foods.

See you on Sunday!