Go for the gold: What to Cook This Week

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Christopher Simpson for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks.

Sunday, July 4, 2021

What to Cook This Week

Sam Sifton

Good morning. Happy Independence Day. You might start it by reading the Declaration of Independence, the document for which the holiday is named. There’ll be plenty time today for baseball and family reunions, sausages, blueberries, fireworks and flags. I’ve got loads to say about how to grill and what to grill. But take a minute now to read our origin story and reflect on the promises and pitfalls introduced that day in Philadelphia in 1776. It’s how it started. How it’s going is the business of news.

What will you cook this afternoon? Did you remember to set up your pork shoulder in marinade so you can roast pernil (above)? Find yourself a propane hob cooker so that you can have an outdoor fish fry? Fire the smoker for your salt-and-pepper beef ribs? No worries if not. You can hit the supermarket and lay in all you need for a holiday feast.

I like these vegan cheeseburgers, even if I prefer them with cheese made with milk. Also these hot dogs with pico de gallo. And this barbecued chicken. I like a lemony potato salad with mint. Grilled cherry tomatoes with curry and golden raisins. Watermelon for dessert. Plenty of ice-cold beer.

So that’s Sunday, and delicious. (If you want to go beyond burgers and hot dogs, here’s a collection of quick and easy recipes for the grill.) On Monday, I’ll downshift into caramelized scallion noodles with a double batch of the scallion sauce, which is great at lunch as a sandwich condiment or strewn over microwaved leftover rice.

For Tuesday’s evening meal: crispy tofu with cashews and blistered snap peas, glossy and delicious.

Wednesday, you could mark the middle of the week as a triumph with roasted salmon and toasted sesame slaw, or you could acknowledge that cooking every night is difficult and sometimes exhausting and it’s OK, on a Wednesday, to order in your favorite pizza and eat it straight out of the box in your living room, in front of a screen.

On Thursday night, I’m liking the looks of a shakshuka with feta, to eat with warm pita.

And on Friday, I’m thinking you could run out the week with Amu’s chicken korma, named for Sohla El-Waylly’s mother, who taught her the recipe. (Sohla cooked that dish and two others for our YouTube channel, taking up our “Cook My Life Challenge.” You’ll learn a lot.)

There are many thousands more recipes to consider cooking waiting for you on New York Times Cooking. Simply subscribe today in order to access them all, if you haven’t already. I’m bold to ask because subscriptions support our work. They allow it to continue.

We will be standing by like lifeguards at town beach should anything go wrong with your cooking or our technology. Just write the team at cookingcare@nytimes.com and someone will get back to you, I promise. (You can always escalate matters by reaching out to me at foodeditor@nytimes.com. I read every letter sent.)

Now, I don’t know how you’re feeling about eating in restaurants right now, but I think it’s impossible to read Tejal Rao’s review of Nobu Malibu and not feel the powerful urge to be there yourself, high above the beach in the gloaming, eating uni tacos and experiencing the vibe. (It’s likewise difficult to read Priya Krishna’s report from a new Peruvian restaurant in rural Vermont and not feel the urge to experience pachamanca right away.)

It’s a far cry from pea shoots and the smell of a freshly baked blueberry pie, but it’s a joy to read most anything Mimi Swartz writes for Texas Monthly. Her reconsideration of San Antonio, the city she left almost 50 years ago, is no exception.

My current streaming comfort, like being under a duvet in an air-conditioned room: “Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet,” on Disney+.

Finally, speaking of animals, Joseph Quaderer has a pretty cool story in Hakai right now, about one of the last remaining habitats for the endangered saltmarsh sparrow in North America: Idlewild Park, next to J.F.K. Airport in Queens. Enjoy that and I’ll be back on Monday.