Go for the gold: What to Cook This Week

December 19, 2021

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

What to Cook This Week

By Sam Sifton

Good morning. I spent an hour on my back on the sidewalk in the cold recently, swapping out a single bulb for the headlight of my car. It took all that time because to do so requires unbolting and peeling back the protective plastic skirt that lines the front wheel well, before snaking your hand into the interior of the bumper to disassemble the back of the light fixture, remove the bulb, clip in the new one and then put everything back together again. There's not much room for one hand in there, much less two, much less getting eyes or light on the situation. It's a little like solving a Rubik's cube while blindfolded, while a cat mauls your forearms. That Matthew B. Crawford is correct. Manual competence is terrific. But these modern engineers sure don't make it easy.

All of which is to say, I felt I had earned something delicious. Portobello au poivre (above) was the answer — a bistro delight made with big mushroom caps, to serve with a thatch of watercress and some smashed and fried potatoes. It's a brilliant dish. And I think it should be your dinner tonight, even if you didn't spend time today fixing something broken that the postindustrial economy generally asks you to have an expert do for you, with special tools, for a lot of money.

Monday, you might take a look at this tofu and cabbage stir-fry with lime and coriander. Cut the cabbage big so that it becomes tender but retains a little crispness, too, and use all of the cilantro for maximum flavor. (Cilantro stems are awesome in a stir-fry, always.)

On Tuesday, you should consider shrimp étouffée or, if you'd prefer fish to shrimp, these simple fish tacos.

For Wednesday, please try this amazing dish Mark Bittman adapted from a cauliflower preparation the chef Suvir Saran used to make: stir-fried chicken with ketchup. It's excellent with rice and greens sautéed with ginger and garlic.

Thursday, then, could be yours for a slow-cooker cauliflower, potato and white beansoup. Start that before lunch, let it bubble along all day, and then stir in some sour cream and chives right before serving. So great.

And then on Friday, Christmas Eve, maybe you'll be game to make this showstopper of a dish: roasted halibut with mussel butter sauce. The fish gets wrapped in kelp, which helps it stay moist in the oven (and makes for good eating when it's done), and the sauce is just what it sounds like: ambrosial.

Have some Mexican buñuelos with piloncillo syrup for dessert. Or some Cuban buñuelos, made with root vegetables like yuca and malanga, and served with anise syrup, instead. (Our Christina Morales wrote about both for The Times this week.)

There are thousands and thousands more recipes awaiting you on New York Times Cooking. As I think I've mentioned before, you need a subscription to access them and to use our features and tools. I hope you have one already. But if not, will you consider supporting our work and subscribing today? (Gift subscriptions are available too.)

Please reach out for help if anything goes wrong along the way, either while you're cooking or using the site and apps. We're at cookingcare@nytimes.com. Someone will get back to you. (You can also write to me, particularly if you're mad or happy. I'm at foodeditor@nytimes.com. And I read every letter sent.)

Now, it's nothing to do with chestnuts or nutmeg, but you should read Nate Freeman's recent report from Palm Beach, Fla., in Vanity Fair, about the MoMA crowd intersecting with the MAGA crowd. What a town!

I'm a little late to it, but glad it came my way: Gustavo Arellano on the death of Vicente Fernández, in The Los Angeles Times.

We're not through the pandemic yet, obviously, but there's something wonderful about reading our Pete Wells's list of the 10 best restaurants he reviewed this year.

Finally, here's a poem for the season: Mark Strand's "Lines for Winter," from 1979. Enjoy that, and I'll be back on Monday.

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