Go for the gold: What to Cook Right Now

February 14, 2022

Jenny Huang for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Susie Theodorou; Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks.

What to Cook Right Now

By Sam Sifton

Good morning. Will you be my Valentine? I could buy a couple of lobsters — often cheaper than that organic pasture-raised chicken from the fancy farm, at least on the East Coast, and no more expensive than skirt steak! — and steam them red for supper, to serve with melted butter, a tray of roasted potatoes and some out-of-season asparagus on the side. We'd have celery toasts to start, Prosecco with the lobsters, oat milk chocolate pudding for dessert. Wouldn't that be nice?

It would be, even if you're not a Valentine's Day sort of person. The holiday's so performative, consumerist, odd: a feast day for Christian martyrs whose stories are cloaked in mystery. But still, there's value in cooking something special for a person you love. And to do so on a Monday night, in the middle of the winter, at what may or may not be the tail end of a pandemic that's had us rattled for the better part of two years? That's more than sweet, more than a greeting card. That's a kindness. Get on it, friends. Cook for someone tonight.

What to cook, particularly? We have this collection of recipes appropriate to the holiday. (Here's a collection of easy ones, too.) Browse those if you like, follow my lead with the lobster or give this lovely chicken piccata (or cauliflower piccata) a try. I like it with spaghetti, olive oil and Parmesan on the side, and with Genevieve Ko's ace new recipe for flourless chocolate cake (above) for dessert. You can make that today. You can!

Alternatively, how about the chicken hash the singer and pianist Bobby Short used to eat at the Carlyle on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, in advance of his performances there? Or a vegan mushroom étouffée? Creamy polenta with Parmesan and sausage? Soy-steamed fish with scallions and pistachio? You'll think of something.

There are, literally, thousands more recipes to choose from waiting for you on New York Times Cooking. As I mention from time to time, you need a subscription to access them. Subscriptions support our work. I hope, if you haven't done so already, that you will subscribe today. (Hey, a gift subscription would be a decent last-minute Valentine's gift, no?) Thank you.

You can write for assistance, should anything go awry while you're cooking or using the site and app. We're at cookingcare@nytimes.com. Someone will get back to you. We're also on social media, if you'd like to meet us, as the saying goes, off-platform. Find us on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.) And if you'd like to send me a rocket or say something nice, I'm at foodeditor@nytimes.com. I read every letter sent.

Now, it's nothing to do with beef cheeks or salmon skin, but I liked Max Abelson's "Artist's Questionnaire" with David Byrne, in T Magazine.

To discuss: "How to Want Less," by Arthur C. Brooks in The Atlantic.

And to explore: the Philip Guston show at Hauser & Wirth in New York.

Finally, here's some music to play us off: Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, "Love Hurts." I'll be back on Wednesday.