Go for the gold: What to Cook This Weekend

March 25, 2022

Michael Kraus for The New York Times

What to Cook This Weekend

By Sam Sifton

Good morning. The first time I made what would become this recipe for oven-roasted chicken shawarma (above), I cooked it in a countertop rotisserie that my in-laws saw advertised on television 20 years ago and purchased on a whim. I love that oven and use it every time I visit them in Florida.

Last week, in town to chase tarpon around the skinny water near Chokoloskee, and accompanied by a chicken-averse child, I took a new angle: a no-recipe recipe for a lamb shawarma.

It was a simple preparation. I used a boneless leg rubbed in spices I found in the pantry (salt, lemon pepper, paprika, cinnamon, a few red-pepper flakes) and put it in the spinner for an hour and a half. To accompany the finished meat, still red at the center and terrifically crisp at the edges, I served a salad of chopped tomatoes, cucumber and red onion, store-bought hummus, feta and warm pita. You could do that in a conventional oven, then chop and crisp the meat in a pan, as I do for my chicken shawarma recipe.

Try that this weekend, a Saturday night special? With Eric Kim's cookies-and-cream Pavlova for afterward: four ingredients, one spectacular dessert!

Alternatively, take a look at this ace new recipe from Zainab Shah for hara masala murgh, a green masala chicken packed with mint and cilantro along with onion, garlic and ginger. It comes together quite quickly because you don't need to grind almonds for it. Zainab smartly uses almond butter instead.

I like this recipe for yakitori-style salmon with scallions and zucchini as well, and this last-gasp-of-cold-weather one for a one-pot French onion soup with porcini mushrooms. (St. Louis gooey butter cake for dessert after that one.) I could see my way to making sesame tofu with coconut-lime dressing and spinach. Also, brined pork chops with fennel. And always and forever, Sunday sauce for your Oscar-viewing pleasure.

Many thousands more recipes to cook this weekend await you on New York Times Cooking, at least if you have a subscription. Subscriptions are the fuel in our stoves. Thank you for yours. (If you haven't taken one out yet, would you consider doing so today?)

You can also follow us on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube — where you can, for instance, watch Eric Kim make his fluffy maple milk bread. And you can write to us directly if you find yourself in trouble with your cooking or our technology. We're at cookingcare@nytimes.com. Someone will get back to you. (You can also write to me if you'd like to send a dart or a flower: foodeditor@nytimes.com. I read every letter sent.)

Now, it's nothing to do with spearmint or crab roe, but I got an advance copy of Jean Hanff Korelitz's new novel, "The Latecomer," and though it's not out until May, I think you ought to bookmark it at the library now, or pre-order at the store. It's a big swing.

Dawn Davis, in Bon Appétit, sat down with Margaret Atwood to ask her about her dream dinner party. She'd invite her longtime partner Graeme Gibson, the Canadian novelist who died in 2019, along with Charlotte Brontë and Toni Morrison.

Here's Jason Bailey in The Times, with a critical look at "Basic Instinct" at 30.

Finally, take a look at Bee Wilson in the London Review of Books, wrestling with the concept of curry in Britain. And I'll see you on Sunday.