Go for the gold: What to Cook This Weekend

April 15, 2022

Bobbi Lin for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.

What to Cook This Weekend

By Sam Sifton

A Manhattan miracle: My family scored the prime parking spot down the street from Bubby's in TriBeCa, hit the spot five minutes after it opened, ordered eggs and bacon, sourdough bread and grits, and were eating not 20 minutes later — a Sunday breakfast in advance of sending one of the children back to college after spring break.

A solo diner sat down beside us and ordered soon after we arrived. The waiter returned with his meal: fried chicken and pancakes, everything just right, burnished gold and beautiful beneath a thread of rosemary, next to a small carafe of maple syrup. This platter was impressive not just to the guy who ordered it but to all those surrounding him. Someone asked to take a picture of the dish. He took a few photographs himself. (So have others.) Then he tucked into the breakfast with relish and abandon. Like a hero, I thought.

I also thought: Maybe it's time for an Easter changeup? Fried chicken and pancakes for noon on Sunday! Wouldn't that be a project worth the time and effort? I understand if it's not a position you can take this weekend. For many it's Passover or Ramadan. And some families have longstanding Easter traditions. Speaking personally, I think my mother might roll her eyes from the great beyond.

So here are a great holiday honey ham (above), a killer roast leg of lamb and a fine Moroccan shakshuka for your consideration. (If you're still in need, we have a bajillion other recipes for Easter, Passover and Ramadan.) But do think about the chicken and pancakes route, too, if only in passing? Project cooking like that can make a weekend great fun.

Other things to cook this weekend include caramelized lemon chicken, made with store-bought lemon curd that you smear under the skin of a spatchcocked bird. It helps brown the skin, keep the meat juicy and makes the whole dish lip-stickingly sweet and citrusy. Also, tea eggs for snacks. And a citrus-sauced roast salmon with potatoes that's fast enough for everyday use — but fancy enough to serve to company, too.

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Now, it's nothing to do with quiche or vadouvan, but if you enjoy the uncanny valley of Canadian police procedurals, "Cardinal," on Hulu, is a good way to explore Ontario.

In case you missed it, here's Marion Renault's article in The Times about wayward birds and how maybe they're not so much lost as adapting to a changing world.

You should read Tom Foster in Texas Monthly, on the unlikely rise of a high school soccer team in southwest Houston, with players from all over the world, including Honduras, Colombia, Peru, Nigeria, El Salvador, Senegal, Vietnam and Mexico.

Finally, here's a deep cut: k.d. lang's "Turn Me Round," from 1987's "Angel With a Lariat." Play that nice and loud, and I'll see you on Sunday.