Go for the gold: What to Cook This Weekend

May 13, 2022

Sang An for The New York Times

What to Cook This Weekend

By Sam Sifton

Good morning. Is there a more reliable kitchen ingredient than the egg? I like mine cracked into a bowl of ramen, or fried to top a slice of pizza, or whisked for an omelet. A plate of roasted asparagus with a poached egg to dress the greens? That's a fine dinner with a slice of toast. As is a pimento cheese frittata (above).

This week at New York Times Cooking we're celebrating eggs in all their glory with a special package that showcases two dozen of our best egg recipes. You'll find it in print this weekend — on Saturday for those with subscriptions and on Sunday if you're a newsstand buyer. It's beautiful.

As Eric Kim writes in a lovely introduction, "A magician in the kitchen, the egg can transform the most meager meals into extravagant feasts, or serve as midnight snack, speedy breakfast and weeknight wonder all at once. It can work across cultures, cuisines and courses, providing the filling to one of life's greatest salad sandwiches, pomp to a hearty curry or shakshuka, and an airy structure to sweet creations like flan, sponge cake and Pavlova."

Take a look at all of the recipes here.

The egg may come first, but don't overlook our second-place winner. I like a platter of miso-roasted chicken thighs on Saturday nights, and chicken Vesuvio always. Chicken piccata might be good if you crave that caper-y zing. Or maybe try Ali Slagle's new recipe for honey-mustard chicken tenders? It's a kids' classic made into something a little more adult and juicy.

Heading in a different direction entirely, you might take a heel of stale bread and what vegetables are sitting in the bottom of your crisper to make Kay Chun's new recipe for spring cleaning ribollita, a true soup of distinction.

Could be a good night for tofu makhani. Likewise for lemony white beans with anchovy and Parmesan. Me, though? I'm definitely making eggs: Ian Fisher's iconic spaghetti carbonara for the weekend win.

Further inspiration may be found on our TikTok, Instagram and YouTube accounts. And thousands more recipes are waiting for you on New York Times Cooking. I'll be blunt: You need a subscription to access them. Subscriptions support our work and allow it to continue. Please, if you haven't taken one out already, will you consider subscribing today? Thanks.

We are standing by to assist you if that proves difficult or if you have any issues with our technology. Just write: cookingcare@nytimes.com. Someone will get back to you. Or, if you'd like to lodge a complaint or deliver a compliment, you can write to me: foodeditor@nytimes.com. I read every letter sent.

Now, it's nothing to do with huevos rotos or smoky red devil eggs, but Dan Kois, Parul Sehgal and Jason Zinoman have come together for a labor of love: "The Martin Chronicles," a podcast devoted to the discussion of Martin Amis's novels, one book at a time. First up, "The Rachel Papers," his debut. Tune in!

For his latest "Close Read," Jason Farago goes deep into a 1635 still life by the Dutch painter Willem Claesz Heda, and the results are astonishing. You'll learn so much!

They play fairly horrible people, but it's good fun to watch Claire Foy and Paul Bettany chew the scenery in "A Very British Scandal" on Amazon Prime.

Finally, Black Star is back after 24 years with a new album, "No Fear of Time," and a single, "O.G." Listen to that while you're breaking eggs. I'll be back on Sunday.