A quick pasta for those who can’t quit corn (and a chocolate-chocolate birthday cake for everyone)
Melissa Clark’s new recipe for pasta with corn, mint and red onions has a lot going for it. It’s quick — only 25 minutes or so from start to finish — and it’s vegetarian, making it an excellent weeknight option for anyone leaning into a plant-based diet. It ticks all the flavor boxes: sweet kernels of corn, refreshing mint, piquant onion and acidic tomatoes. And it’s just as delicious eaten at room temperature (or even cold) as it is straight from the pan, making for a desk lunch your co-workers will covet.
Featured Recipe
Pasta With Corn, Mint and Red Onions
Also easy is Genevieve Ko’s aptly named easy kung pao chicken, adapted from a recipe by Pearl Han and her daughter Grace Han. Make this sweet, sour and spicy dish in a wok or a nonstick skillet, swap in your favorite dried chiles to switch up the spice level, toss in a handful of peanuts — and however you complete your kung pao, be sure to serve it with lots of rice.
Another equation for lean protein plus killer sauce: this baked tofu with peanut sauce and coconut-lime rice, a recipe from Yewande Komolafe. Umami all-stars — peanut butter, miso and fish sauce — add depth to a quick sauce that would be good on just about anything, but is particularly excellent on tofu. (Tofu’s mellow flavor lets the sauce and that zippy coconut rice sing.)
Yewande also has a brilliant solution for anyone looking to prolong summer tomato magic in her blistered tomato dressing. Pop tomatoes under the broiler to develop a tortoiseshell char, then chop and mix with shallots, vinegar and olive oil for a juicy vinaigrette to use on grain salads, roast chicken, toasted bread or steamed fish.
And from our collection of the very best birthday cake recipes, here’s Dorie Greenspan’s chocolate-chocolate birthday cake. Dorie bakes this family favorite for her son’s birthday every year, and — with a luscious cocoa-bittersweet chocolate combo in both the cake and frosting — it’s easy to see why. Double chocolate might just become your favorite cake, too.
