We would never tell you to cook a certain dish just because it’s pretty, but — how pretty is Colu Henry’s sheet-pan chicken with shallots and grapes? To be clear, it’s also delicious, a perfect mix of savory za’atar-dusted chicken thighs, sweet shallots and just-tart-enough grapes. On the table in just over half an hour, it’s quick enough for a weeknight but impressive enough for your next gathering. Place the dish next to melting candles and a vase of gently drooping flowers, and you’ll have a painterly still-life tableau.
Featured Recipe
Sheet-Pan Chicken With Shallots and Grapes
To continue our dinner party planning, Lidey Heuck has a new recipe for a crowd-pleasing pork tenderloin. It’s easy to execute: Lidey’s marinade comes together with four simple pantry staples, and, depending on the size of your tenderloins, you can roast them in the same pan you first used to brown them. Serve with Sue Li’s recipe for sautéed peas, which gussies up everyone’s freezer favorite — a pebbly bag of frozen peas — with umami-rich anchovies and a shower of scallions for just enough bite.
It’s not a fall weekend without something simmering on the stove, so here’s Von Diaz’s versatile sancocho recipe. “My father cooked his with beef, corn and noodles; my mom with chicken breasts, lean pork and sweet plantains; my grandmother with beef, pork on the bone and yautia,” Von writes. Make yours with whatever mix of proteins and vegetables is speaking to you (or needs using up). If you’re looking to share your batch with a bud in need of some bolstering, know that it freezes and reheats beautifully.
Or maybe you’d like something decidedly soupy? Yotam Ottolenghi’s herby sweet potato soup with peanuts is also substitute friendly, like the sancocho, with added carby comfort from bulgur or short pasta. Yotam calls it “a soup for when you just want to be left alone,” so we’ll leave you to it.
