Good morning. Lent began on Wednesday, the start of a commemoration of the 40 days Jesus spent in the Judean Desert, fasting and avoiding the temptations of Satan. It’s a period of prayer, abstention and almsgiving for many Christians, solemn preparation for the miracle of Easter. And, for many, it means avoiding meat on Fridays.
For them, then, though really for anyone with a taste for the delicious (it wouldn’t be a bad call for an iftar meal if you’re observing Ramadan, or for Shabbat dinner): this lovely porcini ragù that Ligaya Mishan adapted from a recipe the cookbook writer Ixta Belfrage ate as a child growing up in Tuscany.
It comes together far more quickly than a ragù you’d make with ground pork or beef, with dried porcinis plumped in hot water, which are then chopped and fried with tomato paste, garlic, crushed red pepper and parsley. Hit that with a lot of freshly ground black pepper, some of the water you used for the mushrooms, a little cream and a shower of Parmesan. Toss with tagliatelle and finish with olive oil and a little more cheese. Then give thanks, for this is a fantastic meal.
Featured Recipe
Porcini Ragù
So, too, is a breakfast of Saturday pancakes, and in particular these light, fluffy and rich pancakes that Mark Bittman brought to The Times years ago, with whipped egg whites in the batter and ricotta to boot. Those under maple syrup, with a scattering of coined bananas, are a weekend joy, just the breakfast to consume before an adventure outside the house, experiencing the world.
For New Yorkers, maybe that’s a drive up the Hudson to hike Popolopen Torne. For others, it’s a Nordic ski around a reservoir, or a walk on salt flats or a bicycle ride down a road near the Pacific. (For me, this weekend, I’m hoping it’s a run out through Turkey Basin in the Florida Keys, in search of tarpon and permit.) You’ll make your own call, but let’s all of us eat jambon beurre for lunch.
And then, for dinner, Julia Reed’s impeccable recipe for shrimp and grits, adapted from one she discovered in landlocked Sewanee, Tenn. Follow it with pecan pie if you have the time to bake one, or with bananas Foster if you don’t.
Keep it up with the Big Breakfasts on Sunday. You can eat muesli all week. Say, perhaps, some morning glory muffins alongside a few slices of oven bacon and a big glass of whipped coffee?
Have some leftover ragù for lunch and then fight off the Sunday scaries with a warm kale, coconut and tomato salad for dinner. New York Times Cooking provides.
And please write for help, should you run into problems with your account: cookingcare@nytimes.com. (You do have an account, yes? If you don’t, would you consider subscribing today?) Or you can write to me, if you want to cheer or complain: hellosam@nytimes.com. I can’t respond to every letter. There’s a lot of mail. But I do read each one I get.
Now, it’s nothing to do with barley or veal, but I liked Lizzy Caplan in “Zero Day” on Netflix, starring Robert De Niro.
Likewise, Helen Mirren in the insane second episode of the insane second season of Taylor Sheridan’s “1923” on Paramount+, “The Rapist Is Winter.”
A one-two punch from The New York Times Book Review sent me crashing into the bookstore the other day: Elisabeth Egan’s silky profile of the novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on the cusp of releasing “Dream Count,” her first novel in a dozen years, followed by Alexandra Jacobs’s ace review of the book.
