Good morning. On some weekend mornings this time of year, when the breeze is coming out of the west to knife through your topcoat, and even an unoccluded sun can’t promise warmth, I’ll use geography to my advantage and drive over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge to Staten Island, then arrange myself in the lee of the Alice Austen House in Rosedale, out of the wind.
It’s a good place to consider the majesty of the New York City skyline, and the sheer, amazing grace of New York Harbor, with its giant tankers and container ships swinging at anchor. There’s a rare urban peace to the setting, which also makes it a good place to think.
For me, on a Sunday, those thoughts soon turn to dinner. (You, too?) I walk the grounds and wonder: gravy for pasta, pork chops with lemon-caper sauce, stew chicken, mushrooms on toast?
Today I’m thinking — the idea popping up as suddenly as a daffodil — Mark Bittman’s chicken cobbler (above), a kind of easy potpie. Mark doesn’t use much chicken in the dish — only two boneless chicken thighs, to complement a lot of vegetables. I might add a couple more to mine, with a splash of cream to augment the buttermilk he uses for the sauce. I’m reckless that way.
Tuesday
Kristina Felix has a smart new recipe for mushroom quesabirria tacos, a kind of rhyme on the meaty classic from Jalisco, Mexico, that recalls the comfort of grilled cheese and tomato soup. Put a couple of beers into the freezer while you’re making the dish and serve them alongside the tacos when they’re ready. That’s a wonderful meal.
Wednesday
I like Eric Kim’s recipe for jjajangmyeon , a Koreanified take on the fried sauce noodles served in the Shandong province of China. I like it with pickled daikon to counter the salty, porky richness of the noodles, but if you don’t have any, some raw red onions dressed in rice wine vinegar would be a fine substitute.
Thursday
Another banger from Ali: her recipe for crisp gnocchi with sausage and peas. It’s lovely on a weeknight not to have to boil water for the gnocchi (you sear them in the pan instead), and amazing how the mustard and Parmesan combine to give the dish a kind of cacio-e-pepe bite.
Friday
And then you can head into the weekend on a Lenten note, with my recipe for fish tacos. If frying fish is not your bag, you can daub the fillets with oil, roll them in panko and roast on an oiled sheet pan in a 400-degree oven until they’re crisp and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Don’t stint on the chipotles in the crema — the creamy heat against the crunch of the fish is sublime.
There are thousands and thousands more recipes to cook this week waiting for you on New York Times Cooking. Go explore the app and see what you find. (You need a subscription to do that, of course. Subscriptions make this whole dance possible. If you haven’t already, would you consider subscribing today? Thank you.)
If you run into issues with your account, please write for help — cookingcare@nytimes.com — and someone will get back to you. Complaints, praise for my colleagues and observations about the state of the kitchen world can be sent to me: hellosam@nytimes.com. I can’t respond to every letter. But I read each one I get.
Now, it’s nothing to do with laminating dough or preparing calves liver, but I think you should take a look at Sarah Weinman’s guide to private-eye detective novels in The New York Times Book Review. It sent me to the library for Stanley Ellin’s “The Eighth Circle,” from 1958.
