As Yewande Komolafe writes in her recipe, thieboudienne (above), often referred to as the national dish of Senegal, is particularly lovely to assemble with friends — a perfect meal for a crisp, autumn Sunday supper. Have one friend find the fish and put another on vegetable duty; you’ll provide the pantry staples (broken rice, tomato paste and spices) and a shallow pot. Two easy hours of searing and simmering later, you’ll dig into a complete one-pot meal of herbaceous fish, tender vegetables and richly seasoned rice. And we do mean dig — you’ll want to reach that xońe (or xoñe), the crunchy bits of rice stuck to the bottom of the pot.
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Thieboudienne
Serve your beautiful thieboudienne with bissap, a chilled hibiscus tea — this hibiscus punch from David Tanis will do the trick, Yewande says.
Perhaps your weekend cooking project is leaning toward poultry? Colu Henry’s roast chicken with maple butter and rosemary is a guaranteed winner with decidedly fall flavors: “My family said it was the best chicken I ever made,” Steven, a reader, said. Proudly plunk it on the table with a wide bowl of fluffy couscous and a simple green salad.
Or maybe you want something stewy in the mix. This gochujang potato stew from Eric Kim is sweet and spicy, bright and fortifying. Use leftover gochujang to make Eric’s gochujang buttered noodles, one of our most popular recipes of the year so far.
And if your weekend involves some weeknight dinner planning, go ahead and make a batch of umami-rich green anchovy butter, a recipe from Anna Hezel adapted by Christina Morales. Stir it into hot pasta, toss it with roasted vegetables, smear it on sandwiches — however you end up using it, tell us in the recipe notes!
