Good morning. Five years ago I was a week into lockdown, terrified of the pandemic raging outside my door. I’d laid in supplies to keep my family fed for a month, acquired a ton of masks and gallons of antiseptic, set up a home office in my bedroom and just generally prepared us for what we all assumed would be a fairly short stint at home.
That was not to be, of course. The virus surged. We remained inside. The sourdough starter bloomed. We ate a lot of beans. It wasn’t misery, not by a long shot, but it wasn’t great.
Still, I have some fantastic memories of that time, eating with my family three times a day. At one point I ordered a box of frozen wild sockeye salmon from Alaska to share with neighbors, and it seemed to me like the single most luxurious thing in the world to do and to eat.
It still brings me joy to do that, with wild salmon from the fishmonger or from a big-box store. Wild salmon roasted in butter (above) is to me a madeleine, sparking involuntary memories of our quarantined family table, the 1,000-piece mushrooms puzzle pushed aside, and of the leftovers we’d flake over lunchtime salads the following day. It’s an extremely delicious recipe.
Featured Recipe
Salmon Roasted in Butter
So that’s dinner tonight. As for the rest of the week. …
Monday
Hetty Lui McKinnon has a new recipe for coconut curry with potatoes and greens that’s as much a chowder as a curry. That is to say, you could eat it as soup or spoon it over rice. The base is store-bought Thai curry paste, a pantry superstar that you fry into intensity before adding stock and coconut milk to build out the dish. I’d absolutely add cubed tofu at the end, for protein and a textural rhyme with the potatoes and silky greens.
Tuesday
I love Melissa Clark’s recipe for cauliflower shawarma with spicy tahini as much for the deliciousness of the tahini as for the warm flavors of the florets. I serve it with warm pita, chopped tomatoes, red onion and black olives tossed in olive oil, with the tahini sauce and a healthy drizzle of amba.
Wednesday
Rotisserie chicken provides the backbone for Christian Reynoso’s recipe for a quick-to-put-together citrus-soy chicken ramen. But if you live in a place that happens to have a Chinese barbecue shop, buy a few legs of soy-sauce chicken instead, for an extra boost of flavor.
Thursday
Eric Kim developed a lovely new recipe for sizzled bratwurst with mashed potatoes. A million years ago, working my first newspaper job, I made almost the same dish at least twice a week to eat with swipes of strong mustard and mounds of caramelized cabbage alongside the potatoes. Those were grand days.
Friday
And then you can head into the weekend with another gem from Eric, a recipe for chicken perloo that he adapted from one developed by the chef Rodney Scott (who I think learned it from his mom). You might call it a Lowcountry jambalaya, or a rice-studded, roux-free gumbo. Once you’ve made it, you’ll know it’s perloo.
There are thousands and thousands more recipes to cook this week waiting for you on New York Times Cooking, though you need a subscription to look at them. Remember: Subscriptions make this dance possible. If you haven’t already, would you consider subscribing today? Thank you.
Write for help if you run into problems with that, or with your account: cookingcare@nytimes.com. Someone will get back to you. Or if you want to sound off about something, or say something nice about a recipe, writer or secret ingredient, you can write to me: hellosam@nytimes.com. I can’t respond to every letter. But I do read each one I get.
Now, it’s a long and winding road from anything to do with the preparation of congee or middle-school tacos, but I love this collection my colleagues put together of the more than 3,500 films our critics have loved since 2000. It’s great fun to explore.
Paula Bohince has two new poems in the London Review of Books, worth reading.
In The Ellsworth American of Ellsworth, Maine, Alex Seitz-Wald has a comprehensive report from the 50th Maine Fishermen’s Forum in Rockport, where members of the state’s lobster industry gathered recently to talk shop. The undercurrent of those conversations? Deep worry about the future. Lobster landings hit a 15-year low last year.
Finally, here’s a new track from Feeble Little Horse, “This Is Real,” quite a journey. Cook delicious food and I’ll see you next week.
