Good morning. When my children were very small, there wasn’t a lot of time to cook proper meals. Each evening my wife and I found ourselves sliding down a chute that led from dinner for the kids to bath to books to bedtime, and emerging at the bottom ready only for takeout food and some shut-eye before, invariably, one child or both awakened in a cry.
We ate a lot of takeout Peruvian roast chicken. It was our staple meal: salty-skinned and moist, with an addictive spicy cilantro sauce. That phase of our lives didn’t last that long in the grand scheme of things, but I still seek comfort in those flavors, and remember those days with warmth.
And now I can cook the chicken myself with Melissa Clark’s ace recipe (above). I usually double the amount of sauce so I can use it to anoint chicken sandwiches during the week. Would you consider joining me in doing so today?
As for the rest of the week …
Monday
Hetty McKinnon has a new recipe for a tofu-ginger stir-fry that’s an excellent fast-and-flavorful meal for the start of the week. The slivered ginger sweetens in the pan, while the tofu achieves the miracle of being both bouncy and crisp.
Tuesday
There’s something deliciously heretical about Kay Chun’s smoky tomato carbonara, which brings a bright tang to what is usually a velvety rich dish. “I don’t care what you call it,” one subscriber noted on the recipe, “this tastes great.”
Wednesday
Ali Slagle’s sheet-pan roasted chicken with greens is a reminder of the ease and joy of one-pan cooking, with dark, leafy greens beneath the chicken absorbing its fat and juices so that they emerge almost braised.
Thursday
Here’s a 30-minute salmon and couscous salad with cucumber-feta dressing from Yasmin Fahr, inspired by both green goddess dressing and mast-o khiar, a Persian side dish of cucumbers and yogurt. (Eat the leftovers cold for lunch, enlivened by a squeeze of lime juice and more fresh herbs.)
Friday
And then to round out the week, join me for some kitchen freestyling with a no-recipe recipe approach to a kale salad with cranberries, pecans and blue cheese. When I made it the other night, I swapped in dried cherries, roasted almonds and dabs of triple crème Brie for the headliner mix-ins, and then topped the salad with a variation on Melissa Clark’s recipe for chicken schnitzel. (I used chicken thighs in place of her cutlets.) This was an outrageously good meal.
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