Good morning. Eric Kim did valuable work for The Times this week, breaking down the science of and techniques for making juicy chicken breasts, instead of the unfortunately more common bone-dry ones. It’s a satisfying read (with an excellent use of the compound noun “noun cluster” in it) and deeply informative.
Recipes accompany his work, like mathematical proofs. He has a terrific one for dry-brined chicken breasts, and another for chicken breasts anointed with Cheddar and crumbled Ritz crackers. I absolutely love the one for pineapple-marinated chicken breasts (above), though, for how transformative the process is for the meat, leaving it tender as thigh.
I think that might be Sunday dinner, although I’m sorely tempted by this Jocelyn Ramirez recipe for grilled king oyster mushrooms. They’re smothered in a quick sauce of guajillo chiles, earthy achiote paste, garlic, liquid aminos for salt and umami, and maple syrup for a touch of sweetness, then threaded onto skewers with peppers, cherry tomatoes and summer squash. Char those on the grill and serve with tabbouleh? Or maybe I could make the mushrooms and one of the chickens, and pair them on the table. It’s a quandary.
Another quandary: dessert. Melissa Clark has a beautiful new recipe for blueberry crunch cake that she made in our studio kitchen recently (here’s the video) and it seems like a breeze: a one-bowl setup with a crunchy pecan topping. But I’ve also been thinking a lot about Nigella Lawson’s strawberry pavlova, which is an amazing thing to serve at the end of a meal. I don’t think you’d go wrong with either.
On Monday, take a look at this baked ricotta with spring vegetables, which Florence Fabricant learned from the chef Dan Kluger at Loring Place in Manhattan. It’s an appetizer at the restaurant, and a light lunch for some. For me, at the top of the week, with good toast and a glass of wine, it’s dinner.
Tuesday, you might return to Melissa, for her quick-braised cod with herbed yogurt. It needn’t be cod. I like the dish with flounder. You may prefer halibut or grouper, depending on where you live and what you like. Serve with mashed potatoes, maybe, or rice.
Wednesdays are bleak sometimes, particularly if you’ve been cooking a lot. Dinner can be a chore when once, just a few days before, it was a joy. Try Mark Bittman’s simple roast chicken, then, and serve it with the most basic green salad you can muster, and a baguette to mop up the drippings. A roast chicken, as the writer Laurie Colwin once noted, is “helpful and agreeable, the perfect dish no matter the circumstances.” This week, that circumstance is Wednesday.
On Thursday, if you’re able, take advantage of the wild king salmon showing up in markets. (You may feel the fishmonger is taking advantage of you, with the prices that fish commands. But let’s recall: It’s a wild animal taken from the salt water of the Alaskan coast by human beings and shipped great distances to strike beautiful poses on ice. It’s worth the money spent.) David Tanis’s wild king salmon with savory whipped cream will prove the point plain.
And then on Friday you can welcome the weekend with Klancy Miller’s mushroom-Parmesan tart. That and a Canlis salad? Heaven.
Thousands and thousands more recipes to cook this week are waiting for you on New York Times Cooking. Go browse our virtual aisles and see what strikes your fancy. You can of course save the recipes you like. You should rate the recipes you’ve cooked. And if you’ve come up with a hack or ingredient substitution, feel free to leave notes on a recipe, either for yourself or for your fellow subscribers. (I found a good one below Klancy’s mushroom tart, encouraging readers to sub in some bacon fat for the olive oil: big hit!)
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Now, it’s nothing to do with stir-fries or oatmeal, but please read Jim Windolf’s latest short story, “A Star of The New York Times,” in 3:AM Magazine.
Here’s new Sleater-Kinney, “Worry With You.”
Finally, here’s your periodic reminder to make time this summer to read Charles Willeford, whose four Hoke Moseley novels are required reading in this course. I’ll be back on Monday.
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