Good morning. We’re in a different holiday chute this week, with Passover on Friday night, Easter on Sunday, and Ramadan underway. My inbox is overflowing with prescription requests.
And we have them: for matzo knit and matzo ball soup; for apple and walnut haroseth, for everything you need to complete your Seder table. We’ve got roast lamb and roast carrots for Easter (unless you prefer ham and potatoes au gratin); carrot cake, an Italian ricotta torta for Easter and also exceptional hot cross buns (above).
Need a good new side dish for iftar? Try this cucumber yogurt salad with dill, sour cherries, and rose petals. And kunan gyada, spiced peanuts and rice pudding is a great filling for suhoor.
Either way, celebrate spring this weekend, perhaps with David Tanis’ new recipe for a seasonal dinner: a salad of shaved asparagus and radishes to start, followed by roast chicken with green garlic, herbs and potatoes, and a rhubarb crumble with pistachios as dessert.
As for this evening, how about pasta with garlicky spinach and buttered pistachios? Lentil cacciatore? Frying pan chicken with mushrooms and caramelized onions? The time it takes to make caramelized onions can be chafing on a weeknight. In that case, use black pepper shrimp and a bowl of basmati rice. Or you know, open a pack of instant ramen and turn it into perfect instant ramen. (For me, that requires an egg, scallions, toasted sesame seeds, a spoonful of chili crisp, and a slice of American cheese.)
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Now it’s a long way from people asking me if there are any ramps on the market yet, but the essential Times podcast “Still Processing” is back with a new season, starting Thursday, April 14. (Wesley Morris will be hosting much of his solo this spring while Jenna Wortham is on book leave.) Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts from.
Someone pointed me to Ross Thomas’ classy crime novels, and I’m glad I was introduced to them. Scott Bradfield wrote a good introduction to Thomas a few years ago for The Los Angeles Times. That’s a good place to start.
Also in the criminal sphere, I watched the Detroit thriller “Low Winter Sun” on Amazon Prime. It’s not brilliant, but I would look to Lennie James and David Costabile in everything, and so should you.
Finally, Lindsay Zoladz brought me to this new Joyce Manor single, from the band’s upcoming album ’40 oz. to Fresno,” in June. It’s called “Gotta Let It Go,” and Lindsay puts it best: “unusually efficient — as if Taking Back Sunday attended Guided by Voices school of songwriting.” Listen to that while you cook, and I’ll be back Friday.
