Good morning. Is everyone holding on to where you’re staying? These are difficult times! It’s important to remember that your good day can be a bad day for someone else. Your best bet, as always, is empathy and a preference for goodwill. My friend Julia has cooked insanely for others in quarantine, leaving deli containers full of soup and stew at her neighbors’ doors. She spreads cheers where cheers are scarce. I hope we can all follow her lead this week: maybe three-sister stew, or lemony carrot-cauliflower soup.
It’s better served at home than delivered to someone else, but Melissa Clark’s new turkey chili and biscuit recipe (above), a one-pot meal of real distinction, comes together in just an hour and may be just the thing to put a smile on. conjure . Or you could try Ali Slagle’s latest, a quick braised chicken with veggies that debunks the lie that you should always brown your meat before cooking it in liquid. (I could pair that with this potato and celeriac gratin with caper brown butter, from the inimitable Yotam Ottolenghi.)
And for dessert? I do like this Earl Gray tea cake with dark chocolate and orange zest, a reader favorite. But this old-fashioned butterscotch pudding also calls to me, a balm on a winter’s night.
Not that you really need a recipe to cook well. You can instead just follow a prompt and cook what we call an over-the-counter recipe.
For example: puttanesca alla Norma? It’s a cinch if you have some leftover baked eggplant in the fridge or a can of the stuff in the pantry. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil on the stove. Swirl some olive oil in a deep pan set over medium heat and, when it shimmers, sauté a handful of minced garlic until it starts to turn golden. Add some anchovies, along with a can of chopped or whole tomatoes, and loosen with a spoon.
After a few minutes, add a handful of capers, maybe another of chopped olives, a good pinch of red pepper flakes, and whatever cooked eggplant you have. Let it bubble for a while and salt to taste. Cook your favorite pasta shape until just al dente, then drain and mix with the sauce. I do like a bit of Pecorino Romano at the end, and I serve the dish with warm Italian bread on the side. You’re welcome!
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Now, it’s a far cry from baked ziti and morning glory muffins, but I enjoyed the dark Danish vibe of “The Chestnut Man” on Netflix.
With no winter fishing to distract us, my sniper crew spends its time stalking the snowy owls that work on the same shoreline we fish in the summer. This weekend we found one and my friend Brendan managed to get a great photo.
I loved Becky Chambers’ “The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet”, and if her “Record of a Spaceborn Few” isn’t so electric, it’s still a pleasant visit to space.
Finally, here’s new music from The Smile, a Radiohead spin-off, super angry and fast: “You Will Never Work in Television Again.” Enjoy, and I’ll be back Friday.