Cooking
My favorite recipe is uncomplicated and flexible, calling for only salt, pepper and whatever herbs you like.
I’m always heartened by the sight of a roast chicken coming out of the oven. It’s comforting, sustaining and thoroughly delicious.
My favorite recipe is uncomplicated and flexible, calling for only salt, pepper and whatever herbs you have on hand. You roast the bird in a skillet to preserve the drippings and then, as the chicken rests on a cutting board, use those drippings to sauté whatever green vegetable you like — kale, spinach, green beans. Add a squeeze of lemon and some chile flakes and serve it all on top of Genevieve Ko’s fluffy mashed potatoes or a bed of rice.
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Salt-and-Pepper Roast Chicken
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If you’re in the mood for noodles, Judy Kim’s chile oil noodles with cilantro are supremely pleasing and spicy enough to clear your sinuses. For textural contrast, Judy suggests topping the slippery udon with store-bought fried shallots, an easy way to add both sweetness and crunch.
Or maybe a pan of cheesy pasta would end the day nicely? Sarah Jampel’s cheesy baked pumpkin pasta uses a mix of canned pumpkin purée and ricotta cheese as a soft contrast to the green kale strewn throughout. It’s a gentle one-pan meal full of lovely autumnal flavors.
If it’s cold where you are, or if you or anyone in your household is a bit under the weather, you might be thinking of soup. You can use any leftover roast chicken plus the chicken carcass to make a broth for Ali Slagle’s classic chicken noodle soup. Or, for something speedier and meatless, Eric Kim’s quick tomato soup is a hearty, zesty childhood favorite, served with or without a grilled cheese sandwich on the side.
And for dessert, Samantha Seneviratne’s cream cheese brownies are a perfect weeknight pursuit, filled with bittersweet, tangy flavors. The recipe makes 16 bars, plenty to share with anyone in need of some sweetness.
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Breakfast for dinner is a classic move. For our weekly one-pot meal, try my shakshuka with feta any time you’re in the market for a saucy, savory, meatless meal that’s filled with runny egg yolks and soft, salty half-melted feta cheese.
Melissa Clark has been writing her column, A Good Appetite, for The Times’s Food section since 2007. She creates recipes for New York Times Cooking, makes videos and reports on food trends. She is the author of 45 cookbooks, and counting. More about Melissa Clark