Cooking
Andy Baraghani’s tahini apple tart sparkles. No, really: The sesame seeds and sugar on the crust give it real luster (and crunch).
I can’t resist a flourish. I’ve never once abided by that “remove one thing before you leave the house” rule — why would I take off something I paid money for and love? This shows up in my cooking as well: Rice always gets a shower of furikake, salads always get croutons, chili always gets a thatched blanket of shredded Cheddar (and scallions and sour cream and fried onions and hot sauce). Some might call it an inability to leave well enough alone. I call it living a little.
Andy Baraghani gets it. Does his tahini apple tart, which is already assertively sesame-y from the halva-like tahini spread under the apples, really need the sesame seeds and sugar sprinkled on the crust? Probably not, but then you wouldn’t get that extra toasted sesame flavor and crunch and sparkle (quite literally). Serve this beautiful tart with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or crème fraîche, next to a bouquet of gold-yellow lilies to really get the point across.
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Tahini Apple Tart
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Likewise, Vallery Lomas adds a bit of risotto flair to her spinach, mushroom and chicken casserole by adding Parmesan to the creamy sautéed mushroom-onion mix and as the topping. Would I add some chile flakes along with the Parm, maybe a bit of lemon zest if I have a lone lemon rolling around in the crisper? Naturally.
You could probably make Hetty Lui McKinnon’s sheet-pan pierogies with brussels sprouts and kimchi without the kimchi and still have a wonderful, easy one-dish dinner. But I’d miss the sour tang it adds, especially since the kimchi juices caramelize and sweeten in the oven and provide a nice contrast to the accompanying dill sour cream.
I think frying anything on a weeknight is one of the most impressive cooking flourishes out there. Imagine making Archana Pidathala and Tejal Rao’s chepa vepudu as a reward for sending all the emails: a golden and crispy spiced fish fry that’s absorbed the flavors of caramelized ginger and garlic, toasted coriander seeds and red chile. (It’s a lot less fiddly than you might think; the dish comes together in about a half-hour.) Doesn’t that sound like the most not-Monday Monday meal possible?
Lastly, if you’re hosting people for watching sports on the television — is it painfully clear I don’t do sports — it’s fun to have a snack that feels a little extra. Millie Peartree’s grape jelly meatballs come together in the slow cooker, where the grape jelly, barbecue sauce and grated ginger mellow and meld and become a sticky, smoky glaze. (If you’re wondering what the flourish is here, I have one word for you: toothpicks.)
And for something crunchy: Ali Slagle’s Old Bay party mix. I’ll leave you with this comment from John, a reader, who clearly understood today’s assignment: “Didn’t have mini pretzels, but did have peanut butter pretzel nuggets, and that honestly made this even better.”