Cooking
And our readers agree: “One of my all time favorite NYT Cooking recipes,” one says. “Try this, you will not regret it,” another writes.
Though there are plenty of obvious upsides to being an interim restaurant critic for The New York Times, I’ve found one major drawback: I cook less. As much as I adore the convivial adventures of dining out, I still miss the cozy cadence of nights in with my family — dicing onions, mincing herbs, mixing our own drinks while spilling the tea. Cooking has been my creative, therapeutic and family time for as long as I can remember, and doing less of it has only made it more precious.
This reviewing gig has changed my cooking, too. Restaurant meals are generally larger, richer and more meat-heavy than what I’d whip up on a Wednesday. So whenever I’m back at the stove I steer toward lighter, meatless fare that’s exuberantly flavored and fun to cook.
Case in point, the prep for my cauliflower shawarma with spicy tahini keeps things to a conversational pace. Just toss cauliflower florets with oil and spices and then put them in the oven to roast while you chat. As they soften and caramelize and wrap you in their cumin-y perfume, you can catch up on the headlines of the day (OMG, she did what in chem lab?) while whisking the harissa-flecked tahini sauce. Then you can enjoy family dinner, homework monitoring, maybe an episode of Kaos (OMG, she did what in the underworld?), all without a reservation.
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Cauliflower Shawarma With Spicy Tahini
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If it’s still shawarma when you take the chicken out, then it’s still Alfredo if you put some chicken in. Naz Deravian’s chicken Alfredo adds slices of seared boneless, skinless white meat to bowls of Parmesan-laced pasta Alfredo for protein and heft. Don’t ignore Naz’s tip to use freshly grated cheese, because the pre-grated stuff often has additives that make it hard to emulsify into the sauce.
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