Cooking
“This was one of the most delicious recipes we’ve ever made.”
The other day my pal Eric Kim asked me how I unwind after work. A bike ride, knitting, maybe a yoga class, I replied. A glass of wine for me, a squeaky toy for the dog. I didn’t say what immediately came to mind because it felt too goody-two-shoes, and that is: cooking.
I’ve started paying attention to all the little things I enjoy about preparing a meal, how far they feel from demanding screens and unanswered emails. The soft texture and faded color of my blue apron, run through the wash a billion times. The decisive, clean cut of a heavy knife through an onion. How the dog (his name’s Reggie) knows the sound and the aroma emanating from the rice cooker and comes running. After a long day of doing things for other people, it feels good to have all these nice moments that belong just to me.
On weekends I lean into this as much as I can, picking out recipes that maybe take a little more time or require a trip to a different grocery store. If I were making Rick Martínez’s tostadas on a weeknight, I’d probably snag some prepared tostadas and use sour cream instead of crema since that’s what my corner store has. But it’s Saturday, which means I can take an easy stroll to the Latin grocer for fresh corn tortillas, queso fresco and crema. And while I fry the tortillas, maybe I’ll get a batch of frijoles de olla going, to use on my tostadas today and for nachos or for Ali Slagle’s quick vegetarian enchiladas during the week.
Featured Recipe
Tostadas
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Weeknights are for chicken pieces in a skillet or sheet pan; weekends are for roasting whole chickens. Ali’s caramelized lemon chicken caught my eye for its star ingredient: lemon curd. “The sugars in the curd help the skin caramelize to a deep mahogany, while the curd’s fat and moisture keep the meat juicy,” Ali writes. “Spread it on chicken and each bite gets perfumed with sunny lemon.” Sold.
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