Good morning! Today we have for you:
Inspired, influenced, streamlined
Hello, friends. I hope this finds you warm and well, with little to do today aside from tinkering in the kitchen and watching the 2026 Winter Olympics closing ceremony. (If you are, this pasta dish with cabbage, potatoes and cheese will make you feel as if you’re in the Italian Alps.) It may be a meal-prep day for you, especially if you’re observing Ramadan. Zaynab Issa wrote this smart article with strategies for quickly preparing iftar, the fast-breaking meal, on weeknights when there’s little time between work and sundown. She wisely suggests getting a lot of prep done on weekends so that weekday meals are largely assembly. Her practical tips apply to anyone who needs to get dinner on the table quickly, as does her overarching philosophy. She encapsulates the idea in the title of her brilliant cookbook, “Third Culture Cooking: Classic Recipes for a New Generation.” In it, she draws inspiration from traditional dishes, channels influences from other cuisines and streamlines techniques to make meals work for busy modern lifestyles. In the 1950s, the sociologist and anthropologist Ruth Hill Useem coined the term “third culture kid” to refer to children who, because of their parents’ work, grew up in a different country than the one their parents called home. In recent years, the phrase has come to encompass anyone who lives across multiple cultures; the shorthand “third culture” has been applied to food that blends global cuisines. Zaynab offers a taste of the concept with these crackly pitas, topped with spiced ground beef and broiled until their smoky scent makes you want to roar. They’re reminiscent of arayes, meat-stuffed pitas found in Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, but open-faced like Turkish lahmacun and, yup, pizza. In Zaynab’s recipe, the spices give kofta vibes, but any spice blend works. The pitas come together quickly and if you make the meat mixture today, you can spread and broil it on the bread tomorrow for a 15-minute dinner. Fully cooked, they can be frozen and reheated for a near-instant snack. Featured Recipe Sheet-Pan Charred Meat PitasHere are more meals for tonight and the week ahead: Spiced tomato and eggplant pasta: In this cozy meal adapted from Zaynab’s book, the rigatoni is sauced like Italy’s pasta alla Norma and seasoned like Afghanistan’s borani banjan with cumin, coriander and a garlicky yogurt. I hadn’t tried a savory yogurt sauce, cool with mint, over steaming tomato-sauced pasta before this, and that combination is now entering my rotation. It lightens each bite of eggplant, which is plump with olive oil. Slow-cooked fish with citrus and herbs: Andy Baraghani’s California roots are on full display in this celebration of citrus. Full sun rounds of lemon (Meyer if you’ve got it) and clementine soften in a pan of leeks and garlic, soaking up their savory sweetness. One big fillet of salmon, cod or halibut bakes on this fragrant bed for a most stunning (and foolproof) fish dinner. Chicken biryani: Naz Deravian’s take on the classic Central and South Asian dish starts with yogurt-marinated drumsticks for extra depth. She sears them after she sizzles onions so they pick up the aromas of that golden oil. Her methodical building of this tiered dish makes the experience as meditative and relaxing as putting together an elaborate Lego project. The result is just as impressive. Strawberry lassi: Zaynab offers not only tips for meals for iftar, but also drink recipes to keep you hydrated if you’re fasting. Because Ramadan falls in winter, she strategically uses frozen berries in this take on lassi, the yogurt-blended beverage popular throughout South Asia. To accentuate the natural sweetness of strawberries, Zaynab adds maple syrup, cardamom and a pinch of salt. (And if you’re not into fruity yogurt, try her salted lassi.) Pistachio-almond cookies: The cardamom in these cookies feels like a bear hug — the spice’s fruity, peppery warmth envelopes the rich nuttiness of ground pistachios and almonds. David Tanis created these elegant little bites and they come together so easily that you’ll feel like a pro baker. He calls for whisking egg whites until frothy, which makes these (gluten-free! dairy-free!) rounds chewy but not dense, with a whisper of crispness all around. I took his option of grinding the pistachios in my food processor, then blitzing in the remaining dry ingredients before pulsing in the bubbly whites. See you next week!
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