A spring Sunday salmon supper
Good morning. I fixed and filled the bird feeder and Mr. Cardinal was on set within the hour, bullying the grackles away and getting on the seed. He hung out while I worked on a lawn wrecked by dogs, on a wood pile that needed stacking, on the piles of stuff that’ll have to go onto the boat before fishing can commence. It was a weekend of promise and anticipation, the start of the season, a time for regrowth. For dinner: broiled salmon with asparagus and herbs (above). I use a thawed plank of Alaskan king salmon from last summer’s harvest, fished out of the deep freezer, along with new asparagus and tender herbs. I like the rhyme of that — a taste of what’s left from months ago and what’s come from the spring — but the meal is powerfully good even if you don’t have access to wild salmon. (If you’re not feeling fish, make one of these other fantastic springtime dinners instead.) Featured Recipe Broiled Salmon With Asparagus and HerbsAnd with Sunday sorted, we can turn to the rest of the week. … MondayI love Eleanore Park’s new recipe for miso rice cakes with spinach and peas for how the spongy tteok soak up the sauce and provide a salty heft against the sweet vegetables and herbs. It’s glossy and verdant (and vegan) and very, very good.
TuesdayHere’s Eric Kim with a terrific new recipe for cauliflower Alfredo pasta, with the thick, creamy, cheesy sauce amped up with a musk of nutmeg. He tops the dish with chives and a dollop of ricotta, and serves it with a lemon-dressed arugula salad. I’ll do the same.
WednesdayThere are probably as many different recipes for three-cup chicken as there are ports and harbors in Taiwan, but this one is mine. And I’m sticking to it: ginger, garlic, scallions and red pepper flakes combined with brown sugar, rice wine vinegar and soy sauce, everything burbling along with chunks of boneless chicken thighs until it’s time to scatter basil over the top and serve with rice.
ThursdayAlexa Weibel, the new queen of minimalism, gave us this stellar five-ingredient recipe for gochujang shrimp pasta. She chops the shrimp so their shape mimics the halved cherry tomatoes that are also in the dish, which ensures that every bite of the finished meal delivers a pop of flavor. Superb!
FridayAnd then you can head into the weekend with a recipe from our original minimalist, Mark Bittman, for steak with ginger-butter sauce. It’s a technique he picked up from the maximalist chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten that deploys butter, ginger and soy sauce to great effect. Serve with smashed cucumbers and rice. There are many thousands more recipes to cook this week waiting for you on New York Times Cooking. (Like, for instance: this savory rhubarb and bean stew; this polenta with asparagus, peas and mint; this spring salad with bagna cauda.) Take a look around and see what you find. Save what you like. Then cook! Please write for help if you run into issues with your account: cookingcare@nytimes.com. (You do have an account, yes? Subscriptions are the wind in our sails. If you haven’t already, would you consider subscribing today?) Or you can write to me if you’d like to lodge a complaint or register a compliment: hellosam@nytimes.com. I cannot respond to every letter. But I do read each one I get. Now, it’s nothing to do with fancy vinegar or enameled Dutch ovens, but I’m compelled to steer you in the direction of Emma Pattee’s debut novel, “Tilt.” (It’s not just me. Here’s Alexis Schaitkin’s assessment, in The New York Times Book Review.) Gossip! Here’s Michael Wolff on David Zaslav, the chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery, in New York Magazine. I liked David Marchese’s interview with the comedian Nate Bargatze, in The New York Times Magazine. Finally, here’s Julien Baker and Torres with a new album, “Send a Prayer My Way”: love, drugs, religion. Country music, in other words. Listen to that while you’re cooking and I’ll be back next week.
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