Good morning! Today we have for you:
Smart and sustaining
Hello, friends. I hope this is a day of rest for you, a chance to unspool from last week and to prepare for the days ahead. One of my favorite ways to do that is to cook dishes that can make a workweek lunch feel like a real meal, and more than a passing inhalation of whatever snack is within reach. This blend of barley, white beans and spinach from Sheela Prakash not only holds up well, it becomes even more flavorful with time. She smartly uses everything in a jar of sun-dried tomatoes to highlight the tangy depth: The oil is used to sauté onion and toast barley, then the tomatoes themselves soften alongside the grains. Because they’re thinly sliced, they offer their fruity chew alongside tender, earthy beans and wilted spinach. You can add other seasonings to the pot or serve the mix over more greens for a warm salad. If you want even more protein, chicken, boiled eggs, fish or, really, anything would be nice on top. To start, though, I’d heed the advice of one of our readers: “Certainly don’t disagree that some of these proposed flavour additions will make very nice dishes. But my recommendation is to try this as is — correctly seasoned — a few times before that. The subtlety of the sun dried tomatoes (and oil) is worth focussing on for a turn or two.” Featured Recipe Tomato Grains and GreensI couldn’t agree more. And appreciating the subtlety of individual ingredients can actually sharpen your palate. My colleague Pete Wells recently wrote about mindful eating in the context of becoming attuned to his hunger after his long run as our chief restaurant critic. Nearly a decade ago, Kate Krader, another brilliant restaurant critic, questioned whether big, bold flavors in restaurant dishes had ruined our palates. Cooking at home doesn’t always produce dishes that blast you with a riot of flavors upon first bite. Instead, it gives you the quiet luxury of tasting what lies beneath — what you’ve so thoughtfully prepared — as you work your way through a lovely meal at your table. That’s especially true for combinations of chewy grains, fresh greens and beans or other proteins. Sure, they’re healthy dishes that can nourish you, but they can also remind you of just how delicious understated meals can be. More beany, greeny, grainy goodness (and some scones): Farro salad with smoked trout and kale: If you want to eat more fish, but don’t want to cook it, try this salad from Cybelle Tondu. She calls for smoked trout, which comes in fillets in the market’s refrigerated seafood section or in tins in the canned seafood aisle. It brings a smoky savoriness to this salad, briny from olives and the liquid they’re packed in, with pops of sweetness from raisins, and pistachios for crunch. If you don’t like trout, Cybelle suggests swapping in hot-smoked salmon, torn chicken or fresh mozzarella. Chicken, vegetable and barley soup: In my most recent column, I wrote about how simmering this soup was as soothing as eating it, especially when it was cold out. The soup offers a prime opportunity to savor delicate flavors: the natural sweetness of carrots, napa cabbage and barley in a from-scratch chicken broth warm with ginger. But if you do want more oomph, follow my tips to finish the soup with any potent condiments you like. Green beans with orzo, lemon and feta: To draw out green beans’ earthy richness in the dead of winter, Noor Murad uses the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern technique of braising them in olive oil. They’re great on their own that way, but become a full one-pan meal here. The fresh herbs feel like sunshine, so feel free to add much more before serving. One-pot sesame salmon and quinoa: If you want grains but not gluten, try Kay Chun’s method for cooking quinoa with onion and broccoli softened in olive oil. It gives the pip of teeny quinoa more richness and creates an edible steaming rack for salmon. Everything is then doused with a blend of tahini and ponzu, the must-stock Japanese condiment that combines soy with tangy citrus. Cranberry-orange scones: Before preparing for the week ahead, start by making these for breakfast. Yossy Arefi delivers here a tender, buttery scone, fragrant with citrus and tangy with pops of dried cranberries. Her method of patting and folding the dough turns out flaky layers without being too precious about the process, making it fun for a sleepy morning. I skip the glaze because these are sweet enough on their own. Plus, that lets me freeze any leftovers to reheat in the toaster oven throughout the week. See you next week!
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