Good morning. There’s a famous New York City dream where you discover an extra room in your apartment and it changes your life, at least until you get used to having the space. I experienced a version of that in my waking life recently. I arose early, showered, got dressed and made to head off to work. My wife stirred in bed and asked what I was doing. Going to work, I told her. She said, “It’s Sunday.”
What? The whole day was a gift after that: a drive to De Hot Pot for breakfast doubles; another to Lioni’s for heroes to eat in the shade; one more to the beach for an afternoon hang.
What to make for dinner on such a charmed and unexpected day? Skirt steak with salsa verde salad (above), please, the meat grilled rare and the hearts of romaine just singed at the edges. Under a drizzle of minted, parsleyed dressing punched up with capers and salted with feta, it’s one of summer’s great feeds, especially on an evening you didn’t expect to have free. Join me!
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Skirt Steak With Salsa Verde Salad
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With Sunday sorted, you can turn to the rest of the week. …
Monday
I like my recipe for bulgogi-style tofu because it isn’t a recipe so much as a prompt, a rough guide to putting together a dinner of big-flavored, crisp tofu nuggets to wrap in lettuce with kimchi, rice and a dipping sauce you’ll figure out on the fly: ssamjang, sherry vinegar, gochujang and a little neutral oil. You’ll see!
Tuesday
There’s maybe nothing more pleasurable than a midweek hot dog party. I turn to Eric Kim’s ace recipe for Chicago-style hot dogs and let my family drag the franks through the garden themselves, each according to their abilities and tastes. Extra celery salt for me!
Wednesday
I’m thrilled by Nargisse Benkabbou’s new recipe for likama roasted salmon with cabbage salad. “Likama” is a Moroccan Arabic word that translates as spices — cumin and coriander in this case, along with ginger and paprika. The mixture seasons a salmon fillet that pairs beautifully with a fresh and crunchy salad topped with sliced almonds. Nargisse calls for a mixture of red and green cabbage in the salad, which looks beautiful. On a Wednesday night, though, I’m just going to use one or the other.
Thursday
Dan Pelosi adds a touch of lemon-zested cream to his new recipe for pasta primavera, and it’s just the thing to compliment the tender-crisp vegetables. Shower everything with grated Parmesan and freshly snipped herbs, and you might as well be at Le Cirque.
Friday
And then you can run out the week with Melissa Clark’s homey, elegant recipe for skillet chicken thighs with warm, schmaltzy tomatoes. Cooking the tomatoes alongside the meat, where they pick up all its rendered fat and flavor, is classic Melissa: a moderation of excess, no good thing wasted, a celebration of the delicious.
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Now, it’s nothing to do with okra or Chantilly cream, but I inhaled the latest Mike Bowditch novel from Paul Doiron, “Pitch Dark,” out this week: tense and adrenalized from the start. Maine’s slogan is “The Way Life Should Be.” I’m not sure Bowditch experiences it that way.
Also on the subject of thrillers, do read Alexandra Alter, in The New York Times, on Freida McFadden, currently the top-selling author in that genre in the United States.
The Washington Post went deep on the tyranny of trendy baby names, and it is fascinating: One in four men stopped on the street today will have a name that ends in the letter “n.” That was not always the case, as Grandpa Cyril will tell you.
Finally, here are the Smashing Pumpkins to play us off, “Bye June.” Listen to that while you’re cooking, and I’ll be back in July.
