Good morning. How are you? This week marks four years since many of us went into lockdown after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic. In the midst of fear and sickness there would prove, for some, little pleasures: scents, crust sourdough balls, long walks on quiet streets, looking for beauty in the dark. But for many there was only terror, terror without end, and only lunches in cupboards to mark the passing of time.
It would be understandable, at this time of year, if memories of those ugly early days come flooding back. Take time this weekend to take stock of what you’ve earned.
For some, the rewards were paid in the kitchen, where new skills were mastered over the months and years and brought new flavors. Over the past four years, some of us have really and truly learned to cook. This knowledge brought new confidence to the cutting board and the stove.
Get this fantastic recipe for Guinness oven-roasted beef stew with horseradish cream (over). Five years ago you might have made it on St. Patrick’s Day Sunday by following the directions to the letter. Now, perhaps, you know that it will be much better if you make it on Saturday and serve it on Sunday, so the flavors have time to deepen in the fridge, with plenty of celeriac and no rutabaga, with carrots and parsnips, with lemon juice to burst. (There are many more options for a St. Patrick’s Day meal in this one collection of recipes.)
Suggested recipe
Baked Guinness beef stew with horseradish cream
And maybe a Guinness chocolate cake for dessert? Or at least a cream cheese cake?
Of course, I could go in other directions entirely this weekend, to a large tank red beans and ricefor example, or on a platter Nashville-style hot tofu sliders. It’s still early days for asparagus, but nice spears are starting to show up at a few markets near where I live, so I might stock up on some Fettuccine with asparagus for dinner on Sunday night.
Not that you need a recipe to cook well. You can cook from my prompting, what we say in this store a prescription without a prescription. You are ready to do this now. Chicken tenders, say, for a table full of kids who’ve had their day out and grown-ups cheering them on? I like small cutlets on or next to a kitchen sink kale salad.
Ingredients: boneless, skinless chicken thighs, neutral oil, eggs, seasonings, panko or regular breadcrumbs. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Cut the thighs into tender pieces, or definitely pieces that are smaller than the thighs but larger than the bite size. Put them in a bowl, season with salt and pepper and whatever else you want (garlic powder, say, or paprika), then add oil to make them shiny and a whole bunch of beaten eggs to make them even more shiny. . No eggs? Use some mustard. Or mayonnaise! We freestyle here.
Toss the breadcrumbs into another bowl, then, working a few pieces at a time, toss in the chicken pieces to coat well. Place them tenderly on parchment paper and then put them in the oven for about 20 minutes, turning them halfway through. You want ranch with this?
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Now, it’s not about lettuce or grits, but I hope you didn’t miss Lindsay Zoladz’s New York Times profile of artist and musician Kim Gordon. (Read Spyplane’s Blackbird interview with Gordon when you finish.)
New poetry by Catherine Barnett in The New York Review of Books:Morning of departure.”
New fiction by Joseph O’Neill in The New Yorker:Currently.”
Finally, redefine Gordon, with “Shelf heater‘, from ‘The Collective’, the new album that gave Lindsay, Spyplane and others a chance to get in touch with her to talk. Listen loud and I’ll see you on Sunday.