Her mother’s recipe for a five-ingredient everyday dal is ready in 15 minutes, but it’s full of complex flavor from the chhonk, or tempering, made from ghee-toasted cumin, asafetida and red chile that you pour into the pot before serving. You don’t need to have grown up with it: Serve it with roti or over rice, and let yourself be soothed.
A big bowl of pasta can also be comforting, especially this one from Lidey Heuck. Lidey’s clever move is to add earthy, nutty chickpeas to the traditional Italian combination of pasta with sausage and broccoli rabe. Then, she takes it a step further by stirring Parmesan, butter and lemon into the pan to balance the flavors and add body to the sauce. Her recipe is flexible, too. Substitute broccoli or other sturdy greens for the broccoli rabe, and use any kind of sausage or shape of pasta you have on hand. Maybe make it once according to the recipe, then let yourself play. Dishes like this are the most fun to adapt and tough to get wrong.
I hear it’s already asparagus season in many parts of the country, though it’s still weeks away in New York. If you’ve got some, it’ll find a happy home in my asparagus, goat cheese and tarragon tart, which is elegant yet straightforward to make with a package of puff pastry. Don’t worry, tarragon-avoiders: You can use any soft herb (basil, mint, cilantro) instead. Serve the dish on its own, with a springy green salad as a light meal, or as a fancy appetizer in a multicourse feast.
Are you looking for something simple and light for a midweek main? Any kind of white-fleshed fish filet works well in Ali Slagle’s delightfully minimalist recipe for baked tilapia. The mix of melted butter, chopped parsley, garlic and lemon is timeless and forgivingly versatile.
Finally, for dessert, is there anything more soothing than tea with cake? How about tea in your cake? Samantha Seneviratne’s Earl Grey tea cake with dark chocolate and orange zest has a subtle floral scent that comes from the loose tea leaves stirred into the buttery cake batter, with a moist, tender crumb speckled with chopped dark chocolate. Serve a pot of Earl Grey tea with it and watch your troubles disappear, at least for a moment.
Source link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/03/dining/a-15-minute-five-ingredient-childhood-favorite.html