Credit…Julia Gartland for The New York Times
Kay Chun has a brilliant way to unleash the magic of miso. In her beloved, five-star recipe for coconut-miso salmon curry, she adds a dollop of white miso to the pot at the very beginning, letting it sear, caramelize and integrate with the ginger and garlic to deepen their character. Then she stirs in some coconut milk to create a creamy, lightly sweet broth to simmer the salmon and the spinach. Finished with sliced fresh chiles and herbs and served over rice, it’s no wonder it has over 12,000 ratings. Who doesn’t love a light and umami-rich weeknight meal, especially when it’s this easy to make?
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Coconut-Miso Salmon Curry
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I know I do, and I’ll bet you can relate. It was a long winter, and the laid-back days of summer aren’t here yet to revive us, so now’s when I lean into pared-down recipes requiring zero fuss. David Tanis’s pepper-crusted steak fits the bill. Sure, you do need to let the salted, peppered meat sit at room temperature for about an hour so it can absorb the seasonings, but there’s absolutely no chopping involved. The steak will cook to rare and juicy perfection in about 10 minutes, and you can use either a heavy skillet or a grill to cook it.
All the steak really needs is a big green salad to go with it. But if you’ve got a little extra energy, you could also whip up Hetty Lui McKinnon’s spanakorizo, a Greek spinach and rice dish stippled with feta. Hetty adds a couple of jammy eggs to turn it into a meatless main, but you could leave them out for an elegant side that foregrounds its vegetable-starch love match.
With eggs or without, that spanakorizo would also work perfectly alongside Lidey Heuck’s crispy-skinned baked chicken thighs. If you have time to let the chicken marinate overnight in the garlicky, mustardy mix, the meat will become particularly well flavored. But even a half-hour will get you what you need.
