Food52 A New Way to Dinner

TO DO TODAY Warm the couscous you reserved for this salad. Grill the squid and toast the bread (also on the grill). Finish the squid salad and spread the grilled bread with the paprika mayo. Whip cream for the tart (optional).

DINNER TWO

Grilled Pork Chops with Hacked Romesco

Couscous Salad with Zucchini, Pistachios, and Feta

Peaches and basil

TO DO TODAY Season the pork chops in the morning. When you’re ready to eat, set out the couscous salad to warm up and grill the pork chops. Cut the peaches into paper-thin slices and arrange on plates. Dress with olive oil, salt, raw sugar, torn fresh basil, and a squeeze of lemon juice.

DINNER THREE

Summer Evening Pasta

Plum Tart

TO DO TODAY Make the pasta.

DINNER FOUR

Poached Tuna

Olive Oil–Braised Peppers

Hacked Romesco

Boiled Potatoes

Coconut ice cream with plums

TO DO TODAY In a wide, covered saucepan, warm the tuna (and its cooking oil), sliced potatoes, and the peppers, breaking the tuna into large chunks. Serve with romesco on the side. At dessert time, slice plums to serve with the coconut ice cream.

DINNER FIVE

Brown Butter Tomatoes

Tuna Salad with Peppers and Smoked Paprika Mayonnaise

Country bread and good salted butter

Greek yogurt with peaches and honey

TO DO TODAY Put together the tuna salad. Just before sitting down, make the brown butter tomatoes. For dessert, put a big dollop of yogurt in each bowl. Top with sliced peaches and a swirl of honey.

BROWN BAG LUNCHES

Couscous Salad with Zucchini, Pistachios, and Poached Tuna

Tuna Salad Sandwich with Hacked Romesco

Eggs with Romesco

GAME PLAN

TO MAKE OVER THE WEEKEND

Grilled Squid Salad with Lemon, Capers, and Couscous

Smoked Paprika Mayonnaise on Grilled Bread

Couscous Salad with Zucchini, Pistachios, and Feta

Poached Tuna

Boiled Potatoes

Olive Oil–Braised Peppers

Half recipe of Blistered Cherry Tomatoes

Hacked Romesco

Plum Tart

TURN ON YOUR FAVORITE PODCAST AND SHARPEN YOUR CHEF’S KNIFE

Prepare yourself for 2½ to 3 hours of meditative cooking.

• The day before cooking, make the tart dough, press it into the pan, cover, and refrigerate until needed.

• Heat your oven to 425°F (220°C). Prep the plum tart and get it in the oven. Then roast a half recipe of the cherry tomatoes for the romesco. Smash 5 more cloves of garlic—you’ll need them for other recipes.

• While the tart and tomatoes are roasting, boil the potatoes, poach the tuna, and cook the braised peppers. This sounds like a lot to do at once but they’re all stovetop and pretty low maintenance. It’s a fun challenge, I promise.

• When the tart is done, let it cool. When the tomatoes are finished cooking, set them aside to cool. Soak the ancho chile for the romesco.

• Cook the couscous for the grilled squid salad and the couscous salad. Mix the couscous with the dressing for the squid salad, then divide in half. Put the half for the squid in a container in the fridge. With the other half, finish making the couscous salad, then store in a container in the fridge.

• Put the tuna and its cooking oil in a container in the fridge; do the same with the boiled potatoes and half of the peppers.

• With the other half of the peppers, whirl together the romesco in your food processor. Store it in the fridge.

• Stir together the smoked paprika mayonnaise.

• And…you’re pretty much done. I usually take a shower, open a beer, and check my e-mail. In case you want to be as exciting as me.

A quicker way to the finish line. Don’t make the romesco—season the pork chops with smoked paprika instead. And rather than taking the time to make a plum tart, serve the plums with cream and honey and top with chopped mint. You’ll still be a kitchen hero. And you’ll save 45 minutes.

GROCERY LIST

PRODUCE

Baby lettuce leaves, 1 cup (30g)

Baby white potatoes, 1 pound (450g)

Beefsteak tomatoes, 2 or 3 small, ripe

Cherry (and/or Sun Gold!) tomatoes, 6 cups (840g) of the tiniest, sweetest you can find

Corn, 2 ears

Crunchy vegetables (such as radishes, turnips, what have you), for lunch

Garlic, 1 head

Italian or other firm-flesh plums, 12 to 15 small, plus more for snacking and dessert

Lemons, 6

Peaches, 8 to 10

Red and yellow bell peppers, 3 pounds (1.4kg)

Red onion, ½ small

Yellow summer squash, 3 medium

Zucchini, 2 small

HERBS

Basil, 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped, plus 8 more leaves for dessert

Flat-leaf parsley leaves, ¾ cup (15g) packed

Thyme, 12 sprigs

Spices

Ancho chile, 1 dried

Red pepper flakes, 3 pinches

Sweet smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon

Za’atar, ½ teaspoon

PANTRY

Aged sherry vinegar, 1 to 2 tablespoons

Almonds, ¼ cup (35g)

Capers, 2½ tablespoons

Extra-virgin olive oil, about 4 cups (1L), plus more to have on hand

Honey, for dessert

Large couscous, 2½ cups (425g)

Mayonnaise, 1½ cups (355ml)

Orecchiette or small shells, 1 pound (450g)

Pistachios, ½ cup (60g) chopped, toasted

Preserved lemon, 1 tablespoon chopped

Quinoa, ¼ cup (40g) uncooked

Flaky salt

Vegetable or canola oil, ¼ cup (60ml)

BAKING AISLE

All-purpose flour, 1½ cups plus 2 tablespoons (205g)

Almond extract, ½ teaspoon

Raw sugar, about 2 teaspoons

Sugar, ¾ cup plus 1 teaspoon (155g)

DAIRY AND EGGS

Salted butter, for bread

Unsalted butter, ½ cup (110g)

Eggs, for lunch

Feta, ½ cup (75g) crumbled

Greek yogurt, for dessert

Heavy cream, for whipping

Milk, 2 tablespoons

Parmesan, for serving

MEAT AND SEAFOOD

Bacon, 6 slices

Bone-in pork chops, 4 large

Squid, 12 ounces (340g)

Tuna, 2 pounds (900g)

FREEZER

Coconut ice cream

BAKED GOODS

Airy country bread, 1 loaf

Baguette, for lunch

Rolls, for lunch

Every cook has dishes that she orders when in a restaurant but never makes at home. Call these barrier recipes. In the spirit of trying to get past my own barrier recipes—which usually involve shellfish or a grill—I’ve re-created the squid salad that I order every time we go to Motorino in Manhattan. I grill the squid to give it a little char and then tumble it together with whole parsley leaves, some capers, red pepper flakes, and a douse of lemon. (If you don’t have a grill, you can broil the squid in a cast-iron skillet, 3 to 4 inches/7.5 to 10cm from the flame.)

I usually make it with potatoes, but for this week’s menu I opted for couscous (and I grill the bread at the same time I grill the salad). Either way, it takes fifteen minutes. Once I actually made the dish and discovered this, I felt pretty dumb for not tackling it sooner. Watch out, clams: I’m coming after you next!

2½ cups (425g) uncooked large couscous, made according to package instructions (I prefer Moulins Mahjoub brand)

1 Cook the couscous according to the package instructions. Mix the warm couscous with ¼ cup (60ml) of the olive oil, the onion, parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, capers, and red pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper. Let cool. Divide the couscous into 2 containers, reserving one for the couscous salad with zucchini, pistachios, and feta, and refrigerate for up to 4 days.

2 The day of: Heat the grill to medium-high—if you have a fine grate or vegetable or shellfish basket for the grill, this is the moment to use it. While the grill heats up, toss together the squid with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and warm the couscous in the microwave.

3 Grill the squid. The bodies will steam and fill with liquid; I lift the pieces with tongs and pour the liquid into the fire as they grill, so they char and don’t steam. The squid should take 2 to 3 minutes to char and cook through. Transfer to a plate. (If you don’t have a grill, you can broil the squid in a cast-iron skillet, 3 to 4 inches from the flame.)

4 Cut the squid bodies into ½-inch (1.3cm) rings. In a large bowl, toss the warm squid rings and heads with the couscous. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Let sit for 10 minutes. Taste again and adjust the seasoning one last time with lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Serve!

Blend 1 cup (240ml) mayonnaise, 1 smashed and chopped large garlic clove, 1 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika, and a fat squeeze of lemon juice; add more paprika to taste. Grill 8 thick slices of airy country bread on the outer perimeter of the grill grate until well toasted, about 5 minutes. Brush or sprinkle the grilled bread with extra-virgin olive oil and season with flaky salt. Reserve ½ cup (120ml) mayonnaise for the tuna salad; serve the rest with the grilled bread at the table.

I don’t like salads that involve cooking a bunch of ingredients separately, so my salads tend to involve more chopping and assembling. Many cooks don’t realize that if you cut zucchini or summer squash small enough, there’s no need to cook it. Especially if you buy young, firm zucchini, which holds up and doesn’t get lost in a salad. I like a couscous salad that pairs the mellow grain pasta with sharp, independent flavors like preserved lemon, feta, and za’atar—there is no pushover salad here.

1 Fold together the couscous, zucchini, pistachios, preserved lemon, and thyme in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper and add lemon juice and olive oil if needed. Store in a container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

2 The day of: Spoon the couscous into a serving dish, and sprinkle with the feta, quinoa, and za’atar.

Don’t ask, just try these butter-sizzled tomatoes, which taste oddly reminiscent of lobster. They’re a little puzzling and extremely delicious.

Core 2 or 3 small ripe beefsteak tomatoes and cut them into ⅓-inch (8mm) slices. Divide the tomato slices among 4 plates, overlapping them just a little.

Place 6 tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter in a small heavy saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until completely melted. It will begin bubbling. Continue to let the butter simmer away, cooking off its water, until it begins to smell nutty and brown. Swirl the pan every 30 seconds or so. When the butter turns the color of a hazelnut (this should take 5 to 7 minutes), remove it from the heat. Use a soup spoon to ladle the brown butter over the tomatoes. They’ll sizzle! You want to dress the tomatoes with the butter as if you were pouring ganache over a cake—be generous!

Season the tomatoes with flaky sea salt and coarsely ground pepper, then rush the plates to the table so everyone can taste the tomatoes while the butter is still hot! Mop up the butter and tomato juices with good country bread.

The Scoop on Brown Butter from Merrill “Amanda and I are serious about brown butter. I’ve been a lucky taste tester for her brown butter raspberries, which uses the same technique as these tomatoes, just without the salt and pepper. We have big plans to try this on other ripe, soft fruits: Peaches and plums are next on our list.”

If you have leftover couscous salad, it makes an excellent lunch, topped with poached tuna.

You’re going to think I’m lazy—and you’re right. I like olive oil, I like vegetables, and I like warm salads. So when I’m not feeling particularly inventive or energetic, I like to throw them all together in a single dinner. I cook the vegetables, poach the fish in oil (an old standby for me), and throw in a squeeze of lemon and some dried chile to give everything a kick in the pants. Without much thought or effort, I have a comforting—and pretty delicious—dinner on the table.

This tuna with braised peppers and potatoes is a constant in my kitchen. Other combinations that I often lean on are tuna with sliced potatoes and blanched green beans and tuna with potatoes and roasted yellow squash. And when I’m not in the mood for potatoes, I make couscous.

What to Do with All That Oil? Dip bread in it. Use it to make a tuna sauce for pork chops or cutlets (à la vitello tonnato). Whisk it into a grapefruit vinaigrette. Mix together a mayonnaise and spread it on pan bagnat (the French tuna, olive, and anchovy sandwich).

Another Use for Poached Tuna from Merrill “I was thrilled to learn about Amanda’s simple method for poaching perfect fish, and I often use the leftovers for salads, like this one: Break the fish into large chunks, then pile the chunks on top of salad greens and sliced jicama; squeeze a lime over the top, drizzle with a little of the olive oil you used to cook the fish, and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Add a handful of pickled onions, toss gently, and serve.”

Your Bread and Butter The simplest, and might I add most satisfying, way to cut yourself a break when cooking meals from scratch is to serve bread and butter. There are so many excellent country breads and cultured salted butters available. Take advantage of the convenience and appreciate the good work that others are doing to make better food available to all of us.

1 Place the tuna in a single layer in a saucepan that’s just big enough to fit the pieces snugly (you may cut the tuna to fit, if needed). Wedge the thyme, garlic, and red pepper flakes wherever they’ll fit. Season the tuna with salt, then generously douse the tuna with olive oil until it comes up to about ¼ inch (6mm) in the pan. Lift a corner of each piece of tuna and tilt the pan so the oil spreads under the fish as well.

2 Place the pan over low heat (medium-low if your stove is shy) and gently cook the tuna, spooning the hot oil over the top of the tuna from time to time—the oil should never boil. As soon as the tuna pieces are halfway cooked, 5 to 7 minutes, turn them and cook the other side for about 5 minutes more. When it’s done, the tuna will be faintly pink in the center. Transfer the tuna to a container to cool, leaving the oil in the pan. When the oil cools to room temperature, pour it over the top of the tuna and store in the fridge.

3 The day of: In a wide covered saucepan, warm the tuna (and its cooking oil); break the tuna into large chunks.

I often mash up any leftover poached tuna with mayonnaise and any crunchy vegetables I have on hand—radishes, turnips, what have you (finely chopped). Layer it on a baguette (or the like) with more mayonnaise and some romesco.

I don’t have the patience to slowly braise peppers, so I came up with this method based on braised fennel. Like the pickled onions, you’re likely to find these braised peppers in my fridge throughout summer and fall. They’re a clutch ingredient in sandwiches and salads. Sometimes, for dinner, I’ll serve roasted potatoes topped with these peppers and fried eggs. Other times, I’ll use them to put together a quasi ratatouille with roasted eggplant that I like to serve alongside steak or chicken.

Market Dinner This is the season of the year when I would like to freeze time and eat just a few more tomatoes and peaches. So I’ve squeezed as many of them as possible into this menu.

Here, I’ve also included some of my most treasured conquer-the-week recipes—a pared-down romesco that I like putting on everything from pork chops to toasts; a pasta with grated summer squash and corn; a poached tuna that I make every couple of weeks throughout the year; and a plum tart that’s dead simple to throw together.

Even when I’m committed to a menu, I like knowing that I always have the option to simply slice and season some farmers’ market tomatoes, pick up a ball of mozzarella, and call it dinner.

1 Combine the olive oil, peppers, thyme, and garlic in a large saucepan or Dutch oven. Season generously with salt. Place over medium-high heat, giving the peppers a stir to coat them with oil, and cover the pan. Cook, stirring every couple of minutes so the peppers don’t burn. You want the peppers to cook down quickly, steaming and letting go of their juices, without browning. Adjust the heat as needed to make sure the juices are bubbling rapidly but not uncontrollably. Braise the peppers until they’re limp and silky and the olive oil and pepper juices have fused, 15 to 20 minutes. Adjust the seasoning. Set aside ½ cup (100g) for the tuna salad and 1 cup (200g) for the romesco. Serve the rest with the poached tuna.

Break half of the poached tuna into small pieces. Chop the reserved ½ cup (100g) olive oil–braised peppers. Add a few handfuls of baby lettuce (a cup/30g or so). Loosen the ½ cup reserved smoked paprika mayonnaise with lemon juice and a sprinkle of water, so it’s more dressing than mayo. Fold ½ cup (120ml) of the dressing into the salad, adding more as needed. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

My husband, Tad, and I are often working on a pasta dish—there is no beginning and there is no end. It’s a once-a-week dinner that we—well, mostly he—have been making for years, and each time we tweak it depending on what’s in season, what’s in the fridge, and what’s going on in our work-addled heads.

The pasta usually begins with bacon or pancetta. When Tad’s at the helm, canned tomatoes will likely find their way into the pan, and if it’s my turn, a pinch of crushed chile. We’ve drifted from penne to rigatoni to orecchiette to shells—any shape our kids can easily spear with a fork. Sometimes eggs get tossed in for a little carbonara effect. And occasionally, Tad will slip in goat cheese in his mother’s honor (she made an excellent pasta with goat cheese and asparagus). There’s never a precise recipe because we never stop the music, we never let the ingredients race to their seats to get counted.

But a few summers ago, we hit a summer variation that was pretty nifty—and it was time to put a pasta on record. We’d gotten into cooking with grated summer squash, which nestles into orecchiette’s little cups. Stirring squash into hot pasta is an excellent way to produce soggy pasta, however. To drain the swamp, we salt the grated squash, which draws out its water, then squeeze out as much liquid as we can before adding it to the steaming pasta.

The base is bacon, of course, with a pinch of red pepper flakes and a smashed garlic clove. To underline the sweetness and freshness of the dish, we fold in some just-scraped fresh corn and chopped basil. The dish is part vegetable, part pasta—buoyant, bright, and just what we crave on a steamy summer evening (see finished dish).

1 Grate the summer squash on a box grater. Gather the gratings in a bowl. Add about 1½ teaspoons salt and toss to combine. Let sit for at least 10 minutes and up to 30 minutes.

2 Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, spread the bacon in a large sauté pan and add the garlic. Cook over medium heat until the bacon is crisp and its fat has rendered, about 8 to 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the red pepper flakes.

3 When the water comes to a boil, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain the pasta but don’t shake it; you want a little pasta water to help create a sauce. Pour the pasta back into the pot off the heat.

4 A fistful at a time, squeeze the salted squash as firmly as possible to extract any liquid, then add to the pasta. Continue until all of the squash has been squeezed. Scrape the corn into the pot. Transfer the bacon to the pot with a slotted spoon; discard the garlic clove. (If there is less than 2 tablespoons rendered fat in the pan, I usually add the bacon and all of the fat to the pasta.) Toss the pasta, then adjust the seasoning, adding more salt if needed. Add the basil, season with pepper, and toss again; sometimes I splash in a few tablespoons of olive oil. Spoon into shallow bowls and top with a scattering of Parmesan.

Romesco is one of the great sauces, and this recipe, which makes use of the peppers that you’re already cooking this week, is a quickie version. If you want to take an extra step, you can toast the almonds, but the sauce will live—and so will you—if you don’t.

Meet Romesco, Sauce Hero Romesco gets along with just about everything in the kitchen. You can mix and match it with lots of other recipes in this book. Here are a few to start with: brandade, Merrill’s grilled steak, and her grilled shrimp. Romesco can also act as a marinade. Anna Gass, one of our recipe testers, uses it to marinate chicken kebabs before grilling them.

2 Remove the seeds and stem from the chile and discard. Combine the chile, tomatoes, peppers, almonds, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to blend. Then, with the processor running, add the olive oil in a slow, steady stream and process until the sauce becomes thick and creamy, like a mayonnaise. About ½ cup (120ml) of oil should be enough, but add up to ¼ cup (60ml) more as needed. To sharpen the flavor, season with salt and add vinegar to taste. Store in the fridge for up to a week.

3 In the morning of the day you will make the pork chops, place them on a plate or small baking sheet and season with salt and pepper. Place, covered, in the fridge.

4 When you’re ready to cook, heat your grill so it has a nice big bed of hot coals. Grill the pork chops until light pink in the center, about 5 minutes per side. The internal temperature should be 145°F (63°C) for medium rare. (If you don’t have a grill, you can broil the chops in the oven, 5 inches/13cm from the flame, about 4 minutes per side.)

5 You can top the pork with the romesco or serve it on the side, depending on your personality type. Not judging!

Put some halved hard-boiled eggs in a container and top with romesco. And pack a good roll to sop up all the tasty sauce.

Have Extra Time on Your Hands? This is the best time of year to preserve and freeze summer’s bounty for the winter months. Here is a handful of recipes that you can make batches of now.

Every cook needs a good dessert recipe that can be whipped up anywhere, especially when you’re away from your kitchen with its mixer and rolling pin and other comforting tools. This tart is that recipe for me. To make it, all you need is a knife, a bowl, and some kind of pan. A tart pan ideally, but I’ve even made it on a baking sheet with one side shored up with aluminum foil. And when I’ve been without a bowl, I’ve mixed the dough right in the pan.

The tart dough is made with oil, milk, and almond extract and is pressed into the pan. No blind baking nonsense! Just top the dough with the fruit, shower it with a sugary, salty crumble, and send it on its merry way into the oven.

I got the original recipe, which is a peach tart, from my mother, who uses all vegetable oil in the crust. I use half vegetable oil and half olive oil. She neatly peels her peaches. I do not. Hers is probably better, but you are stuck with me. I can promise you, however, that whoever you serve this to will not mind.

1 Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C). In a large bowl, stir together 1½ cups (190g) of the flour, ½ teaspoon of the salt, and 1 teaspoon of the sugar. (Stirring enables the salt and sugar to sift the flour, so you don’t need to sift it in advance.) In a small bowl, whisk together the oils, milk, and almond extract, then pour into the dry ingredients. Mix gently with a fork, just enough to dampen, then press together with your hands; do not overwork the dough.

2 Transfer the dough to an 11-inch (28cm) tart pan (you can use a smaller one if needed). Use your hands to pat the dough so that it covers the bottom of the pan, pushing it up the sides until it meets the edge. Pat firmly and confidently; do not curl your fingertips into the dough. The dough should be about ⅛ inch (3mm) thick all around; trim and discard excess dough. Refrigerate.

3 In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ¾ cup (150g) sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, and ¼ teaspoon salt. (If your plums are especially juicy, add 1 tablespoon additional flour.) Add the butter, and, using your fingers, pinch the butter into the dry ingredients until crumbly, with a mixture of fine granules and tiny pebbles.

4 Starting on the edge, arrange the plums on the dough in a concentric circle, overlapping them. Fill in the center in whatever pattern you like. The plums should fit snugly. Sprinkle the pebbly butter mixture over the top (it will seem like a lot). Bake until shiny, thick bubbles begin enveloping the fruit and the crust is slightly brown, 35 to 45 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool. Store, covered, at room temp, for up to 4 days.

5 The day of: Cut into wedges and serve with generous dollops of whipped cream.

Peach and Other Tart Variations You can use any kind of fruit with a structured flesh in place of the plums. Peaches are particularly great here. White and yellow peaches work equally well (you’ll need about 5 ripe peaches); I’ve even made it with doughnut peaches. About 5 Macoun apples are also a smart substitute. Slice them thinly and don’t bother arranging them; just mound them into the tart shell. They’ll cook down, don’t worry.