Good morning! Today we have for you:
Beige is beautifulI recently wrote about green foods for the new year — healthful salads, soups and smoothies packed with verdant herbs and vegetables. But every January, I also find myself just as excited by another culinary color: beige. Yes, beige. Not as in “bland,” but as in “warm and comforting.” In addition to those energizing greens, right now I’m making tons of rice, pasta, roasted chicken and melted cheese, as well as vegetables like cauliflower and potatoes. The palette here may be a little monochromatic, but the palate runs the spicy gamut of zesty, tangy and pungent to help chase away the post-holiday blahs. One perfect example is Christian Reynoso’s pale-hued but brightly flavored chicken piccata pasta. By sizzling chicken in a panful of butter, he brings out its caramelized, brawny side, which adds depth to the high notes of a traditional piccata sauce with lemon, garlic and capers. Add some bow tie or other cute pasta to turn the whole thing into a weeknight skillet meal that looks a lot shyer than it tastes. Featured Recipe Chicken Piccata Pasta
More (subtly colored) food for thoughtRoasted cod and potatoes: With its crispy sliced potatoes and fillets of silky cod, Mark Bittman’s minimalist take on fish and chips is solidly in the low-effort/high-reward category. For extra oomph, you might add a few minced anchovy fillets or some grated garlic to the butter as it heats, but a bottle of hot sauce on the table gets you there with even less fuss. Creamy cauliflower cashew soup: Roasted cashews simmered with stock give Sue Li’s vegan soup a plush, smooth texture, while coriander, garlic and shallots make it heady and fragrant. You can adjust the texture by using more or less stock, making this as thick or as brothy as you please. Poached chicken breasts: These palest and mildest contenders for “beigest food” punch way above their weight, and they’re perfect when served so many ways. Toss them into salads; shred them into soups; roll them into tacos; snack on them by hand before the gym for a protein hit. Yewande Komolafe’s recipe will give you tender, juicy meat in about 20 minutes. Sticky date and brown butter oatmeal: Oatmeal is so legendary in the world of beige that people named a whole color after it. Zaynab Issa’s nubby breakfast bowl gets its gentle sweetness from butter-cooked dates, which dissolve into the oats, making them rich and caramelly. A drizzle of heavy cream and a sprinkle of flaky salt make this seem almost like eating dessert for breakfast, though in a sustaining, oatmeal-colored way. Instant pot rice pudding: For a “real” dessert, sweet-toothed beige lovers can whip up my rice pudding in their electric pressure cookers, which makes the whole process exceedingly speedy and simple. I love to season rice pudding with vanilla, lemon and warm spices for an especially complex character that gives this classic dessert a dose of grown-up verve. That’s all for now, except to remind you that if you’re stuck in a technical problem, email the smart people at cookingcare@nytimes.com for help. And I’m at hellomelissa@nytimes.com if you want to say hi. I’ll see you on Wednesday.
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