Good morning! Today we have for you:
A recipe that uses the whole can of tomato paste
I don’t know what it’s like to work in a truly high-pressure, high-risk situation, but I have opened a can of tomato paste when all I needed was a couple of tablespoons. From the moment my can opener bites into the lid, it feels like a race against time to use up the tomato paste before it goes bad. That’s why I buy it in tubes when I can, and why I look for recipes that use a lot of tomato paste, like this thoughtful new one-pot tomato mac and cheese from Ali Slagle. It calls for a whole 4½-ounce tube or a six-ounce can of tomato paste, which gets bloomed with butter, garlic, paprika and (optional) cayenne to form an umami-sweet base. Use whichever short pasta shape you like (I’m partial to those classic elbows, but shells would be pretty) and skip the preshredded cheese to avoid clumping. (Remember: ambient exercise.) Don’t skip the part of Step 5 where you cover your mac and cheese and let it sit for three minutes; this ensures a creamy, glossy final product. Because I love a broccoli-Cheddar combo, I’m going to top this with crispy roasted broccoli. Maybe I’ll add some roasted chickpeas, too, if the oven’s already on. I’m all about efficiency (side-eyes can of tomato paste). Featured Recipe One-Pot Tomato Cheddar MacNew and noteworthyRoasted squash and split pea stew: You’d think that I’d have squash fatigue, given that I’ve been bringing home kabochas and red kuris almost weekly since late October, but nope. So I’m happy to see this bowl of fiber-rich comfort from Hetty Lui McKinnon, who takes a split pea stew spiced with cumin, turmeric and smoked paprika and couples it with maple-roasted squash wedges. Smothered pepper steak: I know green bell peppers have detractors, but you can’t deny that their earthy, bitter notes complement the savoriness of beef (see: Eric Kim’s Chinese American pepper steak stir-fry; Ifrah F. Ahmed’s hilib suqaar; Lidey Heuck’s goulash). This recipe from Millie Peartree browns and seasons flour-dredged thin cuts of steak, then adds chicken broth and Worcestershire sauce to the brown bits left in the pan to create a simple but perfect pan gravy. Don’t forget the rice or the mashed potatoes. Slow cooker cilantro-lime chicken and rice: Something I learned reading through this new Sarah DiGregorio recipe is that there’s evidence that crushing cilantro leaves reduces or eliminates the soapy taste that some people experience. Fascinating! And delicious, given the cumin-scented, green masala chicken vibes of this easy dinner. Salmon ssam: Salmon, as Ali notes, might not be a traditional choice for Korean lettuce wraps. But it is a fast one. Here, ssamjang — the salty-sweet-spicy sauce that’s also used as a finishing dab — is thinned with a little rice vinegar to quickly marinate cubes of salmon, which then get a quick broil to mimic the high heat used for Korean barbecue. Serve with sliced cucumbers and kimchi and, if you’ve got a bunch of scallions to use up, a tangle of pa muchim.
And before you goYou’re signed up for our Bake Time newsletter, right? If not, you may have missed this week’s send, in which the multitalented Sue Li answered the Bake Time questionnaire. She rightfully asserted that chewy cookies are the best cookies, and shared that she’d memorized the recipe for Genevieve Ko’s chewy brown butter cookies. Sue has never steered me wrong (seriously, try her chile oil wontons — incredible), so I will be making these cookies stat.
Thanks for reading!
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