Good morning! Today we have for you:
It’s noodle soup season
Welcome to the weekend, and all the extra time to get in a leisurely grocery-shopping trip. It may be a chore, but I love the adventure of it — seeing what’s on sale, checking out new sauces and tasting free samples. One of the best stops near me is a Japanese market where I can pick up everything to make this steaming bowl of niku udon, along with pantry staples for other favorites like teriyaki. Keeping bottles of soy sauce, mirin and sake on hand means well-loved, savory-sweet Japanese dishes can be prepared anytime. In this take on the classic noodle soup from Kenji López-Alt, they’re used to season thin slices of beef that simmer to tenderness. Some of his tips and shortcuts start with a trip to an Asian store: Instant dashi powder, like Hondashi, makes the broth, well, instant. Presliced beef, sold for shabu shabu, sukiyaki or hot pot, eliminates meat prep. (And those packs of meat freeze well, as does udon.) But you don’t need to make a special trip to a special store. Ground beef works and delivers a different chew with the noodles, which can be substituted with steamed rice. (Rice makes the meal something like gyudon.) In Japanese, dashi simply means soup stock or broth, and it doesn’t necessarily include the dried seaweed sheets known as kombu or wispy curls of katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes). Both deliver the ocean umami familiar in miso soup, but a mushroom or chicken broth would be tasty here, too. Wherever you stocked up for the week, you can come home and get this soup ready in half an hour, then plot out when you’ll make the rest of these fun fall dishes. Featured Recipe Niku Udon (Japanese Beef Noodle Soup)Parmesan-crusted salmon Caesar salad: A big Saturday Caesar feels much more celebratory than a weekday desk salad, especially when it’s topped with crackly croutons and salmon. Jerrelle Guy swipes some of her mayo-based dressing over the fish to keep it moist while it broils, and tosses the rest with crunchy romaine. She smartly suggests using this salmon technique with avocado halves if you want a vegetarian main. (If that’s the case, swap out the fish sauce for miso to replicate the Caesar’s savory depth.) Pumpkin pancakes: Here’s the thing with canned pumpkin in sweets — it makes them nice and soft, but also runs the risk of gummy-ness with all its natural moisture. Leave it to the brilliant baker Yossy Arefi to come up with just-right proportions for pancakes that are perfectly fluffy and tender. If you’re hosting a brunch crowd, try her sheet-pan version or bake her bundt or sheet cake. Pasta al sugo finto (vegetable ragu): “Sugo finto” in Italian translates to “fake sauce,” a playful name for vegetable blends that taste rich and meaty. Anna Francese Gass’s mushroom version, inspired by ones from Tuscany, caramelizes tomato paste and boils down red wine to add oomph to diced onion, carrots and celery. The optional walnut-breadcrumb topping is a great weekend treat: Its toasty crunch tastes like a restaurant splurge. Poc chuc (citrus-marinated grilled pork): If you’re watching football this weekend, you’ll want this smoky pork, whether you’re tailgating on the field or grilling at home. Pork shoulder tastes especially rich (even though it’s still affordable), and ends up tender after marinating in citrus juices. Set up a taco bar, featuring a platter of the charred meat with tortillas, salsas and any toppings you want. Pear-almond cake: I’ll take pears over apples any fall. I realize I’m in the minority here, but bake this easy cake from David Tanis and you may feel the same. The natural honeyed notes of fruit slices are heightened by almond flour in the batter and crunchy nuts on top. I like buying whole flats of pears from Costco and letting them ripen on the counter. When they’re ripe but firm, they bake beautifully in this cake or a crisp, pie or clafoutis. After they soften, they can be tossed into salads, set on cheese plates or eaten by hand. All these recipes are weekend easy, but if you have any technical issues, feel free to email the folks at cookingcare@nytimes.com for help. And this actually sort of has something to do with fall baking: Check out how A.O. Scott breaks down the juiciness of Galway Kinnell’s poem “Blackberry Eating.” It’s been a warm autumn, so there may still be wild berries on vines. Go for a hike and forage for any fruit left — that would be a real grocery adventure.
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