Bring on the brisket

And the chicken with artichokes and lemon, the whole roasted cauliflower and the matzo ball soup.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story April 19, 2024 Kelly Marshall for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne. Bring on the brisket By Sam Sifton Good morning. Passover begins on Monday and, for those observing, Joan Nathan has given us her family recipe for brisket (above), which you could prepare on the day itself, but please don't. It's much better cooked this weekend and chilled in the refrigerator for a day or two so the flavors have time to set up — and so you can skim the excess fat from the top of the braise more easily. As the ads for Levy's rye bread used to say, you don't have to be Jewish to love it. (My family's recipe for the dish, which isn't kosher, happens to have come from Joan as well.) Brisket on a cool April evening is a lovely thing to eat with buttered noodles — or a crisp potato kugel. And what a treat not to have to cook on a Monday night, having used the weekend to get ahead! Featured Recipe Brisket View Recipe → (Other recipes for Passover: chicken with artichokes and lemon; braised lamb with dried fruit; whole roasted cauliflower with pistachio pesto; matzo-ball soup; apple and walnut haroseth.) Not that all my cooking this weekend will be prep work for the week to come. Saturday morning would be a fine time to make some French toast amandine. Ramen for lunch, with miso, seaweed and egg? Definitely sausage and peppers for dinner. And I'd like to make Joan's recipe for whitefish salad for Sunday breakfast, to eat with bagels. But if I can't find a good smoked whitefish at the market, I'll downshift into a bacon, egg and cheese on a bulkie roll, with extra butter and, as they say at the deli, salt-pepper-ketchup. Either way, breakfast will hold me through lunch and leave me with plenty of appetite for Sunday dinner: Suzanne Goin's amazing recipe for lamb meatballs with spiced tomato sauce, pita's finest foil. Make that once and you'll find yourself doing so again and again, riffing off the theme. (Sometimes, instead of broiling the meatballs before braising them in the sauce, I cook them over a ripping hot charcoal fire on the grill, which adds a fantastic smokiness to the dish.) There are thousands more ideas waiting for you on New York Times Cooking. Yes, you need a subscription to read them. To put a fine point on it, subscriptions are what make this whole enterprise possible. If you haven't done so already, would you please consider subscribing today? Thank you. If you find yourself jammed up by the technology, please reach out for help. We have operators standing by. Just write to cookingcare@nytimes.com, and someone will get back to you, I promise. Or, if you'd like to bark in complaint or deliver a compliment, write to me. I can't respond to every letter. But I read each one I get. I'm at foodeditor@nytimes.com. Now, it's nothing to do with apples or honey, but you should read Sarah Lyall's profile of the author Salman Rushdie in The New York Times, along with Dwight Garner's rave review of Rushdie's new memoir: "Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder." "The Killing," on Amazon Prime, is a 2007 police procedural that originally ran in Denmark as "Forbrydelsen," or "The Crime." One man's opinion: It seems to have taken some editing notes from montage-rich K-dramas, but is no less gripping for that. Speaking of drama, here's Louis Menand in The New Yorker, on the 1874 Henry Ward Beecher adultery trial as covered by Robert Shaplen in the same publication in 1952. Wheels within wheels! Finally, it's early yet to declare the song of the summer, but my colleague Lindsay Zoladz is putting down a marker for Sabrina Carpenter's new jam, "Espresso." "Make it a double," Lindsay wrote, "and get ready to hear this one everywhere." I'll see you on Sunday. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT WHAT TO COOK Craig Lee for The New York Times Joan Nathan's Matzo Ball Soup By Joan Nathan 1 hour 15 minutes, plus 3 hours' or overnight refrigeration Makes About 15 matzo balls David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich. Bacon, Egg and Cheese Sandwich  By Ali Slagle 20 minutes Makes 1 sandwich Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Lamb Meatballs With Spiced Tomato Sauce Recipe from Suzanne Goin Adapted by Sam Sifton 1 hour Makes 6 to 8 servings Jenny Huang for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks. Miso and Seaweed Ramen With Egg By Kay Chun 30 minutes Makes 4 servings Craig Lee for The New York Times French Toast Amandine By Sam Sifton About 20 minutes Makes 4 to 6 servings Sign up for the Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter Fresh dinner ideas for busy people who want something great to eat, with NYT Cooking recipes sent to you weekly. Get it in your inbox Sign up for The Veggie newsletter Tanya Sichynsky shares the most delicious vegetarian recipes for weeknight cooking, packed lunches and dinner parties. Get it in your inbox Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Continue reading the main story Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for Cooking from The New York Times. To stop receiving Cooking, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. Subscribe to NYT CookingGet the NYT Cooking app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018