Finally, grilled chicken breasts that aren’t particle board

A slathering of Dijonnaise keeps the meat insulated and tender.

View in browser|nytimes.com June 28, 2024 SUPPORTED BY FX'S THE BEAR Ali Slagle's Dijonnaise grilled chicken breasts. Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell. Dress your chicken in mayonnaise and mustard By Sam Sifton Good morning. When there are snapper bluefish running in the bays nearby, I like to catch a couple and break them down into chunks and fillets — the chunks for a freestyle ceviche with mango, jalapeño, red onion and tons of lime, and the fillets for slathering with mayonnaise and mustard and roasting into excellence, just as my grandparents did, just as my parents did and, hopefully, just as my children will, down the generations. Mustard and mayonnaise are a phenomenal combination. There haven't been many bluefish this season, though. So this weekend I'm taking the compound — Dijonnaise, in the language of menus and recipes — to the poultry section of the food store, and making Ali Slagle's new recipe for Dijonnaise grilled chicken breasts (above). It's so great. The cloaked meat is insulated from the heat of the grill and made tender by the acidity of the mustard. It picks up a bronzed crust, with just a hint of smoke, that responds well to a squeeze of lemon juice and an additional dollop of Dijonnaise. You could serve the breasts on a Caesar salad or — though it's early for it — alongside a few ears of grilled corn. Featured Recipe Dijonnaise Grilled Chicken Breasts View Recipe → Even better, maybe: Take the finished, rested chicken and slide it into a sandwich on toasted potato buns, with a smear of Dijonnaise, a few sliced pickles and a handful of shredded lettuce. That's a taste of summer you won't soon forget. Other things I'd like to cook this weekend include these fresh spring rolls, with vermicelli noodles, shrimp, sliced cucumber and carrot, lots and lots of herbs. Dragged through nước chấm or peanut sauce (both in my case), they make a great argument for a roll-your-own, low-heat, high-reward meal. Also: lychee cake, a joy of the Chinese Jamaican bakery life, in which layers of sponge are filled with a lychee cream and topped with a lychee glaze. That's a fine dessert after another Sino-Caribbean gem, Trini-Chinese chicken, to serve with rice and fried plantains. And if that bluefish ceviche continues to haunt me, as I know it will, I'll stanch my cravings with sushi-grade tuna and make this poke bowl instead. There'll be scrambled eggs for breakfast, with oven bacon, pancakes and fruit salad. There'll be radish sandwiches for lunch, with watermelon lemonade. There'll be a lot of cooking, because that's what weekends are for. If none of those recipes pique your interest, thousands more are waiting for you on New York Times Cooking. Yes, to answer a question I get a lot, you need a subscription to read them. Subscriptions support our work and allow it to continue. If you haven't already, would you consider subscribing today? Thanks extremely. We're standing by like lifeguards at Ditch, should you find yourself in a technological rip current. Just wave for help. We're at cookingcare@nytimes.com. Someone will swim out. Or, if you'd like to complain, congratulate or simply say hello, you can write to me: foodeditor@nytimes.com. I can't respond to every letter. But I do read every one I get. Now, it's nothing to do with strawberries or smoked eel, but I found myself pulled back into the fifth season of the jittery, multilingual French spy series "The Bureau," streaming on Amazon Prime. Malotru is in fine fettle. I don't know how I missed William Finnegan's profile of the legendary surfer Jock Sutherland, in The New Yorker. Catch up with that now. Also of recent vintage: Walt Hunter's poem, "Translation Without Angels," in The New York Review of Books. Finally, for The New York Times, Jon Pareles and Lindsay Zoladz decided on "The 40 Best Songs of 2024 (So Far)," a playlist for your weekend and an absolute trove of delight. Listen to that while you're cooking. And I'll see you on Sunday. A MESSAGE FROM FX'S THE BEAR FX's The Bear | All Episodes Now Streaming on Hulu The Emmy® Award winning series returns. This season follows follows Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri) and Richard "Richie" Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they do what it takes to elevate The Bear, their beef stand turned fine dining establishment, to the highest level, all while doing their best just to stay in business. FX's The Bear. All Episodes Now Streaming. Only on Hulu. Stream Now IN THIS NEWSLETTER Jessica Emily Marx for The New York Times Caesar Salad By Samin Nosrat 45 minutes Makes 6 to 8 servings Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Fresh Spring Rolls By Ali Slagle 1 hour 30 minutes Makes 12 rolls Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Peanut Sauce By Ali Slagle 10 minutes Makes About 3/4 cup William Brinson for The New York Times. Food stylist: Suzanne Lenzer. Prop stylist: Maeve Sheridan. Trini-Chinese Chicken By Sam Sifton 1 hour, plus refrigeration time Makes 4 to 6 servings Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich. Maduros (Fried Sweet Plantains) By Kiera Wright-Ruiz 10 minutes Makes 4 servings Rikki Snyder for The New York Times Radish Sandwiches With Butter and Salt Recipe from "Root to Leaf" Adapted by Sam Sifton 10 minutes Makes Serves 4 Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Poke Bowl By Naz Deravian 1 hour 45 minutes Makes 4 servings  Nico Schinco for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Lychee Cake By Ramin Ganeshram About 2¼ hours, plus cooling and chilling Makes 1 (8-inch) layer cake (10 to 12 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 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. 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