This marinade is a game-changer for steak tacos

The chef Alex Henry bucks Yucatán tradition with a citrusy, garlicky, earthy mixture for sliced rib-eye.

View in browser|nytimes.com September 8, 2024 Yucatán steak tacos from Alex Henry. Adapted by Ali Slagle. Mark Weinberg for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. This Yucatán marinade is perfect for steak tacos By Sam Sifton Good morning. The chef Alex Henry runs a stall in a food court in St. Louis, Sureste, which serves an updated version of the food of his childhood on the Yucatán Peninsula. For his steak tacos, for instance, with bistec a la Yucateca (above), he passes on the usual cuts of flank or skirt steak, using thinly sliced rib-eye instead, bathing it in a marinade of citrus juices, garlic and earthy spices that penetrate the fat-marbled meat beautifully. Featured Recipe Bistec a la Yucateca Tacos (Yucatán Steak Tacos) View Recipe → Give that recipe a shot today, and serve the seared beef on warm corn tortillas with Henry's fiery chiltomate salsa, diced avocado, cilantro and wedges of lime. Hold on to summer for as long as you can. As for the rest of the week. … Monday There's an Italian dish of sautéed puntarelle with white beans that Lidey Heuck used as the inspiration for her braised white beans and greens. You could of course make it with puntarelle if you find some, but it's exceptional with Swiss chard or kale. Using canned white beans makes it a weeknight winner. Julia Gartland for The New York Times (Photography and Styling) Braised White Beans and Greens With Parmesan By Lidey Heuck 30 minutes Makes 4 servings Tuesday A carbonara is a wonderful pasta for a weeknight, but Ali Slagle takes it to new heights with her mortadella carbonara, which replaces guanciale with soft sheets of the Italian cold cut of pork seasoned with black pepper and nutmeg. You'll want some peas in there for color and pop. Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Mortadella Carbonara By Ali Slagle 30 minutes Makes 4 to 6 servings Wednesday Julia Moskin's recipe for Chinese smashed cucumbers with sesame oil and garlic is the perfect foil for a fiery dish of kung pao chicken and a bowl of rice, a combination that may well enter your regular rotation. It has in mine. Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Simon Andrews. Chinese Smashed Cucumbers With Sesame Oil and Garlic By Julia Moskin 40 minutes Makes 4 to 6 servings Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks. Easy Kung Pao Chicken Recipe from Pearl Han and Grace Han Adapted by Genevieve Ko 15 minutes Makes 4 servings Thursday The midnight pasta earned its name by being the sort of meal you can throw together in the middle of the night out of pantry ingredients: garlic, olive oil, red-pepper flakes and pasta. Ali Slagle's recipe is slightly more involved because she roasts the garlic before using it, instead of sautéing it in a pan. But wow does it add a degree of complexity to the finished dish. (Roast way more garlic than you need. Leftovers keep nicely in a jar in the fridge, and you can use them to make the dish again next week!) Johnny Miller for The New York Times Midnight Pasta With Roasted Garlic, Olive Oil and Chile By Ali Slagle 1 hour Makes 4 servings Friday And then you can head into the weekend with an absolute classic, Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey's recipe from 1982 for chicken fricassee with vermouth. The dry aperitif gives the sauce a slightly sweeter, more aromatic flavor than you'd get with white wine, and the julienne strips of carrot and leek alongside the chicken are just beautiful: a period detail to bring back into style. Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Chicken Fricassee With Vermouth By Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey About 1 hour 30 minutes Makes 4 to 6 servings No? Not for you? Here's a periodic reminder that you don't always need a recipe to make great food. Sometimes all you require is a prompt. For instance: smoked bluefish spread. Light your charcoal grill or a smoker tube for your gas one. Put a couple of fillets on an oiled quarter sheet pan and top them with salt, ground black pepper and perhaps a dusting of smoked paprika. Get them onto the cool part of your grill, cover and smoke for around 45 minutes, then scoop the meat off the skin and into a bowl. Mash it with a little mayonnaise, some more salt and pepper, and a spray of lime juice, then eat the result on crackers with dabs of hot sauce. You'll make a meal of it, I bet. Failing that, there are many thousands of actual recipes to cook this week waiting for you on New York Times Cooking. And to celebrate our 10th anniversary, we're letting subscribers send them to anyone they like for free. Just tap the "Give" icon on any recipe to create a paywall-free link that you can share with family and friends. Please reach out for assistance if you find yourself in a jam with our technology. We're at cookingcare@nytimes.com and standing by. Someone will get back to you. You can also write to me if you'd like to bark in complaint or deliver a compliment to my colleagues. I'm at foodeditor@nytimes.com. Now, it's nothing to do with sea beans or oatmeal, but I've got a few suggestions for things you might read, look at or listen to, before, during or after you're cooking. To wit: Danzy Senna's new novel, "Colored Television," which Dwight Garner raved in The New York Times Book Review. Also, the Venezuelan-born and Los Angeles-based artist Magdalena Suarez Frimkess's first museum exhibition, "Finest Disregard," at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Here's Joe Sexton for The Marshall Project, on efforts to save the Parkland school shooter from the death penalty, "The Hardest Case for Mercy." Finally, since it would have been his 79th birthday, here's Ron McKernan, a.k.a. Pigpen, with the Grateful Dead: "Turn on Your Lovelight," live at Princeton University in 1971. (McKernan died two years later, at 27.) Let it shine. I'll see you next week. 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. 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