Latest news with #YewandeKomolafe
New York Times
21-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- New York Times
These Jam Bars Are My Jam
The sun smiled down over Brooklyn last weekend. The temperature gently hovered around 75 degrees, and on Prospect Park's Great Lawn, picnickers spread themselves out like asparagus on a sheet pan. We're eating outside again: Summer is a-comin' in! To tee up alfresco dining season, Tanya Sichynsky (she of the The Veggie) has assembled a collection of our best 'portable and shareable recipes built for the backyard, the beach and the communal barbecue.' She may not say it in so many words, but the list definitely works for picnics and park hangs, too. Tanya has lined up two dozen absolute bangers to pick from, but high on my list is Yewande Komolafe's recipe for chewy strawberry jam bars with cardamom. Yewande is a shortbread sorcerer, ever coaxing new flavors, shapes and colors from her exquisite, buttery dough. These simple bars with a nubby, crumbly topping hold up well for travel, easily feed a crowd and are maximally adaptable. Substitute any thick jam for strawberry — ideally something tart to balance the sweet crust. And if these treats, like most shortbreads, tend toward crumbliness, well, you're eating them outside. The squirrels, ants and sparrows will be more than happy to tidy up. Featured Recipe View Recipe → Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
An Electric Chicken Breast Dinner With the Salad Built In
Wherever the cook extraordinaire Yewande Komolafe goes, I will absolutely follow — even if it's to boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Normally I'd prefer literally any other part of the bird (thigh, drumstick, wing, neck, liver, giblets, tail or feet), but I know from experience that Yewande works magic with everything she touches. And that includes the meek and mild chicken breast. I'm thinking of her ginger chicken with crisp napa salad, where she pounds chicken breasts until thin, so they have more surface area to absorb the assertive seasoning mix of grated fresh ginger, cilantro, lime zest and a not insubstantial amount of cayenne (Yewande doesn't play when it comes to chile). After a quick sauté, she finishes her chicken with a ruffly napa cabbage salad, brightened with fresh mint and chives. Who knew white meat could party this hard? Featured Recipe View Recipe → Now that Yewande's recipe has used half of our head of cabbage, what shall we do with the other half? Enter Ali Slagle and her bubble and squeak. A combination of bacon, leftover mashed potatoes and vegetables (usually cabbage), this traditional British recipe is named for its sizzling, popping cooking noises, as the moisture evaporates noisily from the pan. The key here is to cook the mixture until the bottom and edges get brown and crisp, adding texture to the silky vegetables. Vegetarians can omit the bacon, and anyone who loves an egg can slide a poached or fried one right on top. The runny yolk makes this classic dish even better. Perhaps you're in the mood for a garlicky, lemony shrimp scampi? Lidey Heuck reconfigures the scampi ingredients in her 25-minute spaghetti al limone with shrimp. The surprising note here is tarragon, which gives the dish a snappy licorice freshness that's unexpected and exactly on target. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
11-02-2025
- Lifestyle
- New York Times
19 Very Doable Valentine's Day Dishes
Hello there! If you're signed up for Emily Weinstein's Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter — which of course you are — you heard from me this morning when I shared five quick and easy pastas that would make really lovely Valentine's Day dinner options. But maybe you don't want pasta. Or you're not sure exactly what you'd like, but you want it to be fancy-ish but still simple enough to pull off at the end of a long week. Sometimes all it takes for a dish to feel special is using an ingredient that feels a little precious, something that you don't normally reach for on a weeknight. Just that extra bit of consideration turns a tried-and-true dish into a slightly glammed-up version of itself. An excellent example of a recipe with this 'easy but special' feeling is Yewande Komolafe's honey-glazed chicken and shallots. Shallots are, of course, the fanciest onion that still lets you peel them (looking at you, pearl onions). Their pretty, soft purple color and soft allium flavor give this one-pan dinner a little glamour. I also love how they melt into soft little shells to hold the savory skillet sauce. I know I've used the word soft a lot here — it's because this dish is a gentle sigh of a meal. Featured Recipe View Recipe → Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
