Takeout-style sesame noodles.Credit...
Craig Lee for The New York Times
By Alexa Weibel
Feb. 18, 2021
If it’s your job to think about food all day, your enthusiasm for meal planning may have plummeted as the pandemic has worn on. Though members of the NYT Food team may occasionally be tired of cooking, they never tire of talking about cooking. These are the dishes that perennially sustain, nourish and even inspire them.
1. Grilled Cheese Sandwich
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Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
When the last thing in the world I want to do is cook, the best thing to do is order a pizza. When cooking is only the second-to-last thing in the world I want to do, it’s time for a grilled cheese sandwich or, lately, a kimchi grilled cheese sandwich. And if it’s not so much the cooking that’s got me down but the sheer physical and mental exhaustion of life in 2021, I just boil some water for pasta with brown butter and Parmesan, then don’t brown the butter because I’m tired. SAM SIFTON
Recipes: Grilled Cheese Sandwich | Kimchi Grilled Cheese | Pasta With Brown Butter and Parmesan
2. Pasta Alla Vodka
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Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Ali Slagle.
I decided years ago that penne alla vodka is a complete meal because good canned tomatoes count as a vegetable and heavy cream is full of protein. At this point, I could probably make it under general anesthesia. (Our recipe has several ingredients that are completely optional: onion, pancetta and fresh oregano.) JULIA MOSKIN
Recipe: Pasta Alla Vodka
3. Sardine Toasts
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Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.
I throw together sardine toast for myself and my husband: Toast the bread, put out the salted butter and lemon wedges. And, on really exhausted nights, I just open the sardine tin and plop it on the table on a saucer, since the tin gets oily. It’s a make-your-own-toast situation. Sometimes I’ll slice up an onion. Our daughter, Dahlia, eats either Cheerios, or buttered toast and Cheddar cheese cubes. But in the summer, when I’m less exhausted, I’ll make these sardine toasts with tomato. Dahlia still eats Cheerios. No sardines for her. Not yet. MELISSA CLARK
Recipe: Sardine Toasts
4. Tinned Fish
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An Rong Xu for The New York Times
I am made of at least 35 percent sardine. I also keep a jar of tuna belly around; usually I’ll have that with lemon, olive oil and a “salad” of random vegetables. I’ve usually got radishes and scallions and lettuce, but sometimes it just goes on a Wasa cracker with butter. Same with smoked salmon, which I almost always have. Oh, and I like anchovies, radishes and butter on bread, ideally with an 8-minute egg and arugula or radish tops, or feta with raw or cooked vegetables, dried herbs, oil, maybe a hard-cooked egg. And if all else fails: frozen bratwurst, sauerkraut, hot dog bun. PETE WELLS
Recipe: A Perfect Hard-Boiled Egg
5. Chile-Oil Noodles With Cilantro
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Beatriz Da Costa for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Frances Boswell.
I always, always have the main ingredients for Judy Kim’s saucy, spicy chile-oil noodles in my pantry: dried noodles, chile crisp, sesame oil and soy sauce. While the noodles cook, I’ll chop up whatever vegetables I have kicking around to add to the dish right before serving. I love julienned carrots, scallions, thinly sliced cabbage and any soft herbs that might be on their last legs. Leftover protein, like rotisserie chicken or roasted tofu, is also a welcome addition. BECKY HUGHES
Recipe: Chile-Oil Noodles With Cilantro
6. Grain Bowls
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Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
We almost always have some cooked grains floating around in the fridge, so I make a lot of grain bowls. I toss in some greens, any fresh or roasted vegetables, lemon juice and a drizzle of oil. If there’s an avocado in the fruit bowl, it’ll go in there. On a good day, I’ll add a scoop of crushed or puréed cooked beans, and all bowls are topped with a boiled egg. On less tired days, it’s fried rice with cold stovetop rice, eggs, pork (usually bacon), scallions and a lot of ginger. YEWANDE KOMOLAFE
Recipe: Basic Stovetop Rice
7. Soft-Boiled Eggs With Anchovy Toast
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David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks.
For me, it’s scrambled eggs with toast and cottage cheese. I am working on my master’s degree in anchovy studies at Melissa Clark University and so I sometimes make something like this anchovy toast, too. And then there’s pasta with tuna or, in the summer, Scarlett’s tuna salad. EMILY WEINSTEIN
Recipes: Soft-Boiled Eggs With Anchovy Toast | Pasta With Tuna, Capers and Scallions | Scarlett’s Tuna Salad
8. Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce
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Suzy Allman for The New York Times
I’m always too tired to cook; these bones hang heavy. Still, one has to eat. The thing that’s been sustaining me near daily for months has been a piece of good toast topped with a single sunny-side-up egg, a heap of hot sauce or chile crisp, and a shower of flaky sea salt. But if I’m looking for something a little heartier, I’ll reach for the tomato sauce in the freezer (these days, Marcella Hazan’s extremely easy recipe) and slather it onto some al dente pasta, finished with a towering heap of the good Parmesan. KRYSTEN CHAMBROT
Recipe: Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce
9. Chinese-Style Breakfast Egg Wrap (Jian Bing)
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David Malosh for The New York Times
Does a bowl of cereal count? If so, that’s my go-to, if the kids have eaten. If I need something for my girls, I’ll often make the simplest version of jian bing: Toss a beaten egg into a hot skillet, tortilla on top, cook until set and flip out. When I have a touch more energy, I love Lex’s five-ingredient miso pasta, and will throw a bag of baby spinach or frozen peas into the pot right before draining the noodles to get something green into dinner. I do the same with soba, when I want something a little lighter, tossing the cooked noodles and greens in a one-bowl, no-cook sesame-soy sauce. GENEVIEVE KO
Recipes: Chinese-Style Breakfast Egg Wrap (Jian Bing) | Five-Ingredient Creamy Miso Pasta | Soba Noodles With Chicken and Snap Peas
10. Risotto
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William Brinson for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Raina Kattelson.
My go-to emergency dinner is risotto. I always have arborio rice on hand. Since dried mushrooms are among my pantry staples, I would go to Sam Sifton’s vegetable risotto adapted from Elizabeth David, or my risotto with morels. Making risotto is no big deal, takes no more than 30 minutes, and does not require constant stirring. I sometimes improvise, depending on what vegetables I have on hand, and do not hesitate to add a dollop of anchovy paste to the mushroom risotto. FLORENCE FABRICANT
Recipes: Vegetable Risotto | Risotto With Morels
