Some people cook like they’re reading complicated music. Each note needs to be played exactly as written, no exceptions. The recipes are followed to the letter, each ingredient measured carefully and added per the instructions, no room for personal tastes or substitutions. Other people walk into a kitchen, see what ingredients are there, and can come up with a dish on the fly. They can improvise like a great jazz musician, adding a little of this and a little of that, testing and tasting until the dish is just what they want.
I am definitely in the former category. Every once in a while, I’ll try to experiment. But it never tastes as good as when I follow a recipe. That makes weeknight cooking challenging, because I need time and space to plan out a meal. And most nights when I come home from work, I don’t have the time or energy to pull that off.
Enter Sam Sifton, the founding editor of New York Times Cooking, and his new collection of No-Recipe Recipes. For six years, he’s been sending these recipes out to Times Cooking newsletter subscribers every Wednesday, and now he’s collected the best ones into one small cookbook. So that cooks like me can learn the art of cooking without a recipe.
These no-recipe recipes still have a list of ingredients, but there are no measurements. There are no fussy vegetable cuts, no intricate directions. There are good ingredients, simple instructions, and a relaxed attitude that allows you to let the tension roll away from your shoulders, to riff, to use the flavors you love and let go of all the restrictions.
Whether you’re looking for a breakfast idea you can use for dinner (Savory French Toast with Cherry Tomatoes and Basil) or a filling lunch (Speedy Fish Chowder, or maybe the Ham and Brie Sandwich), you will find lots of ideas here. Maybe you need ways to add more fresh vegetables to the table (Corn Salad with Tomato and Arugula, or Roasted Sweet Potato Salad, or the Asparagus and Boursin Tart, made quick and easy with frozen puff pastry).
Need some simple pasta or rice meals for a quick weeknight dinner? Try the Pasta with Sausage and Sage or the Ham and Cheese Pasta Shells with a Handful of Peas. You can mix up the Rice and Beans with Extras and serve it over rice, or you can clean out the leftover bits with the Instant Ramen, Back-of-the-Fridge Style.
Craving seafood? Try the Salt and Pepper Shrimp, Miso-Glazed Scallops, or Teriyaki Salmon with Mixed Greens. Prefer a bird? There’s a Rotisserie Chicken Salad, Buffalo Chicken Dip, or Spiced Duck Breasts with Roasted Eggplant and Rice. Need still more options? How about Seared Lamb Chops with Lemon and Butter-Braised Potatoes, Smothered Pork Chops, Hasselback Kielbasa, Chorizo Nachos, Meatball Salad, or Sloppy Joes?
A lot of these recipes come with tips and modifications to help you personalize them or find shortcuts for making them easier and more flavorful. Add to those your own ideas, inspiration, favorite flavors, and whatever might be hiding in your refrigerator, freezer, or pantry, and you have endless ideas for meals, snacks, and desserts for you, your family, and your friends.
Almost any cookbook can teach you how to cook by number. But if you want to up your cooking game and learn to cook without a recipe, then The New York Times Cooking No-Recipe Recipes will help you learn to cook as improvisation, following flavors and making fast foods you can feel really good about.
As I said, I’m a longtime recipe reader, but I’ve been wanting to branch out and learn to come home after work in the evening and improvise a delicious dinner that we’ll want over and over. I’m looking forward to digging in with this book and learning to turn a fridge full of real ingredients into a meal that will feed body and soul. At any rate, I know that the Pizza without a Crust will always be a big hit.
A copy of The New York Times Cooking No-Recipe Recipes was provided by Ten Speed Press for an unbiased review, with many thanks.
