By Emily Weinstein, The New York Times
We just published our 50 most popular new recipes of 2024, the bangers of New York Times Cooking. Simplicity shines on this list, because simplicity always shines in home cooking — the promise of a recipe that is more magic than chemistry, greater than the sum of its stewed, seared or sautéed parts.
1. Roasted Chicken With Fish-Sauce Butter
Roasting chicken thighs in a hot oven is a hands-off way to achieve two of life’s greatest pleasures: crispy skin and golden schmaltz. And you want that chicken fat because it will crisp hand-torn bread into croutons. This meal is made even more lovely thanks to a bold but balanced fish-sauce butter that you whip up on the stovetop while the rest of the meal takes care of itself in the oven. Be sure to start with cold butter; the gradual melting of the fat helps thicken the sauce without breaking it.
By Eric Kim
Yield: 4 servings
Total time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
- 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 2 pounds)
- Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) and black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3/4 pound bread, crusts removed, bread torn into bite-size pieces (about 4 cups; see tip)
- 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, kept whole
- Cilantro leaves with tender stems, for serving
Preparation
1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season lightly with salt and pepper. (The fish-sauce butter is plenty salty, so don’t overdo the salt here.) Arrange the chicken skin-side up on a sheet pan and drizzle the oil over the chicken skin, coating it evenly. Roast until the chicken is light gold and the sheet pan is pooling with hot, rendered chicken fat, about 25 minutes.
2. Take the sheet pan out of the oven, scatter the bread around the chicken and toss gently to coat in the chicken fat. Place the pan back in the oven and roast until the chicken is golden, crispy and sizzling (you’ll hear it), about 15 minutes.
3. While the chicken roasts, combine the brown sugar, fish sauce and lemon juice in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook, occasionally swirling the pan or stirring the sauce with a wooden spoon, until bubbling vigorously and the mixture has reduced by about half, 2 to 3 minutes. This part is fun: Turn off the heat and add the butter, constantly swirling the pan or stirring with a wooden spoon, until all of the butter has melted and incorporated into the fish sauce mixture.
4. To serve, scatter the cilantro all over the chicken and bread and spoon some of the fish-sauce butter over each chicken thigh, reserving some to add to each plate for dipping the chicken and croutons while eating (which is divine).
Tip
Many breads will work here, especially stale loaves that you’re trying to use up. Crusty sourdough lends pleasurable tang for instance, while chewy tender milk bread tastes comfortingly sweet.
2. Cheesy, Spicy Black Bean Bake
Black beans shine in a deep-red mixture of fried garlic, caramelized tomato paste, smoked paprika and cumin. The whole skillet gets coated in a generous sprinkling of sharp cheddar or manchego cheese, then baked until melted. The final result is what you hope for from a really good chili or stew, but in a lot less time. For a spicier rendition, add a pinch of cayenne with the paprika, or douse the final skillet with hot sauce. Serve with tortillas, tortilla chips, rice, a baked potato or fried eggs.
By Ali Slagle
Yield: 4 servings
Total time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 5 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 (14-ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- Kosher salt and black pepper
Preparation
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar or manchego cheese (from about a 6-ounce block)
1. Heat the oven to 475 degrees. In a 10-inch ovenproof skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high. Fry the garlic until lightly golden, about 1 minute. Stir in the tomato paste, paprika, red-pepper flakes and cumin (be careful of splattering), and fry for 30 seconds, reducing the heat as needed to prevent the garlic from burning.
2. Add the beans, water and generous pinches of salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top then bake until the cheese has melted, 5 to 10 minutes. If the top is not as browned as you’d like, run the skillet under the broiler for 1 or 2 minutes. Serve immediately.
3. Coconut Curry Fish
