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Hello, friends. I’m thinking of you all buried in snow, sorry for the digging you have to do but also jealous of your winter white backdrops for holiday lights and pine trees. Here near the Pacific, the sun shines on, glinting off the tinsel and keeping it warm enough to wear shorts. However heavy your coat, I think today’s a day for an all-weather, all-season favorite: pad see ew. No, wait! Don’t call your favorite Thai restaurant. Admittedly, I did exactly that when I wrote this, because I needed lunch and was between meetings. But now it’s Sunday, and we have some time to cook. I love pad see ew so much and love it even more now that I’ve made it myself. This version from the Nashville chef Arnold Myint is adapted from “Family Thai,” one of The Times’s best cookbooks of 2025. Mr. Myint’s version captures pad see ew’s hallmarks with its velvet drapes of rice noodles, brilliant green gai lan and tufts of egg. But here, chicken stands in for the more common beef — classic pad see ew is related to Cantonese beef chow fun — and comes out juicier. His addition of mushrooms offers enough depth to skip meat altogether. Featured Recipe Chicken Pad See EwHe encourages swapping in your protein of choice and trying rice noodles of different widths, or even pappardelle for what he calls “papp see ew.” A few years ago, Julia Moskin reported on this openhearted approach to cooking noodles from other Thai chefs. Seek out his listed ingredients, or play around with whatever you have. I’m starting by substituting broccoli rabe for gai lan and trying my hand at papp see ew. But maybe the chile-basil kick of pad kee mao is what you’re craving now, or the slip of pad woon sen, the tangle of pad Thai. If you keep packets of dried noodles in your pantry, you can enjoy the flop and spring of stir-fried noodles anytime.
And for your weekPumpkin rice deluxe: Thanksgiving may have passed, but sugar pumpkin and other varieties of winter squash still have a place at the table. Ashley Lonsdale brings out its savory side in this golden pilaf, crunchy with celery and peanuts. To thoroughly infuse the turmeric rice with pumpkin, she calls for grating some to toast with the basmati. One of our commenters made me laugh out loud with her assessment of that step and offered her helpful tip (canned pumpkin). If I get too knuckle nervous to grate the pumpkin, I’m just going to dice it all instead. Beef tagine with green beans and olives: If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s worth buying (maybe even making) preserved lemons, the answer is yes, especially now that Nargisse Benkabbou has given us so many great ways to highlight its funky, salty tang. Here, it bridges rich braised beef chuck with grassy green beans, bringing out the earthiness of both with its pop of sour. Garlic, ginger and turmeric season the broth, which is especially warming on chilly nights. Baked chicken breasts: Honestly, I wasn’t sure it could be done — baking boneless, skinless chicken breasts and keeping them juicy? Well, Lidey Heuck cracked the code by quick-brining them in a simple salt water solution before coating them with spices. The brine seasons the meat and keeps it moist even in the dry heat of the oven, and the spices, glued on with olive oil, transform into a flavorful crust and keep the meat from becoming leathery. Get these done today and you’ll be set for easy meals all week. Old-fashioned shortbread: I want my home to smell like the holidays every day this advent season. Last Christmas, I gave you my heart by developing these crisp shortbread seasoned like my favorite cocktail. Bourbon-soaked candied orange peel and dried cherries stud a buttery slice-and-bake dough. Around the holidays, a lot of supermarkets carry candied orange peel. If yours doesn’t, you can add fresh orange zest instead. Almonds give each bite a toasty crunch and an egg-white wash makes these sparkle. Furikake snack mix: If you’re hosting a holiday party, the most impressive thing you can serve with drinks is an irresistible homemade crunchy snack. This spicy-salty mix, a from-scratch take on a popular snack in Hawaii, is especially good with beer and cocktails. If you want something straight-up salty, go with this Old Bay party mix or these fire crackers. Even if you’re not hosting anything, it’s great to have salty crisp bites between all the cookies. For a limited time, you can enjoy free access to the recipes in this newsletter in our app. Download it on your iOS or Android device and create a free account to get started.
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