cooking.nytimes.com/68861692-nyt-cooking/14326423-no-recipe-recipes
No-Recipe Clam Pasta
And on Wednesday, try cooking without a recipe. Just riff on a prompt: store-bought cheese ravioli, say, in a creamy, cheesy, white clam sauce fortified with miso. Say what? Melt some butter in a pan, and add to it a couple of glugs of milk, cream or half-and-half, along with a few tablespoons of whatever miso you have on hand. Let that simmer, and add to it a can of chopped clams (including the juices!), then thicken the sauce with a handful of grated Parmesan. It’ll come together nicely, but you may wish to add a little more milk. Season to taste (I like red-pepper flakes for that.) Now tip the ravioli into the pan to cook with the sauce, and serve it strewn with chopped parsley and some bread to mop up the sauce.
No-Recipe Scallops
Secure some fat scallops, a lot of butter, a small jar of salmon roe and get down to business. Make a béarnaise first, then let it sit warm on the stove. Sear your scallops until they develop a good golden crust and bathe them in butter with a little garlic and thyme. Then mix the roe into the béarnaise and spoon it over the scallops. Wow.
No-Recipe Soft-Shelled Crabs
And at some point, all those who can find them should be making soft-shell crabs. David Tanis serves them with curry butter, and Melissa Clark broils them over toast. I take the no-recipe recipe approach, getting some oil on them so a sprinkle of Wondra and a little Old Bay will stick, then searing them top-side down in a wide skillet until they develop a crust, and flipping them over for just a minute or so to finish. I serve each crab on a potato bun with a thick slice of tomato and a smear of mayonnaise, which is pretty humble for a pricey unit of seafood. You might put them on a pile of spring greens with a squeeze of lemon instead. That’s all the dressing you need given the amount of “sauce” within each crab.
San Antonio Margarita
Combine equal parts tequila, orange liqueur, and fresh lime juice in a pitcher, using a measuring glass if you have one to get it to 26 ounces exactly (deploy a splash or so more than a cup per liquid if you don’t), then add 6 ounces of water to the mix and set it in the refrigerator to chill. Serve over ice in glasses with salted rims.
Pasta and Feta
Very simple. Just cook your favorite spaghetti (bucatini, for me!) and reserve a little bit of the cooking water. Combine the pasta with a nice scattering of feta — like the creamy Bulgarian variety — loosen it a little with the pasta water, stir in some spinach or baby kale, hit the whole with red pepper flakes, and serve.
