Your Grilled Cheese Needs Toum

Good morning. I embrace nostalgia today, immersing myself in memories of a Brooklyn I never knew, even though I grew up in a neighborhood. Imagine egg creams at the soda fountain, a long ride on the rattan seats of an old subway car, then the mechanical horse races at Coney Island and a visit to Ebinger’s afterwards, for blackout cake. See me with my pointy newsboy hat!

And for early dinner, maybe Chinese roast pork on garlic bread? Steamed hot dogs with mustard and relish? I don’t know. Maybe a simple wedge salad will do. I will get my protein from the large glass of milk that I drink with the cake.

For Ham El-Waylly, nostalgia is a grilled cheese sandwich topped with toum (above), a sauce made with garlic, lemon juice, salt and oil. The mixture is reminiscent of the akkawi cheese manakeesh sandwiches he ate as a teenager in Doha, Qatar. The toum makes a big thump, like you’ve stuffed garlic bread with Muenster. So good.

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Toum Grilled Cheese

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It’s Sunday settled. As for the rest of the week. …

Monday

Jorim is a Korean dish of braised beef with spicy ginger and garlic soy sauce. Kay Chun’s recipe replaces the beef with tofu and mushrooms, which soak up the flavorful sauce wonderfully. Make a little extra so you can have cold leftovers for lunch.

Tuesday

Melissa Clark’s Cheesy Baked Pasta with Sausage and Ricotta is like a cross between a baked ziti and a sausage lasagna, but simplified for weekday preparation and maximum flavor. I’m following the example of those readers who cook it with orecchiette pasta, but shells or farfalle would work just as well.

Wednesday

A miso vinaigrette complements Hetty Lui McKinnon’s recipe for Miso Leeks with White Beans, a vegetarian main dish you’d pay a pretty penny for at a wine bar, topped with steamed and candied eggs. It uses whole leeks, greens included, and constant, even heat to tenderize them. You should too.

THURSDAY

Beef and barley soup is delicious, but it’s not the friendliest weeknight meal. Ali Slagle’s kielbasa-barley soup uses a smoky link to give the recipe real complexity and depth of flavor – quickly. Dill and vinegar add spice and bite.

Friday

And then you can head into the weekend with my recipe for Slow Cooker Pork Tacos with Hoisin and Ginger. If you set him up before your day starts, he can chat for hours and hours before an early dinner you won’t soon forget.

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Now, this is a long way from anything involving plum sauce or oven-roasted bacon, but here’s Ronan Farrow, in The New Yorker, with a profile of RuPaul.

Check out this excellent newsletter “Read Like the Wind” by Molly Young, about books about lovable and unlikable people. (She also recommends Norman Rush’s novel, “Mating,” which I do, too.)

Allison Stewart in the Washington Post has a nice review of Margaret Wappler’s hybrid memoir and actor Luke Perry’s biography, “A Good Bad Boy: Luke Perry and How a Generation Grew Up.”

Finally, here is a new track from St. Vincent, “Broken Man”. Listen to this while you cook, and I’ll come back next week.