The New York Times Recipes

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016 Recipes for Bright Lights, Big Cities SAM SIFTON Good morning. The food section of The Times hit the door this morning with a satisfying thwack: Pete Wells on trouble at what was one of New York's temples of fine dining; Kim Severson on the tragic hilarity of people bringing their own cakes for dessert at restaurants; and Melissa Clark with a magnum opus on the cooking of beans. That's all good reading. But we have some good cooking possibilities available as well, with Melissa's North African bean stew, white bean and roasted potato salad, and ham and bean soup with collard greens, and Martha Rose Shulman's recipe for fusilli with broccoli and anchovy sauce (above). Want to cook without a recipe? Today is no-recipe Wednesday, so you're in luck. We'll pick up some wild mushrooms at the market and sauté them in butter, then hit them with a splash of red wine, reduce the whole thing down to a glaze, season them with salt and pepper and dump the whole megillah over a bowl of buttered pasta. Garnish with shaved Parmesan and chopped parsley. Dinner! Alternatively, you can follow instructions and prepare a pan of miso chicken (or one of tofu with peanut-ginger sauce) to eat with rice andbok choy. You could make Molly O'Neill's recipe for cumin-baked pork chops. Or David Tanis's recipe for kimchi soup. You may cook eggs for dinner. Or prepare some Greek skillet pies with feta and greens. It could be a burger night. Or one for green puttanesca with pasta. All sorts of recipes to cook tonight or in coming days are available atCooking. Click on over there and browse through them, then save the ones you like to your recipe box. And let us know how they turn out after you've cooked them. You can leave notes and ratings on the recipes, or alert us on social media using the hashtag #NYTCooking; we're on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Those who run into problems with anything, either with a recipe or with Cooking itself, should reach out for help. We're standing by atcookingcare@nytimes.com to assist. Finally, nothing to do with food, but it's the writer Jay McInerney's birthday – he's 61 – and we spent some time this morning trying to find you a copy of one of his best short stories, "Smoke," published in The Atlantic in March 1987. It's not online in its entirety, but you canread the first few pages and, if it intrigues (no one writes a better dinner party), give the old boy a birthday present and buy the book in which it was collected, "How It Ended." See you on Friday. We can discuss over a roast chicken.

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times How to Make Burgers Make the best at home, indoors or out.

Rikki Snyder for The New York Times Miso Chicken SAM SIFTON 45 minutes, 4 servings

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times Tofu With Peanut-Ginger Sauce MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN 10 minutes, 1/2 to 2/3 cup

Grant Cornett for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Theo Vamvounakis. Short-Grained Rice SAM SIFTON 30-35 minutes, Serves 4-6

Rikki Snyder for The New York Times Baby Bok Choy With Oyster Sauce SAM SIFTON 10 minutes, 4 servings

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times Pasta With Green Puttanesca MELISSA CLARK 20 minutes, 4 to 6 servings

Evan Sung for The New York Times Greek Skillet Pies With Feta and Greens DAVID TANIS 1 hour, 12 small pies

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times Cumin-Baked Pork Chops MOLLY O'NEILL 25 minutes, 4 servings

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times North African Bean Stew With Barley and Winter Squash MELISSA CLARK 1 hour 45 minutes, 8 to 10 servings

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times Fusilli With Broccoli and Anchovies MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN 30 minutes, 4 to 6 servings