Good Bread Good Meat Good God Let's Eat : The New York Times Recipes

A hero shop's gigantic fried-eggplant sandwich, remade for the home.

Davide Luciano for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Gozde Eker.

FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016

SAM SIFTON

Good morning. I wrote a column for The Times Magazine this week about my current favorite sandwich: fried eggplant with roast beef, mozzarella and hot cherry peppers on a hero roll (above). It would be nice if we could all make a few of those this weekend – here's the recipe – and then talk about our work in the comments on the article and in the notes feature attached to the recipe. Because here's the thing: It is an awesome sandwich. (In truth, I sometimes omit the roast beef. I never leave out the mayonnaise. Discuss!)
Other things to make this weekend: Mark Bittman's recipe for grilled lamb with lemongrass and ginger. A key lime poundcake. Have you tried Nigella Lawson's recipe for spareribs with pineapple and molasses? It's delicious with steamed rice and a platter of sautéed baby bok choy.
In keeping with our philosophy of market cuisine, how about a dinner of fettuccine with asparagus? Or asparagus soup with ricotta crostini? Or asparagus with walnuts, Parmesan and brown butter? (We like that with roasted chicken Provençal.)
It's the weekend. We can cook up a storm.
But we can also start some spring cleaning. It pains us here atCooking to be badgers. But the fact is that winter is tough on a kitchen. This would be a good weekend to set things right by clearing out the refrigerator and giving it a deep clean, then doing the same with your spice collection and maybe your collection of pots and pans as well. Assignment: Ditch what you don't need. Soundtrack: Alabama Shakes, "Be Mine," live in Sydney.
Or don't. You may want to just sit on the couch all weekend, binge-watching the Swedish original series "The Bridge" on Hulu and waiting for this Nordic recipe for lamb in a coffee braise to roast into intensity. You could read J. Bradford Hipps's debut novel, "The Adventurist," and cook an omelet for dinner. (Here's a recipe for a ramp omelet, if you're the sort of cat who thrills to ramps.) Or you could browse the photographs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibition on "Crime Stories," then make ramen. We don't judge here.
You can find other recipes to cook this weekend on Cooking. If you need to reach us, you can find us posting status updates to Facebookand Twitter and posting pretty pictures on Pinterest and Instagram, where we use and monitor the hashtag #NYTCooking. Or you can write us directly at cookingcare@nytimes.com.
Now who's up for a bear fight at the bar after work? Have a great weekend.