What to Cook Right Now

Good morning. It is, of course, decorative gourd season. Colin Nissan wrote about that hilariously in McSweeney’s coming up on a decade ago, but it’s very crude and if you don’t like strong language, steer wide. Stick with Florence Fabricant’s new guide to edible gourds (above) instead. But to me the two pieces make a perfect pair: the alpha and omega of autumnal service journalism.

Hey, what’s for dinner tonight? I like the idea of cooking Alison Roman’s cumin-roasted salmon with cilantro sauce. Also of making Molly O’Neill’s kale soup with potatoes and sausage — a recipe she developed over five long winters spent in Provincetown, Mass., cooking with the Portuguese ingredients common to that region’s markets, slow-simmering all the way.

It is Election Day tomorrow: Please remember to vote. Then get home soon as you can to make something to eat while you three-screen the results on TV, on the home page of The Times and on the phone on which you stab buttons in exchange for dopamine.

You might make one of this collection of recipes for an election party. But you can definitely manage a bowl of fresh popcorn. I’ve been topping mine with Old Bay seasoning lately. One of my children scatters it into the hot melted butter, blooming the spice before it goes onto the popped corn. That’s fantastic.

Or you could make a bowl of everything bagel dip, basically a deconstructed morning everything bagel with schmear, suitable for use with raw vegetables or potato chips, pretzels — even bagel chips though I think that’s either too meta or too on-the-nose.

And portobello patty melts are excellent election-night fare, always. Follow with Irish coffee. I’m serious!

Many thousands more recipes to cook tonight and in coming days are on NYT Cooking, including everything you need to cook a magnificent Thanksgiving feast this month. Go take a look. (You know you need a subscription, right? I’ve mentioned that?) And then save the recipes that are of interest to your recipe box. Organize them in folders. Send them to friends.

If anything goes awry along the way, either with something you’re cooking or with our site and apps, simply write for help: [email protected] We’ll deploy our rescue vehicle and get you the help you need. Or you can find us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. We’re very social in that regard.

Now, nothing at all to do with canapés or croquettes, but here’s Langston Hughes’s 1936 poem, “Let America Be America Again.”

Love this van-life cooking situation that Outside found in Patagonia.

Kind of stoked for this new Sara Gran thriller, “The Infinite Blacktop.”

Finally, please spend a little time with Robyn’s new album, “Honey,” while you cook. (Here’s the single “Missing U,” which has been out for a while, to listen to right now.) See you on Wednesday. Holler if you need anything: [email protected]

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