A collaboration between Andrew Schloss and Cookthink, the Sunday Dinners project is designed to help busy people cook more at home. Each week, we show you how spin the leftovers from a leisurely weekend meal into a slew of brand new, easy weeknight dinners. (For more on this, read Andy’s introduction to the project.)

Many home cooks braise pot roast and short ribs, simmering the meat for hours in rich stock until it falls from the bone. But fish can be braised, too — browned to give it a flavorful caramelized crust, then simmered in liquid for mere minutes — resulting in a meatier, more wintry and substantial flavor than your standard summery poached fish.

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If you missed it, here’s this week’s Root Source on oysters. If you’re not yet subscribed to the Root Source, sign up here.

This Sunday, we’re whipping up some nachos, chili, wings, burgers, chips and calzone…

Plus, some beer can chicken cooked in the oven…

And washing it all down with a cold Michelada.

What are you cooking for Super Bowl Sunday?

Need more ideas? Check out these Super Bowl-appropriate recipes from Cookthink.com

In an ad NBC has deemed too risqué for the Super Bowl, PETA makes the claim: “Studies show that vegetarians have better sex.”

Is this true? In a Slate Explainer, Nina Shen Rastogi gets to the bottom of it.

One of our favorite ways to eat oysters is cooked on a grill — or under a broiler in the oven. Try them topped with everything from blood oranges to bacon to melon, mango, pineapple or sweet corn for a midwinter treat that justifies standing out in the cold for the few minutes it takes to cook them.

Recipe: Grilled Oysters With Blood Orange And Ginger (Cookthink)
Recipe: Grilled Oysters With Pineapple And Mint (Cookthink)
Recipe: Grilled Oysters With Sweet Corn Salsa (Cookthink)
Recipe: Grilled Oysters With Bacon, Tomato And Tarragon (Cookthink)
Recipe: Grilled Oysters With Melon And Basil (Cookthink)
Recipe: Grilled Oysters With Spicy Mango Salsa (Cookthink)

Speaking of kitchen wounds, I still have a scar on the outside of my right thumb to remind me of the time I absentmindedly drove an oyster knife into my hand. At the time, I was working at a seafood restaurant/market, where protecting the oyster-holding hand wasn’t cool. Serves me right.

Reference: How to shuck an oyster (Cookthink)
Reference: What is an oyster knife? (Cookthink)
Recipe: Oysters With Pomegranate Mignonette (hogwash)

My favorite food blog these days is The Fruit Blog, written by “Evil Fruit Lord”, a berry breeder in California. You won’t find recipes here, but if you love fruit or fruit breeding (better still, both), then read this blog.

A weekly column about the psychology of cooking and food.

I have always been afraid of knives, and have compensated by learning decent knife skills and developing confidence in my ability to pit avocados, slice onions and perform other dangerous but necessary daily kitchen tasks.

So how did I manage, two weeks ago, to stab myself in the index finger with a sharp paring knife in the midst of preparing a salad?

On a good day, I find chopping vegetables meditative, relaxing. I often cook to unwind. But on this particularly stressful day I allowed my thoughts to drift while doing something that actually demands calm and concentration, no matter how many times I have managed to handle sharp kitchen knives without injuring myself.

I was run down and rushing and had unpleasant thoughts on my mind; I should have slowed down and taken a deep breath, not acted like a kamikaze line cook at a three-star restaurant racing against the clock. My hand slipped suddenly and blood splurted cinematically all over my tiny Paris kitchen, making it look like a murder scene.

This embarrassing and unfortunate kitchen disaster landed me in the hospital with a severed artery and nerve — I managed somehow to plunge the knife deeply enough into my finger to require surgery, my whole left hand bound up and immobilized for more than two weeks. As of yesterday, it’s just the wounded finger that is wrapped up like a mummy so its newly sewed together insides don’t “snap in two,” to quote my charming doctor.

So for now I can type and cook with 9 fingers, and have learned how to make many one-handed dishes in the last two weeks, during which time I have ruminated on when I will get the feeling and movement back in my wounded finger and how I will manage to pick up a kitchen knife without hyperventilating. I am hoping that my love of cooking will conquer my fears once I get some semblance of my finger back again. And I have been thinking about how important it is to stay calm and pay attention in the kitchen.

Have nerves or carelessness ever gotten the better of you in the kitchen? Any horror stories you’d like to share?

Winter pomegranate seeds — plus pomegranate jelly and molasses — turns cheesecake pink, sophisticated and unforgettable.

Recipe: Pomegranate Cheesecake (Cookthink)

When it comes to mixing cocktails like a Caipirinha, Mojito or a mint julep, learning the art of muddling will set your bar skills apart.

Reference: How to muddle a cocktail (Cookthink)