Sunday Paper Recommends—Week of May 17, 2026
This week at The Sunday Paper, we're sharing a new podcast, show, recipe, and book that we believe will add inspiration to your days. We hope these suggestions open your heart and mind and encourage you to come together for meaningful conversations.
What We’re Watching
After 11 seasons behind the desk, Stephen Colbert will host his final episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert this Thursday, closing the curtain on one of late-night television’s longest-running franchises. First launched by David Letterman in 1993, the show has spent more than three decades helping to shape late-night television. With anticipation building, CBS has yet to announce its slated line-up for the final week. Tune into CBS this Thursday, May 21, at 11:35 pm EST, to watch Colbert sign off one last time.
What We’re Reading
After escaping their burning home, April, her husband Leo, and their two children retreat to her childhood home in Dallas, where wounds—both new and old—and buried tensions begin to surface. Following April, who must learn to navigate a crumbling marriage; Leo, who is trying to reshape his lonely childhood; and April’s mother Deb, who begins facing the shocking reality of her husband’s recent Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Told through each of their POV's The Burning Side by Sarah Damoff is a deeply human story about marriage, caregiving, and the fragile ways families hold each other together.
What We’re Listening To
True crime gets a fresh spin in Allegedly, the new Netflix video podcast hosted by Emmy-winning journalist Ellison Barber. Each episode dives into one of the internet’s most talked-about cases, from Gabby Petito to Christine Marie of Trust Me: The False Prophet. She sits down with experts, insiders, and guests connected to headline-making crimes, creating a series that feels as conversational as it is investigative. You won’t want to miss your next true crime obsession. Stream Allegedly now on Netflix, with new episodes every week.
Watch the trailer here!
Sunday Paper Recipe
EMPANADAS DE ATÚN
Everywhere in the world, you'll find breads stuffed with meats, cheeses, or vegetables. In Spain, our very favorite version of it is the empanada Gallega, the Galician empanada, which is traditionally baked as a pie filled with tuna, peppers, and onions, or sometimes with sardines or meat. Empanadas are the perfect food for a lunch box, since they were originally made (at least thirteen hundred years ago!) for travelers, like the ones who walk Spain's northern Camino de Santiago. They're so important to the culture of Galicia that there's a famous engraving on a twelfth-century cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, the end of the pilgrimage, that shows a sinner hung upside down over an empanada, close enough to smell it but not to taste it for all of eternity. That really would be hell, I agree!
Makes 2 pies
Ingredients:
For the dough:
480 grams (4 cups) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon pimentón
50 grams (¼ cup) sunflower or vegetable oil
150 grams (*4 cup) extra-virgin olive oil
175 grams (¾ cup) dry white wine
1 large egg.
For the filling:
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 medium yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced 1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
2 pounds ripe plum tomatoes (or one 28-ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes)
¼¼ cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon pimentón
12 ounces olive-oil packed canned tuna
Directions:
- To make the dough: Combine the flour, salt, and pimentón in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook.
- Add the sunflower oil, olive oil, wine, and egg and mix on a low speed for 5 minutes. Increase the speed to medium and continue to mix until the dough forms a ball, 6 to 8 minutes. If the dough is not coming together, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water. The dough should be clastic but not sticky. Shape the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- To make the filling: Heat the oil in a large, wide sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions, peppers, garlic, and bay leaf and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent, 15 to 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and continue to cook until vegetables are soft and golden brown (a sofrito), 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, slice the tomatoes in half and grate the cut side on the large holes of a flat or box grater set in a bowl. Discard the skins and set the grated tomatoes aside. (If using canned tomatoes, transfer them to a blender, or use an immersion blender, and puree them.) You should have about 5 cups.
- Increase the heat to medium and add the wine to the pan with the vegetables. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, scraping up any browned bits, until the alcohol evaporates. Stir in the grated (or blended) tomato and pimentón, reduce the heat to low, and cook until the tomato reduces and darkens in color, 25 to 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and set aside to cool.
- While the mixture is cooling, drain the tuna and shred it into small pieces using your fingers or a fork. Once the vegetable mixture is room temperature, remove the bay leaf and stir in the tuna until well combined.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Turn the chilled dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and pat it into a square. Divide the dough into 4 even pieces.
- Roll out two pieces of the dough into very thin rectangles, roughly 12 inches by 10 inches, and about ½ inch thick. Carefully lift one rectangle of the dough and transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Spoon half of the tuna filling over the dough, leaving a 1-inch edge of dough. Place the second rectangle of dough on top of the filling. Fold the edges of the dough over, crimping them between your thumbs to seal. Repeat the process with the remaining two pieces of dough and tuna filling.
- When ready to bake, score a small X in the center of the top sheet of dough on both empanadas and peel back the four quadrants to create a hole to allow steam to escape. Bake on the middle and bottom racks until golden brown and the filling is bubbling, about 40 to 50 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through.
- Empanadas are traditionally served at room temperature. so allow them to cool before slicing.
Excerpted from Spain My Way: Eat, Drink, and Cook Like a Spaniard by José Andrés, published by Ecco. Copyright © 2026.
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