Monday, June 10, 2024
Good morning!
His ‘Death by Chocolate’ Cake Will Live Forever [NYTimes, unlocked]
The Maillard Over-Reaction [New Yorker]
How The Fridge Changed Flavor [New Yorker]
Something fun on the site: Long overdue, over the last week I’ve added short demo videos to 135 archive recipes, including the majority of the new recipes from the last three years. You’ll find the videos right above the “One Year Ago…” links and I hope they’ll bring some fresh insight and helpfulness to the recipes. More are on their way, too.
It’s my birthday week, which delights me despite the fact that my birthday week activities are things like “kid gets braces” and “whoops we forgot to pack the kids for camp” and a truly shocking amount of meetings, as if everyone has agreed this will be the last week to get work done until after Labor Day. Don’t worry; I’m hardly suffering. I’ve gotten to spend the weekend at the beach with lots of sun, low humidity, and a gentle breeze. I got to play lots of tennis, I’ll even have some spa time this week, and I’m going to have dinner at a favorite restaurant. The only thing I keep forgetting to do is… cook! But, the recipes below are some of my summer weekend favorites and I could honestly eat a mile of that watermelon salad right now, how about you? I hope you’re inspired, and I hope you have an excellent week.
Cheers!
Deb
My podcast with J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, The Recipe with Kenji and Deb, launched almost four months ago and our eighth episode, out last week, is all about Asparagus. You can listen to it anywhere you get your podcasts and I’ve set up a podcast tab/page where you can keep up on it here, too. We will have new episodes every two Mondays. We’ve been working on this behind the scenes for the last year — I hope you enjoy listening along.
watermelon cucumber salad
Cucumber, watermelon, salted pepitas, and matchsticks of ricotta salata, plus three more suggested riffs at the end in case you also dream of having your oven off until September.
dilled potato and pickled cucumber salad
This is my family's favorite potato salad, one that's as populated with vegetables — crunchy, delicious ones, like radishes and lightly pickled cucumbers — as it is with potatoes, so it feels like something you might eat with dinner in warmer weather, and not only as a bbq side.
pickled vegetable sandwich slaw
Letter of recommendation: Some pickles for your sandwiches. As simple or colorful as you want it to be, this is an easy fridge pickle that improves everything you pile it on, from barbecue to anything you can throw on a grill.
grilled pepper and torn mozzarella panzanella
This is one of my favorite summer dishes, ever, cooked almost entirely on the grill (or under the broiler, if you're grill-less). I want to eat it every day and every weekend all summer. If you do not fall in love, I promise to come and rid you of your leftovers, deal?
steak sandwiches
Caramelized onions, peppery arugula, and a creamy-sharp dressing make this steak sandwich our favorite, and such low-key luxury for a summer weekend.
exceptional grilled chicken
Exceptional grilled chicken -- grilled chicken that’s forgiving of human (whoops I left it on a couple minutes too long), grill (my grill suggests heat more than it blasts it), and chicken (you can buy what the grocery store has in stock that day) imperfections — is absolutely failproof with this method, and your dinner deserves nothing less.
grilled pizza
Grilled pizza tastes incredible -- better texture, charred spots reminiscent of the best brick-oven stuff -- and once your dough is prepared or purchased, can be heading for your belly in 10 minutes, leaving you more time to sit outside with ice clinking in your glass, enjoying a summer weekend.
chocolate ice cream sandwiches
One-bowl, one-pan classic chocolate ice cream sandwiches with a perfect yield, perfect texture from the freezer, all from perfectly little effort. Our summers are going to be even more amazing with these in them.
root beer float cupcakes
The root beer float -- ice cream, whipped cream, cherry and all -- reimagined as a cupcake is the most summery thing we could make this weekend.
the red and black
You are a few muddled strawberries, a sparkly kicky black pepper simple syrup, some lime juice, and white tequila from making one of my favorite cocktails of all time. I think you will love it, too.
I’ve written three cookbooks and I’m a tiny bit biased, but I think you’d love them all. Wondering what you might cook from Smitten Kitchen Keepers for these warm summer days? I thought you’d never ask! Try the zucchini cornbread and tomato butter, two-bean salad with basil vinaigrette, spinach spiral bread, tomato and corn cobbler, and lamb skewers with crackly vinegar glaze. To finish, I recommend the big crumb pie bars, the blondie chipwich, and/or the strawberry summer stack cake. Were you looking for a list of all the recipes in each of my cookbooks? I’ve added these in a separate page and hope it makes it easier for you to find everything you want to cook.
shop my favorites
Ever wonder where I get my cutting boards, paring knives, offset spatulas and more than you see when I cook? I've created a page on Smitten Kitchen with links to some of my favorite kitchen items, the ones I'm asked about the most — yes including the new braiser! For each item, I've attempted to provide a range of shopping links so we're not just focusing on one giant retailer.
See you next week!