10 great things to cook in august
plus: the classroom wishlist project
Monday, August 5, 2024
Good morning!
After Days Lost at Sea, They Needed a Pastrami Sandwich [NYTimes, unlocked]
The Annual Disappointments of Strawberry Season [New Yorker]
Welcome to August, salt air and all. August is the month I like to pretend I live in some beach town where I spend my days dressed like a coastal grandmother (linen dresses, soft beach cardigans), riding my bike with an oversized basket to the store, making linguine with clams, tomato salads, and there should always be blueberry pie on the counter, fresh lemonade with lunch. It’s a perfect month for easy cooking, because when all of the best things are in season, there’s no need to complicate them to make them good. Below, 10 of my all-time favorite August recipes that I hope inspire you too.
Cheers!
Deb
The Smitten Kitchen Classroom Wishlist Project 2024 is going strong! In the US, a tremendous number of teachers don’t get the funding they need to set their classrooms up for success. Most will end up paying out of their own pockets to buy educational materials, which is all wrong. I’ve asked teachers to send me their wishlists in hopes that we can help clear as many as possible, as we did the last two summers. Help out if you feel you’re able — you will unquestionably make a teacher’s (and their students) day! [Project information. Direct link to spreadsheet.]
smoky eggplant dip
Perfectly smoky/charred, deeply flavorful baba ganoush/mouttabal, no open fire pit or outdoor grill required. Blended with tahini, garlic, lemon juice and seasonings, served with pita wedges and a giant tomato-cucumber salad, this is summer dinner bliss.
mathilde's tomato tart
A gorgeous peak-summer tomato tart that tastes the way I imagine a vacation in France would feel right now, from Sanaë Lemoine’s novel, The Margot Affair. It deserves to be eaten outside a big green salad, glass of wine, and the kind of friends who drop everything when they hear you're making dinner.
black pepper tofu and eggplant
Eggplant and tofu are fantastic together in this stir-fry; the tofu holds its shape, the eggplant collapses and partly joins the sauce and the result was too dark and pretty to even bother garnishing with chiles or scallions, but you could. You’re in charge.
angel hair pasta with raw tomato sauce
Dinner tonight could take 15 minutes to make and showcase tomatoes in nearly their purest form, naturally sweet and faintly tangy, then garlic-infused and tangled with fresh basil and strands of spaghetti into everything you could want in a late-August meal.
corn butter farro
This is the coziest summer dish I've ever made. It uses corn two ways: some left in kernels that stay lightly crunchy and sweet, and some blended with butter into a silky, lush sauce stirred in at the end, giving farro a risotto-like decadence (but not heaviness). I can't wait for you to try it.
sticky sesame chicken wings
I was late to find out how easy wings are to roast or grill on short notice, and that picky kids go berserk over them, especially with this glossy, delicious sauce. I have definitely been making up for lost time since.
turkey pesto meatballs and orecchiette
A resolutely summery (in flavor) but fall (in coziness) dish of turkey meatballs, zucchini, and orecchiette (which acts like tiny meatball catching mitts) with pesto everywhere -- in the meatballs, in the brothy sauce, and dolloped at the end. Finished with a shower of parmesan, I cannot decide whether to eat this with a fork or spoon, so we use both. [Video below!]
even more perfect blueberry muffins
My favorite blueberry muffins are tall, almost equal parts berry and muffin, and have the crunchiest bronzed lid on top, perfect for lifting off in a satisfying shell and swiping with salted butter. Have you made them yet? Your friends and neighbors are hoping that you will.
dimply plum cake
Way back in the archives is an adorable plum cake from Dorie Greenspan I had fun refreshing it -- it's now one-bowl, too. I realized that while it's great with small plums, large ones are particularly dramatic and wonderful as they infuse the cake. Don't miss this beauty.
baked alaska
Homemade ice cream cakes — or even this Baked Alaska with a brownie base, marbled ice cream, and swirled of torched meringue — are so much easier that they sound to make. You’re in for a treat.
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.
My podcast with J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, The Recipe with Kenji and Deb, launched this spring. Our tenth episode and season finale is the second of a two-part Mailbag episode where we answer as many of your questions as we can. 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. I hope you’ve enjoyed listening along to season one.
turkey pesto meatballs and orecchiette
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 the Smitten Kitchen x Staub Braiser, which is back in stock! 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!
