10 great things to cook in march
plus: an interview with eleanor wilkinson
Monday, February 24, 2025
Good morning!
The Dream of the '90s Is Alive in Sun-Dried Tomatoes [Food & Wine]
Like a petulant child, I must own up: I am not proud of my behavior last week. I pouted, griped, and groused over the icy wind, the seeming endlessness of winter, and the way it made running even the smallest errand (and the person running it) bitter and unpleasant. And then I remembered a rule: Plan for the life you want, or in this case, the season and now I’ve pivoted. March, I’m ready. The days will be longer, the sun will be brighter, the soil will thaw and make way for tulips and asparagus to grow, and hopefully, my lousy attitude with it. Below, a cooking agenda for the longer month ahead: a flawless flatbread that goes well with everything, a colorful salad, a lighter chicken soup, a cake that is the literal embodiment of rings of sunshine, and the best coconut cookie on this earth, no seriously.
Plus, this week we have an interview with Eleanor Wilkinson, who has a new cookbook, One Pot, One Portion: 100 Simple Recipes Just for You, about the joy of solo cooking. It’s already a UK bestseller, and just came out in the US too.
Cheers,
Deb
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 in the depths of winter? I thought you’d never ask! Try the ginger garlic chicken noodle soup, charred salt and vinegar cabbage, creamy coconut rice with chili-lime vegetables, and oven-braised beef with harissa. To finish, I recommend the oatmeal date shortbread, the chocolate dulce puddle cakes, and/or the white Russian slush punch. 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.
“One of the winning elements of ‘The Recipe’ is that it’s not prescriptive — rather than settling on one universal ‘perfect’ recipe, the chefs explain their personal preferences, then give listeners the information they need to make their own adjustments. By breaking their recipes down ingredient-by-ingredient, digging into what each one is doing, they make the science of cooking approachable and fun.” — New York Times, 7 Podcasts to Inspire a New Hobby
“J. Kenji Lopez-Alt and Deb Perelman’s new podcast gets to not only the heart of how they make their recipes—but also the why behind each decision, too.” — Esquire, The 26 Best Podcasts of 2024
The latest full episode of my podcast with J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, The Recipe with Kenji and Deb, is all about Brownies! You can listen to it anywhere you get your podcasts, such as Apple, Spotify, and more.
crisp rosemary flatbread
For Oscars-watching or nah-I-just-needed-a-snack snack, with cheese, with dips, with those salads you’ve been packing for lunch, these four-ingredient flatbread crackers are my forever favorite (now with new photos and streamlined directions), and they keep so well. I think we should make them right now.
chicken, leek, and rice soup
An easy, rustic chicken soup for a slushy day. This recipe has built-in flexibility so you can use what you have on hand, but a few of my favorite things (leeks, lemon, herbs, some heat, and even the most barebones of stocks) make it truly excel. I hope it hits the spot.
fennel and blood orange salad
Most winter comfort foods are soft, rich, carby and white. This is everything but: brightly, crunchy and piercingly fresh. It improves winter morale, especially on days with a new March snowstorm on the way.
everyday yellow dal
This dish is a longtime staple around here with a world of flavor. But please don't sleep on the tangy cabbage salad buried in there, either. Mustard seeds pop and sizzle in the oil and smell like popcorn before gently wilting the slaw. Make them both for an exceptionally delicious weekday night.
sheet pan chow mein
A crispy-soft, vegetable-full sheet pan spin on chow mein from Hetty McKinnon that will become an instant favorite, I am absolutely sure of it.
baked rigatoni with tiny meatballs
Bigger noodles, tinier meatballs, lighter sauce: unsurprisingly, Marcella Hazan knew exactly what she was doing when she turned the usual balance of pasta bakes on its head.
turkey meatloaf for skeptics
Turkey Meatloaf for Skeptics + Crushed Ranch-y Potatoes were a surprise hit of Smitten Kitchen Keepers, my most recent cookbook. It's sure to erase your meatloaf skepticism, too! [Video below!]
skillet irish soda bread
While not exactly the height of soda bread authenticity, we love this skillet-baked loaf with crunchy edges and a flavorful, plush interior that's as exceptional warm from the oven in thick wedges with a pat of salted butter it is is with sharp cheddar and tart apple slices.
pineapple upside-down cake
Do you know what it’s always been too long since we've last had? Pineapple upside-down cake. This is the best one I know how to make. Fresh pineapple slices nest in a quick butterscotch caramel sauce with a trace of rum and not a single fluorescent cherry. Nothing bad could come of this. Nothing.
coconut brown butter cookies
The crispy, toasty, nutty object of my late City Bakery cookie obsession, tweaked with brown butter and extra sea salt. The flavor and texture of these cookies is a dream; it always seems impossible that a single cookie could be so good.
AN INTERVIEW WITH ELEANOR WILKINSON
My shelves are full of wonderful cookbooks I don’t get to talk about enough, so I’ve added this section so you can get to know the cool people behind them. Today we're chatting with Eleanor Wilkinson. Her new cookbook, One Pot, One Portion: 100 Simple Recipes Just for You, is already a Sunday Times bestseller in the UK and just recently came out in the US.
1. What inspired your cookbook?
I created my series One Pot One Portion initially for myself, when I was cooking for one and wanted variety in my food but without the hassle of a tonne of washing up. Most recipes cater for four people or more and the response to the series was overwhelming with so many people, in completely different situations, sharing how they struggled to cook for one. I created my cookbook for everyone looking to find the joy in solo cooking, and for those who see cooking and eating as a form of self-care! Food shouldn’t have to be boring or arduous just because you’re cooking for one and I wrote my book to bring that joy to kitchens without it feeling overwhelming. One of my favourite elements of the book is that it's organised by 'mood'- if you're only cooking for yourself then take it as an opportunity to check in with yourself and figure out how you're feeling and what food you want to eat in that moment. You can then flick through the chapter that most aligns with your mood, be it comfort, fresh, simple, special or sweet and choose a recipe just for you. You can be selfish with your choice because there's no one else to worry about, and that's so much fun!
2. What recipe are you the most proud of in the book, or felt the most triumphant when you got it right?
My one pot one portion lasagne is a real winner and a recipe I completely adore. When you think of lasagne you tend to think of large family dinners and several hours in the kitchen preparing the meal, and so to have created a one-pot version that can be made in less than 45 minutes felt exceptionally triumphant! Though the method isn’t traditional, my focus is on replicating the flavour and feeling that eating a traditional lasagne gives you, and that’s what I hope to have achieved with this recipe!
3. What recipe is so low-effort, high-reward that it's worth cooking for dinner tonight, even if we're tired and don't want to cook?
Low-effort but high-reward is essentially the ethos of my whole cookbook but if I had to just choose one recipe it would have to be my croque madame pastry! A recipe from the ‘simple’ chapter of my cookbook (the chapter that is truly the epitome of low effort, high reward!), this really is the perfect easy weekend brunch or lunch recipe. Again, taking the classic flavour and comforting feeling of a croque madame but switching up the method so the recipe couldn’t be simpler to make. The mustard and nutmeg add a real punch of flavour to this and it’s a recipe I find myself making again and again.
4. What's something you wish more people knew about your book?
I know that another concern of solo cooks is that of food waste and the balance of getting variety in your meals but without buying a thousand ingredients you’re not going to be able to finish. So I’d want everyone to know that for every recipe in my cookbook there is a ‘partner recipe’ which pairs up at least one of the main ingredients and shows you how to use it in another recipe. Alongside this, the index of the book is also categorised into ingredients, so if you have chicken thighs in your fridge and you aren’t sure how to use them, you can flick through the index and find all the recipes that use chicken thighs. It’s a great way to choose what you eat based on what you have in, while still making sure you get variety of flavour!
Thank you, Eleanor! You can order One Pot, One Portion right here.
turkey meatloaf for skeptics
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 (currently out of stock but we’ll have more in soon!). 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!
