10 terrific things to cook in november
plus: lightly distracting election anxiety cooking projects
Monday, November 4, 2024
Good morning!
Meet the New Home Kitchen Business [NYTimes, unlocked]
No One Knows How Big Pumpkins Can Get [The Atlantic]
How Women Used Cookbooks to Fight for Their Right to Vote [Eater]
Welcome to November! The leaves were mostly brown on my walk along the Hudson this morning and it was brisk enough to require a extra-fleecy hoodie, as we’re definitely in the next phase of fall. When I came home, my apartment still smelled like the bolognese that I simmered for 3.5 hours last night and now I can’t wait for dinner tonight. If you’re looking for a distraction-worthy cooking project as an alternative to biting your fingernails and watching the presidential election returns on Tuesday night, I cannot recommend my simple, essential bolognese enough. Want to go one step further? Make the pasta too! Or a whole epic lasagna! For more savory cooking project ideas, look here. Looking to please a sweet tooth? You can never go wrong with a babka, Russian honey cake, intricate cheesecake, and some fun s’mores cupcakes.
Below, a full November cooking agenda with my favorite late-fall recipes that aren’t just about Thanksgiving (we’ll get to that soon enough!). I hope you’re inspired to find a few new favorites.
Cheers!
Deb
We’ve got a whole new way to hang out in the kitchen.
The special audiobook edition of Smitten Kitchen Keepers, Smitten Kitchen Keepers: A Kitchen Counter Conversation is coming out in just 8 days — November 12th. Read by me with lots of side chatter, I hope it feels exactly like you've pulled up a chair and I'm hanging out in the kitchen with you.
To answer some very important questions:
So you’re… reading recipes out loud? I promise, I am not reading recipes, which would be criminally boring. In this audiobook original, I take you through 44 Smitten Kitchen Keepers super-favorites and we get to dig in deeper, more backstory, more riffs, and some great sidebars that could have never made the cut in a 336-page hardcover cookbook. It feels conversational and fun.
How do I get the recipes? A downloadable PDF will provide you with all of the recipes I discuss in the audiobook.
What’s on the cover? Oh that’s the Devil’s Food Cake with Salted Milk Chocolate Frosting and it’s the easiest and most small-crowd-pleasing 3-layer birthday cake you will ever make. We’re obsessed with it, and hope you will be too.
How do I buy the audiobook? You can preorder Smitten Kitchen Keepers: A Kitchen Counter Conversation everywhere audiobooks are sold including Apple Books, Audible, Barnes & Noble, and more and it will be ready to listen to first thing on November 12th.
Bonus recipe: When you purchase the audiobook, you will receive a signed holiday card from me with a bonus recipe! To receive your card and recipe, complete the form with your purchase order number right here.
[US Residents, 18+. Ends December 13, 2024. See terms here.]
“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 10/24/24
The latest episode of my podcast with J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, The Recipe with Kenji and Deb is all about Popcorn! You can listen to it anywhere you get your podcasts, such as Apple, Spotify, and more.
bialy babka
This savory babka is ribboned with buttery caramelized onions and a sprinkle of poppy seeds. Or, you can add cheese for a [drumroll] French Onion Babka. The ingredient list is simple but the project takes a blissful few hours, and leaves your kitchen smelling unbelievable. Eat a slice plain, with butter or cream cheese, or alongside a cozy bowl of soup.
veselka's cabbage soup
This bowl of soup is the absolutely coziest thing on the menu at a beloved Ukrainian restaurant in my neighborhood, and soon, your kitchen. The slow simmer will make your entire home smell unforgettably good. The splash of sauerkraut juice at the end is [chef kisses fingers], don't fight it.
cauliflower cheese
There's a nip in the air which means it's unquestionably cauliflower cheese season -- the time of year when we drape it in a sharp cheddar cheese sauce that's been spiked with mustard and a bit of cayenne and then bake in the oven until bronzed and exactly perfect for dinner tonight.
mushroom bourguignon
A hearty vegetarian bourguignon with 100% of the comfort and luxury in about 25% of the time, this is the only thing I want to on a cold day in November.
winter panzanella
Panzanella needn't be just a summer fling. Brussels, butternut, garlic-thyme croutons and a sharp vinaigrette make this one very November, and very rustic and cozy for dinner tonight.
pancetta, white bean and chard pot pies
If you're limiting your pot pies to chicken, you're totally missing out on some hearty, bubbling, flaky bronze-lidded fall dinner bliss. This one with some beans, greens, and (optional) pancetta beneath the lid is one of my favorite recipes from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.
roast chicken with schmaltzy cabbage
Cabbage cooked slowly in salty buttery chicken drippings until charred at the edges and caramelized throughout is the real star of this deeply cozy and rewarding three-ingredient roast chicken inspired by the wonderful Helen Rosner.
simplest apple tart
"Make apple pie? On a Tuesday?" I promise, I haven't finally lost it, you can absolutely pull off minimalist apple pie with a flaky crust and sliced apples dotted with butter and sprinkled with sugar, and your weekday will be so much better for it.
cranberry pecan bread
A orange-zested cranberry pecan bread studded with tart berry gems and finished with a snowglobe-like crunch on top so perfect it makes me forget every quickbread that came before it (pumpkin who?) and also converted me to enjoying nuts in loaf cakes. It's that magical. [Video below!]
the perfect manhattan
My favorite place, my favorite drink. Happy Friday!
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 now that school’s back in session and the leaves are changing colors? I thought you’d never ask! Try the peanut butter, oat, and jam bars, spiced sweet potato oven fries, tangy baked eggplant and couscous, and weeknight lemon chicken wings. To finish, I recommend the apple butterscotch crisp, the pumpkin snacking cake, and/or the apple cider old-fashioned. 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.
cranberry pecan bread
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!
