can't-miss october recipes
can't-miss october recipes
plus: an interview with nini nguyen and an introduction!
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
Good morning!
Hilarious, and I’d never thought this. [TikTok]
How Chicken Tenders Conquered America [NYTimes, unlocked]
Everything Is a Kids Menu Now [Grub Street]
I try not to be one of those insufferable “New York or Nowhere!” types. I mean, I think I could be happy a lot of places and valiantly volunteer to live in Paris in the springtime and/or London at the holidays to prove it. But October in New York City is makes it difficult because it’s just peak: Clear skies, trees catching color, warm but not hot, cool but not shivery, brownstone stoops charmed out with pumpkins and skeletons, the rough, and the dirty edges of the sidewalks soon to be blanketed in a carpet of rust and ochre leaves. It’s straight out of You’ve Got Mail and When Harry Met Sally and I can’t get enough of it. The happier I am, the more I’m eager to cook when I get home.
Below, some of my favorite recipes to cook each October, heavy on the cozy, but fairly light on the heaviness — the perfect balance. Plus, an interview with Nini Nguyen whose cookbook, Đặc Biệt: An Extra-Special Vietnamese Cookbook, is out now and I’ve been eager to Julie-Julia (Deb-Nini?) every recipe since I first got it in my hands.
But that’s not all! Today we’re making a long-overdue introduction to the one and only Amanda Panitch, who works behind the scenes with me at Smitten Kitchen and is a tremendous force in getting this newsletter out the door each week. But do you know what Amanda does when she’s not Smitten Kitchen-ing? She writes novels (no big deal at all!) and her newest, Love You a Latke is out today and it reads like a dream of a Hanukkah Hallmark movie. I bet it would make an excellent holiday gift for a reader in your life.
Cheers!
Deb
My podcast with J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, The Recipe with Kenji and Deb, launched this spring. Our newest episode, out this week, is all about Baked Ziti! You can listen to it anywhere you get your podcasts, such as Apple, Spotify, and more.
fall-toush salad
A fall spin on one of my favorite summer salads, this keeps the bright flavors and textures — lemon, scallions, parsley, mint, garlic, and pita chips — but uses the cozy vegetables that abound in autumn.
cauliflower salad with dates and pistachios
A clean-out-the-fridge roasted cauliflower salad, the kind of thing I crave endlessly for cooler-weather lunches. This one has charred scallion segments, salted pistachios, chopped dates, and a sharp lemon dressing and it's so inhalable that forkfuls were walking off as I tried to take photos.
black bean pumpkin soup
Pumpkin-spiced out already? Untethered from cinnamon's grasp, pumpkin gives one of our favorite fall soups a hearty body, with additional depth from all sorts of unexpected places -- sherry, cumin, shallots and a meaty broth. It's requested every October around here.
easiest baked mac-and-cheese
Uncooked (!) pasta, milk, and cheddar bake into the easiest one-bowl, bronzed and luxurious mac-and-cheese. Go on, you know the weather demands it.
brussels sprout and bacon frittata
Enter the dinner frittata. This hearty, vegetable-heavy, and slightly decadent version from Justin Chapple has saved the day; it really feels like a meal. I bet you will love it too.
baked potatoes with wild mushroom ragu
A heartier, vegetable-centric, and slightly fancied-up baked potato that doesn't forget the essentials (butter, cheese) -- phew.
sheet pan chicken tikka
This chicken tikka is my favorite sheet pan dinner, here on a bed of cauliflower and potatoes, served right in the pan. Wildly flavorful, full of textures and color, we never get tired of it.
candy pork
An unforgettable braise with a more salty-than-sweet sauce that’s glossy and dark, a short ingredient list that’s still wildly complex with flavor, and a shorter cooking time than a full pork shoulder. Plus, the leftovers are phenomenal. Who's in?
big apple crumb cake
Angling to join your rainy day baking agenda, a bouldered and plush intersection of baked apples and New York-style crumb cake, i.e. 50% cinnamon-brown sugar topping, 50% golden, sour cream-enriched cake, and 100% the best kind there is. [Video below!]
pumpkin cinnamon rolls
Pumpkin-enriched, fall-spiced, cinnamon-swirled, cream cheese-frosted, and met with heretofore unprecedented levels of freaking out by everyone you share them with.
apple cider sangria
A deeply fall take on sangria is the ideal seasonal drink for this season -- not too boozy but just warming enough, whether you're herding trick-or-treaters around town or hoping to not drag all day on Friday, I basically created this just for meee.
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.
AN INTERVIEW WITH NINI NGUYEN
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 Nini Nguyen. Her cookbook, Đặc Biệt: An Extra-Special Vietnamese Cookbook, is out now.
1. What inspired your cookbook?
After Top Chef, I had a lot of offers to write a cookbook, but at the time, I didn’t feel like I had the right story or message to share. It wasn't until I started teaching virtual Vietnamese cooking classes that something clicked. Surprisingly, a lot of Vietnamese people joined my classes, and it made me wonder—why weren’t they learning from their families? Many of them shared that they either lost their parents or faced language barriers, and they wanted to reconnect with their heritage through food. That's when it hit me—I’m incredibly fortunate to still have my family, to speak Vietnamese, and to have those rich traditions. I wrote this book for all of us, to preserve and share those cultural roots.
2. What recipe are you the most proud of in the book, or felt the most triumphant when you got it right?
The recipe I’m most proud of is Bánh Cuốn, those delicate steamed rice crêpes or rice rolls. This dish is really special to me because it’s my grandma's signature dish—she’s from the North, and she used to sell it at the market. It's one of the first things she taught me to make, the old-school way with a cloth over a steamer basket. It's so nostalgic and close to my heart. I also created a version that's more approachable for home cooks who might not have the traditional tools. The best part? My grandma gave it her stamp of approval, which means the world to me!
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?
Definitely the Ginger-Braised Chicken! It’s one of those one-pot meals that is super comforting and doesn’t require much work at all. My mom makes it for me every time I visit, and it’s one of my favorites. The best part? It takes about the same amount of time as cooking a pot of rice, so you can have a full, delicious meal in no time. Just make sure you get that caramel nice and dark for maximum flavor. It’s simple, tasty, and you might even have some leftovers for the next day!
4. What's something you wish more people knew about your book?
I wish more people knew that my book isn’t just a collection of Vietnamese recipes—although there are plenty of those! It’s also a blend of my New Orleans influences and, in a way, it’s like a memoir. Through the food, the photography, and the stories, you get a glimpse into the Vietnamese American experience, specifically mine. My family came to the U.S. in the ’70s, and like so many immigrant families, we’ve worked hard to preserve our heritage while adapting to a new life. This book is about showcasing the vibrancy and love in our culture. I hope people connect with that when they cook from it, whether through the recipes or the stories. It’s a piece of me, and I hope it resonates with others too.
Thank you, Nini! You can order Đặc Biệt right here.
big apple crumb cake
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!
