Monday, February 5, 2024
Good morning!
I don’t mean to pile on, but I cannot deprive you of the utter hilarity of this comment section. [Instagram]
The King Cake tradition, explained. [Eater]
… From bed! One of my loving and devoted children has *gifted* me their cold and given that it’s my first time under the weather in over a year, I’m not even going to complain about it. Is this… personal growth? Or maybe staying in bed for as long as I can get away with it is kind of dreamy?
I told you last week that I like February cooking, and below are several of the reasons, which I bet will convince you too. No need to wait until the Taylor Bowl Super Bowl to enjoy them; the Buffalo Chicken Cobb is perfect for a Monday night too, Meatball Subs are an underrated dinner food, and if you’re not pickling your carrot sticks, what are you waiting for? I hope you’re inspired.
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! The soup section is one of my absolute favorites with everything from a perfect weeknight ginger garlic chicken noodle soup, simple black bean chili, winter squash soup with red onion crisp, slow-simmered lentils with kale and goat cheese that you scoop onto grilled bread, cozy chicken and dumplings,
and a creamy tomato chickpea masala I could probably live on if allowed. To finish, I recommend the oatmeal date shortbread, better-than-classic pound cake, and/or toast with chocolate olive oil spread. 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.
crispy potatoes with mushrooms
New: Crispy potatoes (fried or roasted, I’ll walk you through both) heaped with buttery sautéed mushrooms and onions, finished with dill and served with sour cream is one of my favorite Russian comfort foods, and today’s dreary weather couldn’t be more perfectly timed to delight in it. Plus: Podcast news!
quick, easy salsa
An impossibly simple recipe for tomato salsa to tuck in your repertoire, perfect for days when you only want chips and salsa for breakfast/lunch/dinner (hey, it happens) or as a finishing touch on your favorite tacos. It goes quickly.
guacamole
This is my favorite way to make guacamole: a virtually uncluttered celebration of avocado with only lime juice, minced white onion, jalapeño, cilantro, and salt, ready to be eaten with abandon.
soft pretzels, refreshed
Unequivocally the best thing about watching the Superbowl (that is, after the commercials), soft pretzels also make the tiny sandwiches of my dreams.
baked buffalo wings
If you didn't know oven-baked Buffalo wings could be awesome, you're in for a treat. These are browned, crispy, craggy-surfaced, well-seasoned, and with so little hands-on work, this won't be the last time you make them.
buffalo chicken cobb salad
This Buffalo Chicken Cobb is one of the best dinner salads I have ever made and I now crave it incessantly. It's got everything: a heap of colorful vegetables, grilled chicken, and lots of unsolicited opinions, all served help-yourself style so everyone ends up with the salad of their dreams.
pickled carrot sticks
Bright, tangy carrot sticks with a buttery dill vibe and a kick of garlic, I can’t keep my tongs out of the jar. Be warned: the brine is so good it’s going to get you thinking “what can I pickle next?”
cheddar, beer and mustard pull-apart bread
It's a little bit brioche, a little bit rarebit and I imagine it goes as well with beer and big games as it would with coffee and scrambled eggs.
skillet turkey chili
A one-skillet, weeknight-friendly chili with a simple ingredient list that requires little planning ahead, which is awesome because I never quite mastered planning far enough ahead to not be in a rush when making dinner. 🙃
meatball subs with caramelized onions
Starring pillowy, fork tender, flavorful meatballs, buttery caramelized onions, and melted gruyere on a toasted bun, I bet you can't remember when you last had a meatball sub this good.
salted caramel pretzel blondies
Wildly decadent blondies with melty pockets of salted caramel, crushed pretzels, and chocolate chunks are impossibly good, almost too good to share. But should you be feeling generous, you can also cut, freeze, pack these tightly in a container, and overnight to the luckiest person you you know.
buckeyes
Buckeyes are basically bite-sized marble-shaped peanut butter cup truffles and if the thought of this doesn't make you spring forth from wherever you are into the nearest kitchen to make them right now, perhaps this photo will?
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. I recently added several new favorites I’ve bought in the last year. 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!