Monday, June 13, 2022
Good morning afternoon!
Can barely handle how good this looks (Grossy Pelosi)
Storebought Is Fine is cooking through the first SK cookbook this month. (Thank you, Trent!)
I realize that grilling is an art form. There are experts. There are skills worth developing. This is… not the grilling I do. My primary excuse is that I have a very small grill that suggests heat more than roars it, which is probably the best for a city terrace anyway. But mostly, and I can’t believe I’m admitting this but here we are: I just want to set my food (gently) on fire. I just want some char. I want blackened green beans and charred cherry tomatoes and blistered zucchini1 and I promise, I don’t have a iron deficiency or anything, I just think summer food is more interesting when it gets a little too close to the fire2. Below are a collection of recipes that make warm weather cooking more fun, with a char that’s honestly easily replicated in an oven if you’re grill-free.
Cheers,
Deb
A few short recipe videos
My favorite foods to set (gently) on fire
grilled pizza
Grilled pizza tastes incredible -- better texture, charred spots reminiscent of the best brick-oven stuff -- and once your dough is prepared or purchased, can be heading for your belly in 10 minutes, leaving you more time to sit outside with ice clinking in your glass, enjoying a summer evening.
grilled zucchini ribbons with pesto and white beans
Ribbons of grilled lemony zucchini wind around white beans that have been rolled in a pesto vinaigrette, then finished with a blanket of grated parmesan is basically all I want to eat right now.
exceptional grilled chicken
Exceptional grilled chicken -- grilled chicken that’s forgiving of human (whoops I left it on a couple minutes too long), grill (my grill is sleepy at best), and chicken (you can buy what the grocery store has in stock that day) imperfections — is absolutely failproof with this method, and your dinner deserves nothing less.
grilled pepper and torn mozzarella panzanella
This is one of my favorite summer dishes, ever, cooked almost entirely on the grill (or under the broiler, if you're grill-less). I want to eat it every day and every weekend all summer. If you do not fall in love, I promise to come and rid you of your leftovers, deal?
corn salad with chile and lime
Loosely modeled on esquites, this salad a layered assembly with a creamy, cold and sharp dressing below, warm charred corn in the middle, and a mix of lime, pickled onions, and chile powder on top. The result is basically inhale-able. I could eat this every week all summer long.
skirt steak with bloody mary tomato salad
Wait, come back! I know this recipe, adapted just barely from an 11 year-old Bon Appetit, sounds bonkers but it makes so much sense when you break it down: a tomato salad with bits of celery, red onion, a few shakes of Worcestershire, green olives, and horseradish isn’t just delicious, it’s delightfully complementary to a summer steak. We love it.
grilled peach splits
This is my favorite grilled dessert: peaches drizzled with salted bourbon caramel, sprinkled with pecan sandies crumbles then heaped with a belly-full of ice cream. No peaches yet where you are? Try with rings of pineapple.
Does pie season make your nervous because you, of course, love pie but find making pie crusts a bit daunting? I’ve got you covered! This video walks us through how to master all butter, really flaky pie dough once and for all and never look back. You’re going to have the most delicious summer, ever.
My third cookbook, Smitten Kitchen Keepers, is now available for preorder, coming out this fall. That’s less than six months from today — so close! — I cannot wait to share with you all of the new recipes I’ve been working on behind the scenes.
shop my favorites
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. For each item, I've attempted to provide a range of shopping links so we're not just focusing on one giant retailer. Let me know if there’s anything I’ve left off that you need.
See you next week!
Shoutout to the exceptional charred zucchini in (I hope I’m remembering this right but there was also a margarita involved) an herby avocado sauce I enjoyed with friends at Yellow Rose over the weekend.
An additional shoutout to one of my forever summer go-to recipes: Grilled Bacon BLTs, a recipe I shared with Bon Appetit a few years ago.