Monday, April 3, 2023
Happy April! Is anyone else feeling like things are very, very busy right now, almost too much? It’s wild to me that I recently wrapped up a 31-event book tour but this, this is my overscheduled time? Definitely not related in any way: We’re having 16 people over for the first Seder on Wednesday night. So, before I get back to my brisket (cook yours today!), charoset, and maybe some raspberry curd, I wanted to share a few other wonderful things to cook this week. I know I have some nerve running a newsletter about Things That Taste Good On Toast on a week when lots of people will be off bread, but pretty much everything that tastes good on toast tastes good on matzo, even broccoli melts. Plus, a few favorites for Easter and two unmissable desserts for every holiday.
Cheers,
Deb
I’ve written three cookbooks and I’m a tiny bit biased but I think you, or someone you know who likes to cook or wants to start, would love them all.
bean and vegetable burritos
New: My core recipe for a perfect-every-time vegetable burrito, one that’s filling, hearty, and exactly the way I like it: rice optional, ingredients that flex to what you have around, and as good from the freezer as they are fresh.
ON TOAST! (OR MATZO!)
egg salad with pickled celery and coarse dijon
This is my favorite egg salad -- it's fairly classic but two little tweaks (whole-grain mustard for a crackly texture and lightly pickled celery, because it balances everything) make it a forever favorite. I hope you (and all of your leftover Easter and Seder eggs) agree.
asparagus and egg salad with walnuts and mint
This is my favorite asparagus salad: fresh, green, crunchy, and bright. I add chopped medium-cooked eggs and eat it on toast, on matzo, or right out of the bowl. Repeat again tomorrow, or for as long as good asparagus lasts.
nolita-style avocado toast
For the first time in my avocado-buying life, I've been able to not miss the approximately 5-minute window in which they're neither rock hard nor mush. This is how we're celebrating. I realize the idea of a recipe (a recipe!) for avocado toast is bonkers but this one is truly the best classic version I've ever had.
spring chicken salad toasts
Chicken, chives, dill, and a dollop of horseradish crème fraîche assemble messily with cucumbers and radishes on thin rye toasts in my favorite chicken salad ever. It’s springy and light.
cranberry-walnut chicken salad
A classic chicken salad, my way: perfectly cooked chicken, lots of crunch.
smoked whitefish dip with horseradish
Not your usual whitefish salad, this one has horseradish, Creole mustard, smoked paprika, lemon juice, Worcestershire and heat -- a most welcome addition to your bagel brunch, lunch or snacky dinner rotation on crackers.
AN EASTER MENU
potatoes with soft eggs and bacon vinaigrette
I know it's not for everyone but this here? This is the brunch salad of my dreams: potatoes, soft eggs, a bit of greens, and a warm bacon vinaigrette seasoning everything. I think we should treat ourselves.
leek, ham and cheese egg bake
Vying for a place on your weekend agenda: a giant puffed and bronzed bread- (but not decadence-, thank goodness) free egg casserole that serves a crowd, reheats like a treat and tastes like the inside of a very good quiche.
lamb chops with pistachio tapenade
I love lamb chops more than any human being should and this is one of my favorite ways to prepare them, in which a paste of olives, pistachios, capers, garlic and herbs is smashed on mid-cooking and becomes one with the chops before they reach your plate -- it's also one of the easiest. (Hooray.)
creamed chard and spring onions
Creamed Chard and Spring Onions but also how to "accidentally" make it too creamy and turn it into a pasta dish. This is what happens when I try to clean out the fridge.
potatoes anna
This dish has deeply bronzed and crisp edges and a baked-just-so center, infused with salty cheese and a warming kick of pepper, and a very familiar name.
carrot graham layer cake
I suspect we are all overdue for a grand ta-da! of a celebration cake in our lives and I nominate this one -- a moist, finely-layered carrot cake with warm spices and graham crumbs, stacked with all the cream cheese filling your heart desires. Needless to say, mine desires a lot.
braided lemon bread
Sweet, buttery dough, cream cheese and lemon curd filling, and crunchy pearl sugar stud the prettiest, easiest braided pastry I've made -- basically a mega-danish. What are you waiting for?
TWO PERFECT (FLOURLESS) DESSERTS
heavenly chocolate cake roll
My family has been making this featherlight flourless chocolate cake rolled with lightly sweetened whipped cream since 1975 (!), and it's a Passover tradition too, because it's flourless. Plus, it looks like a giant Yodel. There's nothing not to love.
lemon cream meringues
Crisp outside and pillowy within meringues, puddled with lemon curd and finished with a dollop of whipped cream, are an absolute favorite this time of year for both Passover and Easter -- and because they look a bit like sun emerging from behind the clouds. We're ready.
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. This week, I 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!