Monday, March 11, 2024
Good morning!
I love chopped cheese! [Serious Eats]
Friends, I woke up to what seemed like 92 texts and emails waiting for me and I didn’t know, I didn’t see it on the calendar, that this was the week that everyone decided to take work very seriously and hustle hard but I was not prepared. I was hoping to sneak a nap in. Alas, this week has other things in mind for me.
There are several things in this week’s newsletter I hope you enjoy: 1. A celebration of the best food holiday, Pi(e) Day on March 14, with sweet and savory pie suggestions below for your consideration. 2. St. Patrick’s Day this Sunday which you can choose your level of celebration of, from green beer (all the rage at the bars in my neighborhood), homemade soda bread, big or small, or you could even read about our 2019 trip to Ireland, one of our favorite vacations to date. 3. The second episode of The Recipe with Kenji and Deb, my new podcast, is out today and it’s all about Meatloaf. 4. Plus, there’s an interview with Lidey Heuck about her new cookbook, Cooking In Real Life, out tomorrow.
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 when you’re tired of winter but spring won’t be here anytime soon? 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, 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.
My new podcast with J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, The Recipe with Kenji and Deb, launched two weeks ago and our second episode, out today, is all about meatloaf (the food and the … singer!). You can listen to it anywhere you get your podcasts and I’ve set up a new podcast tab/page where you can keep up on it here, too. We will have new episodes every two Mondays. We’ve been working on this behind the scenes for the last year — I hope you enjoy listening along.
better chicken pot pies
The best chicken pot pies I know how to make: a perfectly seasoned, never overcooked stew beneath my favorite lid, which is so flaky it will seem like puffed pastry. Serve with absolutely nothing because pot pies are a self-contained meal in a warm, filling and even-better-than-you-remember-them package.
spaghetti pie with pecorino and black pepper
Comfort food at its prettiest -- a tall, bronzed torte of a spaghetti pie, wound with an abundance of cheese, black pepper and, if you so desire, greens as well. Those edges are my happy place.
wild mushroom and stilton galette
This galette is a little bit fancy (those mushrooms! that cheese!) and a tiny bit fussy, but it's a brunch/luncheon/dinner spotlight hog every time thanks to an unforgettable flaky crust and hearty filling.
spinach sheet pan quiche
What if you like quiche but there's never enough of it? This refreshingly green, mostly vegetable, and longtime favorite quiche has been stretched and tweaked to make a week of excellent lunches, and it's also a winner for weekend brunch.
over-the-top mushroom quiche
A towering, feeds-a-crowd quiche recipe adapted from Thomas Keller that you may not realize you need in your repertoire but will be absolutely convinced once you try it.
banana cream pie
This is the banana cream pie that made me love banana cream pie: pressed-in vanilla cookie crust, the easiest one-pot custard, a heap of slightly tangy whipped cream piped chaotically all over, using Erin McDowell's wonderful Book On Pie loosely for guidance.
chocolate caramel tart
An unforgettable salted caramel tart with a chocolate cookie underneath and chocolate ganache on top. It's like a Rolo candy, but a thousand times better.
ruffled milk pie
A swirly assembly of buttery, crisp pastry rosettes in a vanilla-flecked custard that is way simpler to make (7 ingredients, 6 of which I bet you already have) than it looks. Perfect for brunch, lunch, or dessert; I hope you get to treat yourself to it this week.
triple coconut cream pie
A mile high within a buttery coconut crust, this famous pie is equal parts gooey, vanilla-flecked, rum-kissed coconut custard, and massive pom-poms of whipped cream, topped off with a shower of toasted coconut flakes and curls of white chocolate. It does nothing halfway and neither should we.
chocolate stout cake
The stout here gives what is already an exceptional chocolate cake a richer, fuller, nuttier flavor while keeping it from leaning too heavily on the sweet side. This is unequivocally one of the best cakes I know how to make.
skillet irish soda bread
While not exactly the height of soda bread authenticity, we love this skillet-baked loaf with crunchy edges and a flavorful, plush interior that's as exceptional warm from the oven in thick wedges with a pat of salted butter as it is with sharp cheddar and tart apple slices.
AN INTERVIEW WITH LIDEY HEUCK
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 Lidey Heuck. Her cookbook, Cooking in Real Life: Delicious & Doable Recipes for Every Day, comes out tomorrow, 3/12.
1. What inspired your cookbook?
I wanted to write a cookbook that reflects the way we actually cook. Real life is a combination of different moments – different occasions, and different ingredients lurking in the fridge. The recipes in this book are a reflection of the range of those moments, as well as the constraints we consider when setting out to cook: how much time do we have? Who are we cooking for and what would they love? What do we all feel like eating? This book is there for all those moments as a trusty companion and a source of inspiration through it all.
2. What recipe are you the most proud of in the book, or felt the most triumphant when you got it right?
The Lemon Rosemary Olive Oil Cake! It took a long time to get it just right - because olive oil cakes are incredibly moist, they can be heavy and sink a bit in the middle. I made more than 10 versions of the cake, in order to get it to stand tall without sacrificing flavor or changing the texture. I also love the flavor of this cake. The rosemary adds a surprising savory note that works really well with lemon and the grassiness of the olive oil. This is my go-to for dinner parties, and I usually serve it with a spoonful of whipped cream and whatever fruit is in season – and it’s especially delicious with winter citrus, plums or macerated berries.
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?
The Saucy Shrimp alla Vodka – hands down! It’s a one-pot riff on pasta alla vodka for those nights you want something saucy and comforting without the heft of a bowl of pasta. It comes together in less than 30 minutes and the sauce packs a serious flavor punch, thanks to red pepper flakes, oregano, and a swirl of heavy cream. The only rule is you have to serve it with toasted bread to sop all every last ounce of the sauce!
4. What's something you wish more people knew about your book?
I worked on the recipes for this book at our house in the Hudson Valley. The town we live in is rural and we don't live close to a big “one-stop-shop” grocery store. That is one of the reasons I try to write recipes that deliver on flavor even with a pared down ingredient list. It's also why I love when recipes include suggestions for substitutions , andI included those as much as possible. There are a few exceptions, like a recipe with fresh clams and a special baked washed-rind cheese, but 99% of the recipes in this book can be made with super easy-to-find ingredients.
Thank you, Lidey! You can order Cooking in Real Life right here.
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!