quick weeknight summer dinners
plus: some refreshed cookie recipes + an interview with cathy whims
Monday, June 16, 2025
Good morning!
A deep dive into everyone’s favorite carrot-ginger dressing. "[The Vinegar Professor]
How tomatoes overcame their wicked reputation. [National Geographic]
Is It Soft Tofu’s Time? (I hope so!) [Taste]
We are deep in the thick of the pre-summer, end of school year chaos here in NYC (10 more days of school, not that anyone is counting), and friends, I might be hanging on by a thread. When I should be sleeping at 4am, do I find myself listing in my head funny stories? cool things to add to my life list? No. I think about no-brainer easy weeknight dinners, because the prospect of eating takeout pizza another evening could be the final straw. Perhaps I sound a tiny bit melodramatic but if there is any group of people who understand how good a simple homemade meal can be when everything is feels shuffled, I bet you’re among them. Below, a few of the meals I’ve made in the last couple weeks that have saved the day with their ease and relative simplicity. I hope they have the same soothing effect on you!
Plus, we’ve got an interview today with chef and restaurateur Cathy Whims, whose new cookbook, The Italian Summer Kitchen: Timeless Recipes for La Dolce Vita is something I want to climb directly into and live inside. Can you blame me? It’s stunning.
And if all that sounds good but you still need a cookie, I get you. How about two? I’ve quietly updated two of the best cookie recipes on Smitten Kitchen recently, simplifying the directions, and rounding off the measurements whenever possible for fewer leftovers. You’re in for even more of a treat.
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 now that summer is finally here? I thought you’d never ask! Try the two-bean salad with basil vinaigrette, tomato and corn cobbler, zucchini and pesto lasagna, and steak and corn tacos. To finish, I recommend the big crumb pie bars and the strawberry summer stack cake. 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.
“One of the winning elements of ‘The Recipe’ is that it’s not prescriptive — rather than settling on one universal ‘perfect’ recipe, the chefs explain their personal preferences, then give listeners the information they need to make their own adjustments. By breaking their recipes down ingredient-by-ingredient, digging into what each one is doing, they make the science of cooking approachable and fun.” — New York Times, 7 Podcasts to Inspire a New Hobby
“J. Kenji Lopez-Alt and Deb Perelman’s new podcast gets to not only the heart of how they make their recipes—but also the why behind each decision, too.”
The latest full episode of my podcast with J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, The Recipe with Kenji and Deb, is about Burgers! You can listen to it anywhere you get your podcasts, such as Apple, Spotify, and more.
world peace cookies
These iconic decadent dark chocolate sablés with a gentle, buttery snap from Pierre Hermé and Dorie Greenspan got their name when a neighbor became convinced that a daily dose was all that is needed to ensure planetary peace and happiness. I first shared them on SK in 2007 and this year, I refreshed the recipe with scaled-up measurements, satisfying my need to make them a tiny bit larger and using an even 8 ounces of butter. You are in for such a treat.
salted butter chocolate chunk shortbread
Changing a viral and beloved Alison Roman recipe feels blasphemous, but in this case, it’s mostly about me coming clean. This is one of my family’s top three most-requested cookies, and since I’m in the business of spoiling my family, it means I make them often. Which also means I cannot keep my hands off tinkering with the recipe. I’ve made a few changes over the years for my own personal ease reflected in the updated recipe.
hummus heaped with tomatoes and cucumbers
A small-diced salad heaped on a great swirl of hummus to be scooped with grilled pita wedges is the only thing I want to eat for the rest of the summer. With a few chocolate ice cream sandwich intermissions, for balance and stuff.
takeout-style sesame noodles with cucumber
One of my favorite summer dishes is full of ingredients you keep in the pantry (with a lot of flexibility) + any noodles you've got + any raw vegetables you like thinly sliced. I sometimes add cubed tofu as well.
one-pan farro with tomatoes
Dinner tonight? I think you should make my One-Pan Farro, the recipe that converts all of the farro skeptics. It's easy (everything cooks at once, all together, with ingredients you probably already have around), quick, vegetarian, and yet tastes anything but austere.
baked feta with tomatoes and chickpeas
Remember this? Feta, tomatoes, garlic, and chickpeas roast in olive oil until the tomatoes blister and soften, the feta becomes creamy, and the whole mixture is a dream to scoop onto flatbread. It's almost endlessly tweakable. Weeknight meals should always be this easy.
zucchini quesadillas
Not just any quesadillas, but filled with zucchini that's been cooked until tender and concentrated, then stuffed into bronzed tortillas with messy, lacy brown edges that form when the melted cheese lands on and crisps in the skillet. We eat those first.
soy-glazed chicken
A quick skillet chicken with a soy sauce reduction that gives the cutlets a lacquered glaze. This is such a family favorite that it's gone in the regular rotation. We serve it with rice and a quick vegetable slaw.
turkey pesto meatballs and orecchiette
Turkey meatballs, zucchini, and orecchiette (which acts like tiny meatball catching mitts) with pesto everywhere -- in the meatballs, in the brothy sauce, and dolloped at the end. Finished with a shower of parmesan, I cannot decide whether to eat this with a fork or spoon, so we use both. [Video below!]
corn, bacon and parmesan pasta
An easy pasta angling to be a summer staple -- quick, kid-friendly, welcoming of adaptations, and leaving us more time to do more urgent summer things, like being absolutely, spectacularly lazy.
strawberries and cream with graham crumbles
If there could be anything better to me than strawberries and tangy brown sugar softly whipped cream, it would unquestionably be those two things with bits of cookies on top, honey and brown sugar-scented graham cracker crumbs, specifically. They're ridiculously easy to make. They're definitely a special breakfast around here.
my favorite brownies
My favorite brownies are intense, fudgy, and a little chewy and fantastically easy too: 7 ingredients, 1 bowl, and you could be eating them 40 minutes from now.
AN INTERVIEW WITH CATHY WHIMS
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 Cathy Whims. Her new cookbook, The Italian Summer Kitchen: Timeless Recipes for La Dolce Vita, is out now.
1. What inspired your cookbook?
I initially had a different project in mind to write a Nostrana cookbook, but when the pandemic hit, I shifted gears to think outside the box. My team and I discussed the idea of a home-friendly cookbook with simple recipes that represent Italian cuisine. As Italians take their summer vacation known as Ferragosto in August, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to showcase fun and carefree cooking in the summer with colorful and flavorful ingredients.
2. What recipe are you the most proud of in the book, or felt the most triumphant when you got it right?
Potato gnocchi is such a magical dish, and the recipe in my book is based on technique I learned from the late, great Marcella Hazan. It manages to be light and pillowy yet sturdy enough to stand up to a rich sauce. I’m especially proud of that recipe and the detailed tips that accompany it, which I hope turn this into a fun tradition for everyone cooking at home.
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?
Spaghettini with prawns is a rewarding dish because it’s made with only five ingredients: garlic, chopped parsley, extra virgin olive oil, prawns and spaghettini (an optional but recommended sixth ingredient: a garnish of bottarga). Italian cooking is so simple and so focused on ingredients and pride of place that you can't hide behind any one thing, and in this pasta, each component really sings. It’s simple yet vibrant and captures the essence of Italian summer.
4. What's something you wish more people knew about your book?
Instead of photographs, you’ll see beautiful watercolor illustrations throughout my book. Kate Lewis created them and I think they give the book such a dreamy, transportive quality. As you flip through the pages, her art can make you feel like you’re in Tuscany, Provence, or the countryside.
Thank you, Cathy! You can order The Italian Summer Kitchen right here.
turkey pesto meatballs and orecchiette
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.
What’s the Smitten Kitchen x Staub Braiser? It’s an 11-inch, 4-quart braiser — essentially a lower profile enameled cast-iron Dutch oven that works as as well as a deep sauté pan as it does a soup pot, roasting pan, or even casserole dish that perfectly fits a pasta bake. Not a week has gone by in the decade I’ve had mine when I don’t use it at least three times. And we just got in a limited run of a stunning blue color for spring!
Your braiser purchase contains three new recipes (two savory, one sweet) by me that work perfectly in your new pot. If you’re looking for even more ideas, I created a category on the site to highlight some of my favorite dishes I make in mine.
See you next week!
