sandwich season
plus: some new and refreshed recipes
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
Good afternoon!
Cassie’s ribboned carrot salad is on this week’s cooking agenda
The golden age of the fried chicken sandwich [Atlantic]
Would You Fly Around the World for Your Favorite Food Creator? [Eater]
I hope you had an excellent, if not unusually cool and cloudy (in the Northeast at least), Memorial Day weekend. We decided to head for the beach, hoodies in tow, beach towels acting as lap blankets, and I regret nothing. I’m ambivalent at best about the sticky, hot, humid parts of summer. Give me a slightly overcast day on a mostly empty beach with a beachy read and I couldn’t be happier. This is also the exact point each year when I start to consider food with portability in mind — and not only because I found myself wiping my spilled overnight oats off my passenger seat seatbelt yesterday morning, a low point for my personal dignity. And at the top of the portable food pyramid is, of course, sandwiches. Below, a few of my favorite excuses to eat standing up but there’s also more — a favorite sandwich slaw, a great sandwich bread, ice cream sandwiches, and a perfect sandwich cookie (like I’d miss the opportunity). And if that’s not enough good stuff, I’ve quietly been updating a few deep cuts from the archives with fresh photos and simplified recipes. I hope you find at least a week’s worth of inspiration!
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 all about Eggs Benedict! You can listen to it anywhere you get your podcasts, such as Apple, Spotify, and more.
Three refreshed recipes from deep in the archives!
lemon bars
I gave my classic lemon bars — the bake sale kind with a bright, tart lemon layer on a buttery shortbread crust — a revisit and now they’ve got a better texture, deeper flavor, and fewer steps. Time to fall in love with them all over again! 🍋
red bean chili
This recipe got a gentle refresh (tighter measurements, a few helpful notes) and much-needed new photos. What might seem like an unseemly amount of chili powder makes the flavor of this red bean chili jump right off the plate with a minimum of ingredients.
rich buttermilk waffles
Classic thick buttermilk waffles, now one-bowled and abundantly easy for your weekend morning. I had a delicious time tuning up this 17 year-old recipe this week and now I never want to stop making them.
chickpea pan bagnat
A hearty, well-seasoned and picnic basket-/beach cooler-ready sandwich for wherever you go this weekend. Inspired by the pan bagnat, which is the sandwich version of a salade niçoise, I swap the tuna here with a smashed chickpea salad, add layers of crunch, richness, and seasoning and might never look back.
smashed chicken meatball sliders
A smashed chicken meatball slider with barbecue sauce and a buttermilk slaw we would happily eat for dinner once a week all summer. The meatballs are inspired by How Sweet Eats, who we should all be following if we're not already.
focaccia sandwiches for a crowd
A ridiculously easy no-knead, no-fuss, quick-rise focaccia you can use to make sheet pans of sandwiches (I have lots of suggestions, including directions for the two vegan ones shown) to whatever parks and picnics your weekend takes you to.
sliced egg sandwich
This sandwich is a fixation, a humble sliced egg on a butter-toasted challah roll with a sharp creamy dijon-horseradish spread, a layer of crunch or pickle, and a heap of arugula that I’ve craved daily for way too long. Unable to shake free of this breakfast/lunch preoccupation, I’ve done my next favorite thing: shared it with you so you can join me. Enjoy! [Video below!]
zucchini grilled cheese
Wait, come back. I promise: it works. The zucchini here isn’t merely filler, it adds essential flavor and texture and you’re going to want to make it again and again.
steak sandwiches
Caramelized onions, peppery arugula, and a creamy-sharp dressing make this steak sandwich our favorite, and such low-key luxury for a summery weekend.
pickled vegetable sandwich slaw
Letter of recommendation: Some pickles for your sandwiches. As simple or colorful as you want it to be, this is an easy fridge pickle that improves everything you pile it on, from barbecue to anything you can throw on a grill.
oat and wheat sandwich bread
This is my go-to sandwich bread: whole wheat but unheavy, from scratch but hard to mess up (leave the dough in the fridge for a day -- it doesn't mind at all), and it makes a towering loaf that can make the most basic thrown-together pb&j taste exceptional.
saltine cracker candy ice cream sandwiches
Trust me when I tell you that the only thing better than toffee caramelized saltine crackers slicked with chocolate and toasted nuts is sandwiching them with ice cream. It’s also, fittingly, the most appropriate lunch for a hot day. Don’t fight it.
homemade oreos
When was the last time you had an Oreo? Was it more than five minutes ago? Did it look like this? A tin of these makes all weeks better.
sliced egg sandwich
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. Looking for a Mother’s Day gift? 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!
