smitten kitchen keepers
plus: asparagus and rhubarb, at last
Monday, May 8, 2022
Good morning!
Mushrooms communicate with each other using up to 50 ‘words’? (Guardian)
How to be food famous (Eater)
These $4 lunches in Hong Kong sound wonderful. (NYT, an unlocked article)
Last week, I got to finally share a little bit of what I’ve been working on behind the scenes for the last couple years (a new cookbook!) and it’s so exciting to finally have it leave… my brain and my laptop, and step out into the world. I hope you like it; I hope it’s worth the wait. And although we’ve been mostly laying low due to an unfortunate bout with all-family Covid (we had it easy, though, mostly just colds) so I haven’t been doing my usual farmers market jaunts, I understand that the two best things about May — asparagus and rhubarb — have arrived and boy, am I ready for them. Below, a few favorite sweet and savory favorite dishes that use them, a little lasagna video, oh, a cookbook cover reveal. I hope you have a wonderful week.
Cheers,
Deb
smitten kitchen keepers
I wrote a cookbook! My third cookbook, Smitten Kitchen Keepers: New Classics For Your Forever Files will be released on 11/22/22 and I cannot wait to share it with you. As of today, you can preorder it almost everywhere books are sold. I hope it leaves you brimming with inspiration and with a stack of new essential recipes you’ll want to make again and again.
spring asparagus galette
This galette uses the simplest techniques (a quick dough, salted asparagus) and most impactful flavors (lemon, sharp cheese, and heat), to taste like a bright, flavorful nest of spring, so good for brunch, lunch, and picnics.
asparagus, goat cheese, and lemon pasta
Turns out, goat cheese makes a shockingly simple but effective creamy pasta sauce with asparagus and lemon, and since it takes only 20 minutes to make, you'll have more time leftover to read a book, take a walk, or, if you're me, spend too much time watching TikToks.
spring asparagus pancetta hash
This potato hash has bits of pancetta and crisp-tender segments of asparagus, yielding a ton of flavor from only four (!) ingredients. Add an egg or two, then repeat again tomorrow.
shaved asparagus pizza
Here's the dinner plan: 1 pizza dough, homemade or storebought; some mozzarella, parmesan and thinly sliced green onions, and then the fun part: fresh asparagus peeled into a ribbony tangly nest for the easiest, simplest, and most worthy-of-repeating spring pizza there is.
rhubarb snacking cake
Seeing rhubarb around and never know quite what to do with it? I vote for this: halfway between a buckle-y streusel cake and a crumb bar, this is to be eaten in small squares straight off a napkin, preferably outside somewhere, but if it's chilly and rainy where you are, too, reporting straight from my living room to assure you that it also goes well with movie time.
almond rhubarb picnic bars
A buttery shortbread base + almond cream filling + and a tile of sweet-tart rhubarb on top = this is one of my favorite spring dessert bars, portable enough to go wherever you do.
rhubarb upside-down spice cake
Lemony, pink, and spring-like, this has just enough spice to help us bridge the seasons.
perfect vegetable lasagna
My vegetable lasagna is sky-high and the top layer is so crackly and bronzed, it's my favorite part. Lasagna is a make-ahead and reheat dream, and nobody is ever unhappy to see it. You can watch me make it on the Smitten Kitchen YouTube Channel.
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. I hope you find this page helpful. Let me know if there’s anything I’ve left off that you need.
See you next week!
