Monday, May 15, 2023
Good afternoon!
The new frugal [Saveur]
Every single week from the charmingly misled March 1st through the aspirational April 1st through the getting-a-bit-indignant May 1st, I have the same conversation when considering newsletter themes: Now? Is it now? Why can’t it be noww? The “it” is a celebration of spring produce [and not what I’m trying to avoid — a taunt, which is how it feels if yours hasn’t arrived yet] and these 10 weeks are always the longest wait. But we made it. I’ve spotted asparagus and ramps and rhubarb and even the early strawberries at the market in the last week and that’s my green light: We’re going to use it all. I’ve got so many ideas for you below, and even more on the site. I hope you’re hungry.
Cheers,
Deb
Smitten Kitchen Keepers is six months old today! I just noticed the date and simply cannot wrap my head around the fact that a book that included a tour with 32 events in 22 metropolitan areas, a book that so many of you are still tagging me in photos of dishes you’re cooking from it daily, has only been around for 6 months. I’m thrilled that this warmer weather means you might be able to cook some of my summery favorites in the book: zucchini cornbread and tomato butter, snow peas with pecorino and walnuts, cucumber salad with garlicky dill yogurt, clam chowder with bacon croutons, zucchini and pesto lasagna, and crispy chili garlic butter shrimp (our dinner tonight!), raspberry crostata, strawberry summer stack cake (my birthday cake next month), blondie chipwiches (in my freezer right now). I hope you love them as much as we do.
smashed chicken meatball sliders
New! 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.
spring panzanella
Got some old bread to rescue? Asparagus, white beans, leeks and garlic-parmesan croutons prove, to my delight, that we don't have to wait until tomato season to get our panzanella fix.
burrata with charred and raw sugar snap peas
My favorite way to eat burrata (butterflied!) and my new favorite thing to put on top of it, a mixture of grilled and fresh sugar snaps, finished with lemony crumbs, mint, and as much chile heat as your heart desires.
ramp pizza
This simple pizza hits all the best notes: not too heavy, abundantly flavorful, and it celebrates one of my favorite spring vegetables, equal parts spring onion and delicate greens in flavor. We make it every May.
spring salad with new potatoes
One of my favorite things to make and eat isn't a potato salad, per se, but a salad *with* potatoes. This one is full of bright spring vegetables with a punchy (mayo-free) dressing and it's perfect for the weekend, wherever you take it.
broken pasta with pork ragu
Looking for a special but not too daunting weekend dinner? I credit the bright salad-y finish of parmesan, lemon, and sharp arugula with making this ragu feel spring-like but still cozy.
homemade merguez with herby yogurt
Crispy, spiced patties with yogurt sauce, pitas, and sometimes a little tomato-cucumber salad too take all of 30 minutes to make and are never not a good idea.
rhubarb cream cheese hand pies
Hand pies are tiny packets of readiness for everything great about warm weather — picnics, cookouts and barbecues — and the crusts, unhampered by heavy fillings, puff like inhaling accordions in the oven. [I’m *sure* that’s the correct 🪗 terminology, right?]
rhubarb upside-down spice cake
I have just the cake for a gorgeous spring day: lemony, pink on top, spiced and cozy underneath. Trust me, we want our kitchens to smell like this.
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, reporting straight from my living room to assure you that it also goes well with movie time.
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!
