spring potlucks and parties
plus: raspberry swirl cheesecake bars + an interview with hillary sterling
Monday, May 11, 2026
Good morning!
I love this kitchen. [Debora Robertson Substack]
Bourbon Slush, Burgoo, and My Search for a Kentucky Identity [Food & Wine]
Graduations, communions, end-of-school year celebrations, send-offs, picnics, potlucks, Memorial Day, Father’s Day… One cannot help but notice that there are a lot of reasons to get together this time of year and that just about everyone is happier when food, good food, is involved. While I’m a big fan of only doing what is enjoyable — no need to sweat days in the kitchen to cook for others if you’re not feeling it — I’ve found that often, I just need a few good ideas to summon my cooking energy out of lethargy. Below, several simple, crowd-pleasing favorites with a nod to what’s in season right now. I hope you’re inspired.
A few other good things this week:
A new recipe for the swirliest, happiest cheesecake bars. We can’t get enough of them.
An interview with Hillary Sterling about Ammazza!, her new cookbook, which is not strictly an Italian cookbook. Sterling says that despite being he chef of a well-known Italian restaurant [the flawless Ci Siamo], she finds her culinary inspiration on a global scale. There’s even a matzo recipe!
Finally, are you around this Thursday, May 14th? I’ll be at the Museum of Food and Drink in Brooklyn chatting with Michael Szczerban about one of Italy’s most influential culinary texts, The Talisman of Happiness by Ada Boni. There will be snacks, Via Carota craft cocktails and wine. Not in NYC? The event will now be live-streamed so you won’t need to miss it. (Sadly, we haven’t figured out how to livestream cocktails.)[Event info + Ticketing]
Cheers,
Deb
I’ve written three cookbooks and one audiobook and I’m a tiny bit biased, but I think you’d love them all. Not sure which one to check out first? Take a look at the recipe index and see which collection jumps out at you most.
raspberry swirl cheesecake bars
New! Swirly tie-dye cheesecake bars that taste like the best of everything: creamy lemon cheesecake, tart raspberries, and a buttery graham crust — or a berry and cheese danish formatted as a picnic/potluck/party-ready bar.
deviled eggs
This is my argument for deviled eggs as the perfect meal anchor. No piping bags or fussy ingredients, I use a simple filling and then apply toppings with chaotic abandon, whatever I can dredge up from the fridge. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.
corn fritters
This is my platonic ideal of a corn fritter: crunchy, golden brown, and mostly sweet corn kernels with just the tiniest amount of batter to tether them together. These have scallions, chives, and cheddar and they’re exquisite (with a dab of mayo, if you dare) but I’ve suggested at least four other flavor combinations (mm, cacio e pepe, miso-scallion...) I didn’t get to -- yet.
summer ricotta with grilled vegetables
A love letter to homemade ricotta and my favorite way to serve it in the summer, that is with whatever vegetables and bread look good, grilled. It’s great for potlucks, host gifts, and it’s also the warm-weather light meal of my dreams. I hope you’re inspired.
grilled feta with asparagus chimichurri
If you’ve never smooshed warm feta on crostini and spooned grilled asparagus and charred red onion tossed in chimichurri sauce over it, just to warn you: you’ll never want to stop. Thank you to How Sweet Eats for inspiring the grilled feta/chimichurri combination!
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 when it’s hot out. With a few chocolate ice cream sandwich intermissions, for balance and stuff.
feta tapenade tarte soleil
My favorite radiant and party-perfect appetizer that celebrates longer, brighter days is also a cinch to make. Once your puff pastry is defrosted, it can be assembled and baked in under an hour.
herbed tomato and roasted garlic tart
Roasted garlic, parmesan cheese, blistered cherry tomatoes, capers, olive oil, chives, parsley and oregano baked onto a buttery puffed pastry base is breakfast, lunch, dinner, or, why choose, all of the above this weekend.
pasta salad with roasted carrots and sunflower seed dressing
A pasta salad for pasta salad-phobes with a dressing that has crunch and acidity, and vegetables for substance, not just flecks of color. The result is a spring dreaming-of-summer favorite.
chicken empanadas with chorizo
Looking for something cozy to bake this weekend? The filling of these empanadas is some of the best braised chicken I’ve ever eaten. The pastry is a cinch to work with, bakes up beautifully, and makes individual pockets perfect for now, to rewarm tomorrow, or to stash in the freezer for future lunches.
confetti cookies
For some instant joy and celebration right now, may I recommend a really easy sprinkle cookie recipe that tastes even better than it looks? They’re plush, complex, fragrant, and also, you know, really cute. You’re going to love them. [Video below!]
salted brown butter crispy treats
A 16-year site favorite in which two minor-seeming things -- flaky sea salt and brown butter -- transform crispy treats from a “kid thing” to something so good it’s hard to share with a kid -- or anyone. No matter where I take them, they never last 30 minutes.
easy strawberry lemonade
An easy, lazy strawberry lemonade that is the most vivid and delicious I’ve ever made. It tastes the way cotton candy smells at a carnival, which is about the highest praise I can give anything.
AN INTERVIEW WITH HILLARY STERLING
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 Hillary Sterling. Her cookbook, Ammazza! Culinary Adventures from New York to Italy and Back Again, is out tomorrow, 5/12.
1. What inspired your cookbook?
Ammazza! (Roman slang for “wow” or “awesome”) is the story of my life, told through recipes. It follows my personal culinary journey, from a half-kosher home near Coney Island, to teenage summers spent working in kitchens in Montauk, and through some of NY’s most culture-shifting restaurants – Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill, A Voce and Lupa – all the way to the food we cook and serve today at Ci Siamo. A tremendous amount of the book is inspired by my travels. To Italy, of course, but also throughout Southeast Asia, Mexico and closer to home. The book is organized by season, which allows readers to cook with quality ingredients, and features some great menus for celebrating including Ci Siamo’s matzo and Mexican Thanksgiving, a decade-long tradition at my restaurants.
2. What recipe are you the most proud of in the book, or felt the most triumphant when you got it right?
Probably our matzo. While the recipe itself is super simple and didn’t need much adjusting, taking something that has always been cooked over wood-fire and reimagining it for a home oven was surprisingly challenging. That said, it’s a dish that can exist well beyond the 7 nights of Passover. Since the recipe itself is inspired by Sardinian pane carasau – a paper-thin flatbread with a delicate crunch – it’s perfect all year long.
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?
I keep coming back to the recipe for Swordfish “Minute Steaks” – perfect for spring/summer grilling! In Ammazza!, you’ll find a recipe for my fish cure – salt, sugar and citrus zest – that we use at Ci Siamo to draw out water and enhance the texture of seafood. By letting your fish “cure” for just 15-30 minutes before grilling, you’re left with a perfectly seasoned piece of fish that’s great on its own, but even better with a sauce of garden peas and ramp horseradish butter. A great use of all the ingredients I’m seeking out at the greenmarket right now.
4. What’s something you wish more people knew about your book?
That it’s not a strictly Italian cookbook. Yes, I’m the chef of a well-known Italian restaurant, but I find my culinary inspiration on a much more global scale. In this book, you’ll find recipes for Turkey Larb, Refried Beans, a boozy Jello, Potato Kugel… these are the dishes that form my foundation as a cook. If this book does its job, readers will become more confident cooks and find themselves relying on the recipes in it less and less.
Thank you, Hillary! You can preorder Ammazza! right here.
confetti cookies
The Staub x Smitten Kitchen Braiser is a lower-walled enameled cast-iron Dutch oven that works 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. It’s the ideal size and usability (dishwasher safe!) for everyday cooking. Not a week has gone by in the 14 years I’ve had mine when I don’t cook in it at least three times, so when it was no longer sold in U.S. stores, I asked Staub — a French cast-iron manufacturer originally from Alsace; you can watch me tour the forge/factory here! — if they would partner with me to bring it back, because I knew you’ll fall in love with the pan too. We launched the Staub x Smitten Kitchen Braiser in spring 2024. The Braiser is now sold exclusively at Williams-Sonoma and available in eight gorgeous new colors! The newest two — a classy off-white (pardon, French Crème) and a soft pink (Pink Peony, which you know I sing to the tune of Pink Peony Club) — launched just last month.
Cranberry (bright red)
Grenadine (deep red)
Sage (light green)
Basil (dark green)
La Mer (dark blue-green)
Sapphire (dark blue)
(New!) French Crème (off-white) ✨
(New!) Pink Peony (soft pink) ✨
The Staub x Smitten Kitchen Braiser Recipe Starter Pack: Oh, you did get a new braiser? I’m so happy for you. Here are a few recipes you can kick off your cooking with!
Braiser: An entire category of recipes on smittenkitchen.com
My “I Dream Of Paris” Menu for the French Crème launch: Dijon Roast Chicken, French Onion Soup for a Crowd, and a Perfect Apple Tarte Tatin
Baked Ziti with Meatballs and Ricotta (Williams-Sonoma, Video)
Apple Butterscotch Crisp (Zwilling, Video)
Braised Chickpeas with Kale and Burrata (Zwilling)
shop my favorites
Ever wonder where I get my cutting boards, paring knives, offset spatulas and more that 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. This isn’t just an Amazon storefront. For each item, I attempt to provide a range of shopping links so we're not just focusing on one giant retailer.
See you next week!
