Monday, February 26, 2024
Good morning!
This tomato lawsuit delights me. [NYT, unlocked]
… From back in NYC. We returned from one week in Paris over the weekend, a fun trip where we brought the kids for the first time, my mom (who was last there in 1965!) and my sister, who had never been. I will write up everything we did and where we ate this weekend and will share it with you when it’s up. Stay tuned!
But even more exciting — The Recipe with Kenji and Deb, my podcast with J. Kenji Lopez-Alt launches today from Radiotopia. You can listen to it anywhere you get your podcasts, or even on Spotify, which is my go-to. Here’s an introduction to what we hope to do on the podcast. Our first episode is about stovetop mac-and-cheese with a heavy dose of nostalgia for the boxed stuff, plus we cook through each other’s go-to recipes, which will be a theme in the next few episodes. I hope you enjoy it as much as we are enjoying making it.
Finally, as March arrives later this week. By March, I’m always so tired of winter and heavy winter foods but the weather is not yet ready to participate in spring. What’s a home cook to do? Find foods that are both cozy and warming but not quite hibernation fare. I hope this newsletter leaves you brimming with 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 when you’re tired of winter but spring won’t be here anytime soon? I thought you’d never ask! The soup section is one of my absolute favorites with everything from a perfect weeknight ginger garlic chicken noodle soup, simple black bean chili, winter squash soup with red onion crisp, slow-simmered lentils with kale and goat cheese that you scoop onto grilled bread, and a creamy tomato chickpea masala I could probably live on if allowed. To finish, I recommend the oatmeal date shortbread, better-than-classic pound cake, and/or toast with chocolate olive oil spread. 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.
chicken, leek and rice soup
An easy, rustic chicken soup with nods to warmer days. This recipe has built-in flexibility so you can use what you have on hand, but a few of my favorite things (leeks, lemon, herbs, some heat, and even the most barebones of stocks) make it truly excel. I hope it hits the spot.
obsessively good avocado cucumber salad
Why don't we talk more often about how good avocados and cucumbers are together? Especially with a squeeze of lime, smidge of Sriracha and so little mayo, it can be our little secret. Have you been converted yet?
mushroom tartines
These "melts" are essentially a mushroom croque monsieur -- here atop sourdough with a schmear of Dijon-rich bechamel, a great pile of sautéed mushrooms and cheese that melts over the top and onto the baking sheet, to be lifted off in crispy flakes. Paired with a bowl of soup on a rainy day, I say we go all in.
baked chickpeas with pita chips and yogurt
These fatteh-inspired spiced baked chickpeas are served with pita chips, a finely chopped tomato-cucumber salad, lemon-tahini yogurt, and toasted pine nuts. Together this is the kind of colorful, layered, and flavorful dish I crave endlessly right now. We can totally pull this off for dinner tonight.
peanut sesame noodles
These are the cold peanut sesame noodles I’ve been making since college. Over the years I’ve had dalliances with other cold noodle recipes but I recently came back to this one and it was like reuniting with an old friend. I forgot how perfect this sauce is. I can’t believe I ever tossed it aside for something new. We’ve been making up for lost time since.
classic cobb salad
A surprising win in the Dinners For Everyone category, a classic cobb lets everyone assemble at my table assemble their salads exactly the way they want it. Plus: bacon. (Everyone agrees on this.)
spaetzle
Three ingredients! Two minutes cooking time! I really think you should have this on your dinner table tonight.
cornmeal-fried pork chops + smashed potatoes
Crispy (easy!) pork chops and the best thing since mashed potatoes: crushed potatoes with pockets of cheese, butter and cream throughout are exactly the only thing I want for dinner tonight, can we please make it happen (a text to my husband but also all of us).
whole lemon tart
This is my favorite lemon tart. There's no zesting or juicing or orchard worth of lemons required, just one single one that you grind, skin and all, with butter and sugar and eggs into the most gloriously bright and balanced dream of a dessert.
piña colada
The best piña colada is the simplest piña colada -- fresh or frozen pineapple, coconut cream, rum, lime, and a non-negotiable paper umbrella for that vacation-y vibe, even if you're impossibly far from palm trees and a swim-up bar right now.
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!