vacation house cooking
plus: spaghetti aglio e olio + the classroom wishlist project is live!
Monday, August 3, 2026
Good afternoon!
If it’s August, it doesn’t matter whether or not my body is on vacation (sadly, it is not), my brain acts like it is, sending back an out-of-the-office auto-reply when I try to tackle my to-do list, and chuckling the way you would a tiny puppy trying and failing to climb a stair when I try summon a sense of urgency. My cooking is similarly nonchalant. It wants little fuss, few steps, and to be easy to pull off no matter where you are — home, if we must, or perhaps decamped to a vacation rental house, with its own particular batterie de cuisine roulette. Will there be a single decent pan? A sharp knife? One never knows. The recipes in this week’s newsletter were selected for their their adaptability. They won’t make you think too hard or have too much stuff, because they know better. Plus, there’s a new recipe on the site for what I consider the ne plus ultra of vacation house cooking, Spaghetti Aglio e Olio. It could be your dinner tonight.
But even more exciting: This week, for the 5th summer in a row, we’re launching the 2026 Smitten Kitchen Classroom Wishlist Project, in which we try to help teachers everything what they need to set their classrooms up for success. All of the details are below, and on this page (including how to add a classroom if your school starts later). This is one of my favorite side projects. I love schools, I love teachers, and I love buying crayons and books. I hope you can be part of it too.
Cheers,
Deb
The Smitten Kitchen Classroom Wishlist Project 2026 kicks off today! In the US, a tremendous number of teachers don’t get the funding they need to set their classrooms up for success. Most will end up paying out of their own pockets to buy educational materials, which is all wrong. I’ve asked teachers to send me their wishlists in hopes that we can help clear as many as possible, as we have the last four summers.
If you cannot figure out where to start, let me help: I recommend picking a school in your area, or perhaps where you grew up, or search the descriptions for classrooms that might focus on something particularly meaningful to you. There is no purchase too small to unquestionably make a teacher’s (and their students’) day. Plus, buying crayons, pencils, and books that help kids learn and succeed feels really good. 🖍️📚🍎📓✏️ Thank you for helping out! [Project information. Direct link to spreadsheet.]
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.
spaghetti aglio e olio
New! A low-effort, short ingredient list, make-anywhere, back pocket pasta recipe celebrating the aromatic wizardry of garlic sizzling in olive oil, as will everyone around you when you make it. Dinner tonight is going to be 10/10.
blueberry bread and butter pudding
The blueberries are wonderful this year! Let’s sprinkle them with lemon sugar and scatter them between slices of buttered bread and pour a vanilla custard over it and bake it until the top is crisp and bronzed and the center is luxe, all in the name of extra-perfect weekend french toast. (Just tell me when to come over.)
bacon corn hash
Breakfast today has four ingredients -- crisped bacon, potatoes, corn cooked in the renderings, and a heap of scallions -- plus one very crispy egg on top and we’re going to immediately wonder why we don’t make this more often.
greek salad with lemon and oregano
Too hot to cook again? I have just the salad for that. A mostly authentic (the lemon is my thing) Greek salad that will provide all of the salty tartness and refreshing crunch we need. Or hold us over until someone can transport us to a breezy Greek island. Do know I’m open to either.
beach bean salad
This is my platonic ideal of a summer bean salad -- one that keeps well, getting better as it marinates, and travels fantastically to anyplace your sunny afternoon takes you.
tomato and fried provolone sandwich
Not sure what to make for dinner? Not sure you even want to make dinner? Welcome; you’re among friends. What we can all agree on: Tomato sandwiches are the perfect no-fuss August dinner, and this one has one glorious extra: Slices of provolone, griddled until crisp. [Video below!]
angel hair pasta with raw tomato sauce
Dinner tonight is going to take 15 minutes to make and showcase tomatoes in nearly their purest form, naturally sweet and faintly tangy, then garlic-kissed and tangled with fresh basil and the wispiest strands of spaghetti into everything you could ever want in a summer meal.
minimalist barbecue sauce
A 3-ingredient (plus 2 optional ones), no-cook, 2-minute sauce for everything worth grilling, chicken or tofu skewers, or even as a base for what I call Fake Baked Beans. This is the perfect recipe to tuck away in your repertoire for when you’re short on time or long on things you’d rather do than cook.
lobster rolls
It’s August and we haven’t made lobster rolls yet? We cannot let this continue. These are my favorite best-of-both-worlds (butter, mayo) lobster rolls, here shown as sliders for a party, but equally good in a few hearty sandwiches you don’t have to share with anyone.
peach blueberry cobbler
Peaches and blueberries baked together in a loose, jammy filling that’s sopped up dreamily by cornmeal drop biscuits. Quick to make; even quicker to disappear.
ridiculously easy butterscotch sauce
Did you know that deadly good butterscotch, butterscotch so transcendent it might bring tears to your eyes, is ridiculously easy to make? Five ingredients + five minutes on the stove = eating ice cream for dinner during a heat wave has never tasted so good.
two classic sangrias
It’s not a summer holiday weekend if I’m not thinking about sangria. Refreshing and forgiving, one version here is classic and uncluttered and the other is finished with a low-sugar orange soda (we’ve seen this often in Spain). Why choose? Make both.
tomato and fried provolone sandwich
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!
