Tossed with a delicious peanut-ginger dressing, these noodles are irresistible freshly made but pack well for the week ahead, too. Crisp, cool, herby, and bright, this is the summer meal to beat the heat! This week, the stars aligned for peanut noodle salad, a refreshing meal that would make great use of a heap of cucumbers and scallions from my farm share, and one that, moreover, would not require turning on the oven....
Four years ago I published my most clickbaity-titled blog post to date: Trader Joe’s Mind Blowing 3-Ingredient Lentil Salad. I had tasted the salad at an end-of-school-year gathering and was immediately smitten. After a little digging, I learned that the woman, Gail, who had brought the salad to the party was married to the manager of the Albany Trader Joe’s. And when Gail told me the recipe — combine one tub of Trader Joe’s bruschetta sauce, one box of Trader Joe’s cooked lentils, and one tub of Trader Joe’s crumbled feta — I drove straight to Trader Joe’s to stock up on ALL the tubs....
Yesterday afternoon I returned from a week away to find a dozen summer squash in my fridge. It wasn’t the best-looking lot — not pristine enough to make this raw salad or this spaghetti — but it was still absolutely fit for consumption. I knew just the recipe to make with that 5-lb. collection of neglected courgettes: zucchini parmesan. When roasted and layered between homemade tomato sauce and parmesan, and topped with a layer of crispy bread crumbs, no one would know the days of those summer squash were numbered....
This 5-ingredient Greek salad dressing takes no time to whisk together. It’s the recipe my extended Greek family has been making to dress Greek salads for as long as I can remember, and it’s a dressing loved by adults and children alike. One summer, while visiting my parents, I discovered my children liked salad. As I watched them gobble up chopped Romaine lettuce leaves, halved cherry tomatoes, and slivered red onions, I wondered: How?...
These gingersnap cookies are crisp at the edges, soft and chewy in the center, and seasoned with all of the warm, wintry spices of the season: ginger, cinnamon, and freshly grated nutmeg. They come together in one bowl and couldn’t be more festive for the holiday season. This classic gingersnap cookie recipe is inspired by one that appeared in the 2022 Bake from Scratch: Holiday Cookies edition. It’s a one-bowl job, made with all the expected gingersnap ingredients —namely, molasses—plus a splash of maple syrup....
This 4-ingredient sourdough sandwich bread requires no complicated shaping, no scoring, and no preheated heavy Dutch oven. Grab your mixing bowl, pull out a spatula, and butter your loaf pan. This one is simple and delicious! As its name suggests, this sourdough sandwich bread recipe is easy, a simple mix of flour, water, salt, and sourdough starter. In sum, it’s an adaptation of my mother’s peasant bread recipe with the sugar and yeast omitted and sourdough starter added....
A few weeks ago, after discovering the joys of making harissa from scratch, I spooned a few tablespoons of the fiery, bright paste into a warm dressing infused with garlic, cumin seeds, and fresh lemon, then tossed it all with shredded carrots and chopped parsley. I was following a recipe on Smitten Kitchen and, as promised, the salad incited more excitement than I imagined capable of a heap of carrots....
My 6th-grade daughter recently asked me if the meat I cooked for our family was “lean”. Propelled by lessons learned in health class, she also had questions about brown rice and whole wheat flour and if I used them. Sometimes. But first: lean meat. Wellllllll , I replied, not really . I explained I favor dark meat chicken over light and that I only buy 80/20 ground beef. I confessed to never having cooked ground turkey and that bacon was definitely not lean....
Naan is one of the simplest bread recipes you could make. There is no kneading, and after a short rise, you simply divide, roll, and griddle. The dough is so soft and tender thanks to yogurt, and a brush of melted butter out of the skillet makes them completely irresistible! There are many ways to make naan, but after experimenting with various recipes, I discovered I preferred the simplest, made with only five ingredients: flour, salt, instant yeast, yogurt, and water....
With its oil-crisped crust and light, bubbly crumb, sourdough focaccia is a delicious and versatile bread, perfect for sandwiches but also great as an appetizer and dinner bread. It’s also one of the easiest breads to make. Find step-by-step instructions on how to make this wildly popular bread below! Adapted from my favorite yeasted, slow-rise focaccia recipe — overnight refrigerator focaccia — this sourdough focaccia recipe replaces the yeast with a sourdough starter....
A few weeks ago I mentioned my aunt had introduced me to a rebel pastry shell , a brown butter tart crust whose unorthodox assembly has earned it genius marks . It’s about as no-fuss as it gets as far as pastry making goes and tastes as light and flaky as the best. I have made this shell several times since discovering the method, once filled with lemon cream, and most recently with a lemony, sweetened mascarpone topped with fresh berries....
This past winter, Colu Henry, author of Back Pocket Pasta , introduced me to ‘nduja – a smoky, spreadable salami from Calabria. ‘Nduja is Colu’s trick to making a quick and super flavorful pasta alla vodka, and for this, it has become a staple in my pantry. Shortly after I posted the recipe on Food52, someone wrote in noting that she loved smearing ‘nduja over crusty bread, which made me instantly crave a ‘nduja grilled cheese....
Buttery, flaky, and festive — I can’t think of a better way to start a winter morning than with these buttermilk cranberry “snow” scones. Pearl sugar on top is especially pretty, but regular sugar works just as well, too. The scone dough can be frozen, so don’t be afraid to make it ahead of time. Why mess with a good thing? Tartine Bakery’s buttermilk scone recipe, which I have made 1000 times, produces a tender, buttery scone, perfectly sweet and nicely salted, with an irresistible sugar-topped crust....
Inspired by the classic pasta salad found in delis the world over, this one combines olives, pepperoncini, soppressata, and cheese as well as scallions and red bell pepper. Dressed in a red wine vinaigrette and loaded with texture and flavor, this one gets better by the day, so don’t be afraid to make it ahead of time. This has been the summer of discovery for my children and their palates: pretzel rolls , kani salad (from a local sushi restaurant), and muesli (my favorite, but historically not theirs)....
This duck leg confit recipe bucks tradition, calling for three ingredients and three hours of time. You don’t need a supply of duck fat; you don’t need to devote three days of your life. This recipe and method will yield restaurant-worthy duck leg confit as well as a supply of duck fat to keep on hand for future duck leg confit experiments. What is Duck Confit? Confit is an ancient method of preserving, born out of necessity: by salting meat, cooking it, and storing it in fat, it could keep without refrigeration for months on end....
A healthy breakfast in minutes? Yes, please! This adaptable Bircher muesli recipe is my morning go-to. It’s very easy to make ahead — often I mix the muesli with milk and yogurt before going to bed and stash it in the fridge so it’s ready when I wake up. It makes mornings a breeze! I learned how to make Bircher muesli many years ago from a tired, talented French man named Chef Pasche, who was working a second job as an instructor at the culinary program I was attending in South Philly....
A great way to get a jumpstart on Thanksgiving preparations is to make stuffing and freeze it. This kale and caramelized onion stuffing is a crowd pleaser and personal favorite. Below is the recipe I love, an adaptation of the stuffing in my cookbook, Bread Toast Crumbs, and includes kale and caramelized onions. After 45 minutes in the oven, it emerges with a crisp golden exterior and a creamy center, flavorful enough to eat on its own, but welcoming to many a relish, sauce, gravy, or anything else the Thanksgiving plate has to offer....
Flavored with lemon zest and freshly squeezed lemon juice, this incredibly tasty and moist ricotta pound cake is the perfect treat: great with afternoon tea or for dessert. It makes a wonderful gift, too! This pound cake is a variation of one I made over the holidays , which called for orange zest and orange liqueur. Here, lemon zest and juice have replaced the orange zest and liqueur, and the baking powder has been reduced a tad, too....
These brown butter snickerdoodles are sugar-crusted, soft and chewy, and scented with toasty, caramely notes thanks to the brown butter, vanilla, and brown sugar. It’s a one-bowl job that yields a truly irresistible and festive holiday cookie. This brown butter snickerdoodle recipe comes from Jesse Szewczyk’s Cookies: The New Classics . I have never met a snickerdoodle I didn’t like, but these are especially endearing: the browned butter gives them a nuttiness, a trait absent in traditional snickerdoodles, and the splash of Bourbon enhances the caramelly brown sugar and vanilla notes — not unlike how the presence of coffee in chocolatey baked goods will heighten the chocolate flavor without imparting a hint of coffee....
When focaccia meets cinnamon roll, good things happen. In this union, focaccia dough gets folded and dimpled with a cinnamon-brown sugar-butter mixture and baked until bubbly and golden all around. Cinnamon rolls without all the fuss? Yes. You. Can 🎉 Assembling cinnamon rolls always feels like a process, from making the dough and rolling it out, to spreading on the filling and coiling it up, to slicing, baking, and making the glaze....
