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It’s no secret that Bon Appétit editors cook a lot for work. So it should come as no surprise that we cook a lot during our off hours too. Here are the recipes we’re whipping up this month to get dinner on the table, entertain our friends, satisfy a sweet tooth, use up leftovers, and everything in between. For even more staff favorites, click here.
July 25
Between the summer grillfests and cookouts, I find myself craving fresh produce and simply prepared food. When Casey Elsass’s recipe for Zucchini Risotto came through the Test Kitchen last year, I knew I’d bookmark it for future summers to come. While the soul of his recipe remains the same, I took liberties with the original method, trying a more hands-off technique (partly intended, partly a result of being distracted) of adding all of the liquid at once, lidding it, and returning about 15 minutes later. Lo and behold, it worked (though I wouldn't stray too far!). I ended up adding another cupful of liquid at the end to get my desired consistency. I was out of mint (and any other herbs, for that matter), so I finished it with more olive oil and a touch of lemon zest. —Hana Asbrink, deputy food editor
Tomato Week is officially over, but I’m still dreaming of Test Kitchen manager Inés Anguiano’s Double-Tomato Focaccia. I made it as my first foray into homemade focaccia and can confirm it’s beginner-friendly! There’s no kneading; the recipe only involves a few stretch and folds, creating a fuss-free approach to bread making. I used the dough as a canvas and pressed in colorful tomato varieties like yellow Sun Golds and cherry reds. It came out of the oven-blistered and brick red, with juicy tomatoes still bubbling in the doughy dimples. —Arietta Hallock, editorial intern
In this summer heat the last thing I want to do is turn on my stove (or my oven, for that matter). I recently became the proud owner of a Zojirushi rice cooker—after more than 10 years of not owning one, I decided it was time. I’ve since learned there are so many meals you can make with just the touch of a button. This low-effort, high-reward version of bibimbap from blogger Nutrition by Kylie is one of them. I wanted this dish to serve as both dinner and lunch the next day so I swapped in jammy medium boiled eggs for the fried egg. Because I don’t eat beef, I used pork tenderloin which cooked with the rice until tender. This easy dinner quickly proved the rice cooker a worthy investment. —Urmila Ramakrishnan, associate director of social media
Recently, my colleague Abigail Lieff was raving about a trip to Via Carota. She ordered two of the salads and they were tossed in perfectly balanced dressing: “You could drink the vinaigrette with a spoon.” Naturally, I wanted to recreate it at home, and lucky for me, Samin Nosrat published the restaurant’s recipe. It’s a mix of expected ingredients: olive oil, aged sherry vinegar, mustard (both whole-grain and Dijon), alliums, honey. The unexpected player? Warm water. It mellows out the harsh acid, creating a dressing that’s truly drinkable. I tossed mine with a sea of butter lettuce and peppery radishes. —Nina Moskowitz, associate editor, cooking
I’ve been a longtime fan of a buttermilk brine for my Thanksgiving turkey (adapted from Samin Nosrat’s brilliant Buttermilk-Marinated Roast Chicken). The method yields the juiciest and most flavorful bird I’ve ever made. But a sloshy tub of brine has no place in my weeknight cooking rotation. Enter: buttermilk powder. My brilliant colleagues, Jesse Szewczyk and Nina Moskowitz, introduced me to the magic of this now-cherished pantry staple and I can’t stop making dinner with it. From Jesse’s creamy, tangy corn pasta to Nina’s grilled chicken with a super simple built-in salad, I’m set for the summer. —Kelsey Jane Youngman, senior service editor
July 18
As someone who is surrounded by cookies for a decent portion of the year, very rarely do I find myself craving one. Occasionally, I’m susceptible to the siren call of a freshly baked cookie. This week, I wanted to make a tiny batch for just me and my partner, so I turned to Zoe Denenberg’s Cheesecake Brownies Cookies that yield two. Most of the ingredients are things I have on hand—cocoa powder, sugar, flour, the usual suspects; plus I happened to have a block of cream cheese in my fridge for the molten filling. Fudgy, tangy, and sweet, they satisfied the craving of this cookie snob. —Jesse Szewczyk, senior test kitchen editor
When life gives you lemons, make Lemon Pound Cake. That’s what I got up to on a rainy evening this week, taking a microplane to the last three lemons in my fruit bowl. After some overzealous zesting, I was left with an extra-fragrant pillowy loaf, but also a handful of battered, pith-white lemons. So, of course, another no-brainer? Lemonade. —Arietta Hallock, editorial intern
Looking to minimize stove time one balmy evening this week, I opted to make my colleague Jesse Szewczyk’s Pasta With No-Cook Cherry Tomato Sauce. The sauce tastes like your favorite bruschetta topping, with juicy tomatoes, fruity olive oil, heaps of raw garlic, Calabrian chile paste, and sweet basil. You put the aforementioned ingredients in a bowl and crush everything with your hands (how fun!). Everything was going swimmingly until my forgotten paper cut started to sting. As Jesse’s thorough instructions suggest, a potato masher will also do, so I switched methods and got at it until all the fruit burst and released their nectar. Finished with pasta shells, pasta water, Parmesan, and globs of butter, T-minus 25 minutes, and I was out of my sweltering kitchen. —Nina Moskowitz, associate editor, cooking
One of my boyfriend’s and my favorite Friday night dinners is getting a whole roast chicken at the store, then making sides to go with it. Sometimes it’s a simple Greek salad, other times Roasted Sweet Potatoes. It’s a low-effort meal that still feels special. The best part? We end up having leftover chicken to last us through the weekend. This time we transformed half of the leftovers into chicken salad served over toast. The other half was tossed into this crowd-pleasing chicken and cabbage salad. —Kate Kassin, editorial operations manager
Tasked with making burgers for a family cookout, I knew I had a great candidate on hand in Claire Saffitz’s timeless stovetop burgers. Calling for just ground beef (80% lean/20% fat is the golden ratio here), salt, and toasty golden buns, the recipe produced perfectly juicy burgers, cloaked attractively in American cheese, in a matter of mere minutes. The photo instructions made it all the more foolproof. —Li Goldstein, associate newsletter editor
July 11
When I stepped into the kitchen to start making dinner at 8:30 p.m., my partner asked incredulously, “Are you cooking something?!” It was 85° outside and our rattling AC had not yet penetrated even the mid-reaches of our apartment. “It’ll only take a minute,” I replied. I sautéed onions, garlic, and ginger with a dash of turmeric until I couldn’t stand the sweltering. Then I dumped the lot into a blender with a can of coconut milk, lime zest and juice—and this is where things get wild—a whole bag of frozen corn and a few scoops of mashed potato flakes. My concoction was based on Anna Stockwell’s gloriously cold Coconut Corn Soup, which uses fresh corn and a cooked potato for texture. My swaps made for an instant chill instead of playing the waiting game. Thinned out with just enough cold water to make it spoonable, and topped with a salad of sliced cherry tomatoes, mint, and cilantro in a nuoc-cham-inspired dressing, dinner was ready, as I promised, in just a few minutes. —Joe Sevier, senior editor, SEO and cooking
I agree with this headnote that French macarons aren’t hard to make, but you might want to take a deep breath before getting started. With leftover egg whites from making homemade ice cream, I decided to follow up with a batch of the meringue-based pastries. Macarons are fussy, as drying time, kitchen temperature, humidity, even piping pressure can determine if they’re going to cooperate (form a crisp shell and strong feet) or if they are going to stick to the parchment paper. Since the ice cream I had made was strawberry, I filled the macarons with a white chocolate and strawberry ganache, for complementary monochrome pink pastries. —Jamila Robinson, editor in chief
Going on several years now, I commemorate the end of June with a flat of apricots. No one is permitted to touch a single fruit from the giant pile sitting on my counter because they are all destined solely for my Annual Apricot Jam Session. I use a recipe by Joyce Goldstein via Andrea Nguyen’s blog, Viet World Kitchen, and make 20 jars’ worth of jam, enough to last me through the winter. The ginger is a lovely touch and everyone I gift a jar to is thrilled. It’s especially good over rice pudding or peanut butter on toast. —Shilpa Uskokovic, senior test kitchen editor
It’s been a heavy news week, and coupled with the oppressive humidity, cooking was the last thing I wanted to do. But a guy still has to eat, so I looked for inspiration in Hawa Hassan’s new book, Setting a Place for Us. Hassan has always inspired me by how she shows up in the world and lifts up the voices of others. Her new book does exactly that, spotlighting how war and violence impacts a country’s cuisine and foodways. It’s a powerful tapestry—equal parts reportage, travelogue, cookbook, and essay anthology—featuring under-reported narratives from countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Lebanon. The book elevates the stories of folks keeping their food traditions alive despite all they’ve experienced. Channeling that spirit, I made Masoub, a Yemeni banana and flatbread pudding that transforms ingredients past their prime into breakfast, and Salatet Summaq, an Iraqi salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions. Boosted by tart, lip-smacking sumac, it altogether had a cooling effect to help beat the heat. —Joseph Hernandez, associate director of drinks and lifestyle
I love the rich, umami flavor of caramelized onions, yet I sometimes struggle with the patience to cook them until jammy. But when I read a reader comment left on this French Onion Dip recipe that claimed it “literally saved my marriage,” I was intrigued enough to set aside some time by the stove. The required standing and stirring encouraged me to slow down and enjoy my scent-filled kitchen. And once the caramelizing was done, the dip came together easily with a simple sour cream base. Mixed with punchy fresh shallots and chives, the two additional alliums contrasted beautifully with the sweet, tender onions. —Arietta Hallock, editorial intern
July 4
I’m not strictly vegetarian, but I tend to cook that way at home. While salads and grain bowls do the trick for a quick dinner, I’m always looking for dynamic, flavorful meals that feel a little more special. I came across Creamy Spinach and Chickpeas from senior Test Kitchen editor Shilpa Uskokovic and knew I had to make it myself. Creamy greens tame the fiery heat from the harissa-dressed beans, and the bright acid and snap from the giardiniera plays well with the richness of the spinach. Topped with what has the be the best garnish out there—store-bought fried shallots—this bowl feels like a reward for a job well done. Don’t forget the naan. —Carly Westerfield, associate manager, audience strategy
I’ve been buying a half loaf of pullman brioche every few weeks for a while now, anticipating the day I would wake up with enough bread and energy left from the week to make French toast. The hitch is that my partner doesn’t like a sweet breakfast. The solution emerged with Anna Stockwell’s genius method for anything-goes French toast. I cut two thick slices of bread and dried them slightly in the oven while I prepped. I whipped together the egg, oat milk, and salt, and fried my partner’s toast, dusting it with fresh pepper and MSG while it seared. I then doctored the egg solution with maple syrup, vanilla, and cinnamon and soaked my own slice. I fried another egg to top the savory toast. All the while, I unearthed my cherry pitter to make quick work of my own topping, and whipped some cream because I’m worth it. —Joe Sevier, senior editor, SEO & cooking
If you store carrots properly, they’ll last. This sometimes means I’ll neglect them for time-sensitive produce until I remember they’re in the crisper drawer. I rediscovered a bag of carrots needing attention this week and transformed them using this simple Quick-Pickled Vegetables recipe. Shaved into ribbons, they absorbed the simple, tangy-sweet brine, and maintained a delicate crunch. The carrots tasted even better the next day, coming so far from the disregarded bag in the back of my fridge. —Arietta Hallock, editorial intern
There are many minimally fussy tomato recipes I keep on rotation during the summer, but Alexis deBoschnek’s Crispy Gnocchi Caprese has just been bumped to the top. It’s my ideal weeknight dinner, asking very little of me while overdelivering on flavor and looks. Store-bought gnocchi gets crispy and chewy in a hot skillet. While that’s going, smoky roasted peppers and raw cherry tomatoes are dressed in sherry vinegar to balance their natural sweetness and acidity. Top it all off with creamy mozzarella (or burrata if you’re feeling it), some tender herbs, and you’re done. One pan, no hot kitchen, and a bowl of pasta that tastes like a summer garden. —Kelsey Jane Youngman, senior service editor
