Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites: A Cookbook

Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites: A Cookbook

by Deb Perelman
Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites: A Cookbook

Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites: A Cookbook

by Deb Perelman

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Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLERFrom the best-selling author of The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook—this everyday cookbook is “filled with fun and easy ... recipes that will have you actually looking forward to hitting the kitchen at the end of a long work day” (Bustle).

A happy discovery in the kitchen has the ability to completely change the course of your day. Whether we’re cooking for ourselves, for a date night in, for a Sunday supper with friends, or for family on a busy weeknight, we all want recipes that are unfussy to make with triumphant results.

Deb Perelman, award-winning blogger, thinks that cooking should be an escape from drudgery. Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites presents more than one hundred impossible-to-resist recipes—almost all of them brand-new, plus a few favorites from her website—that will make you want to stop what you’re doing right now and cook. These are real recipes for real people—people with busy lives who don’t want to sacrifice flavor or quality to eat meals they’re really excited about.

You’ll want to put these recipes in your Forever Files: Sticky Toffee Waffles (sticky toffee pudding you can eat for breakfast), Everything Drop Biscuits with Cream Cheese, and Magical Two-Ingredient Oat Brittle (a happy accident). There’s a (hopelessly, unapologetically inauthentic) Kale Caesar with Broken Eggs and Crushed Croutons, a Mango Apple Ceviche with Sunflower Seeds, and a Grandma-Style Chicken Noodle Soup that fixes everything. You can make Leek, Feta, and Greens Spiral Pie, crunchy Brussels and Three Cheese Pasta Bake that tastes better with brussels sprouts than without, Beefsteak Skirt Steak Salad, and Bacony Baked Pintos with the Works (as in, giant bowls of beans that you can dip into like nachos).

And, of course, no meal is complete without cake (and cookies and pies and puddings): Chocolate Peanut Butter Icebox Cake (the icebox cake to end all icebox cakes), Pretzel Linzers with Salted Caramel, Strawberry Cloud Cookies, Bake Sale Winning-est Gooey Oat Bars, as well as the ultimate Party Cake Builder—four one-bowl cakes for all occasions with mix-and-match frostings (bonus: less time spent doing dishes means everybody wins).

Written with Deb’s trademark humor and gorgeously illustrated with her own photographs, Smitten Kitchen Every Day is filled with what are sure to be your new favorite things to cook.

Look for Deb Perelman’s latest cookbook, Smitten Kitchen Keepers!

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781101874820
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date: 10/24/2017
Sold by: Random House
Format: eBook
Pages: 352
Sales rank: 644,543
File size: 205 MB
Note: This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

About The Author
DEB PERELMAN is a self-taught home cook, photographer, and the creator of smittenkitchen.com. She is the author of the New York Times best-selling The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, which won the IACP Julia Child Award. Deb lives in New York City with her husband, son, and daughter.

Read an Excerpt

against drudgery

(or, hooray for breakfast, dinner, and cake)

One of the delights of life is eating with friends; second to that is talking about eating. And, for an unsurpassed double whammy, there is talking about eating while you are eating with friends. People who like to cook like to talk about food. Plain old cooks (as opposed to geniuses in fancy restaurants) tend to be friendly. After all, without one cook giving another cook a tip or two, human life might have died out a long time ago. —laurie colwin, Home Cooking

We home cooks have never gathered in force to speak out in defense of home cooking. So the image of cookery as drudgery lives on. —marion cunningham, Lost Recipes

This isn’t the cookbook I had expected to write.

When The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook headed to the printer in 2012, we were a family of three. Our two-year-old was eating table food, but in a dabbling way. Mostly, I cooked the food that I was excited to eat and little about having a kid changed how I went about it. In the years since, we’ve added another delicious little human to our family and while most people will tell you that going from 0 kids to 1 is the big adjustment, in the kitchen, the shift from 1 to 2 was more dramatic. All of a sudden, it wasn’t just us plus an extra half-portion stripped of offending chile peppers or with some couscous on the side to bait a suspicious toddler to the table. Quickly, half our family (ahem, the noisier half) needed square meals at predictable times and I, well . . . ​I began to understand why not everyone jumps with joy when it’s time to make dinner.

On any given night, most of us have countless really excellent reasons not to cook—be it picky kids, spouses, or roommates, or the extinction of a 9-to-5 workday that might actually get you home in time to assemble dinner for yourself, your friends, or your family. Even the people who are ostensibly cheering for you to cook can do more harm than good, be they restaurant chefs who forget you may not have a line of prep cooks at your disposal, recipe writers who alienate the budget-conscious by insisting on the “best” olive oil, or home-cooking advocates who tell you the very best thing you can do for your health/your children’s IQ/the economy/environment/nothing short of this earth (oh, the pressure!) is cook dinner every night—people who have clearly not spent a lot of time in the chaos of most households at Hangry O’Clock. (Roughly, 30 minutes after pizza would have been there already, at least around here.)

I began to wonder if it was time to write about the realities and practicalities of cooking. You know:

•How to Keep the Joy in Cooking

•42-ish Minute Meals (But You’ll Have to Rush)

•Things to Make with Broccoli and/or Sweet Potatoes, the Only Vegetables Everyone Agrees on This Week

•Just Kidding, the Baby Ate Blueberries for Dinner Again

There was only one problem: I didn’t want to write this book at all. And so I did not. I continued sharing new recipes a couple times a week on my website, Smitten Kitchen. I launched a newsletter. I worked with people to usher the technology behind my site into its second decade of web life. I started working with the Food Network on a digital series. I spent a lot of time around the table with friends and family and couldn’t help but notice that what was regularly taking place—telling stories, workshopping silly armchair philosophies, cracking up over the baby’s antics—barely resembled the compromised, plodding hypotheses I’d set out about cooking when life gets busier.

What I have always loved about cooking is the way a happy discovery—a new way to meatball, a four-ingredient farro that has caused more than 800 comment section exclamation points, cookies that look like clouds and taste like pink lemonade, crunchy spaghetti with crispy eggs, a birthday cake you can make from scratch in just over an hour (yes really) or maybe even four of them—has the power to completely change the course of a day.

I like the way that when you make something new and awesome the first thing you want to do is tell another friend about it so they can make it, too. I like the way following a recipe to the letter can feel like handing the reins over after a long day of having to make all the decisions, but also that pulling off a good meal when you least expected is the fastest way to feel triumphant, even if your day left you short of opportunities to. I like the way that when you sublimate your wanderlust in a dish—a cacio e pepe addiction picked up in Rome or a Thai salad with crispy shallots, lime, and fish sauce—it becomes a gateway, or an escape hatch, to so much more than dinner. I like the way that when you cook at home, you don’t actually have to compromise a thing; you get to make exactly what you want, exactly the way you want it, and then you get to invite all your favorite people over to pass the dish around. I like the way a great meal makes grouchy people ungrouchy or a thankless day filled with thankless stuff into a hilarious one. And I like the way the prospect of a fudgy one-bowl chocolate cake with a raft of chocolate frosting one hour from now might make us cancel our other plans.

And the thing is, people—that is, you, the people who have come along for all or part of Smitten Kitchen’s decade-plus story—had been trying to tell me this the whole time.

The stories in the comments and in my inbox are as much about the cooking as they are about the life around it—the delight from the surprise of a good meal, the person who thought they hated broccoli or Brussels sprouts finding that with the right preparation, they adore both, or finding, on a morning you think there’s no reason to cook, a new pancake recipe that you’re too curious not to make. This doesn’t mean that these dishes aren’t practical, that they cannot fit into a busy life, that they cannot accommodate picky eaters and grocery stores with limited imagination, it simply means that they don’t do that before—they don’t prioritize that over—making food that we are really, really excited to eat.

This book is how—forgive me—I got my groove back.

These recipes don’t just fit into our lives, they make us happy.

Happiness is great big bowls of beans that we dip into like nachos.

It’s my kids’ beloved roasted sweet potatoes given the dry-rub barbecue treatment, slaw and all.

It’s the famous chopped liver you get in a windowless basement restaurant on Christie Street that’s like a Bar Mitzvah that never ends (in a good way).

It’s a crunchy three-cheese pasta bake that tastes better with Brussels sprouts (yes, Brussels sprouts) than without.

It’s giant white beans cooked to the tune of baked ziti, bronzed melty lid and all.

It’s the hopelessly unapologetically inauthentic kale Caesar we make almost every week of the year.

It’s the English-muffin meets-Jewish-deli-rye-bread recipe I promised to a library full of people a book tour ago.

It’s a modern matzo ball soup and the beef bulgogi tacos I fell in love with at the Jersey shore.

It’s a whole-grain bread for people who don’t like to knead or time things, a bread that works on your schedule and not vice versa.

And such a great big noisy fuss over cake (and cookies and pies and Popsicles).

The jam-filled, sprinkle-rolled butter cookies I made at the bakery where I worked in high school.

The gooey oat and chocolate cookie bars that will win bake sales.

The strawberry tart that the stray friend we picked up at a party sixteen years tago coached me through over Skype from Germany.

The chocolate icebox cake to end all icebox cakes, with peanut butter too.

The crumb cake with impeccable priorities—that is, more crumbs than cake—and a very familiar name.

A sticky toffee pudding, but breakfast-style.

The blueberry muffins I made fifty ways before finding my forever formula.

And an accidental two-ingredient granola.

So while this isn’t the cookbook I expected to write, I like the one that’s emerged much more—a celebration of breakfast, dinner, cake, and everything in between, and maybe a bit of resistance, too: against the idea that cooking must be an obstacle to overcome or and that the food we most want to eat cannot also be practical. This book is all of my new favorite things to cook, and I hope you’ll find a few worthy of your Repeat Forever files, too.

deli rye english muffins
yield: 12 miniature (21/4-inch) or 8 standard-sized (31/2-to-33/4-inch) muffins

My favorite thing about this recipe is where it started, which, specifically, was in front of a library full of people in St. Louis while I was on a book tour. Someone asked me how I came up with recipes, and I’m sorry if it disappoints you to learn this, but I’ve never been good on my feet and was as fumbling and inarticulate as ever: “Uh, sometimes they just come to me? Or I’ll just get an idea when I’m on the crosstown bus and . . .” It was pretty bad, but since there was no one to rescue me, I just blathered along. “. . . ​Like, this morning, I was thinking how cool it would be if you could make an English muffin that tasted like rye bread, because they’re my two favorite kinds of toast to go with eggs,” and someone said, “You should! Now you can start your second book!”

So, as fated—eh, 2.5 years and one kid later—I began here. I learned a few things along the way. English-muffin recipes are divided into two camps: those that require pastry rings to hold the batter in shape, and those that use a thicker dough but allow you to free-form them. The first category make for great nooks and crannies, but are unquestionably a pest to maneuver. The second category have some nooks and a few crannies but don’t require any specialty-store purchases. To get the results of the peskier method without the hassle, I found you had to use a softer dough.

And then, once you’ve made English muffins that taste like a good deli rye bread, what do you do with them? Toasting them with sweet butter is always my first choice. They’re also excellent with a heap of scrambled eggs or a crispy fried one, maybe with a little hash underneath. And they’re good for any kind of sandwich you’d normally put on rye.

21/4 teaspoons (from a 7-gram or 1/4-ounce packet) active dry yeast

1/4 cup (60 ml) lukewarm water

3/4 cup (175 ml) milk or buttermilk

2 tablespoons (30 grams) unsalted butter, plus more for bowl

1 tablespoon (15 grams) granulated sugar

2/3 cup (80 grams) dark rye flour

11/3 cups (175 grams) all-purpose or bread flour, plus more for surface

11/2 teaspoons coarse or kosher salt

2 teaspoons (5 grams) whole or ground caraway seeds

Oil, for greasing bowl and coating skillet

Cornmeal, polenta, or semolina, for sprinkling

Combine the yeast and water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Let rest 5 minutes; the yeast should dissolve and look slightly foamy. Gently warm the buttermilk, butter, and sugar to lukewarm (not hot), and add it to the yeast mixture, followed by the flours, salt, and caraway. Use the dough hook to combine until a shaggy, uneven dough forms; then let the hook knead it down on the lowest speed for 5 minutes, until the dough is stretchy and cohesive. Butter or oil a large bowl (or do as I do and remove the dough long enough to oil the mixing bowl, then return the dough to it), and let it proof at room temperature, covered with a dishcloth or plastic, for 1 hour. (That’s it!)

Lightly spray a large baking sheet with oil, then generously sprinkle it with cornmeal. Lightly flour your counter, turn the dough out onto it, flour the top, and gently deflate it with your hands. Divide the dough into pieces; twelve pieces for minis, eight for standard muffins. Roll them gently into balls, and place on the cornmealed baking sheet, pressing gently to flatten them into discs (about 3/4‑inch diameter). Spray the tops lightly with oil, and sprinkle them with cornmeal, too. Cover loosely, and proof at room temperature for 30 minutes more or up to 3 days in the fridge. If chilled, let them warm up for 30 minutes at room temperature before cooking.

Heat oven to 250 degrees.

Let a cast-iron skillet warm over the lowest heat for 5 to 7 minutes, then lightly coat the inside with neutral cooking oil for insurance against sticking, but not enough that the muffins will fry. Dust off the excess cornmeal from the muffins. Let the bottom of each muffin brown slowly and very gently in pan, about 5 minutes. (If yours are taking longer, you can bump the heat to medium-low.) Flip them, and cook for another 4 to 5 minutes. You can flip back and forth again if needed.

Shake the excess cornmeal off the baking sheet, and transfer pan-toasted muffins to oven. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until sides are firm to the touch. Cool to almost room temperature, then fork-split.

Table of Contents

Against drudgery xiii

Breakfast

Deli rye english muffins 3

Granola biscotti 5

Jam-bellied bran scones 8

Baked oatmeal with caramelized pears and vanilla cream 11

Spinach, mushroom, and goat cheese slab frittata 12

Everything drop biscuits with cream cheese 17

Ricotta blini with honey, orange, and sea salt 18

Loaded breakfast potato skins 20

Sticky toffee waffles 23

Raspberry hazelnut brioche bostock 25

Polenta-baked eggs with corn, tomato, and fontina 28

Magical two-ingredient oat brittle 31

Flipped crispy egg taco with singed greens 32

Alex's bloody mary shrimp cocktail 35

Perfect blueberry muffins 37

Salads

Cauliflower wedge 42

Mango apple ceviche with sunflower seeds 45

Potatoes and asparagus gribiche 46

Winter slaw with farro 48

Smashed cucumber salad with salted peanuts and wasabi peas 50

Sushi takeout cobb 53

Kale caesar with broken eggs and crushed croutons 55

Charred corn succotash with lime and crispy shallots 59

Whitefish and pickled cucumber salad 61

Fennel, pear, celery, and hazelnut salad 65

Fall-toush salad with delicata squash and brussels sprouts 66

Arrot salad with tahini, crisped chickpeas, and salted pistachios 68

Soups and Stews

Red lentil soup, dal style 72

Pea tortellini in parmesan broth 75

Mini-matzo ball soup with horseradish and herbs 77

Roasted tomato soup with broiled cheddar 80

Cucumber yogurt gazpacho with mint, almonds, and grapes 82

Spiced carrot and pepper soup with a couscous swirl 84

Grandma-style chicken noodle soup 87

Manhattan-style clams with fregola 90

Sandwiches, Tarts, and Flatbreads

Broccoli melts 94

Artichoke and parmesan galette 97

Leek, feta, and greens spiral pie 99

Grilled yogurt flatbreads 102

Corn, bacon, and arugula pizza 104

Roasted tomato picnic sandwich 107

A very simple pizza dough 108

Winter squash flatbread with hummus and za'atar 109

A dense, grainy daily bread 112

Vegetable Mains

Halloumi roast with eggplant, zucchini, and tomatoes 116

Parmesan dutch baby with creamed mushrooms 118

Crispy tofu and broccoli with sesame-peanut pesto 121

Fried green plantains with avocado black bean salsa 123

Broccoli, cheddar, and wild rice fritters 126

Wild mushroom shepherd's pie 129

Spring fried barley with a sesame sizzled egg 131

Zucchini-stuffed zucchini with sorta salsa verde 134

Romesco, chickpea, and smashed egg bowl 137

Dry-rub sweet potato steaks with green bean slaw 139

Tomato and gigante bean bake / pizza beans 143

My go-to garlic bread 144

Cacio e pepe potatoes anna 145

Caramelized cabbage risotto 148

Mujadara-stuffed cabbage with minted tomato sauce 151

Spaghetti pangrattato with crispy eggs 153

Brussels and three cheese pasta bake 157

One-pan farro with tomatoes 159

Meat Mains

Brick hens with charred lemon 164

Siberian pelmeni 167

Crispy short rib carnitas with sunset slaw 168

Quick sausage, kale, and crouton sauté 172

Smoky sheet pan chicken with cauliflower 174

Chicken and rice, street cart style 177

Grilled squid with chickpeas, chiles, and lemon 179

Meatballs marsala with egg noodles and chives 183

Beefsteak skirt steak salad with blue cheese and parsley basil vinaigrette 185

Pork tenderloin agrodolce with squash rings 189

Sizzling beef bulgogi tacos 191

Miso maple ribs with roasted scallions 195

Bacony baked pintos with the works 197

Sweets

Two thick, chewy oatmeal raisin chocolate chip mega-cookies 204

Strawberry cloud cookies 206

Double coconut meltaways 209

Olive oil shortbread with rosemary and chocolate chunks 210

Pretzel linzers with salted caramel 213

Bakery-style butter cookies 215

Tarts and pies

Wintry apple bake with double ginger crumble 221

Julie's punked strawberry tart 223

Chocolate pecan slab pie 226

Caramelized plum tartlets 230

Apricot pistachio squares 233

Bake sale winning-est gooey oat bars 235

Cake

Marble bundt cake 241

The smeteneh küchen / sour cream coffee cake 243

Banana bread roll 247

Marizan petit four cake 249

Chocolate peanut butter icebox cake 252

The party cake builder 257

Puddings, frozen things, etc

Blackout brownie waffle sundae 270

Lemon meringue pie smash 273

Cheesecake semifreddo with gingersnaps and cranberries 275

Danish rice pudding with cherry black pepper sauce 279

Peach melba popsicles 281

Toasted marshmallow milkshake 284

Cannoli zeppole 287

Apps, Snacks, and Party Food

Kale-dusted pecorino popcorn 291

Herb and garlic baked camembert 293

Chopped liver on rye, roumanian steakhouse style 297

Mom's bread bowl with spinach liptauer and pickled red onions 299

Crushed olives with almonds, celery, and parmesan 303

Garden gin and tonic with cucumber, lime, and mint 305

Pomegranate and orange peel fizz 306

Acknowledgments 309

Measurements 311

A guide for special menus 313

Index 317

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