It’s no secret that BA 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, to entertain our friends, to satisfy a sweet tooth, to use up leftovers, and everything in between. For even more staff favorites, click here.
June 30
Summer veggie showcase
I saw associate food editor Rachel Gurjar post on Instagram about this recipe and immediately went out to buy sweet peppers. Even without a grill (I roasted the peppers and squash together in my toaster oven and did the burst-tomato sauce on the stove) Rachel’s dish was a way to brighten up our cooking routine and enjoy seasonal veggies—all without too much effort. —Sonia Chopra, executive editor
Uyen Luu’s newest cookbook, Vietnamese Vegetarian, is such a knockout. I had it in hand for less than a day before making a recipe—which you can also find on Epicurious and the Epicurious app—tomatoey tofu with basil. It is jammy and savory, a total dream with white rice. I didn’t have any spinach, but I did have some wilted kale and that worked great. —Emma Laperruque, senior cooking editor
Punchy, vibrant fish tacos
One of my friends recently asked me to teach him how to cook. For our biweekly dinners I’ve deliberately chosen recipes that 1) are easy enough for him to repeat on his own and 2) contain plenty of teachable moments. This week’s lesson: how to cut a pineapple. We doubled this pineapple-chile salsa recipe and had enough for both of us to go home with leftovers. The punchy, vibrant salsa paired extraordinarily well with the simply seared salmon, and I’ve been enjoying it on tacos and burrito bowls throughout the week. —Zoe Denenberg, associate cooking & SEO editor
“Is it my imagination or does this dressing have a kick?” It was, perhaps, my favorite question at a boisterous dinner party of a dozen guests, where the conversations were animated. The dressing for this kale salad, made with fish sauce, sugar, water, chile, garlic, and a bit of oil did, indeed, pack heat because of the star ingredient: the ginger, which is broiled for 45 minutes before being pulverized with the other ingredients. Two guests even asked if I would bottle the dressing. This is a game-changer. —Dawn Davis, editor in chief
Weeknight saucy pork chops
Pork chops are what I turn to when other proteins feel like too much effort. Quick-cooking and juicy, I think they’re particularly good for low-inspiration nights when salmon, chicken, and steak feel uninspiring. After a late-night Wednesday meeting, I swapped the rice vinegar in this four-ingredient marinade for Taiwanese black vinegar to complement soy sauce’s umami, and seared the chops in my cast-iron, basting with the excess marinade along the way. After letting them sit I cut the chops into slices and served them with lime wedges for acidity and a corn-and-jalapeño ramen salad for starch and crunch. —Alma Avalle, digital operations associate
June 23
Refreshing, summery cucumber salad
Crunchy, fragrant, and colorful, this salad of fried chickpeas, cucumbers, and feta is so delicious and easy, I make it all summer. The addition of seeded crackers at the end gives it an added texture and unexpected oomph. When cucumbers and basil are in season, it’s that much better. I pack it up for beach picnics, take it to potlucks, and munch on it between Zooms when I don’t have time for a proper lunch. —Dawn Davis, editor in chief
Wait! Even if you have your go-to Aperol spritz recipe—or even if you think you don’t like them—this version is worth your consideration. The ratios are slightly adjusted from the classic version, making it a little less sweet, a little less bitter, and altogether more gulpable. I’ve been making them on the regular for the past few weekends. Recently I made a version for my sister, who is strongly anti-Aperol. I used Lillet Blanc in place of the bittersweet aperitif for a drink that was even more quaffable and even more summery. Really, I could drink either all day long. —Joe Sevier, SEO Editor, cooking
Smoky, spicy veggie tacos
I don’t need to tell you that grocery prices have been unhinged lately. For a chunk of this year, I could only find seven-something-dollar cauliflowers. Which is to say, I wasn’t buying any cauliflower. So when the curse broke and I crossed paths with a reasonably priced one, I pounced. I knew exactly what to do with it: associate food editor Zaynab Issa’s Chipotle-Roasted Cauliflower Tacos. Just the sort of one-dish, no-side-needed dinner that I crave after work. And the extra cilantro sour cream was a dream scooped up with potato chips. —Emma Laperruque, senior cooking editor
When the sky was the color of an orange highlighter and I was rummaging the bottom of my bag for an old mask, I knew I needed something comforting. After leaving work on the day that the smoke from the Canadian wildfires was at its worst in New York City, I ran into a store to grab some pancetta to make Claire Saffitz’s Simple Pasta Carbonara. The sauce for this dish comes together in the time it takes to cook the pasta, which means I was curled up on the couch with a negroni in my hand before the sun went down—or at least I think. It was kind of hard to tell. —Carly Westerfield, recipe production assistant
Bright berry pudding
I’ve had a certain bakery’s famed banana pudding shoved at me more times than I count, and yes, it’s good—but I simply am not a fan of so much banana in a dessert, especially one where the mush blends in with the mush of the pudding itself. Fresh summer berries though? That I can get behind. I’ve been dying to make Shilpa Uskokovic’s Lush Vanilla Berry Pudding once berry season hit again this year, and it was as simple and impressive as promised. It’s airy and angelic, the kind of dessert you serve to folks who swear they aren’t into sweets. Bring it to every summer potluck. —Serena Dai, editorial director
June 16
Velvety veggie ragù
“This is a fun recipe because I couldn’t have guessed what the final product would taste like,” one reviewer wrote about this Pierce Abernathy recipe. I couldn’t agree more. You start by pulsing a raw beet, canned chickpeas, fresh garlic, and shitake mushrooms into a rice-like texture in the food processor. “Where is this going?” you’ll wonder, staring at the shockingly red medley. After cooking it into an aromatic mush with Aleppo-style pepper, miso, and butter, you’ll taste a spoonful and nod with satisfaction. Then you’ll toss it with spaghetti, pasta water, and a shower of parm—stirring vigorously until the sauce is vibrant and glossy. You’ll fork a velvety, savory, smoky tangle of noodles into your mouth and think to yourself, “No further questions.” —Ali Francis, staff writer
For my cousin’s birthday I knew exactly what to make for lunch: associate food editor Kendra Vaculin’s gorgeous mezze spread from BA’s June issue. Taking all of her maximalist party wisdom in stride, we made every component, including pickled onions, harissa-mashed chickpeas, lemony chicken skewers, Greek yogurt swirled with sizzled spices, and my favorite, tahini-brushed charred eggplant. Pocketed into warmed pita with fragrant herbs, my whole family devoured the spread in minutes. —Antara Sinha, associate cooking editor
Riffable noodle salad
I don’t eat chicken, but I was tempted enough—a lot—by the “peanut sauce” and “noodle salad” components of this recipe that I made it anyway. I poached a block of firm tofu using the method deputy food editor Hana Asbrink spells out for chicken and otherwise followed the recipe as written. The result is a spicy-creamy noodle with crisp lettuce and cucumbers that hold up beautifully. Which means it’s great for meal-prepping weekday lunches, so I know I’ll be making it again and again all summer long. —Sonia Chopra, executive editor
On a truly dire work-from-home day (fridge: empty, Zoom meeting calendar: full), I raided my pantry for a late lunch. Armed with some canned tomatoes, beans, and some crusty bread from the freezer, this beans on toast recipe checked off all the boxes: easy, speedy, and most importantly, filling. I cut a few corners and nixed the sausage and cheese, making it accidentally vegan—but with plenty of aromatics and herbs, I didn’t miss them. Now, when that grocery run is just a day away, this recipe is my go-to. —AS
Speedy, lemony orzo
Weeknight dinners are my achilles heel. I’m far more likely to head to a restaurant on a weekday when it’s easier to snag a reservation; then I’ll spend my weekends cooking laborious meals for friends at home. But, being reasonable, I can’t eat out five days a week, so I was eager to try Kendra’s Spring Orzotto. This dish hit all the spots. It was remarkably creamy, truly rivaling the texture of classic risotto, but the pasta didn’t fall apart. The peas popped and kept their crunch, and the juicy pop of lemon at the end brought everything to life. —Carly Westerfield, recipe production assistant
June 9
Freezer-friendly buttery corn
It’s “how do we have so much frozen veg in our freezer” season in my household and last night’s dinner used up not one but two different half-opened bags of corn. I can’t believe I haven’t made this recipe before because it checks all the boxes for me: easy, fast, pantry staples. Corn and scallions are cooked in a soy-and-mirin sauce that finishes with a swirl of butter. Tofu (I cubed and baked mine versus pan-frying planks of it) gets nestled in, and that’s dinner, folks! We served ours with salmon and salad but I’ll be taking leftovers to work over farro. —Sonia Chopra, executive editor
I had a few farmers market strawberries rounding the corner from overripe to mush, so I put them to good use in this gorgeous strawberry matcha coffee cake from King Arthur Baking. The tender cake is shot through with a green ribbon of matcha filling and topped with macerated berries, buttery crumbs, and a pastel pink glaze. I swapped in a bit of barley and buckwheat flour for some subtle nuttiness that played nice with the matcha. Note that you’ll have a bit of sugary strawberry juice left over—don’t toss it! Mix it with seltzer or, as I did, hibiscus iced tea. —MacKenzie Chung Fegan, senior commerce editor
Herby, bright pasta salad
Call it the most delicious form of peer pressure, but when I noticed everyone on my feed posting about Kendra Vaculin’s Broken Lasagna Pasta Salad the minute the weather got nice, I just had to make it too. The recipe comes together nice and easy: Break lasagna noodles into pieces, boil ’em, and toss in a dressing that comes together well before your water’s done boiling. I didn’t have enough olives, I used roasted almonds instead of toasting my own, and I couldn’t find radicchio so I used a bagged romaine-and-radicchio mix (why don’t I do this more often?). Even still, my husband called the end result a “top-five dish.” And it’s vegan! —SC
How many bunches of radish leaves have I thrown out? I don’t know and, if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. It’s embarrassing! Shameful. Reprehensible. That’s why I was so grateful to read Michelle Tchea’s love letter to radish leaf stir-fries. The hardest part is washing the radish leaves—do not skip this, they are filthy—and then you are minutes away from lunch or dinner. With wisps of scrambled eggs, the greens are a little garlicky and a lot savory, just asking to be plopped on top of rice and dotted with chili crisp. —Emma Laperruque, senior cooking editor
Potluck-ready quiche
I attended my first baby shower this weekend and was asked to bring a dish for the 1 p.m. spread. I hemmed and hawed about cute thematic cookies or delicate pastries, but my partner insisted quiche was the move and (as usual, please keep this between us) he was right. BA’s Best Quiche Lorraine requires a deep dish pie plate, which I don’t have. Instead I made two regular-depth crusts and one batch of the eggy custard. One crust got the classic bacon-and-gruyere combo, while the other was a springy asparagus, pea, and goat cheese number. The custard was exactly the right amount to fill both, which I wedged inside a pizza box to safely transport to the party. —Kendra Vaculin, associate food editor
June 2
Speedy chicken lettuce wraps
Every Asian-ish restaurant in the suburbs had some sort of lettuce wrap appetizer, so I never really ate them growing up, assuming it wasn’t “authentic” or whatever. But lettuce wraps are good. And bonus: They are so easy to make on a weeknight. I used this simple Christina Chaey recipe for Spicy Chicken Lettuce Wraps; the only thing I needed to pick up from my corner store was ground chicken and butter lettuce. I went extra hard on fish sauce and added some sliced, raw red onion at the end for an additional pungent kick. Usually, I’d eat a ground meat dish like this with rice, but by using lettuce, I didn’t even have to wait for my Zojurushi to get dinner on the table. Speedy! —Serena Dai, editorial director
I cook for myself often, but hands-down the best meal I’ve made so far this year is classic sole meunière, credited as the dish that made Julia Child fall in love with French cuisine. I assumed it would be way more difficult to make than it actually was. The thin sole fillets cook in approximately three minutes, perfect for when it’s 8 p.m. and you’re already starving. But what really makes it special is the brown-butter-lemon pan sauce, glossing the fish with a nutty, speckled sheen. If it can make Julia Child fall in love, well, let’s just say that I plan to cook this very impressive, very low-effort dinner for all my future suitors. —Zoe Denenberg, associate cooking & SEO editor
Plush, citrusy loaf cake
I am not exaggerating when I say I’ve thought about baking Molly Baz’s Earl Grey Yogurt Cake probably 200 times—more than once a week since the recipe published in early 2020. This weekend I finally made it and my only question is: Why did it take me so long? It’s a plush and citrusy loaf cake that comes together fast. I used Rishi’s bagged Earl Grey, listened to the comments that recommended cutting the oil down to ¾ cup, and ignored the ones that skipped the vanilla. It hung out on the kitchen counter for snacking the entire long weekend —Sonia Chopra, executive editor
I absolutely love retro party food: pimento cheese dip, baked oysters, pigs in a blanket, I could go on and on. Luckily, Ina Garten and I have that in common. My love of this type of party appetizer may stem from her ability to redo these classics, updating them to reflect the way we eat today. So when I was recently invited to a potluck-style dinner, I was already thinking of her roasted shrimp cocktail. Instead of poaching the shrimp, she roasts them with olive oil, salt, and pepper, which results not only in more flavor, but a warm style of the classic dish. Her cocktail sauce that accompanies the shrimp is punchy and textural thanks to a heavy dose of horseradish—exactly what I need to wake up my appetite before digging into dinner. —Carly Westerfield, recipe production assistant
Garlicky, tangy som tum thai
For my mom’s birthday, we decided to go full Thai-takeout-inspired for dinner: pad see ew with stir-fried shrimp and those delightfully squishy broad rice noodles; Thai tea with boba from those easy-to-assemble packages from the Asian grocery store; and this som tum thai recipe, that I put my younger brother and cousin to work on, including shredding the green papaya. It’s so sour and garlicky, fishy and herby, sweet and nutty, but somehow, completely balanced. It’s rare that a side salad outshines the main dish, but it somehow managed. —Antara Sinha, associate cooking editor
