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, entertain our friends, satisfy a sweet tooth, use up leftovers, and everything in between. For even more staff favorites, click here.
June 28
Lately, I’ve been rocking with Rick Martinez’s Homemade Caesar Dressing. Anchovies are a staple in my household, so naturally, I had a half-opened can sitting pretty in the fridge. I threw everything into the biggest bowl in my kitchen, along with glugs of olive oil that I swapped in for vegetable oil. I also added a spoonful of miso paste so the dressing could truly sing with umami. —Nina Moskowitz, editorial assistant
Come summer, I’d happily eat zucchini every week, and often do. Most recently, I turned to this Grilled Zucchini and Bulgur Salad With Feta and Preserved-Lemon Dressing from Hetty Lui McKinnon. Instead of slicing the zucchini into planks, I opted for lengthwise quarters. And in lieu of mint, I used dill. The garlicky honey-lemon dressing was so good, I want to put it on all my grilled veg this summer. And the leftover bulgur made a great breakfast the next day, bulked up with some chopped dates. —Emma Laperruque, associate director of cooking
We’ve reached that level of heat when I simply can’t turn on my oven and make my apartment even hotter. This is when a dinner like this Hot-Smoked Salmon Noodle Salad comes in handy. Yes, you’ll have to cook the green beans and soba, but they’re both served at room temperature alongside crunchy veggies like romaine and radishes. Beyond hot-smoked, this recipe also works swimmingly with a salmon fillet cooked to your liking. For me that usually means seared in a pan with a quick marinade of soy sauce, maple syrup, sesame oil, and ginger. —Kate Kassin, editorial operations manager
I’ve been let down by a lot of no-cook tomato sauces. Last year test kitchen editor Kendra Vaculin put it better than I could: “No-cook sauces have none of the thickness and body that I want dressing my pasta,” she wrote. Exactly! And that’s what makes senior test kitchen editor Jesse Szewczyk’s No-Cook Cherry Tomato Sauce so special. By adding butter and grated parm to the hot pasta, then adding the tomatoes, you get a sauce that actually has thickness and body, happily clinging to each noodle. I’ll make it again and again all summer. —E.L.
June 21
Bell peppers, chickpeas, bread: This sheet-pan recipe from Kendra Vaculin elevates these pantry staples into a bright and savory dinner. As a meat eater living with two vegetarians, I find a lot of plant-based dishes lacking in texture—but not this one. Crispy chickpeas and croutons beautifully complement the creamy ricotta (definitely go for whole-milk rather than part-skim). And good produce makes the dish. Fresh bell peppers blister in the oven, deepening their delicate-sweet flavor and softening into a starring role. —Zachary Zawila, research fellow
I have a few cake recipes I know by heart for birthdays and special occasions. One of those is from Hetal Vasavada’s cookbook Milk & Cardamom. The Gulab Jamun Bundt Cake comes together in about an hour but looks like you spent the entire day making it. Like gulab jamun, the cake gets soaked in a fragrant saffron-cardamom syrup right when it comes out of the oven. But unlike the laborious process of making gulab jamun, I get all of the flavors with less of the effort. It’s so good, there are rarely any leftovers for the next day. —Urmila Ramakrishnan, associate director of social media
Like Zachary (above), I also grabbed a sheet pan for a low-lift, high-reward dinner this week. With crisp gnocchi (store-bought are a favorite around BA HQ), jammy tomatoes, and peppy arugula, this recipe from Sarah Jampel is a longtime favorite for our readers and editors alike. It took just over a half hour from start to finish, and most of that was inactive time. Perfect for a busy night after a busy day. —E.L.
Days after returning from my bucket-list vacation to Japan, my body still thought I was in Tokyo. My husband and I both woke at four-something and no amount of counting sheep could lull us back to sleep. Fortunately, as someone who used to work as a night-shift baker, I knew the solution: head to the kitchen and make breakfast. I love an all-cream, no-butter scone for its ease, so this recipe from Claire Saffitz jumped out. Instead of just blueberries, I swapped in a frozen blend that also had cherries, raspberries, and blackberries. And instead of old-fashioned oats, all I had were instant. The recipe still worked great—just the thing to go with a much-needed cup of coffee. —E.L.
I made this Slow-Roasted Salmon With Harissa for my parents last year and recently learned that they make it nearly every week now. I can see why: You just need a hunk of fish, a jar of good harissa (NY Shuk forever), lemon, garlic, and some herbs, and the fish comes out deeply flavorful and tender. They like to double the batch since the leftovers are even good served cold, mixed into some salad greens. —Maggie Hoffman, contributing editor
June 14
The only constant in life is change, and while there is beauty in the chaos, it can start to make a guy (me) feel unmoored. Recently, my carefully planned routines and schedules have taken a beating: I’m waking up earlier, getting home later, adjusting to a new commute and new dining times, among other things. One thing that’s been helping: Precooked, freezer-friendly onigiri that I can batch up on a Sunday night. Rice bowls are a staple in my household, but I’ve also been doubling the amount of rice I cook to make these portable, fuss-free, microwavable snacks. They barely make it through the week before I mix up another batch. More nourishing and cozy than anything coming out of a vending machine, these tidy lil' guys are perfect to scarf down on my way to my next meeting. —Joseph Hernandez, associate director, drinks
My partner and I rang in summer cocktail season with a round of Jungle Birds: A mix of Campari, rum, and pineapple juice that tastes like a very intricate, slightly bitter tropical punch. I mixed them up for us while he rinsed away the too-early-in-the-season-to-be-this-sweaty commute. As he emerged, refreshed and in his comfies, I handed him the ice-cold glass. “That’s delicious,” he said, his spirit returning. “That tastes like summer.” Mission accomplished. —Joe Sevier, senior SEO editor
For a summer dinner party, what is better than a tender, buttery pastry shell cradling vanilla custard and a cascade of macerated berries? Nothing, my friends. If you are looking for a vehicle for whatever berries you find at the farmers market and are willing to do just a bit of baking in the warm weather, this one’s for you. The crust is a fuss-free press-in situation that’s tender and nutty thanks to some almond flour, and it can be baked up to a day ahead and kept tightly wrapped. The luscious vanilla custard can also be made well in advance and spread onto the pastry shell just before serving, piled high with the berries you so thoughtfully started macerating before dinner. —Chris Morocco, test kitchen director
My wife has been going through my big collection of back issues of Bon Appétit; when I returned from a recent solo trip, I was instructed to make this beet and mushroom ragù. In the past, my five-year-old son’s response to beets has been the same as if I suggested he eat broken glass, but once the offending root veg was chopped and cooked with miso and butter, he had a full plate and went back for more—before asking for dessert even once. I asked him if he wanted to know what was in the pasta and he declined. I’m happy to use that ignorance to get another vegetable into the rotation. —Noah Kaufman, senior commerce editor
As soon as I posted Kendra’s Farmers Market Sweep to Bon Appétit's Instagram, I immediately went to my fridge to scrounge up some zucchini to recreate her riff off on Marinated Zucchini With Hazelnuts and Ricotta. I made a couple swaps of my own based on what I had around. I swooshed the plate with labneh and swapped in roasted pistachios since I had some on hand. This is one of those full-meal dishes that looks, feels, and tastes really summery. —U.R.
This week I’ve been unpacking boxes (so many boxes) and cooking in the place where my parents’ kitchen will be. Making it work meant no stovetop, just plywood counters, occasional sink access, and a journey into the piles of cross-country-move detritus to find each spoon and bowl. I also didn’t have big summer tomatoes, but I stirred up the super-easy, wonderfully flavorful dressing from Chris Morocco’s Tomato Caesar, which calls on a short ingredient list and doesn’t mess with raw eggs. I spooned it over a store-bought rotisserie chicken with some crunchy romaine. But I can’t wait to try it on tomatoes…in a kitchen with countertops. —M.H.
June 7
I am not a fan of grilling steak for a group. Medium here, a well-done over there, suddenly even the biggest grill seems to have too many hot spots (or not enough), and managing flare-ups starts to seem like a job better left to the fire department. Enter Hasselback Short Rib Bulgogi. Inspired by the bulgogi served at New York City’s COTE, it features boneless short ribs, deeply scored and marinated in an aromatic sweet and salty soy sauce mixture, then grilled until deeply burnished. The moment at which the exterior becomes a lunar landscape of craggy, luscious browned bits and every bite reaches peak flavor the steak is somewhere between medium and medium-well. Best of all, this recipe helps you avoid the temptation to obsessively check the interior temp of each piece since they will be so flavorful you won’t even care if some bits get a little more delicious char. —C.M.
It turns out that there is actually no better dinner party appetizer than thick slices of Sarah Jampel’s Shockingly Easy No-Knead Focaccia, topped with buttery stracciatella (not the gelato but essentially the creamy, stretchy insides of a ball of burrata) and a really good anchovy. I’m partial to the tins from Codesa, but it’s fun to open a few different brands to compare, if you have enough anchovy eaters around. Start your focaccia the day before and let it rise in the fridge. —M.H.
As an avid meat eater with a vegetarian partner, I am constantly struggling to make dinners that satisfy both of our needs. While cooking my way through the Bon Appétit 56, I landed on Zaynab Issa’s Black Bean Smash Burgers. I never thought I’d be enthusiastic to eat beans in patty form, but the smokiness from the chipotles helped scratch my carnivorous itch. Once I got the hang of smashing each ball without thinning them out too much, I had perfectly sized patties that are delicious enough to replace fake meat forever. Add pickled red onions for a snap of acidity and a third patty if you’re extra hungry. —Rebecca Gorena, research fellow
I made this walnut layer cake for a good friend last week. To bring in a little more of the current season, I slicked each layer with a thin coating of Bonne Maman’s outrageously good apricot-raspberry preserves before smearing on the frosting. The combination of nutty sponge cake, tart jam, and airy icing (that tastes like an Arby’s Jamocha shake in the best possible way but still holds up to the heat of summer) is truly wonderful. Don’t skip toasting the nuts; that extra-rich flavor and the crunch it gives the walnut garnish is key. —J.S.
It takes a lot to get me excited about grating two pounds of zucchini by hand. The promise of a thick, slightly caramelized, rich pasta sauce made with little other than the green summer squash did the trick. And, as someone in perpetual search of an easy pasta dinner, I was delighted that this creamy lemon zucchini pasta was such a speedy and appealing way to get me to eat my vegetables. —Carly Westerfield, associate manager, audience strategy
