I am a summer enthusiast who simply cannot be bothered by a pumpkin-spice latte or the suggestion of cool, crisp weather before the first official day of fall. For the record, that day is Sept. 22, meaning that there are more than three weeks before it’s time to call it quits, OK?

Still, there are signs that change is inevitable. Take, for example, the smallest, tiniest coolness in the air this week. It was not a chill, but rather a cool gust of static summer air. But it was enough to convince me that it was OK to briefly turn on my stove for dinner—even if it was to just boil pasta.

I was craving pasta (what’s new?) but didn’t want something heavy. I also had my regular bounty of summer produce within reach, including these tomatoes from the farmers market that I’m obsessed with. They are somehow bigger than a cherry tomato yet smaller than a standard tomato. They are perfect.

I also had a small block of feta cheese that needed to be used up.

To really seal my fate, I blitzed up a quick pesto in the blender the night before when I noticed that my basil was hanging on for dear life (again, what’s new?).

The joy I felt when I realized I had everything on hand to make a killer summer dinner with little to no work cannot be expressed.

All I had to do was boil the orzo (this is my favorite orzo because it basically triples in size when cooked and will truly change your life). While the orzo boiled, I pulled the pesto out of the fridge and let it sit by the stove to quickly come to room temperature. Then, all I had to do was slice the tomatoes, crumble on the feta, and add a few extra basil leaves. In less than 20 minutes, voilà—dinner was served.

This is the kind of meal that I will miss very much once my beloved summer produce is gone. The beauty of summer is that you don’t have to overthink and plan. Instead, summer produce kind of tells you what to do, which is … not much at all.

Subscribe now

Then, there are tomato-based pasta salads, which I could happily eat every day for the rest of my life.

Per summer tradition, I made ’s tomato dumplings (OK, they’re not pasta but close enough). These are so delectable that my mouth waters with the mere thought of them.

Oddly, I have a jar of sun-dried tomatoes in my pantry that I impulsively bought a few weeks ago thinking that I would make ’s “secret” ingredient pasta salad. I never made it, which is unfortunate, but since I just remembered the jar of sun-dried tomatoes, I will now.

Before you know it, society will be back to making hearty pasta dishes. They will, of course, be great. But for the next few weeks, you can find me clutching onto summer pasta with all my might.

If this is your kind of thing—highly seasonal meals that aren’t totally overwhelming or annoying—please subscribe! Every Sunday, I send out this newsletter packed with ideas on what I’m eating, eyeing, and buying. I’d love to have you here for good!

Subscribe now

• I’ve reached the hard part (I think?) of training for the New York City Marathon, which means weekends are way more structured than usual. To prep for long runs on Saturday, I make a conscientious effort to eat something very simple and heavy on carbs for dinner on Fridays, usually a starch and a protein. Yes, it is often as boring as it sounds! To make it slightly less boring but still good for me, I’ve started cooking starches (mainly rice but also pasta) in broth. Of course, bone broth would provide the most nourishment, but bone broth is expensive. Good old, store-bought (sorry, Ina) chicken broth works just as well and gives starches more flavor and nutrients than water does. Cook more starches in broth!

• In case you want something other than summer pasta, here are three 15-minute summer salads that are hearty enough for dinner. I’m hooked, .

• Man, I always love a chicken cutlet, and these look good from .

• I also love pickles, and ’s pickles look bomb. So do her BROWN-BUTTER TOMATOES?!?

• Pepperoncini queen made pepperoncini rice pilaf, and I can’t stop thinking about it.

• I could watch and Jennifer Garner finish each other’s sentences all day.

• is on Netflix, and she’s giving accurate opinions on cocktails.

See you next week! Happy summer!

Every summer, the excitement around tomato season seems to inch earlier and earlier in the calendar.

But make no mistake: tomato season does not “kick off” summer. In fact, it is absent throughout May, June, and July. Even I get tempted to remark that “tomato girl summer has begun” when the first tomatoes start popping up at the farmers market in June (a girl can only hold on to so much restraint), but such a statement is, unfortunately, a lie. These early-season tomatoes lack the time on the vine—and thus the flavor, size, and texture.

The truth is that tomato season earnestly begins in August—a late-summer bloomer, if you will—that extends into late September or early October. I like to think of it as a reward for patiently waiting for our girls to achieve their best form.

But boy, when it’s time, it’s time. And it is time.

It’s the time of the year when I can easily justify (only to myself) multiple farmers market trips per week, solely for tomatoes. I feel comforted when they are in my kitchen. And when they are not, I feel deeply in my bones that something is missing.

No one needs more ideas for what to do with tomatoes. In recent years, our society has truly created an unlimited number of tomato or tomato-inspired recipes. You can make tomato martinis, ice cream (not gonna lie, I really do want to try it), or cake.

To be clear, I am here for tomatopalooza and will embrace it in any and all forms. But respectfully, maybe we’ve also jumped the shark with the whole “tomato girl” thing?

Because, if you ask me (literally no one did but oh well), tomatoes are best eaten simply in their natural form. A peak-summer tomato’s tangy, slightly sweet juice makes everything from a BLT to tomato sauce better. Frankly, I do not want a 20-step tomato recipe because my best tomato is sliced, seasoned with salt, and eaten on the spot.

Maybe, perhaps, I will make tomato sauce and hopefully remember to freeze some for winter since tomato sauce is a tomato’s natural form. So no, I will not be steeping tomatoes into syrups for cocktails and desserts. Instead, you can find me standing over the kitchen sink eating a drippy raw tomato, as nature intended. Bonus points if you have the willpower to wait long enough to make a tomato toast.

And with that, here’s a collection of the tomato “recipes” I’ve eaten/plan to eat this year.

Subscribe now

Tomato toast

I estimate that tomato toast alone represents at least 60% of the tomatoes I eat. It’s quick, easy, and best when a little cheddar is grated into the mayo slathered on all sides of the toast (don’t forget the edges). BLTs will always reign supreme, but to be honest, I make tomato toast far more frequently.

Radio Bakery’s tomato and feta sandwich

At first glance, Radio Bakery’s tomato and feta sandwich is deceptively simple. It is not simple. The tomatoes are splashed with sherry vinegar, giving them a punch that is more savory that you might expect. There’s also a healthy spread of feta cheese sandwiched between light and airy focaccia, plus freshness from the mint and oregano. Consider this a reminder to sprinkle some vinegar on your everyday tomatoes at home.

Panzanella

A panzanella is only a panzanella if tomato is involved. Panzanella is perfect. What else is there to say?

Subscribe now

Tomato dumplings

’s tomato dumplings are a staple summer dish that unfortunately I have not made this year, but there’s still so much time. The frozen dumplings are already in my freezer, waiting their delicious fate.

Spaghetti with No-Cook Puttanesca

Yet another summer favorite that I have not (?!) made this year. This pasta benefits significantly from time. If you make the sauce in the afternoon before cooking dinner later, you will be rewarded with a juicy, garlicky sauce.

If this is your kind of thing—highly seasonal meals that aren’t totally overwhelming or annoying—please subscribe! Every Sunday, I send out this newsletter packed with ideas on what I’m eating, eyeing, and buying. I’d love to have you here for good!

Subscribe now

• ’s press tour for his cookbook has been everywhere. I’ve listened to him on an episode of This Is Taste and read his interview with about how he turns scraps into meals. But my favorite read was a lengthy, fun interview with about how he incorporates all types of vegetables and seasonality into recipes.

• More melons as bowls, please à la .

• went to Ina Garten’s house, and wow, how cool is that?!

• A reminder to drink more Arnold Palmers, among other late-summer things from .

• I really want to go to a cheese warehouse sale in Brooklyn.

See you next week!!!

At this point in summer, I am running on half a brain cell at any given moment. It’s so hot that I simply cannot bring myself to turn on the oven or stove unless absolutely necessary.

I am unable to spend any extra time contemplating what to eat—mostly because I’m surrounded by so much summer produce. I also have the attention of a goldfish and zero patience in August. In short, the most I can do to make dinner is cut some things up or perhaps use the oven.

This mantra of “summer produce is dinner” is really more of a mindset than it is any given recipe. In fact, eyeballing whatever you’ve got and making it up as you go is currently the preferred method of making dinner.

The rules are simple: Every meal must contain summer produce. All you need is whatever’s in season and already around you: tomatoes, peaches, plums, nectarines, corn, etc.

Subscribe now

Take, for example, my dinner this week that consisted of a BLT and a corn salad with tomato, red onion, plum, and feta. This is hardly the most sophisticated meal to ever grace the world. It is not fancy. But by God, it was all I wanted to eat in the moment and tasted like the ultimate summer dinner. I was even willing to turn on the oven for exactly 25 minutes to cook the bacon because bacon is best cooked on a sheet tray with a wire rack over high heat in the oven. Yes, I will die on this hill.

I took inspiration from when making this sandwich, swapping my go-to iceberg or Little Gem lettuce for basil. It was delightful.

I tossed the salad in olive oil and my favorite vinegar. Think of this as less of a ‘fridge clean out’ salad and more of a ‘curated fridge clean out’ salad. The theme is summer, and everything is related. If you’re really desperate, NYT Cooking has a “recipe” for this salad. Respectfully, you do not need a recipe.

Subscribe now

Speaking of NYT Cooking, I also recently made ’s grilled chicken thighs and corn with lime-basil butter. Admittedly, this recipe does require at least one brain cell and a little bit of work. The lime-basil butter sounds insane, and it is—it melts over the hot chicken on a platter of corn. I’ve only made this recipe once, but it is quite stunning for a crowd.

Again, the emphasis is on making produce the center of dinner.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that my favorite thing to eat this summer, panzanella, also fits the mantra of “produce for dinner.” It is essentially an excuse to eat bread and fruit for dinner, and I can’t get enough of it.

There’s still plenty of summer left to use whatever produce you’ve got and turn it into dinner. And if you don’t have any produce around, wyd?!?!?!

If this is your kind of thing—highly seasonal meals that aren’t totally overwhelming or annoying—please subscribe! Every Sunday, I send out this newsletter packed with ideas on what I’m eating, eyeing, and buying. I’d love to have you here for good!

Subscribe now

Melons! Tajín! A greater fruit-spice combination has never existed.

Plus, this sour beer at Gold Star Beer Counter. I was too obsessed with the color to remember the name.

• STILL need help coming up with no-cook dinner ideas? asked the real experts what to make including and (Edy’s pick of a green goddess chicken salad is essentially my personality).

• Crispy chicken con Tomate from . Oh my god.

• ’ new cookbook is out, and I loved this interview with about why we should all be Bricking our phones and using cookbooks right now.

• Fly by Jing makes a superior chili crisp, so you know that this watermelon salad would be off the charts.

BONUS: I somehow managed to keep this basil alive and flowering for 10 days! I do not know why or how but wow!

Stay cool and have a good week!

I am not taking a grand vacation to the Italian countryside this summer, but I’m eating like I’m in Tuscany. Kind of.

While it's only early August and there's still plenty of summer left, I have personally deemed the summer of 2026 to be the “Summer of Panzanella.” By my count, I’ve made no fewer than five panzanellas in the past week and a half.

First, a little background on panzanella. Panzanella is an Italian dish originally used to save stale bread from being thrown away. The stale bread sops up all the salad’s dressing and juices. Modern versions almost always use tomatoes, but early versions of the dish in the 16th century did not include tomatoes because Italians did not eat tomatoes until later.

Subscribe now

Panzanella is uniquely situated for August. This dish relies on several peak-summer factors that cannot be replicated earlier in the season.

For one, the produce has to be at its absolute peak—I’m talking juicy, bursting peaches, plums, tomatoes, cucumbers, cherries, melons, and corn. If you’ve been clocking what is available at the farmers market every week (this is a personal hobby), you’ve noticed that slowly but surely all these things have come into season. Come August, all of it is bountiful, at peak ripeness, and dying to be used together.

August also begs for simple and minimal cooking. God forbid you have to turn on the stove in 100-degree weather, let alone spend an hour cooking dinner. I think it’s a fair assessment that everyone seems a little fuzzy-brained in August from vacations, the sun, and the weather. My ideal meals for the rest of summer involve minimal cooking, minimal brain cells, and 10 minutes of prep work. Panzanella was made for this moment.

In terms of bread, any crusty bread, ideally one with a chewy center, works. Sourdough is usually in my house, but baguette, ciabatta, or country loaf are also good.

Cheese is always a good choice but not 100% necessary here in my opinion. That said, a creamy, soft cheese is best—I like goat cheese, feta, and ricotta but mozzarella is the classic option.

Now for the star of the show: Produce!

Almost anything in season right now fits into a panzanella. Tomatoes are a given, but I’ve also used corn, peaches, plums, red onions, shallots, cucumbers, and cherries recently. I also like fresh basil because it’s so abundant right now.

Basically: Use what you can find and like!

Subscribe now

For dressing, I toss the produce in olive oil, vinegar (I’ve been on a real sherry vinegar kick lately), a tiny bit of honey, salt, and pepper before adding the bread. Then I carefully toss the salad with my hands to avoid smushing things too much (this is for purely aesthetic reasons but panzanella is objectively photogenic so it seems necessary).

Other panzanellas I’ve been eyeing:

• I drooled over the cantaloupe in ’s version.

• Our NYT Cooking queen Melissa Clark’s recipe is simple and classic.

• ’s chicken breast and panzanella is my favorite meal of the summer thus far, and it uses a hot skillet with chicken fat to make croutons.

• If you are brave enough to turn on the oven, ’ shrimp panzanella is a simple sheet pan recipe that’s actually just an excuse to eat bread for dinner.

• made a grilled peach panzanella with fried basil.

Sure, there is still plenty of time left in summer, but I would argue that it’s not enough time to eat as much panzanella as you deserve. So, get going and consume as many croutons and fruit combinations as possible.

If this is your kind of thing—highly seasonal meals that aren’t totally overwhelming or annoying—please subscribe! Every Sunday, I send out this newsletter packed with ideas on what I’m eating, eyeing, and buying. I’d love to have you here for good!

Subscribe now

• 20(!) 30-minute chicken recipes from NYT Cooking. Never have I ever clicked so fast on an email link in my life. Unsurprisingly, the chicken caprese and tostadas de tinga de pollo speak deeply to me.

• While not “new,” I tried Poppi’s Shirley Temple flavor for the first time and thought that it’s pretty close to replicating the original, sugar-packed version. It’s not totally there but close enough for my liking.

• It’s been a minute since I’ve had Talenti ice cream but I remember the mid-2010s hype vividly. Now, Wirecutter reports that the brand’s ingredients have changed and gums have been added, leading to a now inconsistent product. Personally, I’m a Caffè Panna girl, but I am also spoiled and live in New York City.

• Actually, I’m significantly more interested in this recipe from NYT Cooking that only requires a blender, a sieve, and a freezer to make tomato granita/ice cream??

• SUNGOLD PASTA SEASON is here. ’s version is so smooth and glossy that my eyeballs almost popped out.

See you next week!!

This may be a divisive, but I love chicken breasts.

Sure, if given the choice, I’ll take a thigh, but chicken breasts are great! They’re easy to work with, easy to find, and when cooked correctly, they’re juicy and flavorful. To be sure, the “when cooked correctly” line in that last sentence is doing a lot of work because chicken breasts can also be dry and rubbery when cooked incorrectly. And yes, that happens a lot—especially due to being overcooked.

But not all chicken breasts are the same. There are boneless and skinless varieties, but boneless, skinless chicken breasts are by far the most commonly available cut. WHY, you might ask? That’s a very good question! Doesn’t every single chicken have two, bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts? Yes! And yet, it’s basically a scavenger hunt to find skin-on boneless chicken breasts, which objectively have more flavor and significantly more texture than their skinless counterparts. Our very own regularly calls for skin-on chicken, and we can’t disappoint Ina!! (Ina’s buttermilk chicken and potato recipe is fantastic, by the way.)

Subscribe now

This skin-on inequality is, of course, widely known amongst the chicken lover community, and yet somehow isn’t acknowledged by society as a whole. The good news is that gets it. Reader, when I saw her recipe for crispy skin-on chicken breast with a summer panzanella salad, I was locked in. I simply HAD to make it immediately.

First, a little bit of context about Kendra. She previously worked at Bon Appétit, where she heavily focused on quick and easy weeknight dinner recipes. I used to scour Bon Appétit’s magazine and website for her byline, knowing that her recipes were likely my kind of thing.

Kendra now has a Substack, and to me, this chicken recipe fully delivers on a signature Kendra recipe: It’s easy, shockingly quick, and it takes advantage of everything you’ve already got going on. What you’ve got going on is: A skin-on chicken breast seasoned with salt and pepper seared in a skillet, peak summer fruit whose only ask is to be sliced, a hot skillet with chicken drippings, and a little bit of whatever bread you like.

The result can only be described as the most divine summer meal I think I’ve had this year. This searing technique keeps the chicken juicy and flavorful without overcooking it. And instead of a plum, I had a peach on hand, and I used a small baguette to toast the croutons. I also served it with some roasted broccolini.

Subscribe now

Crucially, this recipe fits the bill of a true weeknight dinner, taking about 30 minutes (or less). While the chicken seared, I prepped the croutons and salad. I also dirtied exactly one skillet, one cutting board, and one bowl making the recipe, and the amount of cleanup has a direct correlation to my general interest in any given recipe.

This is the kind of dinner you can start making whenever you want in the evening and sit down to eat soon afterward—hopefully somewhere outside (or at least somewhere with a view—in my case, a porch-less apartment) with a glass of cold wine in hand (Sauv Blanc for me, please!)

And to answer the lingering chicken question: Like Kendra, I found skin-on chicken breasts sold by Bell & Evans at Whole Foods. Some are sold individually (literally who is buying a single chicken breast?) but I purchased a pack of three and felt like I struck gold.

If this is your kind of thing—highly seasonal meals that aren’t totally overwhelming or annoying—please subscribe! Every Sunday, I send out this newsletter packed with ideas on what I’m eating, eyeing, and buying, and I’d love to have you here for good!

Subscribe now

• More tomato cheddar toasts, duh. Plus, washed and clean (read: free of Cyclospora) lettuce from the farmers market with peaches, more tomatoes, and goat cheese. It’s that time of year when it seems necessary that every meal incorporate the best produce because you can.

• Also, you should be grilling potatoes this summer.

• As discussed last week, it is tomato dumpling salad season, thanks to . Here are Hetty’s picks for the brands of dumplings to buy, and other dumpling salad recipes to try.

• ’s New York Magazine profile of ’s new book has me pleasantly pumped for this fall cookbook/memoir.

• ’s how-to on decluttering her kitchen is exceptionally helpful and also aspirational.

  

  

  Have a great week and stay cool!

Like so many people, I’ve temporarily removed lettuce from my diet in the name of safety.

There’s nothing better than a summer salad with crisp greens—unless there’s a nationwide Cyclospora outbreak.

Considering that lettuce-based salads represent an entire food group for me, this is a rough adjustment for me at any time of year. But respectfully, the timing of this particular outbreak couldn’t be worse. Come late July, we’re at the peak of summer produce, complete with dozens of varieties of crunchy, flavorful lettuce.

The good news: I’m getting creative with what constitutes a salad. By its very definition, salad is not limited to lettuce. In fact, some of my favorite salads are leafless like tuna salad, pasta salad, potato salad, and the list goes on.

Subscribe now

Take ’s peanut butter noodles with cucumber, which I made this week. It’s quick and relies mostly on pantry ingredients, but it inherently feels like a summery salad and something you could take to a picnic, BBQ, or potluck. Most importantly, it’s lettuce-free.

I’ve been craving cold noodles for what feels like months. I basically always crave cold noodles—mostly because I’m so obsessed with the vinegary, punchy, peanuty sauce that I could eat it with a spoon.

As the name of Hetty’s recipe suggests, it is in fact, very easy. All you do is boil noodles, whisk together the sauce, combine the sauce with the noodles, and top it with all the toppings. All I had the brain space for after work this week was “very easy,” and this recipe fit the bill (with tons of leftovers, obviously).

Typically, I’d put a ton of herbs on top, specifically cilantro in this case. But I didn’t have any herbs. I also didn’t have chili crisp (a genuine travesty on multiple levels) and there was no way I was running to the grocery store to get it. Nonetheless, the chopped peanuts and scallions are delicious and absolutely necessary. A squeeze of lime would also be nice.

In service to fellow lettuce lovers, here are 11 other salads to make right now. Please know that you are seen and loved. See you on the other side (let’s hope).

Subscribe now

Cucumber and strawberry salad with strawberry vinaigrette

’s cucumber, strawberry, (and asparagus, if you still find it) salad has been on repeat in this house.

The dressing made of macerated strawberries, olive oil, red wine vinegar, sugar, and salt is what makes this salad really stand out. I simply can’t stop keep buying strawberries with the sole purpose of making vinaigrette. Also, the choice of feta is excellent here.

Also, how stunning is she?

Summer pasta salad

I love a pasta salad, specifically a curated pasta salad.

When it comes to summer pasta salads, I think ’s recipes really shine.

I make this zucchini, scallion, and parmesan version fairly regularly because it effectively uses up a lot of zucchini and I like the differing textures of cooked and raw vegetables together. I’ve probably been making this pasta salad for five years now?!

The other pasta salad I really, really love is her tomato pasta salad. Fresh tomatoes are lightly sautéed until they burst, while sun-dried tomatoes give just the tiniest amount of sweetness with a little chew.

.The common thread between these pastas is a significant amount of parmesan or pecorino cheese if that’s your thing (it is 100% my thing).

Subscribe now

Bean salads

This week, I made my go-to marinated bean salad and packed it up for office lunches.

There are about a million riffs on bean salad, but I like this one because quickly heating the marinade helps it soak into the beans. And like most pasta, bean, and potato salads, it gets better the longer it sits, making it easy to pull together once a week.

Subscribe now

Tomato salads

Between now and September, my entire personality turns into tomatoes. I’m always trying to get my hands on them, worried about running out, and eating them every chance I get.

The good news is that there are many, many tomato salads that don’t use lettuce.

My current obsession is ’s tomato-cantaloupe panzanella and tomato-peach-corn salads. To be clear, I want both at the same time.

In the same vein, a caprese-ish salad like this falls into this category.

If I dare to turn on the stove, Alison Roman’s fennel and anchovy salad is killer (no, I promise that this newsletter is not sponsored by Alison Roman). I love to eat anchovies by the tin but this is an especially good recipe for the anchovy-adverse people in your life because they literally dissolve in the hot oil in seconds. You never see them, but they give the dish a rich umami flavor.

Even better, use the tiniest amount of stove time to make Hetty’s insane dumpling and tomato salad. This dish possibly has the most flavor of any tomato dish possible and again, requires no lettuce!

Subscribe now

Fruit salads are salads

In my book, fruit salads always count as salads, especially at this time of year.

With that in mind, simply cutting and plating fruit with Tajín, a drizzle of olive oil, or a schmear of something creamy like ricotta is a salad.

Fruit salads are little acts of creativity that do not require a recipe. Please take inspiration from some fruit-based salads I have made below.

I was immensely proud of this peach, tomato, basil, and feta salad that I once made for a party for no other reason than it just looked like summer in a bowl.

Here is cantaloupe, ricotta, and surprise—basil!

Now, I fear I must stop writing this newsletter, or I could go on forever talking about lettuce-less salads. Until lettuce is safe again, I'll happily be over here eating noodles, tomatoes, beans, potatoes, pasta, peaches, cucumbers, and basically anything else I can reasonably call a salad. Go forth and conquer!

If this is your kind of thing—highly seasonal meals that aren’t totally overwhelming or annoying—please subscribe! Every Sunday, I send out this newsletter packed with ideas on what I’m eating, eyeing, and buying, and I’d love to have you here for good!

Subscribe now

• I bought this kitschy but fun T-shirt from J. Crew last summer but have been wearing it on repeat lately and getting so many compliments about it. In person, the color is a much brighter salmon-pink.

• I have read no less than five articles this week about Spaghetts, including ’s great piece about the buzzy drink of the summer. It’s a Miller High Life bottle with one ounce of Aperol and lemon juice, and my mouth was literally watering while watching this Bon Appétit Instagram video showing how the drink is made. I must have one.

• published a recipe for grilled balsamic chicken and peaches, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.

• ’s six essential summer recipes are quintessential Ina.

• Also, this Cultured Mag profile of Ina confirms why everyone loves her: She’s the friendly, funny, elegant neighbor everyone wants. More importantly, her hospitality and warmth stands the test of time.

As previously mentioned, my entire personality is currently tomatoes. Last year, I ate ’s tomato cheddar toast for lunch most days when I worked from home, and this year appears to be no different.

See you next week!!!

Stone fruit, melons, and tomatoes get a lot of hype at the farmers market in the summer (and rightfully so), but what about the alliums? More specifically, what about garlic scapes?

Garlic scapes are perhaps one of the funniest looking types of produce. They’re sold as bunches of long stems that twist and turn in crazy directions. Quite literally, garlic scapes are the long, leafless stalks that grow directly from the garlic plant. The name suggests they'll taste like garlic, but they actually look like a mashup of asparagus, leeks, and chive. The appearance is pretty close to what they taste like: the flavor is like a combination of scallion and garlic (not unlike ramps, everyone’s favorite hyper-seasonal vegetable) but they have the crisp, snappy texture of asparagus.

I will never not be fascinated by produce and the ability for nature to just … grow things that we all eat. This is particularly true for some of the more niche types of produce available right now, including garlic scapes.

To be honest, I’ve long admired garlic scapes from afar. Although it is wildly abundant at the farmers markets near me at this time of year, I’ve never bought it for unknown reasons.

Until this week.

As soon as I saw them this week, I had a game plan. Like clockwork, I always get a craving for pesto in the summer and enjoy making it in a food processor. I find it a bit cathartic and love how it allows me to turn off my brain for a solid five to ten minutes. Fresh pesto also makes my whole apartment overwhelmingly smell of basil, garlic, and summer. However, I can get a little bored with the standard pesto and like to zhuzh it up every once in a while. Enter the garlic scapes.

I do not have a go-to pesto recipe because I firmly believe that you don’t need one. My pesto always includes an allium of some kind (in this case garlic scapes), parmesan cheese, fistfuls of basil, a type of nut like pine nuts, walnuts, or pistachios (I’m a walnut girl 85% of the time), a large glug of olive oil, and a lemon for its juice and zest.

If eyeballing it is not your vibe, I more or less followed NYT Cooking’s pesto recipe.

Subscribe now

I did not blanch the garlic scapes ahead of time because I didn’t think of it, but in hindsight, I imagine that might be nice, purely for aesthetic reasons of getting a bright-green pesto. Aesthetic reasons are important and valid if it helps you enjoy cooking, but also … you do not need to blanch the garlic scapes. It will still look nice because it’s summer and everything looks nice in the season of not cooking.

Every time I make something like pesto, I remember that it’s the gift that keeps on giving.

Arguably, the best thing about pesto is that it lasts in the fridge all week, meaning that the payoff is huge for very little effort. On Monday, I topped roasted asparagus with the pesto. On Tuesday, I tossed it with pasta and frozen shrimp for an easy dinner after work. And on Thursday, I spread a little bit on bread for a turkey sandwich.

In other words, buy the thing at the farmers market that you don’t know what to do with. One small thing in the fridge (I still love and make this herby salsa verde all the time) can make a lot of food less boring.

One more thing about this specific pesto. As I’ve mentioned before, I have beef with basil. I cannot for the life of me keep it alive for more than 12 hours before it completely wilts or goes bad, especially during the summer. As a general rule, I’m not a fan of pre-cut herbs found in the grocery store because the tiny portions do not match my maximalist cooking style.

Also, opening a plastic container to use herbs just feels wrong to me.

However, I used pre-cut basil this week and was astonished at how much came in a package.

Like—are you for real that all of this fit into a tiny plastic square? It also stayed good … for a couple days, which is significant to me.

If this is your kind of thing—highly seasonal food that isn’t totally overwhelming or annoying—please subscribe! Every Sunday, I send out this newsletter packed with ideas on what I’m eating, eyeing, and buying, and I’d love to have you here for good!

Subscribe now

BONUS:

Now, there’s actually more to this basil story if you are interested, but feel free to skip if niche opinions on grocery stores aren’t your thing (although it is definitely mine). This basil came from a grocery store that I have vehemently detested for years. In fact, I made history this week by shopping at [redacted name of grocery store for legal reasons] for the first time in years. This store is known to many by simply two letters, and it is perhaps America’s favorite grocery chain. My reasons for not liking the store are many: I do not enjoy a chaotic, circus-like atmosphere while shopping or the very long lines that make no sense but snake around the store in odd patterns and are designated by an employee holding a very large sign. It appears to be common knowledge and widely accepted that this employee’s sole job is to “manage” the line, even though we are all adult humans and know how to stand in a line.

I also don’t enjoy bell ringing, and wow is there a lot of bell ringing happening in these establishments for no discernible reason. There is a concerning amount of unironic Hawaiian shirts. Not to mention, I have never understood the obsession with quirky snacks that sound like they were made for small children yet are purchased and consumed by adults like birthday cake-flavored popcorn or peanuts dusted with dill-pickle seasoning.

But by God, are the prices at this place great, and that is why a lot of people love it. The prices are so great that I’m challenging myself to buck up and shop here for a while to see if I can be converted. I go in with a list (like I would at any store) but make a point of sticking to it. I limit my time shopping, getting in and out of the store quickly to avoid any shenanigans. But hey, if this week’s basil is any indication, I gotta say, so far so good with the quality. Now, I just need Xanax to get over everything else.

I will report back on my findings.

• Like the rest of the U.S., I am avoiding lettuce due to the cyclosporiasis outbreak. If you know me, you know that this is a real bummer as salad makes up an entire food group. Instead, I made a bean salad (no lettuce!) for lunch this week consisting of chickpeas, cucumbers, celery, cherry tomatoes, and parmesan cheese. Something like this marinated bean salad that I made in the past would also be great since it primarily uses canned ingredients.

• On the bright side, this is really all that needs to be said.

• Immediately need ’s rigatoni and zucchini for obvious reasons.

• Also immediately need a frozen cocktail. Thank you for your thorough reporting, .

• Claire Saffitz has a new cookbook coming out, and it’s not about baking. got all the deets.

• 's pantry-heavy shrimp pasta sounds less like a last-minute solution to an empty fridge and more like a delicious dinner!

Have a great week!!!!

After months of anticipation, hope and wishful thinking, I’m back where I thrive most: A fully stocked farmers market at the height of summer.

It’s always amazing how quickly things change after the Fourth of July, suddenly kicking into full-blown summer. Nowhere is that better embodied than at the farmers market. Early-summer produce like peas and strawberries are still around, but suddenly they’re joined by more berries, melons, TOMATOES, corn, fairytale eggplant, and SO MANY PEACHES.

Now is the time to plan dinner around trips to the farmers market. For instance, take the summer pasta I made this week that used four (yes, four!) yellow zucchini, four ears of corn, a big handful of basil, and half a box of pasta. While that sounds like an insane amount of produce (and it is), such is the beauty of summer cooking.

Subscribe now

If I had to describe my cooking style in one word, it would be maximalism. I don’t believe in using what most consider a “modest” amount of ingredients. I prefer a bounty of produce. Sure, you could use a more acceptable amount of produce, but why would you when everything is full, lush, and at its peak? Herbs? The limit does not exist. Cheese? Go big or go home. And there’s always room for another grind of black pepper.

It makes me think of Mary Oliver’s famous poem, aptly titled “The Summer Day” (coincidence? Never). “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” asks Mary. Respectfully, Mary, the answer is always to use more produce.

Summer is when us maximalists really come alive and shine. Don’t let anyone tell you that your pasta—or, for that matter, you—are “too much.” They’re objectively wrong.

A pantry pasta, summer edition

OK, back to the pasta.

This pasta is what I would broadly consider a seasonal “pantry pasta,” meaning that it uses ingredients you usually have on hand that don't require much planning or thought. Outside of summer, those things might include tinned fish, red onion, shallot, capers, olives, lemon, parsley, etc. But in the summer, you’d better believe I have four big-ass zucchini and four ears of corn in the fridge ready to go. Same goes for the basil (although I am notoriously horrible at keeping basil alive and it often dies before I can use it). It goes without saying but tomatoes would also be so good in this pasta, too.

Subscribe now

This pasta came together with a specific vision for the zucchini. Zucchini is known for being extremely watery and thus unflavorful. To avoid this predicament, I like to really cook zucchini down, sautéing it over medium-high heat with a glug of olive oil, salt and pepper to draw out the moisture. Similar to spinach, zucchini cooks down quickly, going from a massive tower of raw slices to a jammy, almost sticky texture in 15 to 20 minutes.

After melting down the zucchini, I added the corn and kept stirring while the pasta finished cooking. I then added the pasta to the skillet with the zucchini and corn, added a little pasta water, cheese, a few knobs of butter, lemon juice and zest, and kept stirring until a slightly glossy sauce started to form. When in doubt, use a tiny bit more water than you think because the pasta will tighten up a bit after it’s removed from the heat.

Then I added more cheese, a healthy shower of basil, a few Castelvetrano olives, and cracked pepper.

This is my ideal quick, easy summer dinner that plays up what’s in season without making my brain work too hard on a weeknight.

If this is your kind of thing—highly seasonal meals that aren’t totally overwhelming or annoying—please subscribe! Every Sunday, I send out this newsletter packed with ideas on what I’m eating, eyeing, and buying, and I’d love to have you here for good!

Subscribe now

As a treat, here are a few pictures of the Union Square Greenmarket this week because I can’t help myself.

• Absolutely adore ’s Q&A with Big Night founder/cool person . I, too, love English muffins.

  

• Oui oui, .

• ’s pepperoncini chicken salad is iconic.

• OK hi tomato basil chicken breasts from Christian Reynoso at NYT Cooking.

• This strawberry and cucumber salad with ’s strawberry vinaigrette was killer.

Happy summer—see you next week!!!

This marinade works well for boneless chicken breasts but would be equally as good with boneless chicken thighs, in my opinion.

If this is your first time here, welcome! Every Sunday, I send out a newsletter about what I’m currently eating, eyeing, and buying. If this grilled chicken recipe catches your eye, there’s plenty more seasonal, low-effort but high payoff recipes waiting for you. I’d love to have you here for good by subscribing!

Subscribe now

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

It’s not summer until I eat a grilled chicken breast. But not just any grilled chicken breast—this is one my family and I have been eating as long as I can quite literally remember.

Simply titled “barbecued chicken,” this recipe comes from the cookbook “Crème de Colorado,” a real gem of 700 (!!!!) recipes published by the Junior League of Denver in 1987. It’s been a staple since then (see stained page below for proof), and it is a quintessential part of summer. In fact, the only proof I have of this recipe is a recipe card with the ingredients written out, no instructions or steps.

But courtesy of my mom, here’s the whole recipe.

Subscribe now

There is, of course, lore behind this chicken. It stems from 20+ (?) years ago when our neighborhood’s ladies lunch group (iconic!) had its yearly summer dinner that included “the spouses.” One year, someone adapted the recipe from its original form made with two cut-up chickens to a version with boneless chicken breasts.

And a star was born.

This chicken is good with other grilled things like vegetables. It’s good with non-grilled things like pasta and salad. It’s good by itself. It’s good with everything.

All of this to say that it is quite impressive that a chicken breast (arguably almost always boring) is good. Perhaps I’m just biased, but I swear this chicken really is juicy—a nearly impossible task for rubber, flavorless boneless chicken breasts.

Plus, all it requires is a little time to marinate in the fridge.

I grill the chicken the same way I grill steaks—using my one-and-only Calphalon grill pan.

Instead of continuing to talk incessantly about boneless chicken breasts, please enjoy some photos of the barbecued chicken throughout the years. Last summer, I made Ali Slagle’s lemony orzo with asparagus to serve with the chicken from NYT Cooking. But as these photos suggest, the sky is truly the limit so think big and bold.

More importantly, HAPPY SUMMER!

If this is your kind of thing—highly seasonal meals that aren’t totally overwhelming or annoying—please subscribe! Every Sunday, I send out this newsletter packed with ideas on what I’m eating, eyeing, and buying, and I’d love to have you here for good!

Subscribe now

As usual, see you on Sunday for a new newsletter!

Happy Fourth of July weekend!

As I write this, New York is trapped in a heat wave with temperatures reaching 105 degrees and a RealFeel of 117 degrees, according to Accuweather. Not to state the obvious and say the only thing that can be said, but IT IS A SCORCHER, FOLKS. It’s so hot that I think you could honestly fry an egg on the sidewalk, although I’d rather not waste a precious egg.

Logically, I decided the solution to 117-degree weather was cooking steak.

For whatever reason, I’ve been craving steak lately. Maybe it’s the insane temperatures or the need to consume anything grilled or charred. It also might be because steak is a rare treat, and what better time to indulge than over a holiday weekend, right?

Thanks to insane grocery prices, steak is not even a semi-regular purchase for me, and I can’t remember the last time I cooked one. For the most part, that’s all well and good—except when I really want a steak. Over the past couple of months, I’ve saved an alarming number of recipes, which should give you an idea of where my head’s at. There’s ’ herby grilled steak with Greek feta bruschetta (holy!), and ’s peach and pepperoncini steak salad looks divine. Molly Baz’s skirt steak with red chimichurri is always a go-to banger.

Subscribe now

Then I saw this grilled flank steak in the latest issue of Bon Appétit, developed by . Not only do I love flank steak, but the concept for the sauce had me immediately drooling. The recipe includes a peanut, garlic, and spicy sauce, a combination of flavors I truly never get tired of and even occasionally crave like crazy.

The marinade itself is great, but I would argue what really throws this recipe over the top is … the toppings. There are chopped roasted peanuts, scallions, and cilantro. And if there is only one thing to know about my personal cooking style, it is that I am a maximalist to my core. So of course, I went overboard with the amount of toppings because I couldn’t possibly make this recipe any other way. To some, the obscene amount of peanuts, cilantro, and scallions used might be considered “too much.” To me, it is perfect. As would say, I can never leave well enough alone, so I added a large squeeze of lime juice and piled everything on a platter because I like how it looks.

To be clear, this recipe makes a lot of food and essentially fed me all weekend. I cook for one, but I refuse to cook like someone who cooks for one. I will always make a full recipe because leftovers are very much my vibe and lifestyle, and I fundamentally don’t believe in the whole notion of “cooking for one.” I will always make the full recipe, knowing that my future self will always be happy with leftovers.

Anyway, I bit the bullet and spent a small fortune to make a flank steak this week. Like all steak, this recipe involves minimal prep work with significant payoff. The prep involves whisking together a deeply-flavored marinade, poking the steak all over with a fork (which helps tenderize the tough flank cut), pouring over the marinade, and letting it chill in the fridge for a few hours. Then, I fired up my small but mighty grill pan, my go-to grilling method while cooking in an apartment. This approach requires a vigilant ventilation process that can only be achieved by fully opening the kitchen window while running the range hood at full blast. Crossing your fingers and saying a prayer for the smoke alarm doesn't hurt either.

Now, was it smart to turn my stovetop into a hot grill during one of the hottest days of the year, effectively creating my own unwanted sauna? No. Do I regret it? Also no.

Subscribe now

The result was juicy, deeply charred with a sauce that’s rich, nutty, and savory. The peanut butter in the sauce gives it richness and body, and the fish sauce adds much-needed umami and tang. The lime juice (half a cup!) brightens everything up and brings acidity that I’m always looking for in recipes.

I served the steak with roasted potatoes and green beans. It was perfect.

Steak is fundamentally made to be grilled and eaten in the summer. The only caveat during a heat wave: I ate dinner while sitting directly in front of my air conditioner as it spit out cold air. I do not regret that move.

I loved this steak so much that I’m already planning to try a new recipe, even even if my wallet disagrees.

If this is your kind of thing—highly seasonal meals that aren’t totally overwhelming or annoying—please subscribe! Every Sunday, I send out this newsletter packed with ideas on what I’m eating, eyeing, and buying, and I’d love to have you here for good!

Subscribe now

• Stone fruit season is here! Consider this a reminder that a summer peach is best enjoyed while standing over the kitchen sink with juice running down your arms.

• Also, this burger rocked my world. So did the fried green tomatoes with boquerones layered delicately on top.

• Obviously, I’ve already finished the final season of “The Bear.” I loved it—far more than I loved the previous season of the show. Yes, this is a spoiler so proceed with caution, but ’s breakdown of the final meal is so special and interesting.

• No one does a flag cake better than . Plus, our girl is getting a podcast!

• A guide to New York’s unique, cold treats from (immediately trying corn-flavored soft serve … for science).

• Inject Andy Baraghani’s cold butter and radishes into my veins.

• Hailee Catalano’s grilled baked potatoes. Duh.

Happy Fourth of July weekend! Stay safe and hydrated!!

Can you believe that we are a mere week away from the Fourth of July?

I certainly cannot. The Fourth of July always seems like the marker that summer is buzzing—if not moving too fast. Sure, there is still plenty of time left to bask in the gloriousness of summer, but consider this a reminder to do all the fun things, make all the good food, and spend as much time outside as humanly possible.

Anyway, this week I’m sharing my favorite things that I’ve cooked this summer so far. To be clear, “cooking” is a loose term. My goal during the summer is to do as much cooking that isn’t actually cooking as possible. Sometimes it requires turning on the oven, sometimes it involves grilling, and sometimes it simply requires putting a few things in a bowl and calling it dinner.

This week’s newsletter is a bit shorter than usual because I’m traveling this weekend and had an unusually busy week. Nonetheless, enjoy!

While you’re here, please subscribe! I send out a newsletter every Sunday breaking down what I’m currently eating, recipes I love, and anything else that catches my eye in the world of food media.

Subscribe now

The prettiest carrot salad

I’ve always wanted to take a cooking class at Sur La Table, and this spring I did! I took a knife skills class where we spent an hour chopping everything from carrots to a pepper. However, my biggest takeaway from that class was actually that I’ve been using the wrong kind of vegetable peeler for as long as I can remember.

I’ve always used vertically oriented, “swivel” vegetable peelers, but I learned that horizontally oriented, “Y-peeler” is so much more efficient and easy to use. I bought this one immediately after the class.

For one, the “Y-peeler” covers a bigger surface, making it significantly easier to hold and quicker to peel everything from carrots to potatoes. Y-Peelers also make much prettier strands, slicing off big ribbons that work particularly well for dishes like salads.

Take this carrot salad I made this summer. I added a handful of chopped pistachios, one of the only bottled salad dressings I like, cracked pepper, and a little bit of carrot tops. Voilà—an easy and beautiful salad!

Subscribe now

A true fridge clean out dinner

As previously discussed, I love eating pretty much everything out of bowls, especially during the summer.

More often than not, this summer, dinner is whatever little bits and bobs I find in the fridge and put into a bowl. Leftover pasta? Pasta salad it is! A lone chicken thigh from the night before? Add some roasted vegetables and call it a day.

Frozen meatballs continue to quietly save my life three nights a week because they’re so easy, I always have them around, and they can make a bunch of different meals.

Grilled chicken and colorful vegetables

For reasons I cannot fully explain, I've become extremely obsessed with red cabbage. Maybe it’s because it looks like summer? Or because it’s extremely crunchy and I like the bite it adds when mixed into a salad with softer greens like arugula.

I grilled these honey lime chicken thighs alongside corn while cooking a pot of rice. In the meantime, I sliced up all the toppings and made an avocado crema, making prep time a breeze. I do not claim to be the world’s best multitasker, but I do love a dinner like this that keeps me moving while cutting down on the time it takes to get a weeknight dinner on the table.

Oh and guess what? Another bowl!

Subscribe now

Big, fun drinks on repeat

Remember when I said “cooking” is a loose term? I meant it. To me, it also means making fancy but easy drinks.

One of the best things I’ve gotten into this summer is deli-container mocktails, refreshers, smashes, whatever you want to call them. I think you all like them too, because dang, this newsletter kind of blew up!

I’ve been having so much fun making a big, cold drink every afternoon. My current favorite is the salty cherry limeade because who doesn’t love fresh cherries? Who doesn’t like a limeade? I’m sure that anti-cherry, anti-limeade people exist, but you get the point.

Tomato toast

OK, stick with me on this one.

Yes, I am aware that it is absolutely not tomato season yet, and that I have to try and wait patiently (I won’t) for several more weeks to start getting summer tomatoes—aka nature’s best vegetable.

Therefore, it is absolutely not tomato toast season.

However, I’ve also started seeing them at the farmers market. I know better than to think that these early-summer tomatoes are anything spectacular. They aren’t. But that’s not the point: The point is that they are so close to being spectacular that sometimes you just need to try the thing before it peaks.

Which is why yes, I have already bought tomatoes from the farmers market to make my favorite lunch of tomato toast (’s NYT Cooking version with grated cheddar cheese rules, by the way).

Was it the best tomato toast of my life? Hard no. But an early-season tomato is better than no tomato at all. Plus, I’m practicing for the real deal that will come soon enough.

If this is your kind of thing—highly seasonal, produce-heavy meals that aren’t totally overwhelming or annoying—please subscribe! This is mostly what I do here.

Subscribe now

Despite what I just said about tomato toast being my favorite summer lunch, my actual favorite summer lunch is the closely related but more decadent BLT, obviously.

I am literally salivating over ’s version with fresh sourdough bread and basil oil.

I’m also obsessed with Stanley Tucci’s favorite, very Italian summer lunch: Good-tuna-and-bean salad that gives off strong Niçoise salad vibes but like—more chill.

See ya next week!!

For the past six or so summers, there’s only one baked good that I truly crave.

It’s fresh, jammy, not too sweet, and comes together ridiculously easy. It’s the one and only blueberry cornmeal tart developed by .

Last week, I needed something to bring to my run club’s annual picnic but did not have much time and knew I would be tired the day of the picnic (BECAUSE THE KNICKS WON THE NBA FINALS THE NIGHT BEFORE! KNICKS IN FIVE!). This tart is my go-to in these situations. It’s a recipe that I actually do keep in my back pocket because I know it’s a crowd-pleaser and that I won’t be stuck baking in a hot kitchen all day.

This tart falls somewhere between a crumble and a tart. It is not as soupy as a crumble or a cobbler, but it is also not as refined as you might expect from a tart. Instead, it’s very much a bake-and-go situation, with the fruit cooking down significantly in the oven to become jammy and thick. For this reason, it’s perfect for traveling to picnics, pot lucks, and other gatherings. It slices easily without a mess of fruit falling out.

Subscribe now

This blueberry tart thrives with in-season fruit, but honestly, it doesn’t require it. You should absolutely be using all of your peak-season blueberries to make this tart but because of how the fruit is first tossed in light brown sugar and an acid (I like apple cider vinegar) before baking for a long time at a high heat, you do not have to use your best summer blueberries. I am not normally an advocate for using any old blueberries you can find at the grocery store during the peak of produce, but any old blueberries you can find at the grocery store will work perfectly here.

Through a significant amount of testing, I have discovered that the crumble topping is the best part of this tart. If you like shortbread, you will likely love this tart because it’s supremely buttery, with the cornmeal adding texture and little nuttiness.

The crumble topping is made with the same mixture as the crust, and don’t skimp on saving more than you think for the topping (sometimes I even make a tiny bit more just to be safe—there are worse problems in the world). On that note, the crust is also a press-in crust, the best type of crust for people like myself that want to bake but do not want to bake, you know what I mean? I, for one, have no interest or patience in using pie weights, dry beans, etc. to bake a crust—just to bake it again later. Save yourself (and your kitchen) from extra summer heat by using press-in crusts.

This dessert makes a strong case for owning a tart pan with a removable bottom. While the uses of a tart pan are obviously limited, it makes for a stunning presentation. I kept my tart in the tart pan after letting it cool and transporting it to the picnic. When we were ready to eat, all I had to do was pop out the bottom.

All told, this tart took me 30 minutes to prepare, and one hour to bake.

These photos, taken just one hour apart at the picnic, are proof that this tart is a banger.

Go forth and make as many blueberry cornmeal tarts as you desire (or need for various events).

If this is your kind of thing—highly seasonal, produce-heavy meals that aren’t totally overwhelming or annoying—please subscribe! This is mostly what I do here.

Subscribe now

More big, fun summer drinks! I made ’s hibiscus lemonade, using strawberries instead of cherries. It uses an entire lemon—pith and all—and a big pinch of flaky salt, which truly speaks to my soul.

• 10 ways to use tomatoes by , , and . Love, duh.

• Apparently I’m very into recipes that use a whole piece of citrus? This miso vinaigrette from uses an entire orange, and I’m obsessed.

• Quick reminder that IT IS STILL STRAWBERRY SEASON.

• I am fully addicted to ’s melon series. Justice for sugar kiss melons.

Have a good week! See you next week!!

Tip: I highly endorse using as much cheese as your heart wants in this recipe.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Last year, I found my way to this recipe from the New York Times Cooking’s YouTube video with Andy Baraghani, where Andy makes “extra-green, produce-packed packed pasta salad.” I immediately had to have it. I made it. I regret nothing.

One of summer’s tried-and-true musts is a good pasta or potato salad full of produce. But in the Northeast, late May and early June produce isn’t quite there yet. At the farmer’s market, you’re likely to find a plethora of snap peas, so much asparagus, and some early fruit like strawberries but none of the peak-summer melons, tomatoes, corn, and stone fruit.

That said, the return of the farmer’s market makes me so happy that I could practically cry.

Subscribe now

It’s what makes Andy’s pasta great. It uses things that you (or selfishly, yes, I) can easily get ahold of right now while also scratching that summer pasta itch.

Plus, who would say no to a bright, zingy sauce with big shavings of parmesan? Never I. Like Andy says, “I think most pastas just immediately are going to make you happy.”

Not to brag, but this pasta is extremely photogenic.

It’s also quick and comes together in about 30 minutes, thanks to a high-speed blender that does all the tough work, creating a silky and creamy sauce in a minute or so.

I love recipes like this that use one step to do two things. In this case, you boil water for the pasta (duh). Then you throw the vegetables into the water once the pasta is almost done cooking to blanch them. One pot with two uses = less mess and clean up.

Subscribe now

Tip: DO NOT SKIMP ON THE BASIL! While the recipe uses less basil than spinach, the basil is potent and tastes heavenly. Justice for more basil—even though it’s a total pain to keep because it wilts immediately, and you basically have to buy it the day you want to use it.

Another sleeper hit in this sauce: Miso! I always keep a tub of white miso in the fridge to make marinades, sauces, and soups, but in this recipe it almost tastes like parmesan even though there isn’t any cheese in the sauce (there is so much cheese elsewhere though. Trust).

In terms of pasta, I tend to almost always go for fun shapes that have little ridges and grooves in them that hold pasta sauce well. I used big rigatoni noodles here that have little ridges.

Here is visual proof that those little grooves in pasta are working hard to do their job:

Like all pasta salads, this one is excellent eaten immediately. It’s also excellent eaten cold directly from the fridge the next day. Or eaten at room temperature the next day.

I know a lot of people love to dive into the comments in New York Times Cooking recipes for tips, tricks, hacks, altercations, etc. That’s all fine and well (even though TBH I find it overwhelming) but in this case I implore you to make Andy’s recipe exactly as written because … it’s perfect. It’s three steps. It works.

Subscribe now

A word on pasta salad dump trucks

Now it’s time to dive into the very serious discourse around pasta salad.

Clearly, I love a good pasta salad and plan to make this one a lot this summer. But there’s one key and crucial reason why it works: It doesn’t do too much. A few in-season, crunchy things are added to a pot of pasta with some tasty sauce. These things are in the same family in color, texture, and seasonality. Simply put, this pasta salad does not try to boil the ocean.

OK HERE COMES THE HOT TAKE SO BRACE YOURSELF.

The fact is that most pasta salads are trash. And they’re trash because people take literally anything that’s in their pantry and dump it in, regardless of whether it’s good or not.

Salami in a pasta salad? Goodbye. A jar of sliced black olive rings? Respectfully, no. Baby corn? Girl, please keep that stuff in general away from me. A CHOPPED GREEN BELL PEPPER? What are you doing?!

In other words, pasta salad is not a dump truck.

Instead, a good pasta salad is made by picking a few related things. The next time you consider purging the pantry to make a pasta salad, please, put down the can opener, reign it in, and keep it simple.

If this is your kind of thing—highly seasonal, produce-heavy meals that aren’t totally overwhelming or annoying—please subscribe! This is mostly what I do here.

Subscribe now

As usual, see you on Sunday for a new newsletter!

Summer needs a drink of the summer. This year, I’ve got about 10 drinks on rotation contending for the top role.

Right now, the frontrunner is a salty cherry limeade that’s as insane as it sounds (more on that below) but I’m also using mangos, peaches, and strawberries in these concoctions. I love fun drinks, and you need one.

Inspired by the creations of ’s popular series of mocktails, I haven't been able to stop craving, and making, fruit-infused refreshers and mocktails the past few weeks. Since Memorial Day, my social media feeds have been inundated with these cool, refreshing beverages.

Subscribe now

Notably, these versions are alcohol-free, although of course you could use alcohol. However, I think they’re perfect without alcohol. They are mixed and shaken in big deli containers (reminder: these are the best, hands down) that you effectively sip on for a while. These are not drinks designed to be crushed with the broskis. These are drinks to make when you’re sick of drinking water (hi, it’s me!), and you want something different and refreshing in your hand.

Through trial and error, I've determined that the optimal time to enjoy a giant, cold drink is 2 p.m. For one, the afternoon is the hottest time of the day. I crave an interesting drink in the afternoon but can’t do caffeine, leaving me with … water. Lately, I’ve been making an afternoon mocktail to sip throughout afternoon meetings when I work from home, and it brings me the slightest bit of joy.

Now, let’s move on to flavor combinations. To sum it up, the options are limitless. Any fruit or herb can be used to make a refreshing drink, whether it’s blended, muddled, or puréed.

I started with ’s recipe that uses peaches, carrot juice, limes, and mint. First, you make a concentrate that serves as the base of the drink. Then, cut up and muddle a peach, a lime, and honey in a deli container. Fill the cup with cold water or coconut water and top it off with seltzer. The concentrate lasts for up to a week in the fridge.

Sit back and enjoy a cold one.

I’ve also tinkered with a cherry limeade that I can’t stop drinking. First, I pitted a handful of fresh cherries (this is a top-tier annoying task but is best completed with a metal straw and a steady hand, IMO). Then I muddled the cherries with a halved lime, honey, and a sprinkle of salt. I filled the cup with La Croix Razzberry (the superior seltzer flavor) and gave it a long shake.

I added a sizable pinch of Maldon salt at the end. The salt is necessary here—it balances the drink's tart, juicy sweetness.

She’s stunning.

OK, I lied. ’s version with mango, lime, and mint is my favorite big, cold drink that I’ve made.

Mangos are legitimately magical. On the podcast This is Taste, always asks chefs and people obsessed with food what their favorite fruit is. I’d estimate that 65% to 70% of guests say mango. It makes sense! Mangoes are sweet with a smooth texture that melts in your mouth. They have a bright, floral taste but the flavor isn’t overwhelming.

Subscribe now

To make the purée, I blended frozen mango, lime juice, and a splash of peach juice with an immersion blender. This method of blending frozen mangoes essentially makes mango ice cream. I could (and did) eat this stuff with a spoon straight from the container, and will absolutely be making this all summer.

I skipped the electrolyte packet, but I imagine adding one would only make it more refreshing and hydrating (for the record, I go through bags of sugar-free Liquid IV for running and love them).

also has a recipe for a mango, tajin, and coconut drink that looks delish. Same goes for the mango mandarin mocktail margarita. Yum.

Olivia also has a blueberry lemon thyme refresher, and a watermelon fizz.

As previously mentioned, the flavor combinations are endless.

Subscribe now

made a passionfruit limeade.

has a creamy raspberry limeade.

And made a turmeric-ginger and preserved lemon Arnold Palmer that simply looks divine.

While slightly different, I will also endorse agua frescas in this category of “fruit-driven easy drinks to sip on.” Specifically, I like a couple of these recipes from Bon Appétit.

I, for one, am prepared for a summer of oversized, fun drinks.

If this is your kind of thing—highly seasonal drinks and meals that aren't totally overwhelming or annoying—please subscribe! Every Sunday, I send out this newsletter packed with ideas on what I’m eating, eyeing, and buying, and I’d love to have you here for good!

Subscribe now

Can you believe I’ve made even more drinks this week? Me either. Time to bring out the alcohol.

A few weeks ago, I saw ’s video where she puts a few drops of pomegranate molasses into a beer to make a twist on a Dirty Shirley, or what she calls a Sturdy Shirley. I gave it a try and liked it. Fun!

I need a vat of this marinade from Molly Baz to put on everything this summer, as the name suggests.

See you next week!!!

Every summer, I can’t wait to get my hands on tomatoes, watermelons, and so much stone fruit. While I’ve got a solid catalog of beloved recipes on repeat, I’m always looking for something new.

Welcome to the summer of 2026 Hit List. I'm constantly scouring Substacks, blogs, social media, magazines (SHOCKING, I know!), and cookbooks for recipes to add to my ever-growing list of things to try. That hobby is particularly strong during the summer, when I obsess over summer produce.

With that in mind, here are seven recipes I've either recently discovered or bookmarked months—or even years—ago and am finally getting around to making. These are the recipes I’m craving and will be making all summer. You’re welcome.

Not-boring zucchini

Objectively, there is too much zucchini in the summer. Everyone buys it because “why not—it’s summer!” but then realizes that they’re stuck with approximately 40 pounds of this watery, flavorless vegetable without a plan. Sure, you could grill it (because everything is best grilled in the summer) but also—it’s a little boring.

This year, I’ve got my eye on ’s zucchini scampi. It’s scampi without the shrimp (although serving it with shrimp would be very nice). The real magic of this recipe is the technique: the vegetable is sautéed until golden brown, and a sauce of white wine, butter, and lemon juice is made in the same skillet. Is there a world where wine, butter, and lemon juice could do wrong? No way.

Subscribe now

Strawberry salad dressing

Leave it to to find another clever spin on fruit.

This cucumber and asparagus salad with strawberry vinaigrette sounds delightful in general, but it’s the vinaigrette that’s really speaking to me here. There is no blending or pulsing involved—you simply put strawberries in a bowl with sugar and salt to macerate—Mother Nature does the rest. Then, olive oil and vinegar are added to the strawberries before it’s poured over the salad. Très chic!

Another new use for tomatoes

Given my obsession with tomatoes, I sometimes wonder: Are there any new ways to use tomatoes? Can the wheel be reinvented? Is the wheel worth reinventing? Do I even care?

Have no fear—I have found yet another tomato recipe to make. Like all good recipes involving tomatoes, this is less a recipe and more a presentation. The tomatoes are the stars and ask for very little. All they want is to be plated with some nice olive oil, balsamic vinegar, basil, and parmesan cheese. If I could eat this every day of tomato season, I swear I would be incapable of complaining about anything in life.

Subscribe now

Grilled corn + steak = magic

I don’t cook a ton of red meat for myself at home (mostly due to insane grocery prices, thank you very much) but every once in a while, steak just hits.

’ grilled steak caprese makes a salad of grilled corn, tomato, onion, and mozzarella to top a grilled steak, which sounds divine. I could even deal without the mozzarella to be honest—the idea of a perfect steak served with a little salad so that you get bites of both?! Divine.

Another cold noodle salad

There is no such thing as too many cold noodle salads with a tangy, nutty dressing in my book.

I’ve had this one from Bon Appétit stashed away for a few years, and honestly I’m not sure why I haven’t given it a try yet? However, there’s no time better than the present, right?

This version uses poached chicken, but in reality, I’d use rotisserie chicken because I am nothing if not a rotisserie chicken snob.

Subscribe now

Pork chops … for summer

Can you believe that there’s an recipe I haven’t made? Me either.

But alas, there is at least one, and that is a seared pork chop served alongside a salsa verde and an assortment of other vegetables. Admittedly, pork chops intimidate me because I've cooked too many that turned out tough.

I know this experience is not unique—pork chops are tricky for many! But what better time to tackle a challenge than summer?

Pineapple and chile salsa

Some people seem to think tacos are just for summer. But au contraire! Tacos are a year-round meal but I will admit that yes, they are particularly great in summer.

These salmon tacos with a pineapple-chile salsa from Bon Appétit are on my list to try. There’s a marinade of ginger, garlic, lime juice, and chili powder for the salmon. And there’s a fresh salsa with serrano chiles, pineapple, cilantro, and more lime juice.

Unlike 90% of “weeknight-friendly” recipes I read, I can actually see this as something I could actually make without spending too much time in a hot kitchen.

If this is your kind of thing—highly seasonal, produce-heavy meals that aren't totally overwhelming or annoying—please subscribe! This is mostly what I do here.

Subscribe now

• Five sauces you should know how to make, courtesy of and Food52

• Grocery prices continue to spike, so what should you buy—and skip? NYT Cooking broke down the 17 items you should buy if they are on sale. Surprising to me: Unopened cereal lasts for a year?!?

• I desperately want to be at ’s summer dinner party, complete with peach salad and fruit-as-decor.

• This is Taste interviewed the man, the myth, the legend behind the iconic Instagram account Rate My Chives. I am way too scared to ever, ever have him grade my knifework.

Happy summer! See you next week!!

Lately I’ve been paying very close attention to bowls. Everyone, I’ve observed, is eating a lot of bowls, but very few, in my humble opinion, are doing it right.

A good bowl has the potential to be a perfect ‘I forgot to make dinner but I’ve still got something great’ summer meal. At best, it’s one part leftovers strategy, one part produce showcase, and just enough effort to feel intentional that doesn’t necessarily require turning the oven on. At worst, it’s a slop bowl filled with the kitchen sink and then some.

Ideally, a bowl contains three key components: a protein, a vegetable/something fresh, and perhaps a carb. The key is to not overdo it—if a dump truck could conceivably fill your bowl, rein it in.

Some meals are designed to be served in bowls. Others end up in bowls by happenstance. For whatever reason, eating dinner out of a bowl just feels like summer to me. I can’t explain it other than to say it must be science.

Subscribe now

The concept of bowls as dinner is best conveyed through photos. Here’s a look at some I love:

• I love dinners designed with a bowl in mind—like ’s chipotle honey lime chicken bowls.

• Pasta is also ergonomically designed for bowls. Pictured here is Andy Baraghani’s extra-green pasta salad, which is quite good in early summer.

• Tinned fish for dinner goes straight into bowls.
  

  Subscribe now

• This meal of leftover cod, half an avocado, arugula, pickled onions, and ramp pesto borders on ‘kitchen sink’ but reins it in enough for my liking.

  

• Ali Slagle’s lemony orzo (er—couscous) with asparagus and garlic bread crumbs just looks best in a bowl during golden hour.

  

• The best meatballs I keep in my freezer for emergencies paired with couscous, cucumber, pickled onions, and tzatziki takes mere minutes to prepare.

• Sometimes, a bowl is simply the vessel for holding a non-bowl meal. Take, for instance, Alexis deBoschnek and Hillary Dixler Canavan’s hot honey miso salmon, which looks stunning in a bowl.
  

  Subscribe now

  

• Even a simple salad just looks better in a bowl. Here’s a recent shaved carrot salad I made with a ginger-sesame dressing and chopped pistachios.

You get the point.

Crucially, you may have noticed that all of these bowls look the same. That’s because they’re all from East Fork (and no, this is not an ad). I’ve been a huge fan of East Fork’s pottery for years and over time have amassed a collection big enough for me to use every day. The gold standard is the Everyday Bowl, and my preferred color is panna cotta—a warm, off-white shade that goes with everything.

I simply could not live without my East Fork pieces but I’d be particularly screwed without the Everyday Bowls because as the name suggests, I do in fact use them every single day.

If this is your kind of thing—highly seasonal, produce-heavy meals that aren't totally overwhelming or annoying—please subscribe! This is mostly what I do here.

Subscribe now

• I bought this new-to-me ginger dressing and have been putting it on everything, including the carrot salad featured above.

• I’ve had a huge hankering for cold peanut noodles recently, and I will likely make ’s version very soon.

• It’s prime fish taco season, and these from NYT Cooking look great.

• It’s also strawberry season. Plan accordingly.

• The four pans everyone needs (and a beautiful tribute to her mom) from .

• wrote a cookbook solely about hot dogs. Love.

That’s all for this week!

SUMMER IS HERE!

I like all the seasons (really, I do!) but summer is without a doubt the best—mostly because I love cooking in summer. The vibes are impeccable, the farmers market is the cool place I want to spend all my time and money, and the cooking is rather minimal.

The best thing about summer cooking is how low-key and lazy it is. Fresh vegetables and fruit basically prepare themselves with a little chopping and mixing. Grilling outside (or inside if you own a great little grill pan like moi) is the best way to cook proteins and vegetables. Grilling requires so little of you that it’s recommended you should also have a drink on hand while doing so. Respectfully, life could be a lot worse.

I’ve been aggressively stashing summer recipes away, ready to go for Memorial Day (which unfortunately—although predictably—is quite rainy and dreary in New York City this year).

These dishes include old favorites and a few new ones, too. Save this list when you need meal inspiration this summer. I, for one, will be making everything repeatedly until Labor Day. I’ll still make these for weeks after Labor Day, too.

Subscribe now

Grilled chicken breasts

It’s not summer until I eat one of these boneless grilled chicken breasts—a longtime family staple (my mom even made them for family at my brother’s wedding).

While there’s really no reason why you can’t eat them year-round, this chicken really hits in summer. Simply titled “barbecued chicken” in a 39-year-old cookbook created by the Junior League of Denver, this chicken is family lore for good reason: juicy, succulent chicken breasts.

A million tomatoes

If I had it my way, every summer meal would include a perfect, peak tomato. Tomatoes are far and away my favorite summer produce, and I eat them a million ways. To be honest, I get stir crazy if I don’t have a couple of tomatoes within arm’s reach during the height of summer, and I mourn them at the end of the season.

I can’t pick a single recipe so here’s a short list of five ways I would use tomatoes if supply was limited (thank god it is not).

First, Andy Baraghani’s spaghetti with no-cook puttanesca is my all-time favorite summer pasta that has reigned for 7 years now. Make it to impress your friends, family, and yourself. Repeat.

I am also addicted to tomato cheddar toast from (I am not comfortable disclosing how many days I consecutively ate this for lunch last year). ’s tomato tart is a certified banger with a crust that legitimately tastes like a Cheez-It. And of course, everyone loves ’s dumpling tomato salad with chili crisp vinaigrette.

Also, summer is not legal without an endless number of BLTs.

Spicy Watermelon Salad With Pineapple and Lime

I’ve never made this salad, but I need it in my life for obvious reasons: It looks cool, refreshing, and I practically carry Tajín in my purse during the summer.

Subscribe now

Blueberry cornmeal tart

I am not much of a baker, but ’s blueberry cornmeal tart is summer tradition. If you, too, are not a baker, you’ll appreciate how often Alison uses press-in crusts as opposed to baked, rolled-out crusts. Plus, not to be dramatic, but the presentation on this one is a real stunner.

Subscribe now

A bowl of grilled and colorful food

Think of this as like Chipotle (kind of) but so much better. Last summer, I got hooked on ’s recipe for chipotle honey lime chicken that I couldn’t stop making. You essentially grill chicken alongside other things like corn, and add it to a bowl with bright, crunchy vegetables. And oh yeah—there’s cotija cheese!

To be honest, I have spent 11 months thinking about these bowls. So much so that I might make them ASAP this week because free will is a beautiful thing.

Subscribe now

Grilled Chicken Thighs With Peaches

How many chicken recipes is too many chicken recipes? The real star of this recipe, however, is my favorite summer fruit: the not-humble yet perfect peach. In this recipe from NYT Cooking’s Melissa Clark, ripe and juicy peaches are first slathered in butter and herbs before they’re grilled, a technique that makes the peach jammy and sweet.

Last summer, I had the very good conundrum of having too many peaches on hand at once. This recipe fixed that problem immediately, although that created a follow-up problem of needing more peaches.

Cold shrimp salad

This dish is particularly special to me because it’s what I made for dinner the first night after moving into my current apartment. Also: I will never, ever say no to a shrimp salad.

The recipe is from Bon Appétit, and it really does come together in about 30 minutes. Plus, it’s so pretty when plated over greens!

Potato salad with Caesar dressing

There will inevitably be a time this summer when you are asked to bring something to a party. Whether it’s a picnic, a casual hang, or a dinner party, you should be making potato salad this summer.

Years ago, I discovered Molly Baz’s spin on potato salad, and I’ve never thought about potato salad the same since. Molly’s version uses radishes, dill, and a Caesar-like dressing that’s totally unexpected but delightful. The dressing really soaks into the warm, boiled potatoes, and the radishes give it a nice crunch.

That’s all I’ve got for today but expect so many more recipes to come all summer long!

If this is your kind of thing—highly seasonal, produce-heavy meals that aren't totally overwhelming or annoying—please subscribe! This is mostly what I do here.

Subscribe now

A couple of weeks ago, Little Sesame sent me some hummus products that I’ve been munching on since. I love how these little snacks come in so many flavors—I’ve long loved their preserved lemon hummus (great slathered on turkey sandwiches, btw) but I also tried a tomato basil flavor that’s a collaboration with Bianco DiNapoli tomatoes (love!) and a habanero hummus (addicted!) that is part of a collaboration with beloved hot sauce brand Yellowbird.

I’ve been eating them with pita chips, pretzels, baby carrots, and celery when I need to get out of my mid-afternoon slumps.

Little Sesame also sent me some of the brand’s protein hummus, which is packaged into individually sized portions. If you’ve been following this Substack this year, you know that I’ve been on a protein-maxing journey, and these little cups (each has 10 grams of protein!) are great for sneaking in a little extra protein when frankly, I don’t even notice it.

Thank you so much, Little Sesame!

This week, I went to an event hosted by NYT Cooking at the Times Center in midtown Manhattan. The event celebrated the New York Times’ annual list of the top 100 restaurants in New York.

I enjoyed listening to chef Paul Carmichael talk about Kabawe, his Caribbean-inspired restaurant that landed at No. 1 on the list. Jess Shadbolt and Annie Shi of King/Jupiter/Lei’s/Dean’s fame also spoke. The stars of NYT—Nikita Richardson, Ligaya Mishan, and Melissa Clark—were also there.

I love King so much. But I was also pleased to see a few of my other old favorites on the Times’ list: Roman’s, Superiority Burger, Carnitas Ramirez, Via Carota, and Claud, to name a few.

Speaking of Roman’s, this little Brooklyn restaurant never misses for me. After running a half marathon last weekend, I rallied to make it there for dinner. 10/10, no notes.

• ’s grocery store First Bloom is opening a Brooklyn store. As you’ll recall, her pop-up store was very much my kryptonite this winter. Pray for me (and my wallet, please).

• I don’t know why I’m not more of a stir-fry person, but I want to be more of a stir-fry person thanks to .

• went inside my dream store aka Wild Sorrel, a new cookbook store in New York City. The fact that I haven’t visited yet is almost sacrilegious.

• As recently discussed, I’m not much of a meal prepper. That said, I can get behind the formula that chef Hillary Sterling shared with . Two proteins get mixed up throughout the week, essentially. For example, a pot of bolognese goes from a pasta dinner to chili dinner. Totally doable.

• Imagine being your classmate at a cooking school in Burgundy, France?!

• WOW these grilled chicken thighs from Hailee Catalano look insane.

Happy Memorial Day weekend and HAPPY SUMMER!!!!

Regardless of how many cookbooks I have, there’s always room for one more.

The joy of paging through a cookbook has never just been about recipes for me. The joy comes from reading cookbooks like novels, paying attention to the headnotes, all of the little details, and of course gorgeous photography that brings it all home.

Over the past few months, I’ve been listening to podcasts, reading articles, and seeing so many new cookbooks coming out in time for spring and summer cooking.

There are cookbooks focused on one type of food, novels that double as cookbooks, and cookbooks inspired by the warm Mediterranean (please—say less).

I narrowed down the dozens of recent cookbook launches into five books that are worth clearing space for.

Consider this your summer reading list, and remember that your beach read can absolutely be a cookbook.

Will This Make You Happy: Stories and Recipes from a Year of Baking by Tanya Bush

This book came out in March, and I was immediately sold with a narrative format that follows Tanya (cofounder of and the pastry chef at Little Egg, a breakfast restaurant in my neighborhood) and her story of finding herself and joy through baking over the course of a year. As the story develops, the recipes slowly level up, going from cookies to pavlovas.

I love narrative cookbooks (see: Nora Ephron’s “Heartburn” and ’s “Save Me the Plums”) because they’re first and foremost a novel, with recipes sprinkled in that fit into the storyline.

Buy the book here.

Party Tricks: Easy, Elegant Recipes for Snacking and Hosting by Anna Hezel

I learned about this book from listening to an interview with Anna on a recent episode of the This is Taste podcast.

Anna’s book is a fun look at how to host without too much stress. There are recipes for snacks before dinner like candied Marcona almonds with cumin seeds and orange zest (yum), and full snack-meal situations like shrimp in chili-garlic browned butter (OMG). The focus on snacks as dinner is something I can easily get behind, especially heading into summer when nobody wants to hover over a hot stove in July.

Buy the book here.

Subscribe now

Riviera by

If you’ve ever had the non-alcoholic apéritif Ghia (I like the lime and salt flavor), then you already know Melanie’s vibe.

I’ve followed Melanie on Instagram for a while, and love her very French style and taste. Her first cookbook is called “Riviera,” and as the name suggests, is inspired by the South of France and Italy. Things like a salad nicoise—one of my favorite salads to eat all summer—make me want to impulsively book a flight to the Mediterranean. Plus, that cover image of a simple fish on a silver platter? Gorg.

And if you want to learn a little bit more about Melanie and the book, I highly recommend her recent interview and a recipe for summer soup with .

Buy the book here.

The Book of Pizza by King Arthur Baking Company

An entire book about pizza!

King Arthur is known for its flour, so it’s no surprise that there’s now a guide to making pizza at home. Even living in New York, the pizza capital of America, I think making pizza at home is fun. The book covers how to make dough, bake, and add toppings across 12 types of pizza including Chicago, Grandma, New York, and Neapolitan. There’s also a handful of recipes for salads (a non-negotiable for me when eating pizza) and desserts.

The zucchini, ricotta salata, and pistachio salsa verde pizza is speaking to me.

Buy the book here.

Every Leaf, Every Stem by

This one isn’t out yet, but I’m already emotionally attached.

Pierce has the coolest eye for how to make vegetables feel genuinely exciting. Specifically, he loves to take under-looked vegetables and whatever’s in the pantry—like tons of canned beans—and turn them into simple but thoughtful and layered lunches and dinners.

As someone who is similarly moved by local produce and seasonality, I imagine this is one that will speak to me deeply. Plus, culinary legend Alice Waters wrote the foreward to the book.

Preorder the book here.

Subscribe now

Honorable mention: I got ’s “Obsessed With the Best” for my birthday in March, which I was interested in for its depth, research, and essays. I’m happy to report that it lives up to the hype—although I still need to make the cover star, chocolate chip cookies, as well as Ella’s biscuits.

If this is your kind of thing—tracking all the cool cookbooks and food media you should know about—please subscribe! This is mostly what I do here.

• PASTA WITH LEMON, BASIL, AND ALMONDS from (yes, all caps is necessary).

• It’s rhubarb season, and of course has all the good stuff.

• I’ve been avidly reading ’s Corner Booth recently for the best restaurant intel. Like—a matcha slushie from Gem Home?! Get out of here. Also consider this a reminder that Altro Paradiso is always a good idea.

• I continue to trust ’s The Strategist with my life, and loved this taste test of tomato sauces. Rao’s reigns supreme for me, but now I’m very intrigued by Carbone. And in a shock to literally no one, I do love ’s A Very Good Tomato Sauce.

• I watched this video recreating Ruby Cafe’s crispy rice salad and realized that I had everything to make it at home. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.

• ’s pork chop schnitzel with snow pea salad. Yes.

Have a great week!!

Subscribe now

Spring is a magical time in New York. Nature is blooming, birds are chirping, and the first taste of summer is within reach.

Most importantly, the produce starts BUZZING out of the blue. One day you’re emotionally surviving on potatoes and onions, and the next day the farmers market is overflowing with ramps, radishes, scallions en masse, and bundles of asparagus tied up with little pieces of twine. It’s like the farmers market just flips overnight.

Among the special produce is asparagus, arguably spring’s crème de la crème. Luckily for us, it takes over spring at some point.

My only regret about spring is that it never seems to last as long as it should, meaning that asparagus season is always too short.

Before I go any further, I want to show you what the farmers market looked like this week at Union Square—the neighborhood where I work—because it is a sight to be seen. Pictures do more justice to asparagus than my words ever will.

Subscribe now

All hail asparagus

Asparagus is my favorite vegetable of spring. It’s earthy, savory, and extremely versatile. Unlike other spring veg like ramps, asparagus is the gift that keeps giving all spring. It’s plentiful, consistent, and always so good—like unfairly good.

There is a shockingly significant amount of discourse about the preferred thickness of asparagus in the world. For the record, I generally look for thicker stalks, but will occasionally go a bit thinner.

The flavor of asparagus changes dramatically based on how it is cooked. Blanching or steaming asparagus keeps it tender and crisp with a bright-green color. Roasting or grilling asparagus almost caramelizes it. And sautéing asparagus lands somewhere between tender and savory.

For me, this has been the spring of blanched asparagus. I love how blanching holds the wonderful snap of an asparagus stalk while also mellowing out its rawness. My method of blanching is nothing special but it’s highly effective: I cook asparagus for a few minutes (really—only a few minutes! Nothing more!) in boiling water, followed by an ice bath. I then let the asparagus dry on a sheet pan.

I blanched asparagus to make Stanley Tucci’s mushroom and asparagus salad to take to a cookbook club. And I blanched asparagus to eat alongside a spring chicken with all accompaniments.

But my favorite way to use blanched asparagus this year was ’s lemony orzo with asparagus and garlic bread crumbs. Like many of Ali’s recipes, the ingredient list for this recipe is shockingly short and focuses on pantry staples that you likely already have on hand in addition to asparagus—panko, parmesan cheese, any kind of herb you’ve got in the fridge, a clove of garlic, lemon, and orzo.

I didn’t have any orzo at home, but I did have couscous, so I used that instead for a nearly identical swap. Not to derail this asparagus conversation, but wow, couscous is wonderful. Similar to orzo, couscous is a pasta—not a grain—shaped like tiny but also sizable pearls. I am obsessed.

Anyway, this recipe for lemony orzo/couscous with asparagus is excellent. The toasted panko really takes it over the edge, adding a little crunchy, buttery richness. Like most really great pasta salads, this recipe gets better with time. The flavors deepen and meld when given the chance to hang for a few hours to hang in the fridge or even on the counter at room temperature.

Plus, look how radiant she is. I mean, come on!

If you need to find me for the rest of the month, just follow the asparagus.

If this is your kind of cooking—highly seasonal, produce-heavy meals that aren't totally overwhelming or annoying—please subscribe! This is mostly what I do here.

Subscribe now

• I’m obsessed with the recipes that food writers know by heart by and . Immediately making those potato, egg, and cheese tacos because as previously stated—in we trust.

• It’s (almost) beach sandwich season. Hell yeah. has all the tips to make a banging sandwich that’s best eaten while wearing a swimsuit in the glorious sunshine.

• New York’s food media is smitten by the arrival of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop Kitchen. I’ve read at least a dozen articles over the past month about the “best” things to order there, but what about the “worst” things? dug in, obviously. The fact that placing an order for 16 items resulted in a $376 bill isn’t being talked about enough, IMO.

• OK, this rec isn’t about food at all but stick with me. Recently, I saw ’s essay on how to increase your surface area for luck circulating on Substack and was blown away. The idea is that the more times you actively engage with the world, the more luck you’ll receive. It’s such a simple concept, but oh my god did it change my perspective. Go read it this very second!

  Subscribe now

  

  Blend a whole lemon—yes, rind and all—to make this herb vinaigrette from Food & Wine. Cool!

Not gonna lie, I totally zoned out for like five minutes watching Yulia Dimitrievska make this olive oil dip with anchovies, kalamata olives, chili flakes, and parm.

Happy spring—go frolic in the grass like Janie!

Subscribe now

I don’t do meal prepping.

The mere idea of preparing a big meal and divvying it up into individual portions to eat for an entire week’s worth of lunch or dinner gives me hives. For one, diversity is the spice of life for me—I simply cannot commit to eating one thing all week. What if I want to eat something else? (I will.) What if I get bored? (I will.)

Secondly, I do not own nearly enough Tupperware to prepare a full week’s worth of meals at once.

Finally, I do not have the arm power or patience to cook an entire week’s worth of meals at once.

To be clear, there’s a distinct difference between being prepared and meal prepping, particularly because I basically live on leftovers. For me, keeping a pantry and freezer full of things I love that can be quickly put together when I’m in dire need for dinner (like say when I get home at 7:30 pm and am starving) is crucial. Often, I like to do a little bit of prep on Sundays to make a few things. Maybe I’ll roast vegetables, make a pot of some kind of grain, or mix together a sauce that I can store in the fridge to assemble dinner quickly. These things become the building blocks to make unboring meals throughout the week.

All of that to say, if I am going to fully prepare one meal ahead of time, a big, crunchy salad is the way to go. To me, making said salad is more akin to light prep work rather than meal prepping.

And in spring, I crave a bright, snappy salad with a punchy dressing. I chalk it up to my tastebuds defrosting. Produce will not be entering summer’s full bounty for a bit but at least I can switch up eating so many boring winter potatoes. Plus, this salad has so much color and texture that it’s hard not to love.

Lately, it’s been more of a struggle to make easy, fast dinners than normal. Maybe it’s because of the weather or because it’s staying light outside later? Anyway, I’ve come home from work several times recently hungry and completely stumped on what to eat for dinner, which is never a good combination.

Enter the big, crunchy salad—specifically, a Thai-inspired salad with rotisserie chicken, cabbage, plenty of other crunchy things, and a creamy peanut sauce. I do not have one go-to recipe for this salad. I take inspiration from recipes like ’s delectable version and other recipes like this one.

The reason why this salad works to make ahead of time is that the ingredients are things that can hold their shape and form. Cabbage can easily hang for a few days without going completely limp, unlike say, romaine lettuce or arugula, which essentially wilt when you look at them.

This salad has so much color. It’s filling with shredded rotisserie chicken. But the best part is hands down the dressing—a creamy peanut sauce that’s both acidic and rich. I could (and do!) eat this dressing with a spoon. It scratches a very specific craving I always have for flavors that make my lips pucker that are also creamy.

An actually good make-ahead salad

At this point, it should come as no surprise that I am a strong advocate for roasting a chicken. I make it regularly and have tried all the methods and tips that exist.

But man, a rotisserie chicken really slaps, too. For one, all you have to do is simply buy a chicken at the grocery store and you’re good to go. But also, the flavor of rotisserie chicken is truly unmatched—tender, savory, and somehow perfectly cooked.

Sure, you could roast a chicken and shred it to make this salad. But also, you don’t have to! If the goal is to prepare something that is easy to grab out of the fridge, using rotisserie chicken just makes sense.

From there, the only real work is cutting and chopping things up. In addition to two types of cabbage, I added a bell pepper, scallions, shredded carrots, edamame, a bounty of cilantro, and chopped roasted peanuts for crunch. Crunchy wontons are another great crunchy topping—although I found it surprisingly difficult to find them in Brooklyn?!?

Now let’s talk dressing. The base of this dressing is peanut butter. I also used soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, lime zest and juice, rice vinegar, microplaned garlic and ginger, and a tiny bit of Sriracha for heat. After whisking everything together, thin it out with some water and just start tasting. It will likely need more of everything plus salt—I like to treat this process like a ride. I keep adding ingredients and thinning out the dressing until the flavor is almost too punchy. I find that once a dressing is added to a salad, all of the flavors become a bit diluted and more mellow. So, it’s important to make it extra biting before adding it to the salad. As our girl would say, “amp up the flavor.”

After making this salad, I made two easy dinners and a lunch out of it. That’s about as far ahead as my brain can plan, and that is OK.

A tuna melt is one of life’s smallest and greatest pleasures. But what about a whitefish salad melt a la ? I’m so in.

Weeknight Dinner Club by The Modern Proper

Whitefish Melt

I absolutely love to try new restaurants, and feel so lucky to live in the Portland area because my list of places to try seems to be wonderfully endless. One of my favorite bites recently was at the new-ish Dream Deli, which serves up glorious, meticulously crafted sandwiches (and more) inspired by Jewish deli staples. Everything we had was good, but i…

Read more

4 months ago · 10 likes · Natalie Mortimer

As the NYT Cooking title card suggests, got ramps? Make ’s pasta. OK! Also, I so appreciate the appreciation for orecchiette, easily one of my top five pasta shapes that holds sauce perfectly.

Also, another sheet pan recipe for fish, fennel, and a olive tapenade? Girl, you know I’m making this ASAP from . Stay tuned.

Adios!!