Culinary Creations: A Compilation of Editors' Favorite Recipes
Bon Appétit editors, renowned for their professional culinary expertise, also demonstrate a passionate commitment to cooking in their personal lives. This month, they generously share a curated selection of their beloved recipes, ranging from ingenious snack creations to delightful main courses and decadent desserts. These dishes not only grace their own tables but also serve as inspiration for casual entertaining, innovative leftover makeovers, and satisfying sweet indulgences. Their choices reflect a blend of comfort, creativity, and the joy of home cooking, offering readers a glimpse into the diverse gastronomic preferences of these food connoisseurs.
Olivia Tarantino, a senior shopping editor, recounts her culinary contribution to a vacation in Idaho. To infuse a taste of Maryland into the meal, she prepared Kendra Vaculin's Old Bay potato chips. This simple yet ingenious recipe involves baking kettle chips and then coating them with a blend of Old Bay seasoning, powdered sugar, and a hint of lemon zest. The sugar component is crucial, as it harmonizes with the salty spice, making the chips irresistibly addictive. The dish proved to be a resounding success, with the vibrant, sunset-hued chips disappearing before the main course of burgers and hot dogs even left the grill, signifying a triumphant journey for a taste of home.
Meanwhile, senior editor Sam Stone describes her experience on Martha's Vineyard, where she succumbed to the charm of local farm stands selling premium cherry tomatoes. She utilized these plump, ripe tomatoes to prepare a 'Pasta With No-Cook Cherry Tomato Sauce'. This straightforward recipe involves crushing halved tomatoes with olive oil, garlic, and basil, then incorporating the mixture into buttery, cheesy pasta. A unique highlight of this dish is its transformation as leftovers, where the flavors meld and intensify, resulting in an even more profound tomato essence.
Kelsey Jane Youngman, a senior cooking editor, found solace in a hearty soup during a late summer thunderstorm. She drew inspiration from recipe editor Liesel Davis's 'Summer Vegetable Soup With Pistou', meticulously following the instructions, particularly the transformative step of roasting tomatoes and corn to deepen their flavor. She also prepared a fresh pistou while the soup gently simmered. A personal adjustment involved substituting collard greens for spinach, which she added earlier to ensure they became tender and wilted, adapting the recipe to her preference while maintaining its essence.
For her birthday celebration, cooking director Emma Laperruque indulged in a clam-centric menu, featuring Hana Asbrink's 'Spaghetti With Clams and Sun Gold Tomatoes'. This recipe was a perfect choice given the season's abundant Sun Gold tomatoes and the generous availability of fresh basil from her neighbors. Laperruque particularly appreciates the recipe's distinctive white sauce with tomatoes, offering a bright, briny, and buttery flavor profile. For dessert, she crafted Smitten Kitchen's 'Chipwich Ice Cream Cake', a long-anticipated creation involving two blondie cookies sandwiching vanilla ice cream and adorned with chocolate pieces, proving to be another celebratory success.
Nina Moskowitz, an associate editor for cooking, shares her remedy for a post-night-out malaise: French toast. Having purchased Japanese milk bread for a BLT the day prior, she repurposed the remaining bread for a comforting breakfast. She soaked the bread in a mixture of eggs, milk, sugar, and cinnamon, then pan-fried the slices in butter until golden brown and custardy. Served with an extra pat of butter and a drizzle of maple syrup, this simple yet satisfying dish was precisely what she needed to recover.
Executive producer Ali Inglese considers the 'Tomato Galette' by Andy Baraghani an indispensable part of her summer culinary tradition, having prepared it annually since its publication in 2019. This recipe features a flaky, buttery dough, easily prepared in a food processor, which is then rolled out and crimped into an artful free-form tart. Adorned with various peak-season heirloom tomatoes, the galette is a perfect canvas to showcase the diverse colors, shapes, and sizes of this summer fruit.
These editorial selections encapsulate the joy of seasonal ingredients, the comfort of familiar flavors, and the excitement of culinary innovation. Each dish reflects a personal connection to food, whether it's a nostalgic taste of home, a celebration of summer's bounty, or a comforting cure. The editors' shared experiences encourage readers to embrace their kitchens as spaces for creativity, experimentation, and ultimately, delightful meals that nourish both body and soul.
