It’s no secret that BA editors cook a lot for work. So it should come as no surprise that we cook a lot during our off hours too. Here are the recipes we’re whipping up this month to get dinner on the table, entertain our friends, satisfy a sweet tooth, use up leftovers, and everything in between. For even more staff favorites, click here.
May 10
Leftover-friendly gado-gado
When this noodle-based gado-gado was going through recipe cross-testing in the test kitchen, I ate it for lunch for almost two weeks straight. It’s peanutty, slightly spicy from the sambal oelek, and is easily adaptable for whatever veggies are hiding in your fridge (but don’t skip the broccoli, which sops up the sauce in all the best ways). The dish comes from cookbook author Lara Lee, whose weeknight-dinner-friendly recipes often double as my next-day lunch leftovers. This weekend I made a batch at home with extra sauce—the best gift for my future self to use as a dip for veggies, grilled chicken, or rice. —Kate Kassin, editorial operations manager
Bribery strawberry muffins
For weeks, the heater in my bedroom was broken. Anyone who has lived even briefly in New York City knows these clanking heaters have only two settings: off or spit-roast hot, nothing in between. I couldn’t turn mine off, which made me wonder if I’d emerge from sleep sizzled to a crisp. It was impossible to get hold of my building’s supers to fix it, despite frequent calls. So with diabolical shrewdness (and desperation), I baked a batch of recipe developer Zoe Denenberg’s Strawberry Muffins and ran them down to the supers’ office. The muffins were tender and hefty, and it was hard not to smile when you looked at them, speckled with cheerful bits of red fruit. The supers were besotted with them. That was on Saturday. On Monday, two of them showed up, unprompted, at 9 a.m. on the dot to fix the heater. Clearly, these strawberry muffins have persuasive powers—deploy them. —Shilpa Uskokovic, senior test kitchen editor
The only pesto in the world
I am a big believer in No Buy Night—using whatever is in the pantry and fridge to pull together dinner. But sometimes a craving gets the better of me and I end up speed-walking to the supermarket to get an ingredient or three that I’m missing. Such was the case with BA’s Best Pesto. Perhaps it’s the warmer weather but out of nowhere—bam!—I felt an undeniable need for bright green sauce on pasta. And who am I to deny an undeniable need? This recipe has been a reader favorite for years for good reason—its just right balance of vegetal, cheesy, and nutty. My only regret was not doubling the recipe and freezing the surplus in ice cube trays. Next time. —Emma Laperruque, senior cooking editor
Farmers market clams
My local farmers market is once again open after its winter hiatus, and thank god. It’s my favorite ritual to wander the stalls with a coffee in hand, after devouring an egg and cheese from my favorite diner in New Jersey. Of course I snagged some strawberries, but I also grabbed a bag of clams from the Jersey shore. At home, I had a jar of aioli that needed to be used up, plus an opened can of tomato paste and a half-drunk bottle of wine. In other words: I was halfway to BA alum Andy Baraghani’s Clams With Spicy Tomato Broth and Garlic Mayo. Served with a sesame-semolina loaf from the market, it was a Very Romantic dinner. —E.L.
Bake sale cookies
I am constantly being volunteered for bake sales and potlucks. Not volunteering but being volunteered by my kids to show up on specific days of the month with baked goods in tow to support their school-related endeavors. My older son asked if I could “bake something with matcha” since their class had written a borderline incomprehensible (yet completely charming) play involving green tea. I thought at once of test kitchen editor Kendra Vaculin’s Matcha Spritz Cookies, undaunted by the fact that I don’t currently own a cookie press or an electric mixer. I delegated creaming the sugar and butter by hand to my son, in the spirit of character development, and splurged on ceremonial-grade matcha augmented with three drops of green food coloring. Instead of using a cookie press, I followed Kendra’s instructions for adapting the cookies to be slice-and-bake, alternating the layers of vanilla and match doughs for a dramatic zebra-striped effect. They were awesome: tender, buttery, but with the pleasantly grassy, bitter tannic bite of tea to cut through it all. I am sure that is just what the kids were thinking when they ate them. —Chris Morocco, food director
May 3
Weeknight-fancy ravioli
Rather than a rigid formula, I treated this recipe for Weeknight-Fancy Ravioli With Creamy Peas like a bouncy trampoline. Did I use ravioli? No, I used tortellini. Did I toast the nuts in butter? No, I opened a bag of pre-roasted pistachios. Did I measure…anything? No, I eyeballed! That is what “weeknight-fancy” means to me. And the result was wonderful. The vibrant-hued sauce hugged the store-bought pasta, and I put parm and lemon on the table for grating on top, plus a jar of chile flakes to sprinkle as you please. Luckily, I still have half a bag of peas left over, so I can make these beloved fritters from the Bon Appétit 56. —Emma Laperruque, senior cooking editor
10-minute asparagus stir-fry
It is finally asparagus season, and I have been acting the fool, buying too many bunches and taking dozens of pictures of the lovely, fern-green stalks. On Sunday, I cooked Ali Slagle’s 10-Minute Lamb and Asparagus Stir-Fry, and in true Ali fashion, it was wildly easy. I had neither ground lamb nor scallions, so I used what I did have: ground beef and ramps. You don’t expect ginger and dill to taste as good together as they do in this dish. The asparagus keeps it from feeling heavy and cutting the stalks into small coins miraculously doubles its volume. Eaten with some rice, it was a great I-don’t-feel-like-cooking cooking that still felt fresh and bright. —Shilpa Uskokovic, senior test kitchen editor
Another asparagus stir-fry!
Like Shilpa, I am basking in asparagus season. I also opted for a swift stir-fry—in my case, Sarah Jampel’s Black Pepper Tofu and Asparagus. Even more than the verdant stalks, it was the full tablespoon of black peppercorns (for two servings!) that lured me in. Though it’s often used as an accent, this humble spice becomes thrilling when it’s pushed to its fiery limits (like in cacio e pepe). I used canola oil instead of olive oil, and inspired by one reader, I lowered the soy sauce slightly and swapped in a boozy splash of mirin. Once asparagus are gone (cry), I’m going to repeat this with bok choy. Maybe broccoli after that! —E.L.
In this 30-minute dish, which is inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe in his 2011 book Plenty, black pepper is the star, not the sidekick: When bloomed in oil, the coarsely ground peppercorns become piquant and fragrant enough to flavor the entire sauce, no red pepper flakes, dried chiles, or hot sauce needed. Take care not to burn the peppercorns as you toast them or the flavor could swing from spicy to bitter.
Flourless chocolate cake
I needed dessert for two dinner parties in a row, and I definitely didn’t have the energy to bake twice. This very chocolaty Flourless Chocolate Cake more than pulled its weight. I bumped it up with salt (chocolate can take a lot of salt), a splash of vanilla, and a few drops of orange bitters, and served it with vanilla gelato plus sort-of-manhattans from an infinity bottle of batched cocktails I’ve been topping off since November. —Maggie Hoffman, contributing editor
Need-now chicken and rice
Do you ever have a craving so specific you’ll make a grocery store trip just to get its main ingredient? That happened to me on Sunday with this Laotian-Style Chicken and Rice Salad. I had a pint-size container of leftover rice glaring at me from the fridge, but no ground chicken. This sour, sweet, and salty dish is the perfect dinner for when it’s starting to get warm enough to leave a jacket at home. Its big flavor comes from red curry paste, fish sauce, and ginger (I left out the red onion and almost doubled the ginger). For dinner, I followed the recipe’s instructions to serve as lettuce wraps, but the best part was having the chicken and rice filling for lunch the next day. —Kate Kassin, editorial operations manager
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