Three-Minute Vinaigrette and More Recipes We Made This Week

It’s no secret that Bon Appétit 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.

April 24

Birthday pasta

I got to enjoy a girls’ weekend upstate and took it upon myself to make one of our dinners. On the menu? Whatever the birthday girl wanted, of course. And bucatini all’Amatriciana was what she wanted. I forgot how much I enjoy this sauce, whose success lies in a handful of ingredients: guanciale, Pecorino, and tomatoes, preferably crushed by hand. Truth be told, I took my share of liberties with the dish, riffing on this BA recipe. The traditional way omits onion and garlic; I skipped the onion but said yes to garlic and chile flakes (also not considered “authentic” to the original), and opted for easier-to-find pancetta. The birthday girl didn’t mind one bit, so I will count that as a win! —Hana Asbrink, deputy food editor

Ramp pesto

You know spring has sprung when ramps start popping up at every farmers market stall like daffodils from dormant winter soil. I had only ever admired these alliums’ leafy beauty from my Instagram feed, but this year I decided to try them for myself as a pesto to spoon over grilled salmon. I blitzed up ramps, parsley, garlic, almonds, lemon juice, and olive oil (no Parmesan because of the culinary taboo of never pairing cheese with fish). It was the perfect herby foil to the fatty, smoke-kissed salmon. Now I wish I had written down the exact measurements… —Olivia Tarantino, senior commerce editor

Poppy seed sugar cookies

I love Samantha Seneviratne’s cookbooks and recipes. So I needed little convincing to make her chewy sugar cookies, which are overflowing with rave reviews on NYT Cooking. Because I can never help it, I made a few tweaks: swapped in 40 grams of cornmeal in place of the flour (next time I’d do more); and stirred in 1½ Tbsp. poppy seeds (nature’s sprinkles!). They were buttery—the highest compliment—with crackly edges and fudgy bellies. Pure joy with a cup of tea. —Emma Laperruque, cooking director

Chicken pot pie

As the cool days linger longer than they’re welcome, I’ve felt the need for comfort. Enter Molly Baz’s easy chicken pot pie made with a rotisserie bird. For the topping, I took a cue from the dessert table. Claire Saffitz’s Apple Pandowdy recipe uses frozen puff pastry, cutting the dough into bite-size pieces so it spreads and bakes up like cobblestones, with lots of crispy corners. You get to decide how many square inches make it to your dinner bowl. —Joe Sevier, senior editor, cooking & SEO

Chocolate whoopie pies with toffee buttercream

Friends of mine hosted a Sunday roast, potluck-style. I needed something sweet, portable, and easily grabbable. Enter: chocolate whoopie pies filled with sticky toffee buttercream. Knowing dates were nonnegotiable for that caramelly effect, I grabbed inspiration from this recipe. Subtracting much of the heavy cream, while adding in blended dates that had been softened in a hot water bath, I made and cooled the sauce, then slowly incorporated it into a buttercream frosting. I swirled this onto each whoopie cookie, topped with another for that handheld combo. All of us grabbed one after a toasty meal, eaten alongside hot tea and chocolate digestives, as close to a Sunday in England as we could get. —Marisa Alia Malanga, research fellow

April 17

Tahini brownies for mom

I recently found myself at my parents’ house with a free afternoon, which naturally meant I needed to bake a treat. “I’m craving tahini brownies for some reason,” said my mom. Challenge accepted. Enter: food director Chris Morocco’s version. They just so happen to be gluten-free, which I don’t usually care for when baking, but in a brownie, the absence of flour makes them fudgier. I didn’t have any light agave syrup for the tahini swirl, but maple syrup swapped in just fine. Later, as we dipped our rich squares into cups of milky tea, we realized why my mother was craving these flavors: Sitting on another area of the kitchen table was a clipping of this very recipe, ripped straight out of the magazine. —Rebecca Firkser, Test Kitchen editor

A very crisp salad

Armed with a punnet of farmers market sugar snap peas and some precariously ripe avocados, I turned to the Epicurious app for timely inspiration. It led me straight to former staffer Kendra Vaculin’s Crispy Tortilla Salad With Snap Peas and Avocado. The name alone sold me: I am a fiend for crunch, and the promise of both tortilla chips and snap peas in one dish was enough for me to proceed. Then I scanned the ingredient list and found plenty more texture: radishes, cucumbers, and jalapeños. My luck! I decided to fry my own chips because why not (just get some FryAway to deal with the oil). And because I don’t like cilantro, I used a mix of parsley and mint instead. —Kelsey Jane Youngman, senior service editor

Company-worthy olive oil cake

I am young, fun, spontaneous, etc., but a last-minute dinner invite always spikes my cortisol. Certainly, I can’t show up empty-handed, but what should I make? This Spiced Olive Oil Cake With Orange Glaze has been my savior on more than one occasion. I like to juice up the recipe: I go heavy on the black pepper for florality and add a pinch more cardamom for all the warming notes. The most important ingredient is the olive oil itself. I use a nice one that friends brought me back from Portugal. Its verdant, zippy flavor is the anchor in the baked cake. —Sam Stone, staff writer

Baked pasta alla vodka

The other week my coworker Mallary Santucci made this Pasta Alla Vodka for a team lunch. But instead of stopping where the recipe ends, she took it a step further (as a senior culinary producer does), plopping the sauced rigatoni into a casserole dish and layering it with globs of mozzarella. It baked up with brown, craggy edges and was gone in minutes—I wanna say 10 total. I couldn’t resist making it at home for dinner a few days later, finished with a whole bunch of basil. —Nina Moskowitz, associate editor, cooking

April 10

A repeat-worthy party app

I’m incredibly predictable when it comes to parties. Ask me to bring an app and I will bring crudités: usually endive cups, cucumber spears, and radish halves (unpopular, but I love them). The dip is typically the same too: a romesco I make in a personal blender in minutes. Never once have I measured this, but it goes something like: Drain a jar of roasted peppers and pat them dry. Add to the blender with a giant scoop of almond butter, few forkfuls of sun-dried tomatoes, spoonful of smoked paprika, couple pinches of salt, and long pour each of olive oil and sherry vinegar. Blitz until smooth as hummus. Taste and adjust. Refrigerate if you can; no worries if you can’t. Oh, and throw in a bag of potato chips alongside. That’s a must. —Emma Laperruque, cooking director

Galette for Easter

This past weekend I was invited to my boyfriend’s coworker’s Easter with precise instructions for “some kind of appetizer, run with that to your heart’s content.” Ushering through oodles of ideas—Spring Panzanella, Extra-Creamy Deviled Eggs, Easter Salad—I decided to play it simple and make this ever-impressive Jammy Brie Galette. People taste molten cheese and are immediately like, “This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted.” And they’re right! Paired with buttery puff pastry that shatters in your mouth and sticky apricot jam, this galette is otherworldly. —Nina Moskowitz, associate editor, cooking

Citrus upside-down cake

I couldn’t stop thinking about the warm upside-down Meyer lemon olive oil cake that closed a recent trip to Gramercy Tavern in New York. I was so inspired by the bright cake drizzling with sparkly brown sugar, and a dollop of Cara Cara orange sorbet I emailed pastry chef Briana Ruiz about how much I enjoyed it. Later, I searched the Bon Appétit/Epicurious archive and found a recipe for Backyard Citrus Upside-Down Cake by cookbook author Nicole Rucker. I made some small tweaks to the recipe, including adding brown sugar for a darker caramel glaze, and a tablespoon of vanilla extract to balance the macerating lemons. I baked the cake in a deep 9-inch fluted dish to give it more visual character. The result was an ultra moist crumb, best served warm. —Jamila Robinson, editor in chief

Nourishing bone broth soup

Not to sound like an infomercial, but this 10-Minute Bone Broth Soup from my colleague Rebecca Firkser’s new column Good for You brought my appetite back. After a few weeks of too many meals out instead of in (scouting for our Best New Restaurants coverage), I didn’t feel much like eating at all. I obviously still needed to eat! So when this soup promised fast nourishment, I was sold. Color me surprised when the bubbling pot of broth, swirled with tender ribbons of egg and silky leaves of spinach, actually made me hungry. I’ve been making cups of it for breakfast to have alongside my tea every morning since. —Kelsey Jane Youngman, senior service editor

April 3

Lemony broccoli pasta

One of my all-time favorite comfort foods is a bowl of buttered noodles bulked up with broccoli. Delicious in its most simple form, but now I have a new favorite version from my coworker Rebecca Firkser. She jazzes it up with umami-packed anchovies, loads of garlic, and bright lemon. The citrus here is used in its entirety, skin, pith, flesh, and all. It imbues the pasta with a wonderful freshness that’s far more exciting than the pared-back version I’m used to. —Jesse Szewczyk, senior Test Kitchen editor

Comforting boy kibble

This time of year I’m eating out a lot, zigzagging across the country to scout for our Best New Restaurants. When I returned home from my most recent trip, I couldn’t wait to eat a home-cooked meal. I love making a variation on this Smashed Beef Kebab with Cucumber Yogurt from former BA staffer Zaynab Issa. Call it boy kibble if you’d like! The meat is seasoned with earthy turmeric and hard-seared over high heat. It’s easy to make and endlessly adaptable. I’ve used ground beef, lamb, bison (one of my favorites)—they all work. Served with a bed of fluffy rice, it made a delightful welcome back dinner. —Kate Kassin, editorial operations manager

A strong salad craving

Like clockwork, as soon as the weather warms, I crave salads. Crispy Smashed Potatoes and Chickpeas With Greek Salad always fit the bill. This week, I didn’t have tiny potatoes or chickpeas, so I opted for one big ole russet. After boiling potato chunks until tender, I spread them onto my air-fryer tray, smashed them with the back of a cup, drizzled them with olive oil, a sprinkle of salt, and air-fried until golden brown. I swooshed an herby yogurt dressing (lactose-free for me) in a bowl, then piled on cherry tomatoes, Persian cucumbers, red onion, and finally, the shatteringly crisp potatoes. A scattering of toasted pine nuts and crumbled Bulgarian feta to finish. Perfection. —Abi Lieff, assistant to the editor in chief

Loaded salad pizza

I am not a Trader Joe’s regular; I go maybe three or four times a year. When I do make the trip, it’s for snacks and treats and meal starters I can’t get anywhere else (like Super Sour Scandinavian Swimmers). This time around, I couldn’t leave without a frozen Pizza Bianca after being struck by a particularly strong hankering for a salad pizza—that is, a hot and cheesy slice topped with a mountain of crunchy greens. As promised by our intrepid TJ’s correspondent Alex Beggs, the crust was pleasantly puffy, and the onion flavor was just funky enough. Then loaded with a tangled heap of arugula and radicchio tossed in my colleague Emma Laperruque’s bracing Three-Minute Red Wine Vinaigrette? Each bite was so good, I might have to return to the store before fall. —Kelsey Jane Youngman, senior service editor