You don't need to be a chef, you don't need special ingredients, you don't even need a big kitchen. There is a half-galley kitchen in New York with just a single counter, a tiny stove, pans stacked high in the corner – yet it has conjured up stews and slaws, salsas and pestos, tatins and cheesecakes. All to-die-for. This is Deb Perelman's kitchen.
Deb is an ordinary home cook who believes food should be a pleasure and deliciousness a guarantee. So she founded her award-winning blog, where she concocts, tweaks and obsessively tests the best imaginable recipes for the everyday cook. These are recipes you'll bookmark, share, and make your own, whether it is Courgette Ribbons with Almond Pesto for a summer lunch, Everyday Margarita Pizza for the family, Seared Halibut with Gazpacho Salsa for a weekend dinner, or Tiny But Intense Chcocolate Cake for a special treat. “I'm a longtime fan of the blog and this is a wonderful cookbook”. (Rachel Khoo, “Little Paris Kitchen”).
Reviews
“Utterly scrumptious. It's the kind of food you wnat to eat at home every
weekend” (Yotam Ottolenghi )
“I'm a longtime fan of the blog and this is a wonderful cookbook” (Rachel Khoo, Little Paris Kitchen )
“To resounding foodie cheers, Deb Perelman's toothsome family recipes, all tested in her titchy Manhattan kitchenette, have finally made it from her blog to a glossy hardback.” (Scotland on Sunday )
“Mouthwatering” (Time )
“Smitten Kitchen reads like a conversation with a witty friend who can recommend the perfect nosh for any occasion.” (O, The Oprah Magazine )
SAMPLE RECIPE
Pancetta, White Bean and Swiss Chard Pot Pies (pictured
left)
Serves 4
Lid
2 cups (250 grams) all- purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon table salt
13 tablespoons (185 grams or 1 stick plus 5 tablespoons) cold unsalted
butter, diced
6 tablespoons (90 grams) sour cream or whole Greek yogurt (i.e., a
strained
yogurt)
1 tablespoon (15 ml) white wine vinegar
1/4 cup (60 ml) ice water
1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
Filling
2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil
4 ounces (115 grams or 3/4 to 1 cup) 1/4-inch-diced pancetta
1 large or 2 small onions, finely chopped
1 large carrot, finely chopped
1 large stalk celery, finely chopped
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
Thinly sliced Swiss chard leaves from an 8– to 10-ounce (225– to
285-gram)
bundle (4 cups); if leaves are very wide, you can halve them lengthwise
3 1/2 tablespoons (50 grams) butter
3 1/2 tablespoons (25 grams) all- purpose flour
3 1/2 cups (765 ml) sodium- free or low- sodium chicken or vegetable broth
2 cups white beans, cooked and drained, or from one and a third 15.5–
ounce
(440-gram) cans
Make lids: In a large, wide bowl (preferably one that you can get your hands into), combine the fl our and salt. Add the butter and, using a pastry blender or your fingertips, cut them up and into the flour mixture until it resembles little pebbles. Keep breaking up the bits of butter until the texture is like uncooked couscous. In a small dish, whisk together the sour cream, vinegar, and water, and combine it with the butter-flour mixture. Using a flexible spatula, stir the wet and the dry together until a craggy dough forms. If needed, get your hands into the bowl to knead it a few times into one big ball. Pat it into a flattish ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and chill it in the fridge for 1 hour or up to 2 days.
Make filling: Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium- high heat in a large, wide saucepan, and then add the pancetta. Brown the pancetta, turning it frequently, so that it colors and crisps on all sides; this takes about 10 minutes. Remove it with a slotted spoon, and drain it on paper towels before transferring to a medium bowl. Leave the heat on and the renderings in the pan. Add an additional tablespoon of olive oil if needed and heat it until it is shimmering. Add onions, carrot, celery, red pepper flakes, and a few pinches of salt, and cook over medium heat until the vegetables are softened and begin to take on color, about 7 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook for 1 minute more. Add the greens and cook until wilted, about 2 to 3 minutes. Season with the additional salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Transfer all of the cooked vegetables to the bowl with the pancetta, and set aside.
Make sauce: Wipe out the large saucepan; don’t worry if any bits remain stuck to the bottom. Then melt the butter in the saucepan over medium- low heat. Add the flour, and stir with a whisk until combined. Continue cooking for 2 minutes, stirring the whole time, until it begins to take on a little color. Whisk in the broth, one ladleful at a time, mixing completely between additions. Once you’ve added one- third of the broth, you can begin to add the rest more quickly, two to three ladlefuls at a time; at this point you can scrape up any bits that were stuck to the bottom — they’ll add great flavor.
Once all of the broth is added, stirring the whole time, bring the mixture to a boil and reduce it to a simmer. Cook the sauce until it is thickened and gravylike, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir the white beans and reserved vegetables into the sauce.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Assemble and cook pot pies: Divide the filling between four ovenproof 2-cup bowls. (You’ll have about 1 1/2 cups filling in each.) Set the bowls on a baking pan. Divide the dough into four pieces, and roll it out into rounds that will cover your bowls with an overhang, or about 1 inch wider in diameter than your bowls. Whisk the egg wash and brush it lightly around the top rim of your bowls (to keep the lid glued on; nobody likes losing their lid!) and drape the pastry over each, pressing gently to adhere it. Brush the lids with egg wash, then cut decorative vents (smaller than mine, please, as they led to lots of draping) in each to help steam escape. Bake until crust is lightly bronzed and filling is bubbling, about 30 to 35 minutes.
Do ahead: The dough, wrapped twice in plastic wrap and slipped into a freezer bag, will keep for up to 2 days in the fridge, and for a couple months in the freezer. The filling can be made up to a day in advance and stored in a covered container in the fridge.
Author Biography
Deb Perelman is a self-taught home cook and photographer; and the creator of SmittenKitchen.com, an award-winning blog with a focus on stepped-up home cooking through unfussy ingredients. In previous iterations of her so-called career, she's been a record store shift supervisor, a scrawler of “happy birthday” on bakery cakes, an art therapist, and a technology reporter. She likes her current gig-the one where she wakes up and cooks whatever she feels like that day-the best. The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook is her first book. Deb lives in New York City with her husband and delicious baby son.