Chia Seed Pudding and More Recipes We Made This Week

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.

August 28

You can’t let summer go by without making at least one cold tomato soup.

Salmorejo has more body than a lot of gazpacho recipes thanks to the addition of bread blended right in. Kendra Vaculin’s Bloody Mary version includes lots of fun toppings, but you can also keep it simple with a few chopped fresh cherry tomatoes and a drizzle of olive oil.

I served mine with A Perfect Grilled Cheese. And if you have any soup leftover, it makes a great base for poaching a piece of fish. —Joe Sevier, senior editor, SEO & cooking

After work this week, I wanted something fast that would satisfy my unrelenting takeout craving. Enter these Big Mac Smashed Tacos.

Instead of standing over the stove to fry them one by one, I was inspired by Test Kitchen editor Rebecca Firkser’s Smashed Pork Tacos technique, which opts for a broiler instead. I spread ground beef over the flour tortillas, added some savory seasonings, and let them bake up, adding shredded cheddar on top for the final minute. I ate the juicy rounds with a special sauce of Kewpie mayo, ketchup, yellow mustard, chopped sweet pickles, and banana pepper juice. —Abi Lieff, assistant to the editor in chief

Whenever anyone makes steak in the Test Kitchen, it's usually gone within seconds. So while my coworkers leapt for Chris Morocco’s steak for one (seared boneless short rib in oyster sauce butter), I went for the greens sitting underneath the cut.

Cooked with a healthy dose of garlic, impactful instant dashi powder, and water, the collards soften into silky tangles. I’ve been making just the greens at home, eating them as a side, and stuffing them in between slices of whole wheat bread with melty provolone, for a veg Reuben. —Nina Moskowitz, associate cooking editor

Of course you could add insert-flavorful-ingredients-here to a tomato sandwich. Chives and sesame seeds.

Curry powder and capers. Blue cheese and butter.

At Bon Appétit we’ve done all of that and then some, and I highly recommend you save the recipes as a pre-Labor-day wishlist. But first: Make a tomato sandwich, full stop.

Good bread, the ripest tomatoes you can find, your mayonnaise of choice, and salt. Not even black pepper!

This was my brown-bag lunch for a minor league baseball game (go Patriots), complete with half-sour pickles and a cold IPA. Juicy and messy and perfect. —Emma Laperruque, cooking director I go through breakfast phases, but chia pudding is one that I always come back to, especially in the warmer months.

I use the formula in this recipe for the pudding base (alternating the matcha for cacao some weeks), and add a scoop of this protein powder for a satiating boost. Instead of mango, I’ve been using fresh in-season blueberries piled on top, plus a sprinkling of this grain-free Hampton Grocer granola for even more texture (and fiber). I like to take the time to eat it in this Noble Plateware cereal bowl (rather than a to-go container) to make mornings feel luxurious. —Kate Kassin, editorial operations manager

August 21

For Bon Appétit’s inaugural Pantry Awards, our team tasted hundreds of products in the Test Kitchen: new snacks, sauces, drinks, and more. (An honest day’s work.) Since then, our editors have been using the winning pantry items in their own kitchens, folding them into weeknight dinners, delightful noshes, and chic cocktails.

Here’s how. Some people put chips in their hoagie, so I thought, why not put a hoagie on chips?

I visit the Jersey Shore every summer, where my favorite convenience store slash gas station, Wawa, makes what I consider to be the best sandwich in the world. When Graza came out with its olive-oil-fried potato chips in a red wine vinegar flavor, I decided to use them in a hoagie chip tower, inspired by this one on Epicurious.

I crisped salami in a pan until caramelized and brown, then layered it with banana peppers, hot cherry peppers, torn provolone, olives, and dusted it generously with Parmesan to finish. —Olivia Tarantino, senior shopping editor I often use my coworkers as walking encyclopedias. (They are food experts, duh.) This week, when I had a couple extra stalks of celery left over from peperoncini tuna salad, I asked my colleague Olivia Tarantino how to use them up.

Without hesitation, she cried out: “Spicy Chicken Stir-Fry With Celery and Peanuts!” Chicken thighs are cooked with ginger, scallions, peanuts (try them with Pantry Awards winner Wa-Chaa Salt & Sichuan Peppercorn Peanuts—swoon), celery, and dates. Now you might be thinking, dates? I too was hesitant to add them to a stir-fry, but they almost melt into the mix, creating caramelly puddles to contrast the spicy sauce. —Nina Moskowitz, associate editor, cooking

In another life, I moonlit as a bartender, mixing elaborate cocktails at night while working in a newsroom by day. More than a decade later, I have let my drinks skills lapse—I crave simplicity above all else.

Enter the highball, a two-ingredient wonder: Fizz plus spirit and Bob’s your uncle. After our team tasted Yuzuco’s newest offering, a canned blend of cold-pressed yuzu juice, sparkling water, and a smattering of minerals, I knew we had a hit on our hands.

Add a splash or two of spirits (I go for white Port, mezcal, or gin) and that’s it. Light on its feet, with refreshing, thirst-quenching citrus. —Joseph Hernandez, director, culture

Fishwife’s Soy Ginger Tuna is flavorful enough to eat as is. If you want to put in a little effort, it would excel in a rice bowl (say, with avo and cukes) or tossed with cold noodles and shredded cabbage. I used it to make my colleague Rebecca Firkser’s fun recipe for Kimchi Tuna Melts.

Because this fish comes with a built-in sauce, I skipped the soy sauce and kimchi brine called for. Delicious would be an understatement! —Emma Laperruque, cooking director

When I get home from work, it’s usually a race against the clock to get dinner on the table before I’m certifiably hangry. Lucky for me, my colleague Nina Moskowitz’s Gochujang Chicken Stir-Fry is speedier to make than ordering takeout. It’s also the perfect opportunity to use one of my favorite condiments, Potluck’s Gochujang, which I love for its balance of sweet and heat.

Mixed with mirin, rice vinegar, and soy sauce, it makes for a deeply flavorful sauce that beautifully coats the chicken and haricots verts (or in my case, sugar snap peas). —Alaina Chou, shopping writer Here’s a peek behind the Test Kitchen curtain: When I was developing the recipe for a chopped salad with sardines, I actually tested it a couple times with beans in addition to the fish. (Though I thought it was delightful with chickpeas, they were ultimately nixed.) But the beauty of cooking a recipe is you can make it however you want. And for me, that meant using a tin of Pantry Award–winning Sardines & Beans from Patagonia.

The white beans, lemon, garlic, and leeks work especially well with the salty-tart preserved lemon dressing, fresh veg, and crunchy pita chips. —Rebecca Firkser, Test Kitchen editor Leave it to my colleague Hana Asbrink to make classic shrimp scampi even better.

Her riff with chewy udon and an ultra-buttery, umami-packed sauce is the only way I want to eat it from now on. I used Potluck Doenjang, a winner from our Pantry Awards that’s thoughtfully made and intensely flavorful. Once the noodles were gone (cry), we used steamed broccoli to sop up every last drop. —E.L.

These Soy-Marinated Eggs are one of our most popular recipes for good reason. They’re savory and gently spiced, and they’re ready in the fridge for when you’re just not in the mood to cook. When I tried Heydoh’s silky, nutty soy sauce during our team’s Pantry Awards taste test, I knew I needed to make a fresh batch of the eggs at home.

I ate them on their own for breakfast, and saved the rest to serve over rice for an easy weeknight dinner. —Cristina Correa, social media manager

August 14

Last week I found myself in possession of all the goods I needed to whip up Andy Baraghani’s Tomato Toast With Chives and Sesame Seeds, so I seized the moment.

You’ll first season your mayo with grated garlic and lemon juice, which serves as a makeshift aioli (remember this for BLTs). A flurry of chives over shingled tomato slices lends just the right amount of onion flavor. And sesame seeds offer an earthy, nutty note.

It’s a fun way to make the modest toast feel worthy of company. —Carly Westerfield, manager, audience strategy As someone who bakes all day for my job, it takes a very special recipe to convince me to turn on my oven at home. But my colleague Shilpa Uskokovic’s Raspberry–Brown Butter Skillet Cake did just that.

The cake, which is made entirely in a skillet—mixing included—is easy enough to pull together within minutes, yet fancy enough to serve for guests. It’s a bit like a financier (the posh little French nut cakes) in pan form, only dotted with juicy raspberries and crowned with melty ice cream. I plan to make it again next week and want to play around with another type of berry.

Blueberries, blackberries, even tiny strawberries would work wonderfully. —Jesse Szewczyk, senior Test Kitchen editor What do you make for dinner when you have a house full of people and not a ton of grocery shopping options?

Olive Bar Pasta Salad, also known as tossing a bunch of oily-briny condiments and cheese with a box of whichever noodle shape is on sale. Roasted red peppers? Add ’em!

Marinated beans or mushrooms? Yep!

Sun-dried tomatoes? You bet. Herb-infused olives?

Duh! I could go on, but I’m sure you get it. —Rebecca Firkser, Test Kitchen editor

I was away for a friend’s bachelorette party. (Lots of glitter. Lots of karaoke.) As the foodie of the group, I was promptly dubbed in-house private chef, which meant the menu was up to me.

I made this Thai-style watermelon salad; the one I’ve already written about at length. Reader, do save this recipe for future use.

Watermelon triangles get doused in a buzzy lime-forward dressing with crushed peanuts and serrano chile. Always, always, always taste your chile before adding it, so you can customize the amount accordingly.

Mine just so happened to be the hottest yet. —Nina Moskowitz, associate cooking editor These colorful Mango Chicken Summer Rolls have been on repeat in my kitchen since July. They’re the fastest no-cook dinner and are easy to customize with whatever extra protein (shredded chicken, roasted tofu bites, shrimp, etc.) and crunchy veg (carrots, cucumbers, jicama, etc.) I have in the fridge.

If I’m using leftovers, I’m talking five minutes of work and I’m sitting down to eat. Heed my colleague Shilpa Uskokovic’s instructions if you’re newer to working with rice paper: The sheets should get “coated in a film of water but not sodden.” This way you’ll get malleable wrappers, not stodgy, easily-torn clumps.

And make extra sauce! You can never have too much sauce. —Kelsey Jane Youngman, senior cooking editor

August 7

I was on vacation in Idaho with my favorite Baltimoreans, and it was my night to make dinner. I wanted the menu to have a little Maryland in it, so I made a batch of Kendra Vaculin’s Old Bay potato chips for a playful mashup of Idaho’s famous potato and the iconic seafood seasoning.

The process could not be easier: Toss a bag of kettle chips in the oven, then coat them with a mix of Old Bay and powdered sugar (do not skip it!) plus a hit of lemon zest. The sugar rounds out the salty spice in a way that makes the chips even more addictive than they’d be otherwise.

Guests polished off the sunset-hued bowl before the burgers and dogs came off the grill, so I’d say the taste of home traveled well. —Olivia Tarantino, senior shopping editor I spent this past weekend on Martha’s Vineyard where adorable farmstands are selling plump cherry tomatoes at college-tuition-size prices.

I surrendered to the charm and bought a pint that I used to make Pasta With No-Cook Cherry Tomato Sauce. I squished the halved tomatoes into some olive oil with garlic and basil before stirring the mixture into buttery, cheesy pasta.

The best part is the leftovers which, after resting, are somehow more tomatoey. —Sam Stone, senior editor Late summer thunderstorms call for late summer soup nights.

They’re the perfect chance to turn on my stove (for just a little while), listen to rain tip-tap on the A/C unit jutting out of my window, and gently cook my market haul in a big pot of stock. My blueprint is recipe editor Liesel Davis’s Summer Vegetable Soup With Pistou.

This time, I followed her instructions nearly to a T (roasting the tomatoes and corn is such a game changer for a hands-off infusion of depth) and made the fresh pistou while the soup bubbled. I did swap collards for spinach (personal preference), so I added the greens to the pot a bit early to ensure they had time to get wilty and tender. —Kelsey Jane Youngman, senior cooking editor

For my birthday this year, I wanted clams, clams, and more clams. The recipe was obvious: deputy food editor Hana Asbrink’s Spaghetti With Clams and Sun Gold Tomatoes. Sun Golds are finally in full swing at the farmers market, and my sweet neighbors have given me carte blanche access to their backyard basil (thank you, Susie and Aron!).

What I love about Hana’s recipe is it’s a white sauce with tomatoes, not a red sauce from tomatoes. IYKYK.

It was bright and briny and buttery—a hit! For dessert, I made Smitten Kitchen’s Chipwich Ice Cream Cake, a concept I’ve been thinking about for a full year: two round blondies sandwiched with vanilla ice cream and bejeweled with chocolate. (I used chopped instead of chips because that’s what was around.) Also a hit. —Emma Laperruque, cooking director

I woke up after a night out feeling, candidly, hungover. A few too many spaghetts.

I had bought Japanese milk bread the day before for an otherworldly BLT, so I decided to use the rest to make French toast. Not a bad food weekend if you ask me. I doused the bread in a combination of eggs, milk, sugar, and cinnamon, then sizzled the pieces in butter until the chubby bread had webs of brown on both sides.

A pat of extra butter plus a dribble of maple syrup? Just what the doctor ordered. —Nina Moskowitz, associate editor, cooking It’s not summer until I’ve eaten a few hot dogs, some juicy watermelon, and Andy Baraghani’s Tomato Galette.

I have made it every summer since the recipe was published in 2019—it’s that good. The flaky, buttery dough comes together easily in a food processor and is rolled out and crimped into a free-form round.

Shingled with peak-season heirloom tomatoes, it’s the perfect excuse to buy every color, shape, and size you can find. —Ali Inglese, executive producer