Fried bananas over vanilla ice cream, drizzled with honey and topped with toasted almonds? It’s hard to go wrong, and it’s easy and fast to put together. Crunchy but soft, hot but cold, and sweet but not saccharine, this is the kind of dessert that pleases crowds, for many reasons. Customize it to your liking the same way you would when making a sundae, with flaky salt, hot fudge, or fresh berries. Whatever you do, eat it before it melts!
“Potatoes-On-a-Stick” with Bravas Sauce and Manchego
With no utensils required and no familiar flavors or textures forgotten, fried potatoes served on a stick make a lot of sense during the summer. They’re a fun treat to hold and look at, and all of those spiralized crevices serve a purpose, creating space for whatever toppings or sauces your heart desires—in this case, that’s grated manchego cheese and bravas sauce. If you’re making larger batches, add the potatoes to a large bowl filled with cold water as you prepare them to avoid oxidization before you’re ready to fry (then dry them thoroughly before doing so). Make sure they’re golden brown and crispy-crunchy, and use a heavy hand while loading them up.
“Corn in a Cup” with Pickled Peppers and Crispy Shallots
When corn is in season, it’s worth celebrating. Grilling it, chilling it, and tossing it with green onions, pickled peppers, and a creamy-garlicky dressing feels like an ideal way to do exactly that. Serving it in cups topped with crispy fried shallots and a generous pinch of paprika goes the extra mile. An easy trick for shucking and removing the kernels: Toss each ear in the microwave for about two minutes (the husks should be easy to pull off, and a kitchen towel will be helpful to rub off any extra fibrous bits) and use a sharp knife to cut downwards along the sides of the cobs. Once the corn is cooked, give it time to cool and then chill it in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble.
Fish Sticks for One
Assemble these an hour before you plan to cook them, to allow the coating to fully adhere to the fish. Be prepared to eat immediately after you cook; these really should be eaten hot. If you need to hold them, place on a baking sheet in a low, 250-degree oven, for up to 30 minutes.
Berry Cornbread Ice Box Cake
This no-bake icebox cake is an easy make-ahead dessert, with the refrigerator doing all the work. I love using Trader Joe’s Cornbread Crisps because corn and berries are one of my favorite flavor combinations. A pinch of Chinese five-spice with the strawberries and ground coriander with the blueberries adds subtle depth that makes the fruit flavors pop. Chill for at least 8 hours before serving, or make it up to 2 days ahead.
Fresh Tomato Soup
Maybe not quite as fast as opening a can and adding water but almost, and with a chunky stew-like texture, this soup is oh so satisfying.
Spicy Cheddar Loaf with Caramelized Onions and Gochugaru
I like all-purpose flour here, rather than bread flour, as the resulting loaf is softer. If you don’t have gochugaru, substitute an equal amount of red pepper flakes. I prefer mild cheddar over sharp cheddar here, to keep the flavors balanced, but either works. Be sure to cool the bread completely before slicing or tearing into chunks.
Coconut Basmati Rice
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this coconut rice since I had it at Twin Tails in New York. Turns out it’s also very simple to make. It’s sweet (but not cloying) and will be very good with any simply grilled or roasted protein or veg.
Cantuccioni (Oversized Soft Biscotti)
I spent a coffee-fueled morning looking for inspiration in the streets of Siena’s historic center, stopping in at every café and pasticceria I came across to down a shot of espresso and ogle and taste their selections of ricciarelli and other cookies.
At Panificio Il Magnifico I found an unexpected and delightful stand out: cantuccioni. The name means big cantucci, and these oversize sliced cookies do share some similarities with the famous crunchy twice-baked cantucci di Prato. But they are also entirely their own thing.
The sugar-coated cookies are first baked as small, fat loaves. Then they are cut into large, oblong slices, fitted back together, and packaged in cellophane bags tied with red raffia string. I bought a package, expecting something like classic crunchy coffeehouse biscotti. Instead, the cookies were soft, tender, and crumbly. I realized they had been baked just once, rather than twice like classic cantucci. They were so good dunked in cappuccino that I resolved to figure out how to make them at home. It took a few tries, but here they are.
By the way, these cookies make an artful holiday or hostess gift packaged in cellophane bags and tied with colorful string, the way Panificio Il Magnifico does it. – Domenica Marchetti
Pasticcini di Mandorla (Little Almond Cookies)
How I love these elegant little almond sweets. Their ingredients are similar to other almond-based cookies in this book. But it’s the pretty piping and finishing flourishes, plus a splash of amaretto liqueur, that elevate them beyond an everyday cookie. Pasticcini di mandorla are a classic of Sicilian pasticceria and every bakery sells them. They vary in character; some are more like little mouthfuls of marzipan, others are like cookies in texture, with a crispy exterior and tender center. Some are piped, others molded by hand into little rounds or misshapen nuggets. The typical decoration for these cookies is red and green glacé cherries, but you can stud them with almonds, if you prefer. I tend to do some of each. The final touch is a light brushing of honey once the cookies come out of the oven, which gives them an alluring shine. – Domenica Marchetti
Occhi di Bue (Bulls-Eye Jam Cookies)
These classic jam-filled butter cookies are by no means exclusive to Italy. But they are ubiquitous in Italian pastry shops, especially in Alto Adige, where alpine butter is essential to baking. There, they are also known as Spitzbuben, a nod to the region’s bilingual status and its proximity to Austria. Be sure to use a good-quality jam—homemade if you have it. If you want to go all out, try filling them with Nutella or pistachio cream. – Domenica Marchetti
Slow-Cooked Zucchini with Basil, Garlic, and Olive Oil
Here’s an Italian-inspired stewy vegetable dish of the kind I love so much. With enough good olive oil and garlic, firm, small-gauged zucchini becomes a perfect no-effort stew to eat on a hot summer night with ripped-off hunks of bread and a bit of sharp ricotta salata or pecorino. This method of cooking also works well for onions, peppers, beans, and more. Ingredients cooked this way are wonderful both at room temperature and chilled (though you don’t want them too cold, or the olive oil will still be solid—take them out of the fridge fifteen minutes before serving, and make sure to add a big glug of spicy olive oil before you serve. – Renee Erickson
Spaghetti with Miso, Golden Garlic, and Scallions
Lemon zest, which packs more punch than lemon juice, offers a lively counterpoint to the miso paste, enhancing both. And fresh scallion brings, well, freshness, lifting the final dish with its wide-awake brightness.
Mark’s No-Knead Flatbread
My bread baking has evolved into all sorts of pleasant surprises since Jim Lahey and I worked together 20 years ago on No-Knead Bread. The same innovative technique informs this yeasted flatbread. All that’s required are four ingredients, plus the time and patience to sit back and do nothing – rather than work.
This recipe features Bob’s Red Mill high fiber flour. If you want to substitute all-purpose flour, cut the water back to 11/4 cups and add more as needed until you get the dough texture described here. Then enjoy the ciabatta-like flatbread in slices or hunks or use it for Detroit-Style Pizza by the Slice; Boiled Water Soup with Flatbread, Vegetables, and Parmesan; or Crunchy Seasoned Breadcrumbs with (or without) Steamed Vegetables. One batch of flatbread is enough for 2 servings of each. But if you’re planning on extra for snacking or feeding a crowd, better make two loaves!
Crunchy Seasoned Bread Crumbs
Fresh bread crumbs – spiked with a little something extra as you like – are perfect for finishing salads, soups, pasta, eggs, or simply-cooked meat, fish, and poultry. You can even take them in a sweet direction to add an easy crunch to ice cream, pudding, and fruit compotes. You can use bread of any age or out of the freezer; the fresher it is, the more varied will be the texture of the crumbs. Even with additions from the list that follows, leftover crumbs will keep for a week in the fridge and can be warmed in the microwave before serving. The variation (shown in the photo) includes steamed vegetables for a satisfying side or light lunch.
Boiled Water Soup with Flatbread, Vegetables, and Parmesan
It’s easy to build on Mark’s super-basic, super-popular “Boiled Water” to create a flexible spur-of-the-moment bowl of satisfying soup. The key is the bread (and okay, the cheese, too). We’re including some vegetables here, too, and there’s nothing stopping you from adding some cooked chicken or a scrambled egg to make this a meal.
Detroit-Style Pizza by the Slice
The best thing about Detroit-style pizza is the variety of textures. The crust is both crisp (on the bottom) and soft and chewy (under the sauce). Ditto the mozzarella, which is gooey and maybe a little brown and bubbly (on top) and crusted into a crisp “skirt” (where it meets the pan). For extras like sliced pepperoni, crumbled cooked sausage, or sliced olives, scatter them on top of the sauce before you add the cheese so they don’t burn. Just be sure to keep the skirt.
Jota (Pork, Bean, and Sauerkraut Soup)
Jota, often referred to as Slovenia’s national dish, is also found throughout Friuli, in extreme northeastern Italy, and especially in the area around Trieste. It’s a good one-dish meal, not unlike a soupy version of cassoulet. The addition of sauerkraut, however, cuts through the rich pork and the beans, and while it might not exactly “lighten” the dish, it makes it somewhat less dense. Buy “pure” sauerkraut—just cabbage and salt—packed in plastic bags or a barrel. Serve with good crusty bread.
Sausage and Peppers
As good tossed with a batch of pasta as it is stuff ed into a long crusty roll.
Pork Stir-Fry with Greens
Far better—and even faster—than any takeout.
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