Seedy Kale Salad 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.

March 20

Harissa salmon

I found myself with an almost finished jar of harissa this week, and decided to put it to work as a marinade for a fillet of salmon I had tucked away in my freezer (similar in vibes to this recipe). I thinned out the flavorful paste with splashes of vinegar, olive oil, and a pinch of sugar, and slathered it over the fish before popping it in a hot oven. It caramelized beautifully, complementing the buttery fish with its complex flavor—spicy, garlicky, and peppery. —Li Goldstein, associate newsletter editor

Brownie pudding heaven

Okay fine, I’ll succumb to temptation. Over winter, I, like the rest of the world, have been served numerous videos of the Ina Garten brownie pudding, which is essentially a large format version of 90’s-era molten lava cake. Last week my husband and I were settling in to watch episode three of How to Get to Heaven from Belfast when we decided it was finally time to make the brownie pudding. But since I work with the smartest colleagues in the business, I decided instead on this Sticky Chocolate Cake from deputy food editor Hana Asbrink. I used Hana’s recipe as the base but baked it like Ina’s brownie pudding (in a water bath) so it was still liquid in the center. Crackling top, chewy edges, gooey middle, a lashing of crème fraîche, and my god! Heaven is a brownie pudding eaten warm from the oven. —Shilpa Uskokovic, senior Test Kitchen editor

A quick bolognese

Another cold spell hit this week, which means I wanted something rich, savory, and made in a big ol’ pot. Food director Chris Morocco’s umami-forward Black Bean Bolognese was just the ticket. Usually you have to simmer meat sauces for at least a few hours to get a nice depth of flavor, but Chris’s idea to add Chinese black bean garlic sauce, a hard-hitting pantry staple, speeds things along. After just an hour of cooking, you’re left with bolognese that tastes like its been simmering for hours. As I write this, snow is threatening to start falling again (March in the Northeast, who needs it?), so it may be time for a reprise this coming weekend. —Noah Kaufman, senior commerce editor

Baking with rye

Last week, I picked up a bag of freshly-ground Abruzzi rye from Brooklyn Granary & Mill and knew I needed to use it fast. I turned to two BA recipes: Rye Shortbread Cookies and Buckwheat Banana Cake. I slightly overbaked the first batch of cookies—from the rookie mistake of not calibrating my oven—so I decided to crush them into a crumble instead. For the cake, I substituted one ancient grain (buckwheat) for another (Abruzzi rye) at a 1:1 ratio. With no espresso powder on hand for the yogurt frosting, I added other seasonings: cardamom and cinnamon. After spreading the frosting, I topped the cake with the granola-like bits of cookie. Just like that, one mishap turned into a delightful touch. —Marisa Alia Malanga, research fellow

An extra-seedy kale salad

Last weekend, I I needed to make use of a huge head of lacinato kale. Typically I’d just wilt it into soup, but honestly, I’m over that after this very long winter. Instead, I made senior Test Kitchen editor Shilpa Uskokovic’s Super Seedy Kale Salad, which is wonderfully fresh. Even raisin haters should follow the recipe as written. When tossed with toasted seeds, they’re a subtly sweet revelation, and an ideal foil to the bitter greens and rich almond butter dressing. I ate it alongside one of my favorite proteins: IKEA frozen meatballs! —Rebecca Firkser, Test Kitchen editor

March 13

Hands-off salmon

We have been testing recipes for the Summer issue (corn, peaches, and tomatoes galore!), so last week I brought home a pound of leftover Kumatos. What to do with so many ripe tomatoes? Make senior Test Kitchen editor Jesse Szewczyk’s One-Pan Salmon With Burst Tomatoes, of course. It’s totally hands-off: All you have to do is add aromatics, soy, butter, mirin, and sugar to a cold skillet before dumping in the love apples and nestling in the fish. You’ll turn on the heat, cover the skillet, and…poof, it’s ready. —Nina Moskowitz, associate editor, cooking

Chocolate cake with soy sauce frosting

My partner doesn’t often crave sweets, so when he suddenly asked, “You remember that soy sauce frosting you made?” The one from (checks notes) seven years ago? “Yes,” I said. “That was good…” When obligation calls, I don’t back down. So I made my go-to easy cocoa cake and topped it with the aforementioned frosting: a creamy chocolate wonder that’s seasoned with, well, soy sauce. The flavoring doesn’t come through as savory in this sweet application. Instead, it highlights the fruity flavors inherent in good chocolate. Unicorn sprinkles optional, but not really. —Joe Sevier, senior editor, cooking and SEO

Vegetarian-style peking duck

My love for Soy Curls has been shouted far and wide. They’re made with one ingredient (soybeans) and boast a meaty-chewy texture (honestly a lot like chicken). I always have a bag or three in the pantry, ready to be rehydrated and stir-fried into dinner. My longtime favorite use is tacos or fajitas. But this week, I took inspiration from Peking duck. I sizzled the Soy Curls until crisp and frizzled and served them with warm flour tortillas (in lieu of jianbing, Chinese crepes), store-bought hoisin sauce (which I bolstered with peanut butter), and thinly sliced cucumber and scallion. Quick and satisfying! —Emma Laperruque, director of cooking

When life gives you peanut butter

I have three jars of peanut butter in my house—well, four if you count the dog’s—because I kept mistakenly thinking we were out. Two of Santa Cruz Dark-Roasted Crunchy (No-Stir) and one of Teddy’s SuperChunk because the store was out of Santa Cruz that day. So, I had no choice but to make peanut butter cookies. Though I had planned on making a traditional criss-cross PB cookie, thumbing through the peanut butter chapter in King Arthur’s Cookie Companion inspired me to make Magic in the Middles: a chewy-firm peanut-butter-and-cocoa cookie stuffed with a filling reminiscent of peanut butter cups. Pro tip: Freezing the peanut butter balls makes stuffing the cookies much easier, and setting up an assembly line of the PB, dough balls, and sanding sugar makes forming them a breeze. One jar down, two to go. —J.S.

Extra flavorful vegan chili

In my years on this earth, I have made a lot of bean chili. Sometimes black beans, sometimes pintos. Sometimes tomatoey, sometimes tomatillo-y. Sometimes a lot of veg, sometimes very little. They’ve all been fine. Good for the freezer but nothing to write home (here) about. Then I tasted my coworker Jesse Szewczyk’s Vegan Chili in the Test Kitchen. With smoky chipotles and cocoa powder, it’s just as satisfying as a chili with meat. It’s also just as easy as the vegetarian versions I’ve been making, but approximately 17 times more flavorful. To stretch the mixture even further (and because they were languishing in the pantry), I threw in a couple cans of lentils. A nourishing meal I’ll look forward to thawing for lunch for months to come. —E.L.

March 6

Sweet corn in winter

For those nights when the winter blues hit a little too hard, I turn to my freezer for some out-of-season brightness. Mine is mostly filled with fruit and veggies (crammed in alongside a tower of butter sticks) and, among the assorted bags, I always keep some charred corn. While senior Test Kitchen editor Shilpa Uskokovic’s Miso-Brown-Butter Rice Cakes With Corn absolutely shines in late summer with fresh kernels, it’s equally satisfying to pull together during a once-in-a-decade blizzard with the frozen stuff. Paired with Korean rice cakes, almost a stick of butter, and a pantry powerhouse sauce (miso, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, and toasted sesame oil), each bowl tastes like a ray of sunshine. —Kelsey Jane Youngman, senior service editor

Repeat-worthy chicken and couscous

My weekly comfort meal is this One-Pan Garlicky Chicken Couscous by Carolina Gelen. I make it like clockwork. But this week my oven broke, so I needed to split the dish up, making the chicken in the air fryer (which unlocked a new level of crispy goodness) and the grains on the stove (I opted for rice since I was out of couscous). Both elements get topped with a tangy dill sauce, which I like to double and mix into salads the next day. Though the schmaltzy edge was missed, it was still chef’s kiss. —Abi Lieff, assistant to the editor in chief

Bitter veg season

There are only a few weeks left to enjoy peak bitter vegetable season, a joyous time of year! Wanting to take advantage of radicchio’s vibrant offerings, I turned to this hearty salad. I used Castelfranco leaves since it’s a sweeter and milder variety, and substituted the brussels sprouts with red endive for even more crunch. The subtle bitterness is complemented with creamy cheese and a mouth-puckering lemon dressing. Any white bean will do—I opted for cannellini since it has a delicate bite. —Marisa Alia Malanga, research fellow

Choose-your-own-adventure challah

I was testing stand mixers for an article last week, which was essentially an excuse to bake many batches of challah. Instead of making each loaf plain (boring!) I polled fellow staffers for topping ideas and scoured the Test Kitchen for spare ingredients. In the end, I wound up with six different varieties: furikake, a fairy-bread-inspired sprinkle number, sun-dried tomato and Parmesan, cinnamon sugar, butter-brushed dinner rolls, and my favorite, a scallion-pancake-esque loaf stuffed with scallions and toasted sesame oil, and rolled in black and white sesame seeds. It was the best kind of baking marathon, and I’m already dreaming up new flavor combinations for the next update. —Alaina Chou, commerce writer

Sheet-pan chicken and grapes

One of my go-to lazy-chic dinners is former BA staffer Kendra Vaculin’s Sheet-Pan Chicken With Grapes and Fennel. Skin-on chicken thighs roast alongside grapes and fennel, dressed in paprika, vinegar, and Castelvetrano olives. The jammy, blistered fruit is undoubtedly the best part. It’s great with crisped torn sourdough as written, but sometimes I like to sub in baby or fingerling potatoes. Otherwise, I wouldn’t change a thing. —Kate Kassin, editorial operations manager