Each month I’m highlighting a different non-Ina cookbook – these can be old favorites, classics I need to try, or new books I’m excited about. I’ll make at least one recipe from each chapter of the book to get an overall flavor of each. For the month of June, the book is Deb Perelman’s The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. I hope you’ll cook along with me! The book is available for purchase here.
Big Cluster Maple Granola
After working from home for 2+ years, you’d think that I’d figured out how to squeeze in a heartier breakfast than a cup of coffee and a scoop of peanut butter or a handful of fruit. But alas, I’m supremely lazy when it comes to workday breakfast. So I was thrilled to have this phenomenal granola at the ready for a more satisfying breakfast. It’s packed with oats, flaked coconut, walnuts, toasted wheat germ, and dried cherries, and flavored with a hint of maple syrup and cinnamon. Deb adds egg whites to get create those big clumps everyone loves. A couple handfuls of these each morning keeps me going, and now that I have the ingredients I plan to make it again and again.
Book: The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, page 26
Rating: 5/5
How Easy Is That: Easy
Store-Bought Is Fine: maple syrup
Pricey Ingredients: —
Recipe on Serious Eats.
Baked Ranchero Eggs with Blistered Jack Cheese and Lime Crema
I can understand Deb’s obsession with huevos rancheros. What’s not to love about tomato sauce, eggs, and crispy tortillas?! For her baked ranchero eggs twist, she created a spicy tomato sauce speckled with black beans that’s topped with 12(!) eggs and baked until the egg whites are firm. Finally, it’s topped with Monterey jack cheese, broiled, and finished with cilantro, crispy tortilla strips, and dollops of cilantro-lime crema. Twelve eggs does seem like a lot, but we ate this for days and never got sick of it! To make the morning easier for yourself, the sauce, crema, and tortillas can be made the night before. Then assemble and finish in the morning – breakfast will be on the table quicker than it takes to finish that first cup of coffee.
Book: The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, page 37
Rating: 5/5
How Easy Is That: Easy
Store-Bought Is Fine: corn tortillas
Pricey Ingredients: —
Recipe on The Spokesman Review.
Potato Frittata with Feta and Scallions
Sure this recipe was for 6 to 8 servings but it was so good I was half tempted to just fold the entire thing in half and eat it like a personal serving – taco-style. Slices of Yukon gold potatoes serve as the base of this frittata – they are simply seasoned with salt, pepper, and oil and roasted. Once they are tender with crispy edges, you cover them with fresh scallions, crumbly feta, cooked thick-cut bacon strips, and finally the egg/cream mixture. Baked until puffed, set, and browned around the edges, the final results are a dream. It’s packed with delicious morsels that are perfectly balanced. It’s a phenomenal breakfast that instantly was added to the regular rotation.
Book: The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, page 39
Rating: 5/5
How Easy Is That: Easy
Store-Bought Is Fine: feta
Pricey Ingredients: —
Recipe not online.
Big Breakfast Latkes
I adore a breakfast latke and Deb’s extra-large version was the perfect bed for a fried egg. Cripsy exterior encasing a tender, fluffy interior – they were perfection!
Book: The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, page 31
Rating: 5/5
How Easy Is That: Easy
Store-Bought Is Fine: vegetable oil
Pricey Ingredients: —
Recipe on Nigella.com
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