Roasted Delicata Squash and More Recipes We Made This Week

The Bon Appétit Staff
·7 min read

Photograph by Isa Zapata, food styling by Emilie Fosnocht, prop styling by Emma Ringness

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.

October 11

Late-night chipless cookies

One of my most sacred traditions is chaotically making cookies at 11 p.m. on a weeknight because I am desperate for something sweet and too stubborn to walk one single block to the 24-hour bodega for a store-bought treat. For years, these late-night baking sprees featured a litany of “easy” recipes sourced from far corners of the recipe blogosphere. They were never the same cookie twice, and were also never very good, but they were speedy and didn’t require any fancy equipment. At close to midnight, that was good enough for me. But this week, when my craving struck, I made senior test kitchen editor Shilpa Uskokovic’s chipless cookies, and I will never be the same. These are just as easy and quick as the one-bowl bites I’d been making, but with browned butter, toasted flour, dark brown sugar, and a good amount of vanilla bean paste, they are actually great. My nighttime baking habits are forever changed by this recipe—and dramatically, deliciously improved. —Kendra Vaculin, test kitchen editor

Chocolate Chipless Cookies

Shilpa Uskokovic

Unfussy fresh pasta

I love to make pasta at home. It takes me nearly the same amount of time to whisk together a half pound of noodles as it does to boil a few quarts of water and wait for dried fettuccine to get to al dente. That’s because I make small amounts and cut the time using household appliances. This Fresh Pasta Dough recipe is quite simple, with only three ingredients. But types of flours, oils, and other add-ins are a matter of taste. I like for my pappardelle to have a little bite, so I usually swap in a mixture of 00 and semolina flour. And I prefer to use one egg, plus two yolks for a rich taste. Some light kneading, rolling, and my stand mixer attachment does the rest. —Jamila Robinson, editor in chief

Fresh Pasta Dough

Rick Martinez

Early-fall potato salad

It’s early October and the morning air is crisp, the leaves are starting to show a tinge of gold on their edges, and I’ve already spotted Uggs on the streets of New York City. But I’m defiantly clinging to the very last vestiges of summer. I’m enjoying the last of the season’s heirloom tomatoes, stone fruit (let’s give it up for plums, an unsung hero of early fall), and even potato salad. Senior test kitchen editor Shilpa Uskokovic’s Korean Potato Salad to be exact. Featuring crunchy carrots, cucumbers, and boiled eggs, this potato salad keeps well in the fridge, getting even better with time. And it’s the perfect accompaniment to my desk-side sandwich. —Hana Asbrink, deputy food editor

Korean Potato Salad

Shilpa Uskokovic

Stir-fried curry rice cakes

I am happily working my way through a 14.1-oz. tin of S&B Curry Powder. A few weeks ago, many spoonfuls went into a big batch of this cozy Japanese curry from recipe developer Christina Chaey. Instead of the winter veg called for, I did a last hurrah of summer produce and packed my freezer with pints (I like these wide-mouth ones with these reusable lids) to pull out when the weather turns chilly. And this past week, I riffed on these stir-fried curry noodles from cookbook author Hetty Lui McKinnon. Instead of homemade noodles (which you absolutely should make), I opted for a bag of rice cakes that was languishing in the freezer. The result was delightful for a tired weeknight, and I’m saving the full recipe for a lazy Sunday afternoon. —Emma Laperruque, associate director of cooking

Stir-Fried Curry Noodles With Eggs and Greens

Hetty Lui McKinnon

Tenderheart

Squash meal prep

I had no intention of eating this roasted delicata squash over lemon yogurt for dinner when I popped the veg into the oven past 9 p.m. on a Sunday. Instead, I planned to divvy it out for lunches throughout the week. A few crispy, caramelized squash ring snacks later, I had just enough for tomorrow’s dinner. I reheated the leftovers the next day, whipped the yogurt sauce, and assembled a plate with store-bought crispy onions, golden raisins in place of the pomegranate seeds, and some leftover pork belly from a Korean grill I’d visited over the weekend. Lunches be damned. —Joe Sevier, senior SEO editor

Roasted Delicata Squash With Crispy Onions

Rachel Gurjar

October 4

Unfussy carrot cake

I have a bone to pick with carrot cake. I dread the process—slouching over a box grater, shredding a fat stack of carrots, and doing everything in my power to avoid grating a knuckle. So when I was tasked with making it for my friend’s birthday, I braced myself with a laborious endeavor. That was until I remembered senior test kitchen editor Shilpa Uskokovic’s brilliant recipe. Shilpa’s is inspired by Brazilian bolo de cenoura—carrots are blended right into the batter, resulting in a plush and tender crumb. There’s still plenty of texture, with specks of candied pineapple, crystallized ginger, and crushed pecans folded in. The unfussy cake has converted even the greatest skeptic: me. —Nina Moskowitz, editorial assistant

Carrot Sheet Cake With Cream Cheese Whip

Shilpa Uskokovic

A Rosh Hashanah feast

My mother and I always take a divide-and-conquer approach to cooking for the holidays. For this year’s Rosh Hashanah, I signed up to manage all the supporting actors to the main event: our giant brisket. I like to keep the sides simple, so I opted for this Three-Minute Red Wine Vinaigrette on a verdant salad, Burnished Potato Nuggets (for which I subbed in these upstate abundance potatoes from Row 7), and Ina Garten’s Green Beans Gremolata, which has been a mainstay on our holiday table for a decade. —Kate Kassin, editorial operations manager

Burnished Potato Nuggets

Chris Morocco

Cauliflower fritters

This past week, I found myself with a slumped pile of withering herbs, a knob of Parmesan, and baby arugula—so I decided to make senior test kitchen editor Jesse Szewczyk’s Herby Cauliflower Fritters. No, I did not have a bag of riced cauliflower on hand, but that didn’t stop me. I managed to find a bag of frozen cauliflower florets, dumped those in a food processor, and pulsed until the texture was fine. More in line with my vibe, I shaped my fritters into falafel-like balls, shallow-fried them, and placed them over a bed of yogurt with cucumbers. —Inés Anguiano, associate test kitchen manager

Herby Cauliflower Fritters

Jesse Szewczyk

Salmon with burst tomatoes

Content director Hali Bey Ramdene brought an overflowing bag of plump tomatoes to the office, straight from the vines of her garden. So I obviously brought a few home and made this one-pan salmon. I cut them into fat wedges and dumped them, along with Sun Golds, into my pan. I then added a soy-based poaching liquid, globs of butter, and salmon fillets. Twelve minutes was all it took for the tender fish to cook through and the tomatoes to burst into sweet nectar. —N.M.

One-Pan Salmon With Burst Tomatoes

Jesse Szewczyk

Lamb meatballs

Every couple weeks, I make a clean-out-the-fridge tomato sauce that I use to ladle over noodles, rice, or toast or eat on its own. This week I had some ground meat that I turned into food director Chris Morocco’s Tuesday Night Meatballs. Instead of using ground beef, I swapped in lamb that I spiced with garlic powder and oregano. The meatballs came together in no time at all, and were the perfect way to bulk up my Sunday sauce. —Urmila Ramakrishnan, associate director of social media

Tuesday Night Meatballs

Chris Morocco

Originally Appeared on Bon Appétit

More Cooking Stories From Bon Appétit

Latest Stories