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Olympics zucchini pasta
Senior test kitchen editor Jesse Szewczyk’s Pasta With No-Cook Zucchini Sauce is famed at work as the most delicious way to use up a metric ton of zucchini—so much so that it won over food director (and noted zucchini hater) Chris Morocco. I have loved it since its first appearance in the test kitchen. Watching the last day of the Olympics (sob), I made a batch with orzo and the mascarpone I happened to have on hand—a great swap for the cream cheese called for. —Kendra Vaculin, food editor
Dad’s birthday steak
For my dad’s birthday this year, we opted to take full advantage of summer and grill rather than hit the town. His one request? Skirt steak. I used the marinade from this recipe (don’t skip the grilled scallions!) and served the steak alongside fluffy baked potatoes and grilled vegetables. We made enough for us all to take home leftovers and I relished in night two of steak with a riff on this corn salad. —Kate Kassin, editorial operations manager
Filipino fruit salad
My mother-in-law makes her rendition of Filipino fruit salad with Cool Whip and canned fruit cocktail—I will not shade her because it is more delicious than it has any right to be. My colleague Tiffany Hopkins makes hers using the more common canned table cream plus sweetened condensed milk, but ups the ante with a higher portion of fruit. I recently made a version using Sarah Jampel’s no-churn ice cream ratios: 1 can of sweetened condensed milk to 2 cups heavy cream, whipped together and layered with plenty of bits and bobs. I used chopped pineapple, lychee-like longan, young coconut, plus pineapple jelly, candied coconut “sport,” and bright red palm fruit. It’s a cool, creamy, fruit-filled way to close out summer. —Joe Sevier, senior SEO editor of cooking
August 9
Gorgeous green shrimp
When I was home recently, my mom requested that I cook a dinner that would use up two ingredients in the fridge: a bundle of scallions and some cilantro on the precipice of wilt. How serendipitous that this (truly gorgeous) green shrimp recipe exists? With a quick whirl in the blender, those two staples plus some olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic cloves produced a stunning sauce that blanketed my pile of quick-cooking shrimp. The finishing yogurt drizzle tempered the sharper notes of the allium-forward sauce. It got two thumbs up from mom and fridge clear-out points for daughter. —Li Goldstein, associate newsletter editor
Juicy tomato sandwich
For a speedy snack in between work meetings, I made an open-faced Curried Tomato Sandwich. All I had to do was fry sliced sourdough in fragrant, curry-bloomed oil, slather some Duke’s on it, and plop slabs of ripe beefsteak tomato on top. I proceeded to face-plant into the drippy toast, and all of two minutes later, I made another one. —Nina Moskowitz, editorial assistant
Easy enchiladas
I always thought enchiladas were something you make when you have hours of free time. Then I cooked associate test kitchen manager Inés Anguiano’s version. Thanks to a handful of clever shortcuts, this dish comes together in less than an hour without sacrificing any flavor. Inés opts for store-bought enchilada sauce, which eliminates the laundry list of spices typically needed. And instead of individually dipping each tortilla into sauce before filling them, this recipe does it in reverse—filling and wrapping first, then bathing them in ready-made sauce before baking. I freestyled my toppings—some guacamole, a showering of cilantro, and a dollop of Greek yogurt. —Jesse Szewczyk, senior test kitchen editor
Summertime savior gazpacho
To ensure my dinner cooled me off more than my decade-old AC unit ever could, I turned to my summertime savior: gazpacho. After quickly blending fruity tomatillos and cucumbers with earthy poblanos, garlic, and a good glug of rice vinegar, I left the bright green soup to chill in the fridge. To ensure the meal would actually fill me up, I cut some thick slices of whole-wheat sourdough and tossed together these live-saving marinated mixed beans. I know that’s a dramatic description for a recipe, but let me tell you: A huge batch of these smartly seasoned legumes provides a delicious and truly easy source of protein. And they’re just as good on day one as they are several days later. —Kelsey Youngman, senior service editor
Lavish lobster salad
I’ve had two lobster tails sitting in my freezer for months and I promised that I’d turn them into a lobster Cobb salad. I decided that Monday (a very Monday Monday) was the perfect occasion. Following a Google image more than a recipe, I chopped up the dregs of romaine I had left in my fridge and tossed it on a platter with this bright, no-fail red-wine vinaigrette. I cut up the usual suspects: an ear of corn, avocado, cherry tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, bacon, and of course, the meaty tails. Eating my Pinterest-inspired salad as my first dinner of the week reminded me that no dinner is too lavish for a Monday. —Kate Kassin, editorial operations manager
August 2
Beat-the-heat cold noodles
Come summer, cold noodles are, give or take, 37% of my diet. They’re filling and refreshing—and easy to throw together after a sweaty commute home from work. Lately, my two go-tos have been: test kitchen editor Kendra Vaculin’s Soy Milk Noodles With Chili Crisp (heed her advice to buy Edensoy milk—so good) and cookbook author Hetty Lui McKinnon’s Easy Peanut Noodles (sometimes I throw some tofu or tempeh on top). If you have tomatoes to use up, try senior test kitchen editor Shilpa Uskokovic’s tomato-meets-peanut sauce. Life-changing, or at least, summer-changing. —Emma Laperruque, associate director of cooking
Grated frozen fruit hack
Controversial take: I’m not a summer person. Give me the crispness of fall or the cold, quiet calm of winter. Seasonal affective disorder hits everyone differently, and for me, that means summertime sadness. What keeps me going is the seasonal bounty of fruit—farmers market berries, mangoes of all stripes, ripe-to-bursting watermelon. For an extra dopamine kick, I find myself returning to author and social media creator Frankie Gaw’s genius hack he popularized online: freezing fruit and grating it into fluffy clouds of shaved ice. You can do it with literally any fruit. Topped with condensed milk and items that might already be in your pantry (sesame seeds, your favorite cereal, nuts, etc.), you have a dreamy dessert within minutes. —Joseph Hernandez, associate director of drinks
