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.
January 3
Quick chili with slow-cooked flavor
When the weather gets below a certain temperature, soup becomes my entire personality. Gingery chicken noodle, creamy wild rice soup, and hearty chilis all feel like a warm hug on cold days. Test kitchen editor Kendra Vaculin’s White Chicken Chili falls into that last category, and I’ve made it at least six times since the recipe was published last year. This time I double-batched it and added an extra can of beans to bulk it up. I love how this recipe uses pantry ingredients like canned green chiles to build bold flavor. It tastes like it’s been simmering for hours, when in reality it only takes 40 minutes. A scatter of corn chips (Fritos, please) are nonnegotiable. —Urmila Ramakrishnan, associate director of social media
Frozen blueberry scones
Americans have a complicated relationship with scones, but living in Scotland for a few months taught me to love them. In Edinburgh they were oversized, craggy, and never ever dry—which is what I chase after whenever I try a new recipe. That said, after making Rebecca Firkser’s Blueberry Scones, I may never try another formula again. They were crisp-edged, with a layered and buttery crumb and just sweet enough. Rebecca calls for fresh blueberries; I swapped in frozen blueberries and raspberries because that’s what I had. No need to thaw—the chilled fruit keeps the grated butter (a genius trick) nice and cold. With a strong cup of coffee, this was a glorious breakfast. And lucky for me, there were extras for an afternoon snack with tea. —Emma Laperruque, associate director of cooking
A vegetarian showstopper
The assignment: Make a kitschy dish for a holiday celebration with friends. The result: this showstopping Carrot Wellington. I roasted ripely sweet carrots until fork-tender and blitzed half of them with jammy shallots, walnuts, and cheese. The other half were kept whole and doused in honey and curry powder. I slathered the filling onto a rectangle of puff pastry and placed the whole carrots in a zigzag pattern on top. Carefully maneuvering the dough, I rolled it up over the carrots, then placed the log in the oven. Once it was golden, I transferred the Wellington onto a bed of curly kale and served it alongside parsley yogurt dip. Naturally, oohs and ahhs commenced. —Nina Moskowitz, associate editor of cooking
Satisfying sesame noodles
Most nights I cobble together a meal using elements from a few of my favorite recipes. Recently, I paired Jessie YuChen’s warm creamy sesame noodles with roasted broccoli and red cabbage slicked in a sesame and olive oil combo. Jessie’s noodles are extremely versatile—I easily swapped soy milk for the oat milk I always keep on hand and skipped the yuba, instead stirring in cubes of silken tofu just before serving. When I found I was ¼ cup short on rice wine, I made up the difference with a bit of dry vermouth. To serve, I piled the charred togarashi-seasoned vegetables over the saucy tahini noodles for a dinner that was both wholesome and satisfying. —Joe Sevier, senior SEO editor, cooking
