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https://smittenkitchen.substack.com/p/12-great-things-to-cook-in-february

Monday, February 2, 2026

Good morning!

• Freedom With a Side of Guilt: How Food Delivery Is Reshaping Mealtime [NYT, gift link]

• Some great smoothie tips from Cook’s Illustrated

• In Praise Of Rags [Food & Wine]

I’ve just returned from my icy Monday morning walk, the twelth day in what will apparently be at least a 20-day sub-freezing streak in NYC (you might have heard about it; we do love to complain) but now that I’m hugging a warm cup of coffee, now that the feeling has returned in my legs and my face no longer stings, I can have the audacity to say, “well, that was lovely!” Six more weeks of winter? No big deal!

Fortunately, I’m a big fan of February cooking, the month where I get to use a football game I only halfway pay attention (until Bad Bunny comes on) to as an excuse to have a party and cook all the foods we love: soft pretzels, wings, crowd-pleasing baked mac-and-cheese, and the best crispy treats of all time. These, plus several other February favorites, including some excellent ideas for warming dinners, are below, eager to inspire you.

And that’s not all! This week we’re chatting with Aleksandra Crapanzano, whose cookbook, Chocolat: Parisian Desserts and Other Delights, is out now and I want to bake every single thing in it. I bet you will too.

Cheers,

Deb

I’ve written three cookbooks and one audiobook and I’m a tiny bit biased, but I think you’d love them all. Not sure which one to check out first? Take a look at the recipe index and see which collection jumps out at you most.

chard and white bean stew

A cozy but simple vegetarian stew with white beans, chard (or any greens you’ve got around), finished with a nonnegotiable slice of grilled sourdough bread (even better if it’s drizzled with olive oil and kissed with a little garlic). You could even top it with a poached egg, if you’re into it, or a little parmesan, but it needs neither to taste wonderful.

roasted yams and chickpeas with yogurt

Great steak fry-like wedges of sweet potatoes roasted with honey, lime and chile flakes, topped with crispy chickpeas and yogurt to make an easy but complex meal you probably won’t even want to share. (We won’t tell if you don’t.)

crispy rice and egg bowl with ginger-scallion vinaigrette

This dolsot bibimbap-inspired crisped-up bowl of rice (it gets crackly at the edges and almost smells like popcorn), with a crispy fried egg, a mash-up of a classic ginger-scallion sauce and a vinaigrette, and crunchy vegetables is my favorite thing to do with leftover rice and whatever vegetables are lingering in the fridge.

tomato-glazed meatloaves with brown butter mashed potatoes

The very best meatloaf I know how to make fights drab stereotypes in a few ways: it’s formed into serving-sized (and almost cute) “loaves”, the vegetables are minced, the tomato glaze is thick and unforgettable, and those potatoes? They’ll ruin you for all other mashes.

iceberg wedge salad with blue cheese

If there is an iceberg wedge salad on a menu, I’m ordering it every time. As this is never as often as I wish, this is how I make it at home. Need a bacon-free version? Thin slices of shallot, fried until crisp, are unforgettably good here. [Video below!]

buffalo chicken cobb salad

This is one of the best dinner salads I have ever made and I honestly crave it incessantly. It’s got everything: a heap of colorful vegetables, grilled chicken, and lots of unsolicited opinions, all served help-yourself style so everyone ends up with the salad of their dreams.

skillet-baked macaroni and cheese

A no-boil, one-skillet, utterly cozy and decadent baked macaroni and cheese that’s become my forever go-to. I think you make it immediately as written for dinner tonight, and then double it for all of the game day crowds ahead.

baked buffalo wings

If you didn’t know oven-baked Buffalo wings could be awesome, you’re in for a treat. These are browned, crispy, craggy-surfaced, well-seasoned, and with so little hands-on work, this won’t be the last time you make them.

soft pretzels, refreshed

Soft pretzels are a wholly underrated baking project, just a simple dough, a cute twist, a baking soda boil that makes them smell and taste unmistakably pretzley, and a quick bake and you’re going to be so proud of yourself for pulling them off. Plus, they make the tiny sandwiches of my dreams.

meatball subs with caramelized onions

Starring pillowy, fork tender, flavorful meatballs, buttery caramelized onions, and melted gruyere on a toasted bun, I bet you can’t remember when you last had a meatball sub this good.

salted caramel pretzel blondies

Wildly decadent blondies with melty pockets of salted caramel, crushed pretzels, and chocolate chunks are impossibly good, almost too good to share. But should you be feeling generous, you can also cut, freeze, pack these tightly in a container, and overnight to the luckiest person you you know.

salted brown butter crispy treats

A site favorite in which two minor-seeming things -- flaky sea salt and brown butter -- transform crispy treats from a “kid thing” to something so good it’s hard to share with a kid -- or anyone. No matter where I take them, they never last 30 minutes.

Surprise me with a random recipe!

AN INTERVIEW WITH ALEKSANDRA CRAPANZANO

My shelves are full of wonderful cookbooks I don’t get to talk about enough, so I’ve added this section so you can get to know the cool people behind them. Today we’re chatting with Aleksandra Crapanzano. Her cookbook, Chocolat: Parisian Desserts and Other Delights, is out now.

1. What inspired your cookbook?

I spent a good chunk of my childhood living in Paris, and one of the things that awed me about Parisians was the idea that chocolate (my favorite) could and even should be a daily pleasure, whether a little square with an afternoon espresso; or popping into one of the thousands of chocolate shops in the city for a truffle or two; or making a simple chocolate recipe for dessert, no special occasion necessary. The French really do believe in a little something sweet every day, and I happily adopted this philosophy as a child but, as an adult, the true meaning of it became apparent: even a small pleasure offers a happy punctuation to the day, giving you a moment of pause and reminder to live fully. It needn’t be more than a few bites – in fact, it can’t be if doing this every day! – it is the deliciousness that matters. I suppose I just wanted to spread the magic.

2. What recipe are you the most proud of in the book, or felt the most triumphant when you got it right?

As with most home cooks in France, I’m not one for fancy flourishes and decorations. If a dessert is good, it doesn’t need a lot of a fuss to be adored, and all those enticing pastry bag tips pretty much stay lodged in the back of my cupboard. But my mother has always loved Charlottes, what with their sponge cake slices or ladyfingers standing tall but also moist and rather fragile. Making a Charlotte is the easy part, what makes me nervous every time is unmolding it (unnecessary, in fact, but traditional) and tying it with a ribbon and bow. Doing this is practical, as it keeps the Charlotte together, but it is also whimsical and charming, and I wanted to get it right. My solution was to get as wide a ribbon as possible, first tie a knot neither tightly nor loosely, and only then work on making the bow pretty. The result is grand! And if it doesn’t work, no matter – the taste will still be terrific.

3. What recipe is so low-effort, high-reward that it’s worth cooking for dinner tonight, even if we’re tired and don’t want to cook?

This one might surprise you: Crémeux au Chocolat Simple, roughly translated as Simple Chocolate Cream or Silk. It’s a cross between a mousse, a pudding and a pot de crème. It’s divine, takes no time, and is a true classic. It also looks and tastes as if you spent hours making it, and nobody needs to know that it took you ten minutes, zero skill and that you got to run your finger along the pot and lick every last smudge of melted chocolate.

4. What’s something you wish more people knew about your book?

How simple the recipes are! My books are not about pâtisserie but about the simple cakes, cookies, crêpes, mousse, caramels and hot chocolate that can be whipped up on a weeknight without stress or mess. I want people to know that there are really two kinds of French cooking – home and professional – and I think our understanding of French cooking is the latter and therefore intimidating, while the former is why the French eat well every day. My mission in writing this book series – beginning with Gâteau, continued with Chocolat and with Tarts, Galettes and Quiche to follow – is to open the door to the recipes actually made at home, as that door was opened to me, and I’m forever grateful to the families who let me in their kitchens to learn and to their tables to eat not as a guest but as a friend.

Thank you, Aleksandra! You can order Chocolat right here.

iceberg wedge salad with blue cheese

The Staub x Smitten Kitchen Braiser is a lower-walled enameled cast-iron Dutch oven that works as well as a deep sauté pan as it does a soup pot, roasting pan, or even casserole dish that perfectly fits a pasta bake. It’s the ideal size and usability (dishwasher safe!) for everyday cooking. Not a week has gone by in the 14 years I’ve had mine when I don’t cook in it at least three times, so when it was no longer sold in U.S. stores, I asked Staub — a French cast-iron manufacturer originally from Alsace; you can watch me tour the forge/factory here! — if they would partner with me to bring it back, because I knew you’ll fall in love with the pan too. We launched the Staub x Smitten Kitchen Braiser in spring 2024. As of fall 2025, the Braiser is exclusively sold at Williams-Sonoma and available in seven gorgeous new colors! The seventh, a classy off-white (pardon, French Crème) with a bronze knob, launched just this month.

• Cranberry (bright red)

• Grenadine (deep red)

• Sage (light green)

• Basil (dark green)

• La Mer (dark blue-green)

• Sapphire (dark blue)

• (New!) French Crème (off-white) ✨

The Staub x Smitten Kitchen Braiser Recipe Starter Pack: Oh, you did get a new braiser? I’m so happy for you. Here are a few recipes you can kick off your cooking with!

• Braiser: An entire category of recipes on smittenkitchen.com

• My “I Dream Of Paris” Menu for the French Crème launch: Dijon Roast Chicken, French Onion Soup for a Crowd, and a Perfect Apple Tarte Tatin

• Baked Ziti with Meatballs and Ricotta (Williams-Sonoma, Video)

• Apple Butterscotch Crisp (Zwilling, Video)

• Braised Chickpeas with Kale and Burrata (Zwilling)

shop my favorites

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See you next week!

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https://smittenkitchen.substack.com/p/12-great-things-to-cook-in-february