14 Project Recipes the BA Staff Is Cooking to Stay Calm
Being holed up in our homes can get old quickly. Perhaps you thought you could continue organizing your cabinets ad infinitum. Yet you’ve exhausted all the possible configurations already. Maybe you’ve been spending hours studying the art of dish washing. And now you’re a sage with nothing left to learn. As the days seem to get longer and the distractions fewer, the best thing to do is cook. And the best kind of cookery is project cookery, those dishes that take hours to prepare, whether they’re actually challenging or not. So we asked our staffers what long-form recipes they’re turning to when they want to busy their hands and quiet their minds—not the ones needing the most ingredients or the deftest knife skills, but the recipes that require time, focus, and patience, and in return, grant dinner, and a feeling of calm.
Alex Lau1/14Kielbasa, Sauerkraut, and Potato Pierogies
“My sister made Claire's epic pierogies and Rick's Portuguese egg tarts this weekend, both huge projects. She's inspired me to take on the pierogi project now too (I can't handle laminated dough right now). It's rooted in some recent nostalgia. This summer, we went to a liquor store in the middle of Michigan that sold frozen pierogies made by the store's owner, a sweet old Polish lady, and I'll never forget boiling them in our cabin's shabby kitchen. A delicious, silky, simple dish made with love. Also: freezable.” —Aex Beggs, senior staff writer
Photo by Laura Murray, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich2/14Cauliflower Bolognese
“I am not a vegetarian, but this cauliflower bolognese is incredibly comforting. It doesn't take a ton of time to make, which is great because I am a little fatigued of cooking right now, but it does force you to really slow down with each ingredient. Slowly caramelizing tomato paste to reach its full, sweet, potential, pulsing cauliflower and mushrooms in a food processor, and then taking the food processor apart to gently clean each piece. Simmering salty water for your pasta to cook in, and then fishing each and every noodle out of the pot into your bolognese. It's all very methodical, which quiets my mind right now.” —Emily Schultz, social media manager
Photo by Laura Murray, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Sophie Strangio3/14Stuffed Cabbage With Lemony Rice and Sumac
“I had had my eye on it since it came out because the cabbage rolls looked so cute, but I finally got around to it when I needed something to deep dive into and realized I had all the ingredients on hand. The rolling of the cabbage took me some practice but it was meditative and I got better the more I made—deeply gratifying!” —Emma Wartzman, assistant producer
Alex Lau5/14Red Sauce for Pizza
“My boyfriend has a super secret dough recipe for his pizza, but it's like a 2.5 day process that is well worth it. He makes his own sauce too, using Beddia's recipe. It feels like we're sitting in Fishtown, laughing with all of our friends instead of cooped up in an apartment.” —Emily Schultz, social media manager
Photo by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by Sue Li6/14Sweet Potato Tea Cake
“I lusted after this Sweet Potato Tea Cake for a long time, but felt very intimated—particularly by the meringue "blanketed" on top. But a recent bulk order of sweet potatoes (and the need for a Saturday night not spent on the couch) made me realize I could put it off no longer. And it turned out great! I don't own a stand mixer, so there was a lot of hand-whisking involved, but the result was well worth it and it felt nice to have something to do with my hands.” —Alex Pastron, audience development manager
Photo by Zach DeZon7/14Bo Ssäm
“I'm reluctant to call David Chang's Bo Ssäm ‘a project’ because it is so easy, but I suppose it's a project in that it takes more than six hours to make. In other words, it is the kind of dish I normally make for special occasions and not, say, Wednesday night dinner. But things are not normal, and if I'm going to be working within steps of the kitchen, I might as well make that proximity count for something. So the other day I stuck a salt-and-sugar-slathered pork butt in the oven around lunchtime, basted it between Zoom meetings (I'm sad there's no feature that let my co-workers smell the sweet and porky aroma that filled the house), then sat down to a straight-up feast at dinnertime. 10/10 would recommend.” —Meryl Rothstein, features editor
Photo by Laura Murray, Food Styling by Susan Spungen8/14Triple-Threat Onion Galette
“This triple-threat onion galette has been at the top of my list since I first tried it in the Test Kitchen in what feels like another lifetime. I'm an alliums freak, plus the idea of making dough sounds soothing. Lamination is basically meditation, only with more butter. With a bit of luck, my socially-distanced 8 a.m. farmers' market run will yield enough onions to make this dream a reality.” —A.A.
Peden + Munk9/14Sesame Balls (Jian Dui)
“Once Passover is over, I'm going to make these jian dui filled with sweetened red bean paste (I have a can that's calling my name). In normal times, I wouldn't deep-fry for just myself and my husband, but Sohla El-Waylly has convinced me that there's pleasure in breaking out the heavy pot and the fry thermometer, no special occasion required. I'll make a half-batch this time, and hopefully perfect my technique for future get-togethers.” —Sarah Jampel, Basically editor
Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott10/14Pork Ragù over Creamy Polenta
“I spent several hours on Sunday evening simmering pork shoulder until it broke down into saucy oblivion. I froze it and had big plans to save it for a night when I really, really didn't want to cook. That night came more quickly than I anticipated... The ragu is thawing as we speak.” —MacKenzie Fegan, contributing writer
Photo by Laura Murray, Food Styling by Susan Spungen11/14Sour Cream and Onion Biscuits
“Small accomplishments feel big, and pulling these out of the oven, stacks of flaky biscuit dough steaming on a sheet tray, felt like a huge accomplishment.” —E.S.
Photo by Laura Murray12/14Camouflage Chocolate Fudge Brownies
“I never used to bake—like, ever—but since the Q began I've turned into a brownie-making MACHINE. These camo brownies, which require many bowls and a makeshift double-boiler (WTF is that? Now I know: It's a bowl over a pot of simmering water). These tahini swirl brownies, which are perfect during a flour shortage because they're gluten-free, and allow you to do ART at the end, swirling your tahini around on top like some kind of zen-master. "Breakfast brownies" are probably going to be a hard habit to break, but, desperate times, you know?” —Hilary Cadigan, associate editor
Photo by Emma Fishman, food styling by Yekaterina Boystova13/14French Onion Beef Noodle Soup
“Start to finish, Amiel Stanek’s French Onion Beef Noodle Soup took me about four hours. Nothing terribly complex or deft. But it means patiently searing off three pounds of bone-in short ribs, gradually sweating down a mountain of sliced white onions till jammy and tawny, and sizzling a medley of ginger, garlic, scallions, star anise, coriander, and cloves in the fat rendered from the ribs.” —Adam Rapoport, editor-in-chief
Photo by Laura Murray, Food Styling by Susan Spungen14/14Cinnamon-Date Sticky Buns
“Is there anything better than working with dough to ease the tension? Isn’t that where ‘stressing baking’ comes from? Well, I—definitely NOT a baker—am here to tell you that this intensive two-day baking project, the final test from the Basically Baking Challenge, is as meditative as it gets. It’s got everything: Wet, sticky dough. Kneading hands. Rolling pin. Food processor. Off-set spatula… you’ll feel a friggin’ expert working your way patiently through these steps, even if you’re well, not.” —Sasha Levine, bonappetit.com editor
