Make this inside. Grill that outside.
Cool-kitchen recipes for the one weekend everyone's standing over a hot grill.
Letter from the Kitchen
This is the one weekend where almost every American ends up outside, standing over something hot.
I get it. And we will do it too because the grill is part of the ritual: the smoke, the char, the reason to be in the backyard. It’s American, and we’re having a birthday!
But here’s the thing: it’s already in the 90s in most of the country. The grill is hot! The kitchen doesn’t have to be.
This week I’m focused on the things you make inside, in a cool kitchen. Things that complement and sometimes supersede whatever comes off the grate. Ricotta, you make yourself. I bring this up a lot, don’t I? A potato salad that doesn’t look like every other potato salad on the table. A pea salad that’s half appetizer, half reason to open a good bottle of something cold.
The 4th is a celebration. Make it one — all the way to the side dishes.
Last Week, You Answered
What’s on your table for the 4th?
This is a potato salad crowd. Overwhelmingly, decisively — potato salad.
I love it because you gave me a theme! Thank you. Potato salad has range that most people don’t give it credit for. Here are two recipes from my site that take it somewhere a little less expected — same comfort, different road.
Tarragon Walnut Potato Salad with Eggs →
Tomato Basil Sweet Corn Potato Salad →
Join Me at the Table
Pop-Up Pasta · Saturday, July 12 · 1 PM
This is a hands-on class in the Kitchen Classroom. We make everything from scratch: the dough, the filling, the shapes.
Tortellini. Sacchetti. Ravioli. Basil pesto in a mortar and pestle.
If you’ve wanted to understand fresh pasta — not just follow a recipe, but actually feel the dough while you shape it with your hands (and some rather fancy tools — this is the class.
These classes are limited to 6 people and fill up quickly.
The Podcast Hook
Episode 8 · Inside Eversharp: Knives, Craftsmanship, and Community
Episode 8 is up — and it’s worth an hour of your time.
Maddie Jensen knows her suppliers. Not in a general sense — she knows them personally. The makers, the provenance, the story behind what she’s putting on Eversharp’s shelves. That’s a different kind of buying, and it comes through in the conversation. If you’ve ever wondered what it is like when a shop genuinely knows what it’s selling, in this case knives and kitchen essentials, this is the episode.
Upcoming · Announcing next week.
What’s Happening in the Kitchen
This week I shifted focus to the Mindful Mediterranean program and app. The core premise hasn’t changed — but how the material is presented and how the whole experience works is being rebuilt from the ground up. The goal is a program you can run entirely from your phone if you want to, with a month of engagement.
Here was a surprise: because the cookbook is based on the program, I’m essentially writing both at the same time.
Photography is continuing throughout. We are further ahead than I thought we’d be — which is a good problem to have going into a holiday weekend.
And the app itself? I’m building it with tech that is mostly over my head. Having a great time.
The Skill: The New Basics
Make Your Own Ricotta
The Quick Win
Don’t rush the draining. Twenty minutes gives you ricotta. Forty gives you something closer to a spreadable cheese — denser, richer, better on bread. Press it for a few hours with some weight on top, and you’re into ricotta salata territory: firm enough to crumble, salty, genuinely delicious sprinkled on salads. All three are the same recipe. Time and pressure are the only variables.
The Most Common Mistake
Using ultra-pasteurized cream. Check the label before you buy. Most whole milk is pasteurized — that’s what you want. Ultra-pasteurized cream is widely available but produces a lower yield because the bacteria are cooked out of it. The recipe below uses whole milk, cream, and buttermilk for the acid. Some recipes call for lemon juice or even vinegar, but I love the flavor of buttermilk.
One Tool Worth Having
A nut-milk bag. Fine, reusable, and far easier to work with than cheesecloth — which shifts, tears, and requires twice the effort for the same result. I use mine every time I make ricotta. It’s also called a “silk chinois”.
Recipe Spotlight
MM Blue
Spring Pea and Ricotta Salad
The Soul
This recipe is somewhere between a salad and an appetizer. Good bread is not optional — it’s the point. Neither is good olive oil. The ricotta is the base, the peas are the brightness, and the whole thing comes together in about ten minutes if your ricotta is already made.
The Bridge
If fresh peas aren’t available, frozen work here — frozen peas are a secret weapon and overlooked by many cooks. Cook them, don’t overcook them, before you use them. This is your opportunity to buy some great local dairy and make a fabulous cheese.
The Mediterranean Edit
This week, a tool I’ve been using since the nineties — and still reach for every time there’s a pile of herbs or sun-dried tomatoes to deal with.
Tool
Mezzaluna
I find chopping this way — herbs, nuts, anything messy — methodical. The bowl on the board keeps everything in one place. Nothing escapes. It’s one of those tools that has a rather specific purpose, but I would not cook without. Oh - did I mention grating cheese?
Tool
Mezzaluna (another option)
Mine is from the nineties. Still beautiful. The blade hasn’t moved, the handle hasn’t loosened, and I’ve never once thought about replacing it. That’s the whole case for buying a good one.
Cookbook Chronicles
The class this week was Limoncello Crème Brûlée.
The recipe is going into the cookbook. Classes have become part of how I test — which means the people who show up are doing some of the fun work, sssshhhh.
Before You Go
Spiralizer: daily driver or cabinet ornament? Be honest.
Until next Thursday — keep a good olive oil on the counter and don’t be afraid to use it. — Chef Laura
I love your recipes and I use them all the time. I also love ideas - I often do not use recipes!
About my spirilizing habit - While not everyday, I use it a lot! I have it handy. I always have zucchini on hand if I have a craving for pasta - I make 1/2 & 1/2 (pasta/zucchini). I don't think of using it for other veggies but would if I had good ideas. I sometimes make wider strips of zucchini to quickly sauté.