It's Fruit Season! Here's What We're Making This Month
Plus Noah Galuten's steak sandwich, summer abundance, and a reason to fire up the grill.
Friends, hi!
It’s June, and the air outside is already doing too much. I stepped out this morning with my sunhat and was immediately returned to the indoors by the humidity, which I can only describe as a heavy hug from someone who does not understand personal space. I’m not prepared to talk about the moquitoes at this time. This is the South in the summer and we’ve passed the point of no return.
Here’s what I’ve decided: we’re not fighting it. June is the month of abundance — an overflowing, generous, slightly chaotic kind of abundance that shows up in the garden (zinnias!!), on the grill, in the fruit bowl by way of peaches, watermelon, and strawberries (huzzah!). I was telling my mom on the phone yesterday, “It’s fruit season!” which is incredibly disrespectful for the perennial apples, oranges, and bananas but the sentiment remains.
Also in abundance is this baby boy, now in the double digits of weeks, currently kicking in my arms and refusing his 10am nap. We should all be so lucky to get a 10am nap, my guy… just sayin’.
This month’s newsletter is full of things I think you’ll love — a gorgeous almanac from one of my dearest friends, some archive recipes that need to be on the Make List, a steak sandwich (and new cookbook) that I need you to make this coming weekend (because I am!), and generally speaking the promise of hot dogs and pool parties and a forthcoming Summer Bucket List.
Let’s go!
🌿 THE BAKEHOUSE ALMANAC: JUNE 2026
Timothy Pakron — my dear friend, the creative mind behind Mississippi Vegan, gardener of the most wild and beautiful gardens, and one of the best people I know — has written June’s almanac. It’s exactly the thing I needed to read this week. His theme is abundance, which feels right for a month that is practically bursting at the seams with peaches and zucchini and a Louisiana heat that only a cucumber salad will quell, you know?
Timmy writes about his New Orleans garden (follow his stories on IG for more garden content!), what’s playing on repeat in his kitchen, what’s for lunch, and what he’s firmly leaving behind this summer. Worth a click, friends!
👉 Read the June Bakehouse Almanac here.
(And Timmy — thank you!)
🍽️ WHAT WE'RE EATING THIS MONTH
In my mind, June has its requirements: something cold, something sweet, something that comes together fast because it is too hot to be standing over a stove. It requires something you can bring to someone’s door ready to warm for dinner, a pitcher of something for home happy hours, and a dessert that doesn’t require turning on the oven.
Lucky for all of us, the archive delivers. Here’s what’s in rotation this month:
Cucumber Cilantro Margarita — I have been dreaming about this margarita since approximately month four of pregnancy when I would have traded almost anything for a cold, puckery, face-scrunching sip. As soon as the stars align I’m making a full pitcher! Fresh cucumber, bright lime, a handful of cilantro - it’s almost a savory margarita which is just super satisfying! Get in on this with me!
Will You Marry Me Chicken — I’m making this one as a care package for family on the mend this week, tucked into a bag alongside a tin of Texas Bakehouse Chocolate Chip Cookies loaded with Trader Joe’s M&Ms, because what is a care package without a cookie situation?
Summer Tomato Galette — The heirloom tomatoes are coming and there is only one correct response: enjoy as many as you can! I have made this galette more times than I can count and it disappears in one sitting every single time. Buttery crust, peak-season tomatoes, the smell of something golden coming out of the oven. It’s just right.
Strawberry Malt Icebox Cake — No oven required, which is the only qualification a dessert needs to make it onto this list in June. Layers of vanilla wafers, malted whipped cream, and peak-season strawberries chill into something that tastes like a milkshake decided to become a cake. I’m treating this as a warm-up for the full ice cream making extravaganza I have planned for later this summer. Stay tuned/ buckle in.
Strawberry Pie Bars — Do not let the simplicity of these fool you. Shortbread crust, fresh strawberries, a pecan-studded crumble on top. They are deceptively easy and deliver so far beyond what you’d expect. Bring these to your next grill gathering. They’re a sturdy summer offering!
If you don’t know Noah Galuten yet, let me fix that immediately. He is a James Beard Award-winning cookbook author, the star of BBQ: Smokeout on Tastemade, and the writer behind the best-named Substack on the internet: I’m Legally Required To Feed You — a weekly family-friendly recipe that lands right in your inbox and delivers every single time. (Heavy on the bean content.) His brand new cookbook, Grill Time!, is out now, and I need you to go get it. This is the book you reach for every time someone says “let’s grill this weekend” and you want to do more than open a pack of hot dogs… which, is absolutely the vibe this summer.
I’ve had the very good fortune of cooking with Noah in his kitchen — he and his wife Iliza have a family kitchen that just hums with good energy - they have cute kids and a cute dog so obvi that helps! The Nostalgia Steak Sandwich 2.0 is Noah doing what he does best: taking something you already love and making it even better. Thinly pounded sirloin, a chimichurri mayo that I want to put on everything this summer, tomatoes and onions that marinate while you get everything else together. Simple and so on point! It comes together fast and it is absolutely the move for a summer grill gathering.
Make it this weekend (I am!!) and report back.
Now here’s Noah (and a printable recipe below)!
NOSTALGIA STEAK SANDWICH 2.0 (with Chimichurri Mayo and Tomato-Onion Salad)
When I was a kid in Los Angeles, there was a small burger chain called All-American Burger. I used to love their steak sandwich—a long, thin, tender whole piece of steak on a greasy hoagie roll, drenched in way-too-much mayonnaise, dressed with onions and lettuce. This is the amped-up version. (Remember: When it comes to nostalgia, it has to be 50 percent better to taste just as good.) In the end, it all works thanks to a good hoagie roll; a lightly spicy, herbaceous chimichurri mayo; tomato and onions that marinate in salt; and, most important, thinly pounded sirloin steak that is incredibly tender and can be bitten through without completely destroying the sandwich in the process. It brings me great joy to know that my kids now get to eat the better version of my childhood favorite.
Makes 2
INGREDIENTS
Chimichurri Mayo:
1 cup mayonnaise
¼ cup tightly packed fresh Italian parsley
¼ cup tightly packed fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems
4 garlic cloves, peeled but whole
2 tablespoons sliced shallot
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 Fresno or jalapeño pepper, stemmed and seeded (or leave the seeds in for more heat)
Steak Sandwiches:
12 thin half-moon slices of tomato (about 5 ounces)
12 thin half-moon slices of white onion
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
8 ounces sirloin steak, about ½ inch thick
2 (6-inch) hoagie rolls or the best sandwich rolls you can find
METHOD
Make the chimichurri mayo: In a blender, combine the mayo, parsley, cilantro, garlic, shallot, vinegar, and chile and blend until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Make the steak sandwiches: Preheat the grill to high heat, then clean and oil the grates well.
Place the tomato and onions in a medium bowl. Season them with a pinch of salt and a few twists of pepper. Add 1 teaspoon of the olive oil and toss to combine. Let marinate while you get ready to pound out the steak.
Lay a long sheet of plastic wrap on the counter or a large cutting board and lay the steak on one side of it, with some extra space around it on all sides. Fold the other side of the plastic over it (the goal is to pound the steak out in a protected area, while giving it room to expand).
Using a flat meat mallet or the bottom of a heavy skillet, pound the steak until it is about ⅛ inch thick. Transfer the steak to a cutting board and cut it into 4 long rectangle-like pieces. Drizzle the steak with the remaining 1 teaspoon olive oil and toss it until just barely coated. Season the steak well with salt and pepper.
Cut the hoagie rolls through the side, but not all the way through to create hinged bread. Open the rolls, then spread a thin layer of the chimichurri mayo onto the insides of the roll.
Lay them cut-side down straight on the grill, just until the bread is golden and toasted with some blackened edges, 60 to 90 seconds. Take the rolls off the grill and set them aside. Add the pieces of steak to the grill and let them cook until there is some nice color and char on one side, about 2 minutes. Flip them over and cook just until the raw color is cooked off, about 45 more seconds.
While the steaks are grilling, spread more chimichurri mayo onto the rolls. Lay the steak into the sandwiches, slightly overlapping as necessary. Top them with the tomato-onion mixture, pouring on the juices as well. Cut the sandwiches in half and serve immediately — or wrap them up in foil or sandwich paper until they are ready to be consumed. They are best right away, but will keep well for an hour or so if need be.
From Grill Time! © 2026 by Noah Galuten. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Have a great week!
More soon, friends —
xo Joy
i swear those strawberry pie bars are a sleeper hit!! they are INSANE 😮💨
Well, I think I have two more things to add to my "Being back from the US" list. Vanilla wafers and malted milk powder. 👍 That strawberry no bake cake looks devine. Unfortunately, that trip is in October. Too late for this year's strawberry session. Next year..... 😋