Recipes By Ali Slagle
490 recipes found
Pasta With Brown Butter and Parmesan
Sometimes you just want a big bowl of pasta with butter and Parmesan. Starchy, silky and salty, it’s always good — and practically foolproof. To make it a little more grown up, just take it one step further: Brown the butter. When you slide the butter into the skillet, let it cook until the milk solids turn a toasty brown. It adds a rich, nutty flavor that makes the dish a bit more sophisticated with very little extra work.
Refried White Beans With Chile-Fried Eggs
Frijoles refritos are a satiny purée of well-fried beans that are cooked with fat and their liquid. In Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisines, they’re usually made with pinto or black beans and lard, but they don’t have to be. This recipe uses canned white beans because their extra-starchy liquid expedites cooking time, and ample olive oil and browned onions guarantee deeply flavored beans. In many recipes for refried beans, the liquid is added gradually, but this all-at-once method from “Mi Cocina” by Rick Martínez (Clarkson Potter, 2022) results in softer beans. Serve with everything from greens to pork chops, or a simple fried egg dressed with sizzled red-pepper flakes and vinegar to cut the richness. Ever the pantry meal, the beans and eggs offer many avenues for improvisation.
Creamed Kale Pizza
This pizza is as rich, garlicky and salty as a white pizza, but with a layer of crispy-creamy kale on top. Thankfully, there’s no need to cook the greens or simmer the sauce beforehand. Seasoned with Parmesan, garlic, nutmeg and red-pepper flakes, the heavy cream sauce has lemon juice for tang and to thicken the cream. As curly kale bakes under a blanket of heavy cream, some of the leaves become silky-sweet while others get crisp and smoky like a kale chip. Meanwhile, the cream concentrates and mingles with a layer of mozzarella.
Pasta With Fresh Tomatoes and Goat Cheese
This pasta’s sauce comes together using the same trifecta found in lemon-ricotta pasta: a juicy fruit, a creamy cheese and a salty cheese. This recipe makes good use of those summer tomatoes with juices just barely contained by their thin skins. The creamy cheese is goat cheese, whose tang balances the sweetness of the tomatoes. Parmesan adds salty depth, while herbs and red-pepper flakes complete the dish. For a more filling pasta, feel free to add shrimp, corn or green beans to the boiling pasta in the last few minutes of cooking.
Chile-Crisp Chickpea Rice Bowls
These rice bowls are both a comfort and a thrill to eat. They star chickpeas sizzled in chile crisp, a Chinese condiment made of oil, chiles and a variety of textural and umami-packed ingredients, such as fried shallots and garlic, sesame seeds, and preserved black beans. You could snack on the electrifyingly tingly chickpeas solo, or make them into a meal with rice and a juicy mixture of tomatoes, celery, cilantro and soy sauce. You can swap out the celery for other crunchy vegetables, like bok choy, cucumbers or snap peas, but keep the tomatoes; their sweetness provides reprieve from the spicy chickpeas.
Cheesy, Spicy Black Bean Bake
Whether or not you’ve fallen for this cheesy white-bean tomato bake, we’d like you to meet its bolder counterpart, smoky and spiced, with lots of melty cheese. Black beans shine in a deep-red mixture of fried garlic, caramelized tomato paste, smoked paprika and cumin. The whole skillet gets coated in a generous sprinkling of sharp Cheddar or Manchego cheese, then baked until melted. The final result is what you hope for from a really good chili or stew, but in a lot less time. For a spicier rendition, add a pinch of cayenne with the paprika, or douse the final skillet with hot sauce. Serve with tortillas, tortilla chips, rice, a baked potato or fried eggs.
Breakfast Tofu Scramble
This tofu scramble is as good for breakfast with coffee and pancakes as it is for dinner with rice and roasted vegetables. And it’s a cinch to make, even with just one eye open: Sear large slabs of tofu, then break them into irregular pieces. The craggy edges of the tofu absorb a seasoning mixture that’s reminiscent of breakfast sausage: sweet from maple syrup, herbaceous from sage, and spicy from hot sauce and black pepper. Feel free to add vegetables that are already cooked, or that cook in 2 minutes, along with the maple-sage mixture, but if you do so, you may want to increase the seasoning accordingly.
Green Curry Glazed Tofu
To make crispy, flavorful tofu without having to press it first, use this smart method from Andrea Nguyen, the author of “Asian Tofu” (Ten Speed Press, 2012) and other cookbooks: Warm the tofu in a pan with a small amount of flavorful sauce. As it cooks, it will dry out and absorb the flavors of the sauce. Next, you add oil to the pan, which crisps the tofu. In Ms. Nguyen’s recipe, soy sauce is used, but here, the aromatics in Thai green curry paste and the sugars in coconut milk toast and caramelize on the tofu. Once the tofu has a deep-brown crust, remove it, sear a quick-cooking vegetable in the same pan, then reduce the remaining curry-coconut mixture into a fragrant, sweet-and-spicy glaze.
Sesame-Brown Butter Udon Noodles
This weeknight meal is silky, slurpable and so quick to pull off. It follows the tradition of wafu or Japanese-style pasta, and combines brown butter, udon and spinach, but the classic combination of savory sauce, chewy noodle and green vegetable allows plenty of room for improvisation. Instead of soy sauce, you can add umami with Parmesan, miso, seaweed or mushrooms. Instead of black pepper for heat, grab ginger or chile flakes, oil or paste. For more protein, boil eggs or shelled edamame in the water before the udon, or add tinned mackerel or fresh yuba along with the sesame seeds. Udon noodles, found fresh, frozen or shelf-stable, are singularly bouncy and thick; if you can’t find them, use the thinner, dried style that resembles linguine.
Creamy Braised White Beans
Everything you need to make this humble-but-satisfying meal is probably in your kitchen at this very moment. Two cans of beans (chickpeas and white beans) are simmered with milk, a whole head of garlic, herbs and nutmeg for a rich and creamy vegetarian dinner that can be on the table in under a half-hour. Be sure to use whole milk here — it's the most flavorful and will yield the best results. Feel free to wilt greens like chard, watercress, arugula or basil into the beans, and serve with grated Parmesan and red-pepper flakes. A slice of crusty bread slicked with caramelized garlic is the perfect crunchy accompaniment to velvety beans.
Vegetarian Reuben Sandwich
The Reuben sandwich — corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing on rye bread — has inspired many meat-free versions. Tempeh, seitan, vegetables and mushrooms have stood in for the corned beef, but they’re not really needed, because outsize quantities of the other traditional elements make a punchy, gooey sandwich on their own. Both sides of the buttered rye get melted Swiss. The mountain of sauerkraut doesn’t warm long enough to lose its crunch. The specks of pickles and onion in typical Russian dressing become layers in the sandwich. And while the dressing has mayonnaise and ketchup, as usual, it also has coriander and black pepper to evoke corned beef’s brine, plus hot sauce for kick. Because this rejiggered sandwich relies mostly on condiments and pantry staples, this homemade Reuben is within reach any day.
Three-Cup Vegetables
This vegan dish is inspired by three-cup chicken, a deeply savory Taiwanese specialty that can be traced back to the 13th century, to the execution of Wen Tianxiang, a scholar-general of the Song dynasty who resisted Kublai Khan’s invasion. The night before Wen’s death, a guard is said to have made him the surprisingly pungent chicken dish with the prison’s limited resources. It has many variations, but usually calls for braising chicken in rice wine, soy sauce and sesame oil with plenty of ginger, garlic and basil. Here, root vegetables like carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes and turnips take the place of the chicken, but feel free to also add tofu and quick-cooking vegetables like broccoli or snap peas with the roots. Serve over rice or ramen noodles to soak up sauce.
Puttanesca Chickpea-Tomato Salad
This recipe turns tomato salad into a meal by marrying creamy beans with some of the briny, salty ingredients found in pasta puttanesca, like tomatoes, capers, olives and garlic. While Parmesan isn’t traditional to puttanesca, coarsely chopped pebbles of it add bursts of umami to this salad. Feel free to omit the cheese for a vegan dish, or embellish the mix with fresh or dried chile, tinned fish or more vegetables. This recipe is not only adaptable but also improves as it sits: The tomato juices mingle with the oil, olives and capers — and the beans drink it all up.
Crisp Gnocchi With Brussels Sprouts and Brown Butter
For a fantastic meal that can be ready in 20 minutes, toss together seared gnocchi and sautéed brussels sprouts with lemon zest, red-pepper flakes and brown butter. The key to this recipe is how you cook the store-bought gnocchi: No need to boil. Just sear them until they are crisp and golden on the outside, and their insides will stay chewy. The resulting texture is reminiscent of fried dough. Shelf-stable and refrigerated gnocchi will both work here, but the shelf-stable ones do crisp up a bit better.
Chickpea Harissa Soup
When the day calls for soup but your schedule doesn’t, look to an assertive ingredient that doesn’t require hours of simmering to extract flavor. Harissa, a North African chile paste, packs a punch right out of the jar (brands range in heat levels, though, so adjust quantity to taste). Dump in 2 cans of chickpeas: The starchy, seasoned liquid thickens the soup quickly. Besides that, additional vegetables and toppings you want to add are up to you: Soup should bend to your life, not the opposite.
Pasta Aglio Olio With Butternut Squash
Stubborn butternut squash often resists being peeled or even cut. Its eventual smooth sweetness is worth it, but what if you could skip the whole having-to-be-patient part? By sautéeing a big pile of grated butternut squash, you’re on the fast-track to tender squash. From there, you need only some spice, garlic and oil to turn it into a belly-warming pasta sauce that's equally at home spooned onto warm or room-temperature grains — or on its own as a kind of squash purée. But don’t think you’re making baby food: This is a sophisticated pasta, silky but still has some bite, a sneaky heat and brightness from lemony nuts on top, which may just be the dish's secret star.
Olive-Walnut Pasta
Double down on the olive oil flavor in this dish by warming a generous amount with torn green olives to dress your pasta. While you can use just one kind of olive, like mild Castelvetrano, a variety will create depth of flavor. Adding chopped walnuts provides texture and a nice dose of protein to this vegan dish, while lemon zest and juice perk everything up. It would also be good with soft herbs like oregano, dill or basil, a salty cheese like feta or Parmesan, or shrimp that's been cooked with the pasta in the last few minutes of boiling.
Tofu Scramble
This quick scramble is a combination of flavors and textures that will surprise and delight tofu-lovers and doubters alike. Soy sauce, turmeric and cumin provide bold seasoning, while searing the block of tofu on both sides before breaking it up yields plenty of crispy bits as well as tender ones. You can add cooked vegetables, leafy greens, beans, cheese or nutritional yeast with the scallions in Step 4, though you may want to increase the seasoning depending on the amount of extras you add. You can also swap in hot sauce, mustard or tahini for the soy sauce and play around with spice combinations, but don’t skip the splash of water — it helps the tofu soak up all the flavors. Serve with toast, tortillas, salad or breakfast potatoes.
Mozzarella in Carrozza (Fried Mozzarella Sandwiches)
This Italian snack is essentially a mozzarella stick in sandwich form: Mozzarella cheese tucked inside plush bread, crusted with bread crumbs (use panko for extra crunch) and fried. In parts of Italy, you might also find anchovies, 'nduja or prosciutto in it, or marinara sauce or pesto served alongside for dipping. But gooey cheese in every bite? That's guaranteed: According to the food writer Emiko Davies, it’s called mozzarella en carrozza, or mozzarella in carriage, because the strands of melted mozzarella that pull from the sandwich resemble the reins of a horse and carriage. For best results, skip the fresh mozzarella and look for low-moisture mozzarella — the kind found sealed in plastic without liquid in your supermarket's dairy section. And try to set out your ingredients just before you begin: It'll help the process go more smoothly. (Watch the video Ali Slagle making mozzarella in carrozza here.)
Roasted Broccoli Grain Bowl With Nooch Dressing
This nutty, savory and deeply satisfying — not to mention vegan — grain bowl stands out because of a stellar sauce made of nutritional yeast (also known as “nooch”), lemon, mustard and garlic powder that provides umami, brightness and spunk. The sauce works especially well on roasted brassicas like broccoli, cauliflower and brussels sprouts, likely because the combination is reminiscent of broccoli-Cheddar soup. Keep a jar of the stuff on hand for grain bowls on demand. (It keeps for three days in the fridge.) Cook any cold-weather vegetables, use any leftover grains, incorporate any crunch, and maybe even add dill, apples or celery for freshness. The sauce will tie it all together. To get vegetarian recipes like this one delivered to your inbox, sign up for The Veggie newsletter.
Smoked Gouda and Broccoli Flatbreads
There are equal amounts of cheese and broccoli on this flatbread, but it’s the smoked Gouda that grabs your attention. Its buttery and lightly smoked flavor is accentuated by the scallions, which sweeten and brown as they roast. These are super speedy with the help of store-bought flatbread, naan or pocketless pita, but because the breads vary in size, adjust the quantity of topping to cover yours. (If you have extra toppings, make a melt on toast). Feel free to adapt with what you have: Swap out Gouda for another melting cheese like Cheddar or fontina; and for the broccoli, substitute spinach, kale, thinly sliced brussels sprouts or another quick-cooking vegetable.
Linguine With Crisp Chickpeas and Rosemary
Pasta with chickpeas is a substantial, quickly assembled meal, but what’s alluring about this version is the undercurrent of rosemary. Whole sprigs lightly fried in olive oil provide flavor in two ways: the leaves are crumbled into the pasta for a fragrant punch, and the infused oil slicks the noodles. You could add spinach, arugula or kale when you toss the pasta in the sauce, or simply brighten it with parsley, Parmesan and lemon.
Beans and Greens Alla Vodka
Pasta alla vodka is a classic because each ingredient works together beautifully: the heat of the red-pepper flakes and vodka, the sweetness of the tomato and the richness of the cream. And that combination works equally well with beans and greens. Use chickpeas or white beans, and kale or any other dark leafy green, like Swiss chard or broccoli rabe. The finished dish keeps for up to three days in the fridge. Eat it on its own, with crusty bread for dunking, or over pasta.
Tempeh Tacos
Hard-shell tacos, or tacos dorados, have a long history in northern Mexico and immigrant communities in California and Texas. In 1951, Glen Bell added them to the menu of his drive-in stand in San Bernardino, Calif. He would go on to found (you guessed it) Taco Bell, the fast food chain, which would help popularize hard-shell tacos in the United States. While the typical hard-shell taco is made by piling spiced and saucy ground meat and a party of toppings into a shatteringly crisp shell, this vegan version calls for tempeh. Tempeh is made by fermenting cooked soybeans into a spongelike cake with a porous structure that browns, crumbles and soaks up big flavors incredibly well. Here, it’s seasoned with well-toasted tomato paste, ground cumin, chili powder and smoked paprika, as well as nutritional yeast for added umami. That said, the recipe can also be made with vegan store-bought meat crumbles if you prefer.