Recipes By Ali Slagle
497 recipes found
Buffalo Chicken Dip
Sour cream and onion, spinach-artichoke, queso and fondue are warm dips you know and love, but we'd urge you to get to know Buffalo chicken dip a little better. It’s a quick, one-pan snack, spicy from a heavy pour of hot sauce, luscious from sour cream and cream cheese and a little funky from the blue cheese. With just the right amount of acid and salt, it'll keep people coming back for more. It also plays well with beer, but that you already knew.
Everything-Spice Phyllo Crackers
Here’s a cracker that bakes up flaky and buttery, no matter how much of a baker you may or may not be. There's no need for a whisk, mixing bowl or even flour: Just layer phyllo sheets with butter, top with everything-bagel seasoning (or other spices, or grated cheese), and slice them into squares or triangles of any size. Each cracker promises a joyful, shattering mess; a companion to wine, beer or something stronger; and the pleasure of knowing it was so easy to make. Each batch yields a bounty of crackers, but this recipe is also easy to scale.
Corn Casserole
Here is a from-scratch version of the classic corn casserole, a popular holiday side dish in the southeastern United States that is traditionally made using store-bought Jiffy cornbread mix. If you’ve never had corn casserole before, you’re really missing out: It’s like an incredibly moist cornbread studded with fresh corn kernels. (Frozen corn can be used in the cold weather months.) Two pounds of corn kernels are bound together with a simple batter of flour, baking powder, cornmeal, Cheddar, eggs, melted butter and sour cream, then poured into a baking pan, topped with more cheese, and baked until bubbly. Fresh rosemary and scallions, untraditional and optional additions, add savory notes that balance out the sweetness of the corn.
Lemon-Dill Meatballs With Orzo
With nutty orzo, tender meatballs, bitter greens and spoonfuls of herby yogurt, this Mediterranean-inspired skillet dinner is hearty yet light. There’s an incredible amount of dill, but don’t bother plucking fronds from the stems. Instead, chop the whole plant until you hit the roots; the stems are crunchy and flavorful. While the fennel seeds are optional, their anise flavor is reminiscent of tarragon, so alongside the orzo’s anchovies and the herb yogurt, you might be reminded of green goddess dressing. Instead of orzo, try rice or pearl couscous, and add liquid as needed until tender.
Vegan Twice-Baked Potatoes
The best of both worlds, twice-baked potatoes give you the creaminess of mashed potatoes and the crispy skin of baked potatoes. Vegan butter and milk give this dairy-free version a silky texture, nutritional yeast and jammy-soft onions make it rich in flavor, while vinegar and chives lift and brighten. You could add grated vegan cheese to the filling, but these potatoes are chock-full of exciting bites as they are. Eat alongside a big green salad, BBQ tofu, tomato soup, vegan sausages or mushroom bourguignon.
Roasted Butternut Squash
This is the simplest roasted butternut squash recipe, and it shows off the vegetable’s greatest qualities: custardy, sweet and nutty, with caramelized and crisp outsides. Cube the squash into 1-inch pieces, then drizzle generously with oil and salt. (If you’d like to use pre-cut pieces from the store, trim until they’re uniform in size for even cooking.) So that the squash browns efficiently, roast it on the bottom rack of a hot oven mostly on one side, then stir and cook for a few more minutes until tender. Squash this good can stand alone as a side dish, or costar in salad, soup, pasta or other meals. The roasted squash will keep, refrigerated, for up to 5 days. If you want to add ground spices, like spicy hot paprika or warming cinnamon, do so after the initial roasting when stirring. (You could also try Ali's roasted butternut squash with brown butter vinaigrette.)
Roasted Acorn Squash
The one-size-fits-all method for cooking acorn and other hardy squashes is to roast them whole. You can avoid the precarious task of cutting them when they’re raw, and the flesh steams to tenderize without drying out while the skin softens enough to eat. Botanically, acorn squash is actually more closely related to zucchini and spaghetti squash than denser, sweeter, richer winter squashes like butternut. Because it’s so mild, once your acorn squash is roasted, load it up with sweet, buttery, cheesy, crunchy, meaty, nutty or spicy accompaniments; or fold it into sautés, salads and so on.
Farro and Lentils With Jammy Onions
Simmering chopped onions in a generous amount of olive oil is a two-for-one deal: The onions go soft and sweet while the oil gets infused with deep flavor. While the onions sizzle and simmer, the lentils and farro boil together until al dente, keeping the dish a speedy weeknight option. This makes a great warm side dish or a satisfying make-ahead grain salad. (Leftovers keep for up to three days.) Red-pepper flakes add heat, and lemon peel provides floral sweetness; you could also add whole spices, capers or other additions, if you like. Accessorize with hearty greens, soft herbs, eggs, smoked fish or leftover roasted vegetables.
Lentils Cacciatore
Chicken cacciatore is an Italian hunter’s stew that’s made by braising chicken with tomato, aromatics and vegetables, like red peppers, onions, carrots, rosemary, olives and so on. This braise’s cozy, deep flavors are equally tasty with red lentils in place of the poultry. In less than half an hour, red lentils break down to create a creamy, rich vegetarian stew. Carrots and red peppers make it a hearty meal, but you could also eat it over pasta, polenta or farro. If serving with pasta, thin the cacciatore with a little pasta water before tossing with the noodles.
Crispy Coconut Tempeh
This plant-based spin on coconut shrimp uses crumbled tempeh instead of shrimp. A mixture of coconut milk, sambal oelek, cornstarch and honey (substitute agave nectar to make it vegan) helps shredded coconut and panko stick to the tempeh, then the little nuggets fry up light, crispy and coconut-y through and through. A dusting of lime salt gives these a little spark (like the salted rim on a cocktail), and of course there’s a dipping sauce. Coconut shrimp is typically served with sweet chile sauce, but here, just use more of the sweet, spicy coconut milk. To make these tempeh nuggets a meal, serve with grains, sautéed greens like kale or spinach, or rice noodles. To get vegetarian recipes like this one delivered to your inbox, sign up for The Veggie newsletter.
Vegan Peach Crumble
This crumble lets peaches shine, with just a little lemon to brighten and brown sugar to help them caramelize as they soften in the oven. The crisp, toasty topping is full of texture from both nuts and oats, and is clumped in various sizes, so each bite is different from the next. Eat the crumble warm or at room temperature on its own, with a pour of nut milk or with a scoop of vegan ice cream or tart sorbet, like lemon or raspberry. Leftovers right from the fridge make a great breakfast with a spoonful of vegan yogurt.
Kimchi Tuna Salad
Kimchi and canned tuna make a popular combination in Korean cooking. These two pantry staples are found together in a number of dishes like kimchi jjigae and kimbap, and here they are the basis of a lively, fortifying salad. Combine them with fresh ginger and celery for crunch (or an equal amount of other crunchy vegetables, like thinly sliced sugar snap or snow peas, radishes, carrot, cabbage or fennel). The dressing is made using the spicy liquid from the kimchi jar, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil, but because each jar of kimchi is different, you may want to tweak the seasonings to taste. Eat the salad on its own; with gim, or seaweed, as a hand roll; or with something starchy to balance the punch, like a burger bun, rice, boiled potatoes, soba or ramen noodles.
Kale and Squash Salad With Almond-Butter Vinaigrette
For a creamy, rich and dairy-free salad dressing, use almond butter instead of olive oil. It provides rich savoriness and body, like mild tahini or peanut butter. In this recipe, mix it with lemon and mustard to dress a combination of sturdy greens, roasted squash and crisp apples. Embellish as you wish by adding salty cheese, like blue, Gruyère or pecorino; freshness with fennel, parsley, mint or pomegranate seeds; or heft with whole grains or beans. This hearty salad is easy to tote to work for lunch and exciting enough for dinner.
Thai-Style Sweet and Salty Shrimp
Made of equal parts sugar, fish sauce and vinegar, the sauce in the famous pad Thai at Kris Yenbamroong’s Night + Market restaurants in Los Angeles is too good to be used exclusively on rice noodles. This adaptation is simmered with a tangle of shrimp, peanuts, scallions, chile and lime juice for for a sweet, salty stir-fry. Add a quick cooking vegetable, like peas, thinly sliced asparagus or bean sprouts, with the shrimp, or substitute tofu, salmon or cubed boneless chicken thighs for the shrimp. Serve over shredded cabbage, rice, a roasted sweet potato or rice noodles.
Chile-Crisp Shrimp and Green Beans
This stir-fry is inspired by the taste and textures of chile crisp, that fiery condiment made by infusing oil with dried chiles, garlic and shallots. For this 20-minute recipe, make a quick version of the oil while the shrimp marinates in a combination of soy sauce, sugar, red-pepper flakes and cumin. Use the infused oil to cook the green beans (or asparagus), shrimp and peanuts, then serve topped with the fried shallots and garlic. It’s a deeply savory, spicy and satisfying dinner.
Slow-Cooker Black Bean Soup
Start your slow cooker in the morning and by dinnertime, you’ll have deeply spiced black beans that just need a quick blend to become a velvety and vegan black bean soup. While not essential, a smidgen of baking soda helps the beans soften so they end up almost fudgy. Blending some of the beans with their liquid gives the soup body; for a very smooth soup, purée the whole mixture. A little vinegar and a flourish of toppings keep it from being one-note. Leftovers will thicken overnight, so thin as needed with water or turn them into refried beans.
Slow Cooker BBQ Pork and Beans
Pork and beans are cooked together in a slow cooker for mutually beneficial results (If you don't have a slow cooker, you can do it in a pot in the oven.) As the pork shoulder and barbecue sauce braise in the oven, the sauce soaks up the pork juices while the pork tenderizes. Then, beans are added to soak up the deeply concentrated sauce. The recipe uses store-bought barbecue sauce enhanced with the smoky heat of canned chipotles in adobo and brown sugar, which helps glaze the pork. Because every barbecue sauce is different, taste and adjust yours as needed. (For a more acidic sauce, add apple cider vinegar with the beans, or you can increase the sweetness with added sugar.) To serve, slice the pork or shred it into pulled pork.
Slow-Cooker Beef and Barley Soup
This recipe is inspired by the beef, leek and barley soup in “Home Cooking” (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2010), a memoir and cookbook by Laurie Colwin. It defies what you’re told you must do to make an exceptional soup: Brown your meat, add ingredients in layers, and taste as you go. Instead, just chop a few vegetables, put everything in a pot — or in this case, a slow cooker — then forget about it. This recipe builds satisfying, hearty flavors in a few key ways: The small quantity of dried mushrooms not only nods to mushroom-barley soup, but also creates an umami backdrop. Opt for chicken stock instead of beef, which is more consistently flavorful across brands. Use a collagen-rich cut of meat, like chuck or short ribs. And last, a long cook time allows flavors to deepen, without any babysitting.
Slow-Cooker Kofte in Tomato-Lime Broth
While you’re at the beach, at work or doing anything at all, these bright, light, brothy meatballs can be stewing in the slow cooker. They are made in the style of kofte (from the Persian word meaning “grind”), in which ground meat is combined with lots of herbs and ground spices. Yogurt adds moisture and tang, but you don’t need another binder or to brown the meat first. As the meatballs slowly cook, their juices mingle with the tomatoes to create a rich but tart broth. Eat with grains (bulgur wheat, farro, rice), couscous, noodles or pita. For a stovetop version, see the Tip.
Slow-Cooker Sunday Sauce
Whether it’s called red sauce, sugo or gravy, you’ll find a big pot of the rich tomato sauce simmering all Sunday long in many Italian-American households. Every family has their own version, but this recipe includes shreddy pork shoulder, sausage and meatballs. This slow-cooker version lets you simmer it overnight or while you’re not home, and without splatters and stirring (though you can also make it on a stovetop). Once the sauce is done, coat pasta in the sauce, spoon the meats on top and serve it with a green salad, crusty bread and red wine. Sauce can be kept refrigerated for up to one week and frozen for up to three months.
Slow-Cooker Beans
The key to tender, not-mushy beans is to cook them at the barest simmer, which means they’re perfect candidates for the slow cooker. And the same principles for cooking beans on the stovetop apply: Skip soaking the beans; use flavorings to infuse the beans and the bean-cooking liquid; and salt before and after cooking. You can follow this formula for almost any dried bean, but know that the cook time will vary based on the age and type of bean, as well as the size and strength of your slow cooker. Start checking at the six-hour mark to see how quickly your beans are cooking. Keep flavorings in fairly large pieces, as the long cook time could turn smaller bits to mush.
Spicy Citrus Skirt Steak
You don’t need a meat thermometer to grill a great skirt steak: When cooked over high heat, the inside will be medium rare once the steak is bronzed on the outside. For seasoning, counter the cut’s big buttery flavor with something salty, spicy or fresh. In this recipe, the grilled steak rests in a tart sauce of tangerine, soy sauce, ginger and vinegar that is reminiscent of ponzu, with hints of citrusy bitterness similar to the dried tangerine peel used in Sichuan and Hunan cooking. Here, that bittersweet edge comes from charring the fruit and peel. Serve with rice or a grilled green vegetable like Chinese broccoli or asparagus.
Sheet-Pan Italian Sub Dinner
The Italian sub, a deli sandwich that piles some combination of cheese, cured meats and preserved vegetables onto a soft roll, is an Italian-American classic. But toss those fillings onto a sheet pan and hit them with a little heat, and they caramelize and crisp into a complete dinner with loads of character — sweet and spicy, bitter and briny. In this recipe, salami, red onions, pepperoncini, tomatoes, radicchio and chickpeas get tossed with an oregano-garlic vinaigrette before roasting. The radicchio and red onion mellow, the tomatoes sweeten and the salami releases fat and seasonings that add even more flavor and richness. (You can swap in cauliflower florets, cubes of squash or halved red potatoes for the radicchio.) Serve with a plop of ricotta for creaminess (or provolone and Parmesan, for a more traditional take), more vinaigrette and crusty bread for sopping it all up or piling it into a sandwich.
Sheet-Pan Gochujang Shrimp and Green Beans
Say hello to your broiler, that super-intense direct heat source in your oven that, like a grill, crisps food fast. (It’s either in the top of your oven or in the pull-out drawer below.) While it heats, toss shrimp and green beans in a fiery sauce of gochujang (a Korean fermented chile paste), soy sauce and honey, then broil for mere minutes. Just five minutes! The shrimp and green beans emerge with blistered outsides and snappy insides, reminiscent of Sichuan dry-fried green beans, while the sauce and the caramelized char make quick work of building deep, addictive flavors. Serve with rice, noodles or lettuce leaves. To make it vegetarian, swap shrimp for quick-cooking vegetables, edamame or well-drained tofu.