Recipes By Ali Slagle
490 recipes found
Seven-Layer Dip
For this recipe, the traditional 7-layer dip has been revisited so that each layer is good enough to eat on its own, but isn’t so much effort that the whole thing can’t be finished in 20 minutes. The order of the layers offers some delightful moments, like where the cheese melts into the warm refried beans or where the cool sour cream meets the fiery salsa. Cilantro and scallions serve as a refreshing counterpoint, and Fritos lend added crunch. No need to dig out your trifle bowl: A platter with a lip is preferred here for easier scooping.
Italian Hero Sandwich
Italian hero, sub, hoagie, grinder — this classic sandwich has many names, and every deli makes it differently. Its deliciousness lies in the proportion of rich-and-fatty ingredients to spicy-and-crunchy ones. For optimal structure and texture, start with crusty rolls with pillowy insides (or toast soft rolls). Use two to four types of cured meat for a range of umami, and plenty of lettuce and pickles to counterbalance them. Then assemble wisely: Shingle the meat and cheese across the rolls, then top with pickles, onions and dressed lettuce. Once put together, the wet ingredients are wrapped in meat so they’re held in place and the bread doesn’t get soggy. Wrap with parchment or wax paper for tidier eating and transporting.
Split Pea Soup
This customizable recipe for classic split pea soup allows you to make it vegetarian or not with equally delicious results. Meat eaters can get that classic smoky flavor by adding bacon or ham hock, while vegetarians can reach for the smoked paprika. Half the split peas are added part way through cooking, which adds texture to each cozy, hearty spoonful.
Skillet Pork Chops and Apples With Miso Caramel
This recipe is like a delicious game of free association: miso caramel, caramel apples, apples and pork chops. You’ll often see miso caramel added to desserts for an umami oomph, but it can also form a glossy and complex sauce suited for proteins, much like Vietnamese caramel. Start by searing pepper-crusted pork chops, then brown the apples in the rendered fat. (Be sure to choose an apple that’s more tart than sweet to balance the caramel’s sweetness.) Instead of making a finicky caramel, just pour all the elements over the apples and simmer until thickened. This nontraditional caramel uses brown sugar for toastiness, and water instead of heavy cream, so the savoriness of miso and pork and the sweetness of the caramel and apples shine through.
Pasta With Butternut Squash, Kale and Brown Butter
This pantry pasta turns cold-weather basics — pasta, squash, kale and butter — into something luxurious and deeply flavored thanks to garam masala, the warming spice mix used in many South Asian dishes like kebabs and curries. But since this is a pantry pasta, you can substitute freely: Consider another nutty spice or two, like five spice, turmeric with chile powder, or cinnamon with crushed fennel seeds. Whole-wheat pasta stands up to the squash and spiced browned butter, but regular pasta will work as well. In place of squash, use chickpeas or carrot, and instead of kale, try something else green, like brussels sprouts, broccolini or mature spinach.
Roasted Salmon and Brussels Sprouts With Citrus-Soy Sauce
Roasting vegetables like brussels sprouts, scallions and jalapeño next to salmon fillets as they cook makes for a crunchy, sweet and spicy side that requires very little work on your part. When the salmon and vegetables are done, spoon a lively sauce made of citrus juice (any you choose), rice vinegar and soy sauce over everything. If you like, serve with rice, whole grains, soba or udon — there’s plenty of sauce to go around.
Apple Cider
To understand the difference between apple cider and juice, think of it like this: Unfiltered cider is a complex dark brown multigrain, whereas filtered apple juice is a plain sweet white bread. There’s a place for both, but to fully savor the fruit, make raw, fresh cider. Benford Lepley, the co-founder of Floral Terranes, a small-batch cidery and winery on Long Island, suggests using a mix of apples, ideally fresh ones grown in your general area, but Pink Lady is a supermarket favorite. Adjust the variety based on your preference of sweet to tart, then crush and press. (This recipe calls for a blender or food processor and a cloth-lined colander.) Drink and repeat all season long.
Oat Milk Chocolate Pudding
Chocolate pudding is equal parts comfort and romance, which means it’s great accompanied by sweatpants, candlelight or both. This 15-minute version is inspired by a recipe from Alice Medrich, the cookbook author, in which she uses both cocoa powder and chocolate, and cornstarch instead of eggs for a pure chocolate flavor (eggs can dilute the subtle notes). Here, nondairy milk is swapped in for the milk and the cream with equally wonderful results. When developing this recipe, we found that oat milk created a pudding with the plushest texture. Soy, almond and coconut milks work, too, although they might impart their own flavor and the pudding texture may vary.
Vegetarian Bolognese
Unlike a traditional Bolognese sauce, this riff on the classic has no meat and isn’t simmered for hours, but the results are still rich, buttery and sweet. Mild cauliflower and soffrito — the carrot, celery and onion mix that is the traditional base of the the sauce — become the bulk. Tomato paste and soy sauce are toasted to build umami. Then, everything is braised with whole milk, which softens the vegetables and adds silkiness. Swap the cauliflower for broccoli, mushrooms, cabbage, eggplant, or even green lentils, chickpeas or crumbled tempeh. To make it vegan, swap 2 tablespoons oil for butter in Step 1, use nondairy milk, and swap 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast for Parmesan.
Jammy Deviled Eggs
Topping hard-boiled eggs with fiery condiments dates back to ancient Rome (and gave deviled eggs their name), but stirring the seasonings into the yolks, then spooning the mixture back into the egg whites is believed to have started much later. Do like the Romans do, and skip the scooping and refilling and instead make an appetizer with the same flavors and more creaminess, but less fuss. Steam the eggs just until the yolks are fudgy, halve them, then dollop with punchy mayonnaise. You can embellish the mayo with chopped pickles, shallots or other herbs, but avoid additional liquid, as the results could glide off the egg.
Sweet and Spicy Pan-Seared Pork Chops
Simple pork chops taste luxurious when they’re draped in ginger butter and a sticky-sweet whiskey sauce. The ingredient list here is minimal thanks to unsulphured molasses, a natural byproduct of sugar processing. It delivers an intriguing sweetness that is smoky, bitter and savory — like honey, chicory, coffee and soy sauce in one ingredient. And, in this recipe, it melds with whiskey and ginger to add warmth and spice, as well as brown sugar and butter to soften the assertive edges. Serve these chops with roasted carrots, mashed sweet potatoes or grits.
Tahini-Parmesan Pasta Salad
Many traditional pasta salad recipes call for a heavy mayonnaise-based dressing, but this one combines tahini and Parmesan for a lighter, umami-packed dressing that can be used on noodles, salad greens, asparagus, grilled chicken or grains. Tahini and Parmesan may be a surprising duo, but they naturally work well together because tahini, which is made from sesame seeds, amplifies the cheese’s rich, nutty flavor. To add even more complexity, cherry tomatoes are blistered in a skillet to concentrate their sweetness and acidity. As with any good pasta salad, this one benefits from adding fresh scallions and mint right before serving, plus toasted sesame seeds and shards of Parmesan.
Smashed Pickle Salad
Many cucumber salads are dressed with some combination of salt, acidity (such as vinegar or lemon juice) and something tangy and creamy. (Sour cream is commonly used in Germany, Scandinavia and the Midwest; buttermilk in the South; and yogurt in the Mediterranean, Southwest Asia and South Asia.) This recipe skips the first step of salting by instead substituting pickles — cucumbers fermented in salt and vinegar — in place of raw cucumbers. They’re still crunchy, but also pack a fierce punch. Eat this salad alongside something rich, like grilled meats or schnitzel, or in a sandwich with deli meats, tinned fish or boiled eggs. While most pickles work, half-sour pickles are especially refreshing. (Avoid bread and butter pickles, which are too sweet.) Smashing the pickles opens them up to absorb dressing, and the act of doing so is just plain fun.
Buffalo Crudités With Blue Cheese Dip
Doused in something spicy, crisp crudités can become habit-forming. Inspired by the Buffalo cucumber salad at Parm in New York, this recipe coats the traditional sidekicks to Buffalo chicken — celery, carrots and other raw vegetables — in the garlic-spiked hot sauce that is traditionally doused on wings. The result is finger food at its finest: crunchy, flavor-packed and begging for beer (and blue cheese). Buffalo chicken wings might be written off as a bar fixture, but they’re a great example of contrasts: hot and cold, spicy and cooling, crisp and juicy. Like kimchi or chile-flecked melon, these crudités accentuate the play between spicy and fresh.
Italian Broccoli Salad
This adaptable make-ahead salad is a great instant lunch or side dish. It starts with raw broccoli florets and stems, thinly sliced into irregular shapes to create many textures. As the broccoli sits with salt and vinegar, it softens and becomes slaw. Its mellow flavor is contrasted by the loud ingredients typically found in an Italian sub or chopped salad, like shallots, pickled peppers, olives and provolone. Feel free to add more protein in the form of cured meats, chickpeas, lentils or mozzarella; vegetables like sweet tomatoes or iceberg lettuce; or basil.
Blistered Shishito Peppers
This appetizer served in Japanese bars, American steakhouses and everywhere in between is finger food at its best. The charred, sweet peppers have a built-in handle, and they really don’t need more than flaky salt for seasoning. That said, you could garnish further with lemon or lime zest, gomasio, bonito flakes, grated cheese, smoked paprika, sumac and so on. You can also cook Padrón peppers using the same method. They have a slightly different shape, but are similarly thin-skinned and mild. One warning, though: Each batch of shishito and Padrón peppers have a handful of surprisingly hot peppers that look identical to the tame ones, so proceed with caution.
Thai-Inspired Coconut Curry Soup With Vegetables
There are dozens of types of curries in Thailand, but most can be categorized as red, green or yellow; this is a streamlined vegetarian version of a red curry, named after the color of chile found in the curry paste. This one is spicy, sweet, creamy and adaptable. When the red curry paste is cooked in oil, the blend of chiles and aromatics like galangal and lemongrass come alive and become the curry’s backbone. Because store-bought pastes vary in intensity, this recipe also uses fresh garlic and ginger to ensure a zingy final result. Use any vegetables you like, but it’s nice to have one hearty vegetable (like sweet potato) and one crisp one (like snow peas) for a mix of textures. If you find your curry too spicy, stir in a bit of brown sugar. If it’s feeling a bit flat, squeeze in a little lime juice or add a dash of soy or fish sauce.
Crispy Baked Fish With Tartar Sauce
Charming fish shacks and salty sea air aren’t a weeknight possibility for most of us, but thankfully, this recipe is. It features a clever technique from recipe developer Molly Kreuger: Creamy tartar sauce is spread on the fish to add flavor, keep the fillets moist during cooking and help the bread crumbs adhere to the fish. (Feel free to use your favorite tartar sauce in place of the one below.) The fish is baked until nearly cooked through, then broiled to toast the breadcrumb topping. The end result is crispy, creamy, tangy and moist, all of which is achieved without having to deal with a big pot of oil. Eat with more tartar sauce and a squeeze of lemon.
Grilled Turkey Burgers
There are a couple steps to ensure a crisp on the outside, juicy on the inside and all around delicious grilled turkey burger. Grated onion and barbecue sauce give the patties savoriness and provide additional moisture, so they don’t dry out from the high heat of the grill. Coating the patties in a mixture of barbecue sauce and mayonnaise guarantees a seared and glazed exterior. If you’d like to turn these into cheeseburgers, simply drape sliced cheese — preferably Cheddar or pepper Jack — over the patties in the last two minutes of grilling and cover the grill.
French Onion Grilled Cheese
Grilled cheese is a near-perfect food on its own, but adding bacon, kimchi or, in this case, heaps of caramelized onions really makes it special. Caramelizing onions takes a good half-hour, so save this recipe for when you have a little extra time and company (this recipe serves two). If time permits, you could even prep them ahead in a slow cooker. Rather than layer the grated Gruyère and the warm caramelized onions in the sandwich, you should stir them together before assembling, which guarantees that the cheese will melt evenly throughout and that each bite will contain the perfect ratio of fragrant cheese to jammy onions. A splash of sherry, red-wine or white-wine vinegar added to the onions balances out the buttery flavors, but a side salad dressed with a tangy mustard vinaigrette would do the trick, too. (Watch the video of Ali Slagle making French onion grilled cheese here.)
Skillet Broccoli Spaghetti
This pasta, adapted from “I Dream of Dinner (So You Don’t Have To),” by Ali Slagle (Clarkson Potter, 2022), might seem unorthodox at first. The pasta is cooked in the sauce instead of in a separate pot of boiling water? The broccoli is cooked until it’s mushy enough to become sauce? Yes and yes, and for very good reasons. The sauce, sweet from simmered-until-tender broccoli and savory with loads of garlic and anchovy, tastes lovingly coddled, like you cooked that broccoli forever. But you know the truth: It came together in minutes. You don’t have to wait for a big pot of water to come to a boil, but more important, the pasta and sauce have a symbiotic relationship. The pasta soaks up the sauce flavors from the start, and the pasta releases starch to help turn the water into a creamy sauce.
Grilled Feta With Nuts
This skillet of warmed feta and nuts can tide guests over before dinner or embellish a meal of grilled lamb kebabs, mixed vegetables, pork or chicken. Inspired by saganaki, a fried-cheese appetizer from Greece, the feta here is surrounded by nuts, olive oil, honey and herbs. Thyme, oregano or za’atar adds earthiness to the salty feta and sweet honey, but you could incorporate orange or lemon peel, fresh or dried chile, or any other aromatics you like on spiced nuts. You could also trade the nuts for tomatoes, dates, salami or olives. Whatever you do, be sure to drizzle the herbed honey and oil over each spoonful of feta.
Spicy Tahini Meatballs With Pita, Cucumber and Avocado
This sheet-pan dinner incorporates elements of koftas, fattoush and shepherd’s salad, but what ties it all together is a tahini sauce made feisty with hot sauce. Some spicy tahini sauce goes into the chicken meatballs, so they stay moist as they roast alongside torn pita, then more sauce gets drizzled over the entire dish, where its fire and creaminess is a welcome contrast to the mixture of cucumbers, avocados, mint, lime and toasted pita. Feel free to adapt the salad based on what you have; other crunchy vegetables, like snap peas or fennel, would be great, as would some chickpeas or briny feta or capers.
Pasta Marinara With 40 Cloves of Garlic
This vegan sauce may use the same ingredients as a light marinara, but it’s hearty like a meat ragù. The richness is created by both the sheer volume of the garlic — 40 cloves — and the way it’s handled. Smash the cloves to peel them easily (or buy peeled cloves), then braise them in oil so their stiff edges give way to a softer, gentler side and their sweet juices infuse the oil. Braised garlic is lovely with roasted chicken, incorporated into mashed potatoes, blended into salad dressing or in a curry. It also goes naturally with canned tomatoes that have been warmed just long enough to wake up their flavor. Think of this recipe as akin to a braised meat ragù, except the browned, slouchy main ingredient isn’t meat, but, thrillingly, garlic.