Recipes By Ali Slagle
497 recipes found
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.
Broccoli and Farro Stew With Capers and Parsley
This farro and broccoli stew is as hearty, cozy and full of green vegetables as you might expect, but you may be surprised to taste how effervescent it is. Bowls are piquant with white wine and a mix of garlic, capers and parsley, plus chile that’s used two ways: fried with farro to build the ground floor of the stew, and more to finish for bite. The broccoli is caramelized and sweet — so much more than plain boiled broccoli — and the farro adds bouncy chew. This stew is so lively, you don’t need cheese (but it wouldn’t hurt). Enjoy as a vegan main dish, perhaps with crusty bread for dunking, or as a side dish to roasted sausage or chicken or steamed clams or fish.
Vegan Coconut-Ginger Black Beans
The velvety combination of beans and coconut milk is found in a number of African and Caribbean dishes, like Nigerian frejon and Haitian sos pwa nwa. In this recipe, black beans are simmered in coconut milk with a healthy dose of fresh ginger, then finished with lime juice. The result is a light vegan main or side dish. Finish with crushed plantain chips seasoned with lime zest for sweetness and crunch, or top with coconut flakes or tortilla chips, which are also excellent
Roasted Turkey Meatballs With Mozzarella and Scallions
These meatballs are straightforward to make and a welcome addition to many meals. The combination of mozzarella, scallions and jalapeño is cheerfully reminiscent of jalapeño poppers, and those ingredients — along with crushed Ritz crackers instead of bread crumbs — add fat and moisture for tenderness. Omit the jalapeños for a milder meatball. You can eat these with Italian, Mexican or Middle Eastern flavors; their versatility is limitless. Dip them into green sauce, ketchup or tahini; swaddle them in tortillas, pitas or hero rolls; or plop them on top of rice, refried beans, mashed sweet potatoes or sturdy salad greens.
Spicy Slow-Roasted Salmon With Cucumbers and Feta
Roasting salmon low and slow in a shallow pool of olive oil guarantees that it won't overcook — and that it'll soak up whatever other flavors are swimming in the oil. Dried chile, fennel and coriander provide a crunchy bite and sneaky heat to the buttery salmon. Serve it warm or at room temperature, with cucumbers, drizzles of more spicy oil, and feta, for a little more plushness. Store any leftover salmon for up to 2 days in the oil, so it doesn’t dry out.
Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Spinach With Feta
A ho-hum sheet-pan of potatoes and greens this is not. Caramelizing sweet potatoes and wilting soft greens on a sheet pan is a smart way to cook two vegetables at once in this efficient and exciting recipe. There are bolts of pickled jalapeño, salty feta and scallions, but the pickled jalapeño brine is the key. It’s used like a spicy vinegar, seeping into the sweet potatoes to complement their flavor. To make it a meal, top with a fried egg or roasted Mexican chorizo, swaddle in a pita or tortilla with tahini or sour cream, spoon onto grains or brothy beans, or into omelets or frittatas. Leftovers will keep refrigerated for up to a week.
Creamed Greens Potpie
This one-skillet, vegetarian pot pie trades the traditional chicken filling for creamy, garlicky greens. Hearty greens turn silky in a mixture of heavy cream, garlic, shallot, thyme and Parmesan under a lid of flaky puff pastry. Using store-bought puff pastry in place of homemade pie crust ensures a perfect result every time. It also steers pot pie into the weeknight-possible category. Greens and heavy cream require a good amount of salt to taste like their best selves, so taste and season well when the recipe says to do so.
Tomato Bruschetta
This classic recipe is for lazy summer days that beg for moving slowly and snacking often. Chop tomatoes, place them in a colander, shower them with salt, then make yourself a drink or go for a swim. The longer they drain, the better they’ll be. This bruschetta gets better as it sits for a bit, so make it up to an hour ahead. While most bruschetta recipes have you rub a raw garlic clove on toasted bread, this one calls for making a quick infused oil that’s stirred into the tomatoes and basil, providing a more delicate garlicky note. Pile it all on toasted bread, and enjoy bite after juicy bite.
Roasted Butternut Squash With Brown Butter Vinaigrette
This roasted butternut squash is every bit as caramelized as you’d want it to be, without the prep work that’s usually involved. First, it’s cooked without being peeled: The skin is a crisp counterpart to the jammy interior. (If you do want to get rid of the peel, it tears away easily after roasting.) Then, it’s dressed with a vinaigrette made with brown butter, vinegar and dried chile. Mint is added for freshness and flaky salt for crunch, and you could also throw on some cheese — Parmesan, Gruyère, ricotta — for more richness. Serve the squash over sturdy salad greens, or add nuts or pepitas to the browning butter for more texture.
Root Beer Rickey
Spicy, spritzy and refreshing, this cocktail is essentially grown-up root beer. A classic rickey is just liquor, lime juice and carbonated water, but reach for rye whiskey and trade the soda water for root beer, and you get the root beer rickey, a drink bartender Jim Meehan created for Cicoria, a pizzeria in Portland, Ore. Root beer and rye are natural partners, as each is woodsy, minty and caramelly; the soda also lends sweetness without having to add sugar. At Cicoria, the drink is served up in a short glass and garnished with a pineapple wedge, but this easygoing rendition opts for ice in a tall glass with more root beer. Add a lime wedge, if you like.
Spumoni Ice Cream Cake
Spumoni is a frozen Italian-American dessert made by layering pistachio, cherry and chocolate (or sometimes vanilla) gelati. This showstopper ice cream cake version looks difficult, but it’s made with store-bought ingredients, so it mostly involves shopping and assembly. The layers can be stacked ahead, and you also don’t have to worry too much about its melting rapidly: The cake’s sheer volume and store-bought ice creams' stabilizers help it stay cold. For a Neapolitan-style cake, you could swap strawberry ice cream for the cherry and vanilla for the pistachio. The only true challenge here is making sure there’s room in your freezer, since this cake is about 4 inches tall.
Cacio e Pepe Frico
A delicate cracker made by baking mounds of grated cheese into weblike crisps, frico could feature a number of cheeses, be it Montasio, cheddar, Asiago or, in this case, the kinds featured in cacio e pepe. Using both Parmesan and pecorino gives a good mix of richness and tang, though you could just use Parmesan. (Pecorino on its own may be too salty once it concentrates in the oven.) Snack on these with wine or spritzes, or crumble them over pasta, salad, soup or anything that likes a grating of cheese.
Sautéed Broccoli With Garlic and Chile
This speedy, two-step recipe yields broccoli — or practically any vegetable — that is perfectly browned and cooked all the way through. After florets and thinly sliced stems are seared, add a little water and cover so the broccoli steams in its own juices until fork-tender. Not only does this bring out the vegetable’s inherent sweetness, but it softens whatever flavorings you add without burning them. This recipe embraces the prickly heat of chile and garlic, but you could also use ground spices, thyme or rosemary, ginger or scallions, capers or olives. Swap the broccoli for sliced carrots or sweet potatoes, cauliflower florets, broccoli rabe, or green beans, adjusting cook time and water as necessary.
Baked Spanakopita Pasta With Greens and Feta
This baked pasta is inspired by spanakopita, the classic Greek spinach and feta pie. This loose interpretation combines pasta with gooey mozzarella, briny feta, plenty of greens and a rich cream sauce, which is then piled into a dish and baked until golden. The key to this dish is in the greens: Use at least three kinds — a mellow one, a peppery one and a fresh herb or two — to create an exciting mix of flavors. No need to sauté them; just salt and massage them until they wilt slightly. This cozy dish might be the best way to eat your greens all year long.
Roasted Broccoli With Vinegar-Mustard Glaze
On its own, roasted broccoli is a treat: caramelized and crisp-tender, with frizzled florets and sweet stems. To prevent overcooking, roast at a high heat and on one side the whole time. Flipping the broccoli to brown on both sides increases the chance that it will dry out or turn to mush before the outsides are as caramelized as you like. To give the broccoli a little pizzazz, this recipe takes inspiration from a classic mustard pan sauce, which makes chicken breasts or steaks sparkle. Toss the broccoli with butter, vinegar and Dijon mustard right out of the oven, and the heat from the sheet pan will meld them into a silky, bright sauce.
Creamed Tomatoes on Toast
Juicy canned tomatoes melted into fragrant cream mimic an instant cream of tomato soup. Served over toast, they make for a simple yet indulgent breakfast, or anytime snack. This dish is inspired by a recipe in "Roast Chicken and Other Stories." In the book, Simon Hopkinson writes that his version was inspired by Edouard de Pomiane’s "Cooking in 10 Minutes." Hopkinson bakes fresh tomatoes in garlicky, minty cream for half an hour. The version below, with canned tomatoes, woody herbs and a hint of cinnamon, is there for you when fresh tomatoes aren’t — and, like de Pomiane's approach, takes closer to 10 minutes.
Arugula Salad With Parmesan
Emulsifying a dressing isn’t essential for a sublime salad: Instead, think of the oil and acid as seasonings for a vegetable. For this recipe, that’s spicy arugula, dressed with olive oil, lemon and shards of Parmesan to create a salad classic in many Italian restaurants and homes. But whether olive oil or lemon should come first, like all seemingly simple questions, is complicated. James Beard, Marcella Hazan, Deborah Madison and Judy Rodgers all concurred: For a brighter-tasting salad, start with olive oil, which better adheres the liquids to the greens and doesn’t obscure the lemon. Be sure to use full-flavored greens, then taste the dressed leaves and adjust seasonings until the arugula tastes like its greatest self.
Greek Lemon Potatoes
For the dreamiest roasted potatoes — with creamy insides and very crispy outsides — follow this classic Greek method of roasting peeled potatoes in equal parts olive oil, lemon juice and chicken stock. The potatoes soak up the flavorful liquid, allowing the insides to remain tender while the outsides crisp in the oven’s high heat. You can follow the same method for russet potatoes, though the final result will be less moist.