Recipes By Ali Slagle
505 recipes found
Tuna and Tomato Salad
Tuna, tomatoes and onions dressed with oil and vinegar hit all the notes of a summer salad: rich, refreshing, crunchy and fast. It’s no wonder the combination is common throughout the Mediterranean (especially in Spain and Portugal). As with all few-ingredient, no-cook dishes, the deliciousness will depend on your ingredients, so use summer-ripe tomatoes, fruity olive oil and quality tuna. (You could also add green or Kalamata olives, capers, cucumbers, white beans or herbs such as parsley, basil or oregano.) The tomato juices will blend with the oil and vinegar to make a vinaigrette you’ll want to sop every drop of, so serve this dish alongside crusty bread, grains, potatoes or eggs.
Roasted Red Peppers With Beans and Greens
In this one-dish recipe, charred peppers pair with garlicky beans and greens for soft but satisfying bites. The benefit of roasting bell peppers whole is that their sweet juices concentrate, but those flavorful juices don’t evaporate in the oven as they would if cut into slices. Better yet: This recipe’s format is endlessly adaptable. For instance, roast white beans with feta and eat with pita, or cook chickpeas with ground turmeric and cumin then dollop with yogurt.
Cedar Plank Salmon
In the Pacific Northwest, Native Americans smoked salmon on cedar, embodying the belief that what grows together goes together. On backyard grills, planks insulate the salmon from the flames, so the fish stays tender, and they prevent it from sticking to the grates. Purchase food-grade planks from a grocery or hardware store, then soak the planks in water so they don’t flare. Heat the plank on the grill until smoldering, then add the fish. The steam and smoke rising from the cedar gently cook the fish and infuse it with woodsy flavor. Salmon kissed by cedar is such a special combination that additional seasonings are not needed.
Garlic-Braised Pork Shoulder
This beginner-friendly, hands-off braise is for anyone seeking fall-apart pork and lots of savory sauce. After browning whole heads of garlic and the pork, the two braise with water until the pork is shreddable, the garlic is buttery and the surrounding liquid is as flavorful as can be. Some braises are loaded with many aromatics, but this one zeroes in on caramelized garlic, a heavy hitter that can singlehandedly season a dish. Slice or shred the meat and serve with something starchy to soak up the braising liquid, like mashed potatoes, tortillas, or bread for dunking.
White Beans and Asparagus With Charred Lemon
These velvety, vegan beans get a lift from lemon, but they also hold a smoky secret. Aromatics are often sweated in fat to bring out their sweetness, but crank the heat and char them instead for, as Tejal Rao wrote, “serious, almost meatlike depth of flavor.” This is a common technique in pho, black-eyed peas and other long simmers, but it also develops flavor in quicker dishes. After searing lemon wedges, their blackened bits scatter throughout beans, asparagus and coconut milk, creating a creamy bowl that’s subtly smoky and comforting. When asparagus isn’t in season, replace it with a dark, leafy green like kale or chard. Serve solo, or with rice.
Salmon Teriyaki
Salmon teriyaki is a classic for many reasons, most notably because it is crisp and tender, sweet and savory all at once. This quick, single-skillet rendition cooks the salmon most of the way on its skin so that the flesh is tender and the skin is shattery-crisp. In the last few minutes, the fish is glossed in teriyaki sauce. (The “teri” in teriyaki means “gloss” or “luster.”) You could add a smidgen of chopped Thai chiles or grated garlic or ginger to the sauce if you like, or just embrace the allure of its sweet saltiness.
Snap Pea Salad With Walnuts and Parmesan
For an especially bright snap pea salad, skip the oil and coat blanched snap peas with punchy mustard and lemon juice. Toasted walnuts and shavings of Parmesan add richness and crunch, while a shower of fresh mint adds freshness. This salad is great right when you make it but can also be made ahead and eaten cold from the fridge. How’s that for bright and breezy cooking?
Stovetop BBQ Chicken
Nothing compares to live fire, but even if you don’t have a grill, you can make chicken that’s burnished and sticky with barbecue sauce. To achieve a similar smokiness on the stovetop, paint boneless, skinless chicken with some barbecue sauce and sear it so the sugars in the sauce caramelize and char. The sauce here leans tangy and spicy, but adjust it as you like. Once the chicken is cooked, let the sauce bubble until glossy enough to slather onto the chicken. Since that only took 30 minutes, consider your sides: perhaps a green goddess slaw, potato chips or pickles. (If you’d like to use bone-in chicken, try this oven method.)
Sausage Tortellini Soup
This lighter take on hearty sausage soups is cozy with chicken sausage, delicate tortellini, fennel and whatever green vegetables are gracing your market. Fennel is a late winter-early spring crop that works triple time for us here: The bulb is sweet and soft, sliced stalks are crisp-tender and the fronds are chopped for an herb garnish. While fully cooked chicken sausage adds just enough richness, feel free to use any fresh or fully cooked chicken or pork sausage you have and like (just remove fresh sausage from its casings before browning).
Crisp Gnocchi With Sausage and Peas
This quick skillet dinner combines crisp gnocchi and brawny sausage with sweet pops of peas and herbs. It tastes like spring, but it can be prepared perennially — and without any chopping or waiting for water to boil. (That’s right, you don’t need to boil the gnocchi before searing.) Draped in a combination of mustard and melted Parmesan, the dish is creamy, with a salty bite like cacio e pepe. However, if plush Alfredo is what you’re craving, you could add a splash of heavy cream along with the browned gnocchi in Step 4.
Farro
Farro is a catchall for three wheat species and can come with the bran attached (whole farro) or with some removed (semi-pearled) or fully removed (pearled farro). This method works for all three options. You can skip precise water-to-grain ratios and cook farro like pasta in a pot of salted, boiling water. Cook it until it’s al dente, drain, then add to soups, salads, grain bowls and so much more for nutty flavor and a chewy bite.
One-Pot Tortellini With Meat Sauce
This no-chop, one-pot wonder comes together in 45 minutes with just a handful of pantry staples. Refrigerated or frozen tortellini plump in a meat sauce that’s brawny with hot or sweet Italian sausage and garlic. Finish the dish with a grating of Parmesan, or even a blanket of melted mozzarella, if you would like to turn it into more of a baked pasta.
Ginger-Scallion Steamed Fish
Connie Chung wanted to add steamed whole fish — a dish served at the Cantonese banquet meals of her childhood — to the menu at Milu, her restaurant in New York City. But to make it work in a fast-casual setting, she needed to make some changes. She wanted to keep the tender fish heady with soy sauce, ginger and scallions, but it had to hold up during delivery and be easy to eat. She landed on steaming cubed fish with soy sauce and a ginger-scallion stock, a forgiving method that isn’t stinky or splattery and results in deeply seasoned, buttery fish. While any firm fish works in this adaptation, Ms. Chung uses salmon, her mom’s suggestion. At Milu, this dish is served with rice, charred broccoli, a watercress-cilantro salad and a ginger-scallion oil, but would also be great in a nori hand roll, over salad greens or tossed with ramen.
Harissa-Honey Pork Tenderloin
For juicy pork tenderloin with a sweet, smoky and spicy glaze, coat it with honey and harissa before searing and roasting it. The two-ingredient coating caramelizes and chars in spots, developing a sticky glaze that’s much more complex than the work that went into it. Because pork tenderloin is such a lean meat, it’s easy to overcook, despite good instructions and intentions. If you find the sliced pork is not as juicy as you’d like, stir together a little more harissa and honey and spoon it on top. Eat the pork with yogurt sauce or a juicy citrus or tomato salad.
Roasted Radishes
When roasted, radishes are no longer snappy and spicy but rather juicy, meaty and sweet. You’re in luck if they come with their greens attached, because they roast into delicate chips that provide great textural contrast. A drizzle of honey accentuates their sweetness, though the radishes could also be finished with something bright (like a soft herb or some lemon juice), spicy (like grated garlic or red-pepper flakes) or savory (like miso butter or anchovy butter). Eat as a light side dish to grilled fish, crispy chicken or stewed lentils, or folded into a grain or green salad.
Chili
This is a spicy, smoky and hearty pot of chili. It’s the kind of chili you need after a long day skiing — or hibernating. To create a rich and thick sauce, simmer aromatics, chili powder and cocoa powder with a small quantity of tomato sauce and a big quantity of ground beef. Use meat with ample fat (at least 20 percent), because it deepens the flavor of those aromatics. If you like the meat in your chili to be so soft it nearly crumbles, simmer your batch longer; if you prefer your chili without beans, just leave them out. Just don’t forget the toppings.
Turmeric-Black Pepper Chicken With Asparagus
In this sweet and spicy stir-fry, black pepper, honey and rice vinegar help accentuate turmeric’s delightfully earthy qualities. Thinly sliced asparagus doesn’t need much time to cook, but feel free to swap with any other vegetables that cook in just a few minutes, like thinly sliced green beans, frozen peas or baby spinach. Serve this with rice or rice vermicelli noodles, or tuck it into a lettuce cup or pita with yogurt and fresh herbs. You could also trade the chicken for tofu, shrimp or cubed pork shoulder.
Farro and Bean Chili
For a vegan chili that’s rich, silky and hearty, introduce a whole grain like farro. When cooked, it has a similar rubble as ground meat, a nutty flavor that’s natural in chili, and starches that thicken the surrounding liquid. Feel free to swap in other grains like white or brown rice, bulgur or wheat berries, and adjust the cooking time and water quantity so the grains are tender, and the chili isn’t soupy. The combination of chili powder and fire-roasted tomatoes creates a moderately spicy base, but for more heat, add chipotle chiles in adobo, chopped fresh jalapeño or hot sauce with the tomatoes. However you tweak it, this chili’s flavor improves with time, so make it ahead and warm up a bowl anytime the need strikes.
Roasted Cauliflower With Crispy Parmesan
The key to well-roasted cauliflower, with frizzled edges and sweet and tender middles, is to cook it at a high heat on a rack near the heat source, mostly on one side. You could stop there or, toward the end of cooking, shower it with grated Parmesan to crisp and add a salty boost. Follow the instructions in Step 1 to cut the cauliflower through the stem to create lots of flat sides, which yields more surface area for browning and cheese — in other words, more of the good stuff.
Baked Potato Soup
If we’re being honest, a baked potato isn’t really about the potato. It’s about the toppings: plush sour cream, butter, cheese, salty bacon, bright scallions. This soup version doesn’t skimp on those extras: The potatoes simmer in milk with garlic and scallions until just tender, then they join sour cream and Cheddar in the pot before the toppings — including potato skins — are added. It’s potatoey, creamy and adaptable. Make it smooth or textured, skip the bacon and-or serve it with a side salad (though it’s plenty hearty all on its own).
Kale and Butternut Squash Bowl With Jammy Eggs
Steaming vegetables is a quick way to enjoy their inherent sweetness, and steaming eggs is the secret to perfect-as-possible jammy eggs. In this recipe, you don’t need a steamer basket for either. Cook the eggs in a covered skillet or pot of shallow boiling water, then layer winter squash, broccoli or cauliflower and dark leafy greens. The small amount of water will produce ample steam to cook the vegetables. Eat with plenty of sesame seeds for crunch and a yogurt sauce that is nutty from sesame oil and bright with lemon and ginger. The sauce is endlessly adaptable; add fresh or dried herbs or chile, ground or toasted spices, toasted coconut and more.
Pan-Seared Fish With Citrus Pesto
Genovese pesto Genovese pesto isn’t the only pesto around: There are many regional variations, including a vibrant and light Sicilian version that stars citrus. This naturally vegan version doesn’t need cheese: The citrus provides acidity, and the umami comes from the capers and toasted nuts. Pistachios and almonds grow abundantly in Sicily, but walnuts or pine nuts also work. Feel free, generally, to adapt this base recipe, as you’ll find Italian citrus pestos made with anchovies, garlic, dried oregano, fennel fronds, dried chile and, yes, cheese. The pesto below eschews cheese as written — Italians historically don't mix seafood and cheese — which only adds to its versatility. Pair it with pasta and fish alike.
Honey-Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Apples
Simple enough for weeknights but special enough for holidays, this mix of roasted root vegetables and fruits showcases all the sweetness fall produce has to offer. Because each ingredient roasts differently, you’ll also get various textures, from jammy apples to crisp-tender carrots. Honey accentuates the sweetness, but there’s plenty of room for personal flair. For warmth, roast with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, cardamom or ginger. For crunch, add chopped nuts to the pan in the last few minutes of roasting. For a little zip, add lemon or orange zest with the red-pepper flakes. Eat alongside turkey, lamb or pork, or serve over sautéed greens or salad greens.
Silky Creamed Corn
The original creamed corn likely did not have any cream at all: Native Americans scraped the cobs of their milky, starchy juices and simmered them with kernels until everything was thick and creamy. This recipe — which works with any frozen, canned or fresh corn — builds a similar silkiness by blending some of the cooked corn. Half-and-half adds richness, but not so much that it mutes the sweetness of the corn like heavy cream can. There’s no one way to flavor creamed corn; you can add herbs, cheese and peppers to make maque choux, or add nothing at all.