Recipes By Ali Slagle
497 recipes found
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.
New Mexico Breakfast Burritos
The breakfast burrito is to New Mexico what the bagel is to New York, or the loco moco is to Hawaii; they are an important part of the state's culture. While you can find variations of the burrito in New Mexico and beyond, the non-negotiables are flour tortillas, scrambled eggs and New Mexico green chiles, a red chile sauce or both. (This variation is called “Christmas”). While wrapping eggs and other fillings in a tortilla likely goes back thousands of years, the breakfast burrito earned its place in New Mexican cuisine in the 1970s, when it was served handheld at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, and smothered with cheese and sauce at Tia Sophia’s, a restaurant in Santa Fe. To fit bacon, sausage, carne adovada or another protein, use less potato.
Bacon, Egg and Cheese Sandwich
For Millie Peartree, a chef and lifelong New Yorker, the bacon, egg and cheese “is everything you need: salty, crunchy, creamy, filling.” Because the iconic New York sandwich (which is also known as a “baconeggandcheese” or “B.E.C.” when you’re in a hurry), is made at thousands of carts and bodegas in all five boroughs, many locals wouldn’t think to cook one at home. But if you’re desperate for the resuscitation only a B.E.C. can provide, this homestyle adaptation delivers: gooey cheese, crispy bacon and eggs smushed between a buttered roll then wrapped tightly in foil. The only in-person experience you’ll miss is waving goodbye to the bodega’s owner and cat.
Denver Omelet
The Denver omelet — a diner classic of eggs, bell peppers, onions, ham and often cheese — actually began as a sandwich made with those ingredients in the American West in the late 19th century. Its exact origins are fuzzy, but some historians think it was a modification of egg foo yong made by Chinese laborers working the transcontinental railroad, or a scramble made by pioneers masking spoiled eggs with onions. (Bell peppers were likely a later addition.) When the sandwich became popular in Utah, it was named the Denver sandwich after Denver City, Utah. By the 1950s, the Denver was one of the most popular sandwiches around, and at some point in the mid-20th century, diners swapped the sandwich bun for a knife and fork.
Sheet-Pan Feta With Chickpeas and Tomatoes
In a spread of Greek appetizers, or meze, there’s often a warm feta dish like bouyiourdi (baked feta with tomato and hot peppers) or a saganaki (fried cheese). This recipe combines elements of these two classic appetizers into a sheet-pan meal. Softened feta provides a salty, creamy counterpoint to sweet, juicy tomatoes and chickpeas that are sticky from honey and spicy from dried chile. Try this version, then riff wildly: Switch out tomatoes for mini peppers, olives, dates or cauliflower. Swap the hot honey for anchovies, harissa, smoked paprika or turmeric. Eat with pita, grains, salad greens, hummus or yogurt.
Everything-Bagel Smoked Salmon Dip
Reminiscent of whitefish salad, smoked trout spread and everything bagels with lox, this creamy dip combines hot-smoked fish, yogurt, everything bagel seasoning, fresh dill and lemon. It can be eaten with crisp and fresh accompaniments, such as bagel chips, cucumbers and tomatoes. Or, enjoy it in a sandwich or as a salad scooped onto a bed of greens. Feel free to add capers, horseradish, chopped celery or red onion or anything you like in your tuna salad or on your bagel, but taste before adding: The fish and everything bagel seasoning provide plenty of flavor on their own.
Ricotta Toasts With Melon, Corn and Salami
Fresh cantaloupe and corn star in these meal-worthy toasts. They are mixed with spicy salami to complement their sweetness. You can use any cured meat with a kick, such as black pepper salami, cubed Spanish chorizo or torn soppressata. Whole-milk ricotta, made extra creamy with “milk” scraped from the corn cobs, is spread on crusty bread, then topped with the salad of melon, corn, salami, plus almonds and cilantro. Play with the balance of sweet, spicy, juicy and crunchy by adding fresh chile, thinly sliced cucumbers or snap peas or swapping the melon for stone fruit.
Chicken Salad With Nectarines and Goat Cheese
Crunchy and creamy, sweet and tangy, this main dish salad is a new take on the goat cheese, spinach and fruit salads of the 1980s. Lemon-kissed nectarines and shallots are tossed with chicken, pita chips and greens. A mature green like spinach adds heft, but any salad green works. Goat cheese cream hidden beneath the salad is a delightful surprise; you get a bit of the tangy cream every few bites. Make it vegetarian by nixing the chicken and adding white beans to the nectarines in Step 1. Embellish freely with thinly sliced beets, sunflower seeds, sliced jalapeños or soft herbs, or swap in another stone fruit like apricots or cherries.
Summer Shrimp Scampi With Tomatoes and Corn
Shrimp get along well with garlic, butter and lemon, and so do tomatoes and corn. Combine them, and you get a summery shrimp scampi that comes together in one skillet. A searing hot pan helps the tomatoes blister and the corn caramelize before they are coated in a garlic-lemon butter sauce. This is a meal in and of itself, but if you want to serve it with pasta or bread, they’d be welcome additions.