Recipes By Amanda Hesser
346 recipes found
Blackberry Jello Fluff
I wanted to recreate the magic fluff recipe, but this time with Jell-O made from scratch and with blackberries, the fruit that goes best with whipped cream.
Dark and Stormy
Make a dark and stormy, a recipe for a refreshing cocktail. It's the perfect mixture of dark rum, ginger beer, and ice that can brighten any occasion.
Squash Blossom and Garlic Frittata
Somewhere, in a book, I read about how Italians make frittatas with zucchini blossoms. Because they can. And over the years I've been training myself to make thinner frittatas with fewer ingredients and to let them cool to room temperature, like Italians do. Because everything they do seems better than what we do. - Amanda
Blueberry Grappa Sauce
This Blueberry Grappa recipe is great because it's not too sweet, isn't pureed, and it finishes with the sting of grappa. Serve with cake, ice cream, or yogurt.
Vanilla Egg Cream
For this vanilla egg cream recipe, stir the vanilla bean and seeds into the sugar and 1/3 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes.
Lemon and Sherry Spritzer (aka Rebujito)
Dirt Candy
I've tried this Dirt Candy recipe with both raw & white sugar. Conventional white works best. I've also extended the trick to beets & carrots, which work well.
Sugar Steak with Bourbon
Sugar Steak is very much what it sounds like: steak that's blanketed with a sugar rub and grilled. Some recipes use white sugar, some use brown, some use both.
Hot Toddy with Dried Cherries and Lime
In this hot toddy recipe, I use rye instead of the typical bourbon, raw sugar instead of white, and I slip in dried cherries with some lime zest for scent.
Grilled Spot Prawns (or Shrimp) with Corn Pudding
Beets and Herbs Salad
Isn't it time to take a break from roasted beets with goat cheese? I thought so. This past weekend, I tossed beets, still warm, with sherry vinegar, Dijon and olive oil. The vinegar makes their sweetness sing; the mustard gives them grit. And a spray of chopped herbs -- basil, tarragon, chives and mint -- beckons the doubters.
Shrimp à la Bittman
A few months ago I wrote about how I like to poach shrimp (and other fish and shellfish) in olive oil. And I still do! But I also like to cook shrimp using a method I learned from Mark Bittman. He slathers shrimp in a loose green sauce and roasts them at 500 degrees (I do 450). The shrimp emerge, unscathed by the heat -- cooked through quickly enough that they remain delicate and plump, with a juicy snap. Recently, I pared down the recipe even more, giving the shrimp a slick of oil, and lemon and lime zest, showering them with the citrus juices at the table.
Preserved Strawberries with Chiles
As much as I love a good, not-too-sweet berry jam, and as much as I hate tarting up such indispensable staples, the combination of berries and chiles makes so much sense. The chiles give the berries depth, and through contrast, have a way of amplifying their presence, much like a shadow emphasizes light. I used one New Mexico chile, which offered up a polite amount of heat. You might want to add a second one, or even branch out into the world of anchos and guajillos.
Squashed Potatoes
This squashed potatoes or smashed potatoes recipe uses Susan Spungen's potato tostones technique but with a twist. These potatoes are the perfect side dish!
Cardamom Chai
As a purebred teas drinker, I was skeptical about Cardamom Chai and its maelstrom of spices and blast of sugar. I tried this recipe and it became a favorite.
Milk "Mayonnaise" (Maionese de Leite)
This recipe is based on an irresistible sauce I tried while in Spain. It was a mayonnaise made with milk and oil and no egg. There's garlic & tang from lemon.
Caramelized Grapefruit Vinaigrette
I like citrus-based vinaigrette recipes. But, sometimes the flavor is too thin, too faint and ephemeral. Caramelizing the grapefruit offset the bitter flavor.
Moroccan Tomato Soup
This recipe, originally featured in a 1991 column by Barbara Kafka, was rehashed in a piece by Amanda Hesser in 2009. The idea is simple: Aromatic spices are toasted in a small saucepan, paired with tomatoes, and served chilled. The end result is a refreshing soup, full of flavor.
Strawberry Panna Cotta With Cereal-Milk Mousse and Cornflake Crumble
Dehydrated strawberries can be found at health-food stores and at specialty-food stores like Trader Joe's. They add a concentrated sweetness and acidity to the crumble, but if you can't find them, no one will know they're missing.
Le Cirque’s Pasta Primavera
I see you rolling your eyes at the thought of spaghetti primavera. The dish, rarely seen now, became an absurdity of 1980s so-called seasonal cooking. Meant to be an expression of spring, the mad jumble of vegetables over pasta was mostly an expression of the death match between French and Italian cuisine (cream versus olive oil, sauce versus pasta). But in the late 1970s, when New York’s Le Cirque popularized spaghetti primavera, Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey called it “by far, the most talked-about dish in Manhattan.” I encourage you to make Le Cirque’s version, all 10 pain-in-the-neck steps of it, because despite its tempestuous origins, it’s wonderful.
Braised Crisp Pigs’ Feet With Radish and Shaved-Vegetable Salad
Preheated Oven Popovers
The popover is a culinary marvel, a loose batter that, with the aid of a hot oven, expands like a golden cumulus cloud, producing a crisp, hollow pastry with a soft, eggy interior. While the mixture is very similar to crepe batter, when you confine it to deep, narrow, muffinlike molds, the surface of the batter sets and the air is trapped, so that the pastry has nowhere to go but up and out, creating a gravity-defying bubble.
Calf’s-Liver Dumplings With Chianti Onion Soup
French Onion Soup Casserole
The onion soup originates from the French cookbook “Gastronomie Pratique,” which was written in 1907 by Henri Babinski. The Times published the recipe in 1974, when the book was first translated into English. It is a strange recipe for soup that yields delicious results. Baguette toasts are spread with butter and layered with grated cheese, sautéed onions and tomato purée. Then, in what seems to be a nod to stone soup, salted water is gently poured in. The dish is then simmered and baked, and by the time it is done, the “soup” is like a savory bread pudding and the top has a thick, golden crust that your guests will fight to the death over.