Recipes By Melissa Clark
1468 recipes found
Turnip and Cabbage Slaw With Yogurt Dressing
Short Rib Chili Nachos
These are fairly high-brow nachos, topped with a mountain of soft, spicy, chile-braised short ribs run through with rivers of molten cheese, above hillocks of guacamole; soft mounds of salsa; creamy pools of sour cream. They're a little more halftime show than Super Bowl, and that's okay: The showmanship here is matched by the flavor.
Scotch Broth with Kale
Here is a fairly basic recipe for stew, a low-and-slow variety that calls for simmering lamb (though you could use beef) with barley and root vegetables, then adding some kale at the end so that it doesn’t entirely collapse. It’s a simple equation that takes in whatever ingredients you have on hand. Start with meat, sturdy root vegetables (potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, rutabaga, parsnip, carrots) and grains (barley, wheat berries, farro), add water and simmer away. Then add kale, cabbage, spinach or chard. Dinner!
Classic Potato Latkes
This recipe is for a classic, unadorned latke; no kohlrabi or cumin here. Serve them hot and make more than you think you need. They go fast.
Chocolate Soufflé With Candied Squash
In this intensely rich recipe, you’ll jazz up a fudgy chocolate soufflé cake with crème fraîche and candied, cinnamon-scented butternut squash, turning a decadent dessert into something stunningly autumnal. The key to a soufflé is in handling your ingredients gently, so keep a close watch on the heat and cooking time. Cover your baked cake with the crème fraîche and your cooled butternut squash that has been simmered in a cinnamon honey syrup, and serve it in thin slivers. It’s the perfect chocolatey finish to a feast.
Pasta Salad With Roasted Eggplant, Chile and Mint
This is a pasta salad, but it is not the mayonnaise-slicked, droopy-noodle kind found on salad bars. To bring out the soft meatiness of the eggplant, roast cubes of it until they collapse into a caramelized heap, and toss them with chopped raw tomatoes and a handful of salty capers. Then dress the vegetables and pasta in the pungent, spicy oil, which is rich with anchovies, browned garlic and chiles, a strong contrast to the sweetness of the tomatoes and eggplant.
Tomato Tonnato
“Essentially tuna salad put into the blender until it liquefies” is how Melissa Clark described tonnato sauce back in 2012, when she brought this recipe to The Times, with the caveat that “it tastes much better than it sounds.” The method is as simple as can be: The sauce is whipped together in a blender (though a food processor would also work), then spread over some fresh tomatoes. It’s the best kind of summer meal — fresh and seasonal, easy and packed with flavor.
Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits
To make theses biscuits into shortcakes, just split the biscuits, spoon on your favorite fruit (either sugared or plain), and dollop with whipped cream. Or just eat the biscuits for breakfast with butter. Classic and quick to bake; you can’t go wrong.
Rose-Scented Berry Tart With an Almond Shortbread Crust
A classic berry tart is a perfect way to showcase your farmers’ market bounty, but it’s also kind of staid and dull, offering up visions of a vicar’s tea with an old aunt. But here, you’ll infuse the pastry cream with rose petals and sweeten the crust with almonds, giving a sexy twist to an old standby. For those with green thumbs, here’s a different way to showcase your most fragrant roses, free of pesticides and redolent of summer in the garden.
Splayed Roast Chicken With Caramelized Ramps
It may not seem possible to improve on roast chicken cooked in a very hot cast-iron skillet, an easy method that yields a moist, evenly cooked bird. (The thighs, which needs more cooking time, are pressed against the pan, which allows them to cook as quickly as the breast meat.) But here’s a recipe with a clever tweak on that method, one that’s easier than spatchcocking (or butterflying) the chicken, and that makes for a even faster-cooked, juicier bird. Preheat the skillet in a 500-degree oven for about 45 minutes, letting it get blisteringly hot. Meanwhile, take the chicken and snip the skin that connects the legs to the body, splaying the legs open until you feel the joints pop on both sides. Very carefully transfer the chicken to the pan, pressing the legs down into the surface. Ramps, garlic and capers tossed into the pan juices toward the end of the roasting time make for a bright, sweet and salty sauce. A cast-iron skillet is a must here, and if you don’t have one, it’s a worthwhile, and inexpensive, investment. (Watch the video of Melissa Clark making splayed roast chicken here.)
Celery Root Salad With Arugula and Pecans
Barley, Celery Root and Mushroom Salad With Scallion Vinaigrette
Christmas Glogg With Brandy and Port
As it simmers, this traditional Swedish mulled wine will fill your home with the scent of burnt orange peel, cardamom and heady sweet wine. It is just the thing to sip on a winter's night as your toes keep warm by the fire. If you choose to serve glogg the traditional way, with raisins and almonds, you'll be rewarded at the end of your glass with plump, wine-infused raisins and tender, toothsome almonds.
Apple Bourbon Bundt Cake
A hearty spice-filled bundt cake made from grated apples and toasted nuts, then soaked in whiskey syrup, tastes like autumn and is great any time of year. Bundt cake, which is really just like an oversize muffin baked in a fancy pan, is easy to whip up. The booze bath helps keep it fresh, meaning you can bake it ahead and eat the leftovers for days as a snack. You also can serve it, toasted, with cream cheese for breakfast or brunch. If you soak it with bourbon, it will be sweeter and smoother; the rye will make it more tangy and brighter. But any liquor that you like will work, particularly the brown ones, which go with the warm flavors of nuts and spices. A small nip of the same spirit used in the cake would go well alongside it.
Crisp Kale Chips With Chile and Lime
Easy, addictive and loaded with bright flavors, this is your new favorite way to prepare kale. Buy more kale than you think you need; these go fast.
Chicken Salad Sandwiches With Mango Chutney
This delicious and easy chicken salad is a far cry from the standard mayonnaise-based concoction. Here, the few ingredients, including spicy mango chutney, are bound together with Greek yogurt, which lightens it all up and gives it a tang brought out even more by a little lemon juice. It is a grown-up chicken salad that would be welcome in a child’s lunch box.
Ice Cream Sundaes With Maple Butter Rum Sauce and Walnuts
A delectable concoction of maple syrup, butter, rum and walnuts takes an everyday ice cream sundae to a whole new level. Let the syrup cool a bit before assembling the sundaes, or you’ll end up with a soupy mess. But who’s to say that’s a bad thing?
Grilled Eggplant Salad
Here is a deeply flavored salad that can be prepared entirely outdoors, keeping the heat out of the kitchen. Grill a whole fat purple globe eggplant until the skin blisters. Then scrape the soft insides into a bowl and season them with red wine vinegar, garlic, good olive oil and fresh herbs. A few capers on top add a pleasing brininess. Serve it with pita bread, a good rosé and a hunk of feta, and want for nothing more.
Steamed Eggplant With Spicy Peanut Sauce
Brown Butter Nectarine Cobbler/Cake
This dessert comes from a subset of cobbler recipes with cakelike leanings. It’s blissfully easy. Melt some butter in a skillet (cast iron, if you have it), mix together a pancake-type batter in a bowl, toss with fruit and bake. Raw fruit in this recipe bakes up juicy with a firm yet yielding bite that is not at all mushy. (Keeping the skins helps that.)
Mini Corn Dogs
In the spirit of summer fairs all over the country, I made a lightly sweetened cornmeal batter, then dunked hot dog chunks into it and deep-fried them into bronzed nuggets — in other words, bite-size corn dogs. (Feel free to fry whole hot dogs on sticks if you’re going for authenticity.)
Crunchy Soft-Shell Crabs
Gluten-Free Apricot-Walnut Muffins
