Recipes By Melissa Clark
1476 recipes found
Crispy Parmesan Eggs
How can you make runny-yolked fried eggs even better? Give them edges of crisp, salty Parmesan. The addition takes just a few extra minutes and adds an incredible layer to a dish that’s already deeply lovable. Make sure to skip preground Parmesan here: You’ll want to shred the cheese yourself on the largest holes of your grater. And use a nonstick skillet or well-seasoned cast-iron pan to fry the eggs. They may never come off a regular pan. Eat them alone, lay them over asparagus, or use them to top a sharp, lemony salad. When something’s this perfect, it’s hard to go wrong however you serve it.
Tomato Sandwiches
You may not really need a recipe for a tomato sandwich, but sometimes varying it can be nice, especially if you tend to get stuck in a habit as the summer progresses. This version, based on pan con tomate, involves rubbing the guts of a ripe tomato all over garlicky toasted bread. More tomato slices are added on top, along with slivers of onion and mayonnaise, and bacon if you'd like. It’s a supremely messy sandwich best munched over the sink, or with plenty of napkins nearby.
Crispy-Edged Quesadilla
This straightforward quesadilla has an unexpected twist: a border of salty, crispy cheese surrounding the tortilla. Achieving it couldn’t be easier; just press down on the folded tortilla as it heats up in the pan so the cheese spills out and turns golden. A nonstick pan is key here, otherwise the melted cheese will glue itself onto the cooking surface. Medium heat is just the right temperature for a quesadilla: It’s hot enough to crisp up the cheese but low enough to prevent the cheese from burning.
Sardine Toasts With Tomato and Sweet Onion
A classic pantry meal, sardine toasts are just the thing to eat when you’re starving and there’s nothing in the house for dinner. If you don’t have tomatoes, just leave them out. With their saline flavor and buttery texture, all sardines need is some good bread and a little crunchy onion to set them off.
Australian Zucchini Slice
A beloved Australian staple, a zucchini slice is an eggy, frittatalike lunchbox staple that’s baked until it’s firm enough to slice and eat out of hand. Most versions include bacon, but in his book, “Snacks for Dinner” (Harper Wave, 2022), Lukas Volger substitutes a combination of olives and pickled peppers for a deeply salty bite without any meat. You can serve this hot, warm or at room temperature. Or make it a day or two ahead, store it covered in the fridge, then let it come to room temperature before serving so the texture is supple and soft.
Cheddar Scallion Dip
A cousin to pimento cheese but without those potentially child-deflecting red peppers, this cream cheese based dip is mild and slightly sweet from a splash of fresh orange juice. Pack it in a lunchbox with celery and crackers for your kids. Or, zip it up with a dash or two of Tabasco and some mashed garlic, spoon it into a bowl surrounded by good potato chips and serve it with cocktails to the adults. It will keep for at least five days in the fridge.
Classic Bean Salad
You can use any kind or combination of canned beans to make this classic picnic salad, but a mix of white beans, chickpeas and red kidney beans makes it especially colorful. Although this is delicious when freshly made, it gets even better as it sits. If you have time, make it at least an hour or two before serving; it can rest at room temperature for up to 4 hours — but after that, slip it into the fridge. If you want to make this the day before, add the celery and parsley just before serving, so they stay crisp and green.
Easy Lentil Soup
This earthy, simple-to-make lentil soup can be embellished however you please. Leave it plain, and it’s warming and velvety. Or dress it up as you like, either with one or two of the suggested garnishes listed in the recipe (see Tip), or with anything else in your pantry or fridge. If you’d like to make this in a pressure cooker, reduce the stock to 3 1/2 cups, and cook on high pressure for 12 minutes, allowing the pressure to release naturally.
Strawberry Gingersnap Icebox Cake
Fluffy swirls of strawberry cream are layered with spicy gingersnaps in this summery, no-bake confection. The deep strawberry flavor comes through twice here: once in the mascarpone cream, which is whipped with berry purée, and in a scarlet topping spiked with lime zest and grated fresh ginger. We used Nabisco gingersnaps, but any brand should work, as could vanilla wafers. This cake is best made the day before you want to serve it, giving the gingersnaps a chance to soften into a luscious, soft cake.
Almond and Goat Cheese Candy Bars
In today’s locavore, organic-minded, food-crazed culture, we get so wrapped up in the idea of seasonal fruits and vegetables that it can be easy to forget another important, deep vein of seasonal foodstuff opportunities. That is, candy. Because I wasn’t trying to make child-friendly crowd pleasers here, I had the freedom to pull out ingredients that would not normally appear in a candy bowl. And because these candy bars are savory-sweet, as opposed to cloying sweet, I can eat more of them before my teeth start to ache. It’s important to use a mild, soft goat cheese here. You want a slight tang but not an overwhelming barnyard flavor. And if you really dislike the funkiness of goat cheese, you can use cream cheese instead. The candy will be sweeter and not as complex tasting, but the recipe will still work.
Devil’s Food Cake With Black Pepper Buttercream
Like all the best devil’s food cakes, this six-layer beauty has a deeply fudgy flavor and a light and feathery texture. In between the tender cake layers, a black pepper and vanilla buttercream creates a soft and creamy contrast to the dense fudge frosting on the top and sides. With six layers and two frostings, this cake is definitely a project, but one well worth making if you want to impress. And you can make it in stages. The frostings can be made up to a week ahead and stored in the refrigerator. Bring them to room temperature and briefly beat with an electric mixer before assembling the cake. The cake layers themselves can be baked a day ahead. Store them, well-wrapped, at room temperature.
Dark Chocolate-Cherry Ganache Bars
Homemade ganache is just about the easiest chocolate recipe out there, a dead-simple mixture of melted chocolate and hot cream, whisked until smooth, then chilled until fudgy.
Classic Caprese Salad
This classic summer dish doesn’t get any simpler or more delicious. Use different-colored heirloom tomatoes for the prettiest salad, and buffalo milk mozzarella for the best tasting one.
Turkey Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
Tender meatballs filled with onions and Parmesan, bathed in plenty of tomato sauce, are classics in every way except for one: They call for turkey instead of the usual beef (or beef-veal-pork combination). Serve them over spaghetti or polenta, or stuff them into a hero roll for a sandwich. Try to use ground dark meat turkey here if you can, it has a deeper, richer flavor than ground white meat.
Vegan Potato Salad With Tahini
This robustly seasoned vegan potato salad is lively and earthy from a dressing of cumin, charred scallion and loads of tahini, which gives it a rich and creamy texture. This is a good one to make a day before you want to serve it as the flavors get better as they sit. Just be sure to let it come to room temperature so everything is at its brightest and most supple.
Crispy Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Shallots
Slivered brussels sprouts and shallots caramelize, getting crisp and golden if you roast them at high heat. A dash of Worcestershire and a drizzle of lemon juice add just enough tang and acidity to round them out, without obscuring their natural sweetness. If you’re not cooking for a crowd, feel free to halve the recipe and use one baking sheet. Serve these as a simple side dish to roast meats or fish, or use it to top a grain bowl, adding a fried or jammy egg for protein.
Hot Rum Punch
Nothing warms a cold body up like a quaff of hot rum punch. This version, spiked with cognac and infused with citrus and nutmeg, is exactly what you want to serve at a party once the temperature drops outside. If you’re feeling flamboyant, you can flambé it, to the great amusement of your guests. Just make sure to use a fireproof bowl; silver or another metal is ideal, wood or even tempered glass is not. But even if you don’t set it on fire, it’s a rich, soothing and powerful libation. Serve it in small cups for the most civilized gathering.
Large-Batch Rye Manhattan Cocktails
According to the cocktail historian David Wondrich, from whom this recipe is adapted, this is the manhattan as it was made from the 1890s until the 1960s, and again since the 2000s. The optional absinthe, which amounts to no more than a dash per drink, is a late-19th century addition that gives the drink a little herbal pizzazz; do not use more than suggested. This keeps for weeks at room temperature.
Café Brûlot
In this classic after-dinner drink popularized in New Orleans, sweetened brandy is spiced with cinnamon, cloves and citrus peels, then set ablaze so that the aromatics can caramelize and some of the alcohol can burn off. The flame is dampened with strong coffee, then the whole thing topped with whipped cream. If setting a drink on fire makes you nervous, skip that step and just let the Cognac mixture simmer for 5 minutes to infuse before adding the coffee. You won’t get the singed flavors, but it still makes a tasty, bracing beverage.
Hot Chocolate Mix
Fancy hot chocolate mixes can be wildly expensive, but they’re extremely easy to make at home. This one uses a mix of bittersweet and milk chocolate to give it a deeply complex flavor. (For a vegan version, you can substitute vegan milk chocolate.) This makes an excellent winter gift, packaged in festive jars or tins and will keep for at least six months stored at room temperature. Feel free to double or triple the recipe as needed.
Spicy Hot Chocolate
Gently seasoned with a touch of chile powder, cinnamon and vanilla, this fragrant hot chocolate recipe is not too sweet and very complex. Using both cocoa powder and chocolate gives the roundest, deepest chocolate flavor while a mix of whole milk and cream makes it wonderfully rich and thick.
Coconut Hot Chocolate
Fudgy, decadent, slightly bitter from the cocoa and very, very creamy, this treat is a cup of hot chocolate good enough to serve to a lactose-free Valentine.
Vegetarian Tamale Pie
Not to be confused with a Latin American tamale, tamale pie is a comforting retro casserole made from ground beef chili that is topped with cornbread batter and then baked. This vegetarian version relies on vegetables and beans instead of meat. Fresh green chiles and onions are broiled until charred to deepen their flavor, then puréed with tomatoes to make a complex sauce for the beans. The cornbread topping — crisp at the surface, tender underneath — gets an optional handful of Cheddar folded into the mix for added verve. Serve this one-pot meal on its own or with a creamy dollop of sour cream or yogurt on the side.
The Ultimate Veggie Burger
You make a veggie burger because you want the hamburger experience without the meat. This one delivers. It’s got a firm, beefy texture that takes on the char and smoke of the grill, but is adaptable enough to cook inside on your stove. The enemy of a veggie burger is mushiness, which stems from a high moisture content. To combat that, the very watery ingredients – mushrooms, tofu, beans and beets – are roasted to both dehydrate them somewhat and intensify their flavors. Yes, the ingredient list here is long; you need a diverse lot to make a good veggie burger. And each one adds something in terms of flavor and/or texture. Garnish this any way you like, and don’t forget to toast the buns.