Recipes By Melissa Clark
1476 recipes found
Potato Leek Gratin
Layer thinly sliced potatoes in a gratin dish, and then take your time sautéing the leeks, letting them turn a little golden and crisp around the edges, which brings out their sweetness. Add the leeks to the potatoes, and using the same pan in which you cooked the leeks, scrape up the brown bits at the bottom of the pan with a mix of cream, garlic, thyme and nutmeg, pouring that over the potatoes and leeks.
Schmaltz-Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Roasting brussels sprouts in schmaltz — rendered poultry fat —gives them an incredibly nutty richness that you can’t get from any other fat. If you are making the schmaltz from scratch for this recipe (and you should if you want the gribenes), do use the onion, which lends an incomparable browned sweetness to the mix. The gribenes, which are the crispy bits of chicken skin that fry in the rendered fat, make an excellent garnish. (They may be strained out of store-bought schmaltz; if you don’t have them, just omit them here.) This recipe goes particularly well with a nice roasted chicken, whose flavor underscores the schmaltz.
Sous-Vide Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
Savory Cheddar and Parmesan, along with sour cream for tang, are the keys to this rich, flavorful mash. If you have a vacuum sealer, you can use it to seal the potatoes into their sous-vide bags before cooking; this makes them easier to weigh down so they stay submerged. Once the potatoes are done, you can also keep them warm alongside the sous-vide turkey breast, if you’re making it: 145 degrees, the temperature at which the turkey breast is cooked, is the perfect temperature to hold the potatoes. If you don’t have a sous-vide machine, you can boil the potatoes in salted water until tender, then drain and mash them, and proceed with Step 2. You might not need the milk since boiled potatoes will have a higher moisture content than those cooked by sous vide.
Duck-Fat Potatoes for Two
A celebratory meal deserves something special. At our house, seared steak demands potatoes bathed in duck fat and roasted till their skins are crisp. This recipe multiplies out neatly and infinitely as long as you have oven space.
Sweet Potatoes With Sour Cream and Pecans
Soft at the center, caramelized at the edges and warmly spiced from the garam masala, these roasted sweet potatoes get a tangy bite from lime-spiked sour cream, while toasted pecans add crunch. You can make the lime sour cream up to four hours ahead. Simply pull it out of the fridge 30 minutes before serving, and let it come to room temperature before drizzling it over the potatoes.
Sous-Vide Brown Sugar Sweet Potatoes With Pecans
Lightly sweetened with brown sugar and zipped up with bourbon, these sweet potatoes are puréed until velvety smooth, then topped with toasted pecans. Once the sweet potatoes are done, you can also keep them warm alongside the sous-vide turkey breast, if you’re making it: 145 degrees, the temperature at which the turkey breast is cooked, is the perfect temperature to hold the sweet potatoes. Cooking the sweet potatoes with a sous-vide machine is convenient when your oven is otherwise occupied, but you can also bake them. Just wrap them, peeled but whole, in foil; place on a baking pan and bake at 375 degrees for an hour or two depending upon how large the potatoes are, until very tender. Then purée as directed in Step 3.
Sweet Potatoes With Yogurt and Cilantro-Chile Sauce
In this luscious vegetable dish, velvety sweet potatoes get a spicy jolt from a chile-spiked cilantro sauce spooned on top. Greek yogurt adds a creamy element and a bit of protein if you’re serving these as a vegetarian main course. As a side dish, they are satisfying yet not the least bit heavy, thanks to the bright flavors of the sauce. You can make the sauce up to 4 hours ahead. Any longer than that and it starts to lose its fresh, tart taste. It’s also very good on roasted carrots.
Faux 75
Emperor’s Garden
On a warm spring night, the Emperor’s Garden, a rhubarb and gin cocktail spiked with Thai basil and seasoned rice vinegar (a condiment used to make sushi rice, flavored with sugar and salt), is a perfect way to celebrate spring and also to use up some of the rhubarb you bought at the green market.
Watermelon Cucumber Punch
Scirocco Punch
This is a gentle-tasting but fully potent punch made with Cognac, maraschino, lime and nutmeg. It’s a concoction meant to celebrate the waning days of summer, the weeks before you put away the grill and pull out your sweaters. Pair it with savory grilled lamb and a salad, and you’ve got an end of summer feast.
Baked Artichoke Pasta With Creamy Goat Cheese
This cheese-filled pasta bake gets its sweet and crunchy topping from a layer of canned fried onions and Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. Canned artichokes give it a savory depth, while a combination of goat cheese, cream cheese and mozzarella make it wonderfully gooey. Make sure to use plain — not marinated — artichokes, which will be too sharp and acidic here. You’re looking for a mellow richness in this comforting casserole.
Savory Gruyere-Olive Bread
Savory Bread Pudding With Artichokes, Cheddar and Scallions
Tangy marinated artichokes star in this cheesy, golden-topped casserole, which is layered with scallions, Cheddar and baguette cubes that get crisp at the edges. Look for the best-quality marinated artichoke hearts, then taste them before using. If they seem very acidic, give them a rinse and pat them dry before proceeding.
Spanish Tortilla With Tomato-Pepper Salad
A Spanish potato tortilla is an egg dish unlike any other. It doesn't resemble the French omelet, which is loose and wobbly. Nor is quite like an Italian frittata, which is puffy and custardy. Instead, a tortilla is a solid cake with just enough egg to bind the soft, sliced potatoes. The first step to making it is to gently cook sliced potatoes and onions in plenty of olive oil. And plenty means at least a cup, or maybe two. It sounds like a lot but most of it stays in the pan (and you can reuse it). Other than adding great flavor, the oil turns the potatoes velvety and luscious. Just make sure the heat is low enough so the potatoes and onions cook but don’t brown very much, though a few darkened spots are okay. In Spain, a tortilla is a tapas staple nibbled with drinks. But it’s also delightful for brunch, dinner or lunch, served either warm or at room temperature.
Roasted Mushroom and Butternut Squash Tart
This is a substantial tart with a crunchy, whole-grain dough. Don’t be put off by the yeast in the dough. It makes it both airy and crisp, and isn’t at all hard to handle. You don’t even need a mixer; this dough comes together quickly and easily by hand. For the most complex flavors, use a variety of different types of mushrooms, though just one kind is fine if that's what you have. Oysters, maitake, shiitake, black trumpet and chanterelles are best, but even cremini mushrooms work nicely. Serve this warm or at room temperature, preferably within 6 hours of baking for the crispiest crust, though it will hold up for a day or two if you store it in the refrigerator and reheat it in a 300 degree oven before serving.
Grilled Garlic Bread With Basil and Parmesan
Garlic, cheese and basil on bread is a classic to go with pasta, but this recipe is made on the grill. With few ingredients (and things to carry), it can be a great addition to a campout or cookout. And, despite the utility involved in cooking outdoors, it’s also elegant.
Potato-Cheddar Soup With Quick-Pickled Jalapeños
If cheesy mashed potatoes became a cozy soup, it would be this. It’s rich but not excessive, hearty but not heavy, and spiked with a little chili powder and some garlic to liven it up. The homemade pickled jalapeños give this a bright tang that perks up every creamy bite. Quick and easy to make, the jalapeños are leagues better than anything in a jar, and leftovers are excellent in sandwiches or scrambled into eggs.
Any Vegetable Soup
When it comes to stocking the pantry with root vegetables, most people stop with potatoes (regular and sweet), carrots, onions and garlic. And those are excellent to have on hand. But there are loads of other, more neglected roots, like rutabagas, turnips, radishes and celery root, worth having on hand. All root vegetables will keep for months in a cool, dark place, and they come in very handy, whether you want to roast up a bunch with olive oil and spices, or you want to make them into soup. This soup may not be the most beautiful of dishes, but it's hearty and nourishing, and highly adaptable, easily made with just about any root vegetables you have on hand.
Feta-Stuffed Grilled Flatbread
Stuffing flatbread with feta and herbs adds great flavor and an herbal, creamy surprise if you don’t know what’s in them. Feel free to use this recipe as a jumping off point for your own stuffings. The honeyed, whole-wheat-flecked dough works especially well with strong flavors like olives, capers, anchovies and other cheeses. Or skip the stuffing and grill up this dough all by itself. The basil oil makes a great dipping sauce with both stuffed and unstuffed flatbreads.
Mushroom-Spinach Soup With Cinnamon, Coriander and Cumin
This is a very hearty, chunky soup filled with bits of browned mushroom and silky baby spinach. A combination of sweet and savory spices – cinnamon, coriander and cumin – gives it a deep, earthy richness. For the most complex flavor, use several kinds of mushrooms and cook them until they are dark golden brown and well caramelized.
Wild Rice and Mushroom Casserole
This hearty mix of wild rice, creamy white beans and aromatic vegetables (spinach, leeks, fennel and mushrooms) makes a satisfying meatless main course or a very substantial side dish for Thanksgiving — and beyond. If you want to go all out, use some exotic mushrooms such as chanterelles, maitake (hen of the woods) or black trumpet, but a basic combination of cremini and shiitake mushrooms also works perfectly.
Summer Berry Ice Cream
Egg-free ice cream, often called Philadelphia-style or American-style, is a traditional method that can yield phenomenal results if superior ingredients are used and if the ice cream is not pumped full of air (as many cheap store-bought brands are). From the perspective of a home cook, egg-free ice creams are simpler than custard-based ones, and more foolproof. You don’t have to worry about tempering the yolks, or fear curdling. To soften the texture of egg-free ice creams, which otherwise freeze rock solid, David Lebovitz, author of “The Perfect Scoop,” advised adding a few spoonfuls of alcohol or a liquid sweetener like honey or maple syrup. Adding more sugar also helps the texture, said Nick Morgenstern of Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream, but so does simply leaving the ice cream at room temperature — or better, in the refrigerator — until soft enough to scoop.
Roasted Hazelnut Vanilla Ice Cream
This hazelnut ice cream is spiked with Cognac and vanilla. The aromatics make the hazelnuts taste like praline, and I adore the crunchy nuts against the cold milky base.