Recipes By Melissa Clark
1468 recipes found
Tahini-Glazed Carrots
A little sweet from date syrup, creamy from tahini and very tangy from plenty of lemon juice, this roasted carrot dish — adapted from Adeena Sussman’s cookbook “Sababa” — has charisma to spare. It’s also extremely easy to make. While the carrots roast with olive oil and cumin, all you do is whisk together a simple glaze from pantry ingredients. If you don’t have the date syrup on hand, maple syrup works just as well, making the dish slightly sweeter but no less compelling.
Corn, Bacon and Cheddar Pie With Pickled Jalapeños
Corn kernels make this quiche-like pie juicy-sweet. Bacon, jalapeño and quick-pickled onions make it deeply savory, and a custard of sour cream, eggs and Cheddar adds a delightfully gooey texture. A touch of cornmeal in the dough makes the crust extra crunchy, and its corn flavor echoes the filling. You can bake this in the height of corn season with fresh kernels, or in the depths of winter with frozen. It will be just as richly satisfying any time of the year.
Bavette Steak With Tahini-Vegetable Salad
Searing a boneless steak in plenty of fat gives the meat crisp edges while keeping it juicy. While you can use any cut of boneless steak in this recipe (which is adapted from Kate Kavanaugh, the owner of Western Daughters Butcher Shoppe in Denver), bavette steak, also called flap meat or sirloin tip, is a particularly flavorful and tender choice. Ms. Kavanaugh likes to serve it alongside a crunchy vegetable salad that is layered with thinly sliced strawberries and tart rhubarb and tossed with a lime-tahini dressing, but any tangy salad will work well with the richness of the meat.
Perfect Black and White Cookies
Tender, moist and scented with vanilla, almond and lemon, these classic confections popular all over the Midwest and the state of New York are more cake than cookie, with a fine crumb and velvet texture from the sour cream in the batter. Even better, they are glazed with both vanilla and chocolate, so you don’t have to pick favorites. These are best eaten within 24 hours of baking, when the cake is at its softest and the glaze at its snappiest. But if you store them in an airtight container at room temperature, they’ll be good for a few days longer.
Lemony Pasta With Asparagus and White Beans
Marinating canned white beans in lemon juice and zest, along with red-pepper flakes and shallots, imbues them with brightness and a touch of heat, adding so much flavor to this warm-weather pasta. It’s dead simple to make: While the pasta cooks and the beans marinate, sauté the asparagus in olive oil, then use that pan to finish the dish. There’s enough asparagus in the mix to make this a one-pan meal, but serving it with a crisp green salad on the side will add a little crunch and freshness.
Air-Fryer Brussels Sprouts With Garlic, Balsamic and Soy
Brussels sprouts are quite possibly the best vegetable you can make in an air fryer; the leaves turn brittle and delightfully crunchy. Here they are paired with slivers of garlic, which turn into pungent golden chips as they fry. Then the whole thing is dressed with a mix of balsamic vinegar that’s been simmered until thickened, then seasoned with lime juice for freshness and soy sauce for complexity. Serve this as a side dish, or as snack with drinks; just make sure to have plenty of napkins on hand.
Olive Oil Brownies With Sea Salt
Moist in the center and crisp at the corners, these fudgy brownies are lusciously smooth but for the occasional crunch of a chocolate chip. Their bittersweet character is accentuated by the olive oil, while dark brown sugar makes them extra rich. Be sure to sprinkle the salt on top while the brownies are still warm. The heat helps the salt adhere. Use a mild oil here: Anything too grassy or sharp might overpower the chocolate.
Arugula Salad With Anchovy Dressing
Peppery, crisp arugula stands up nicely to the punch of this garlicky, anchovy-filled dressing. You can adjust the dressing’s pungency by adding more or fewer anchovies. The dressing will keep for a few days in the fridge, but the oil will solidify, so remember to take it out at least an hour before serving, and shake it really well.
Roasted Duck Fat Potatoes
Duck fat adds incredible richness to roasted potatoes, which are layered here with fresh thyme and whole garlic cloves. If you are making this for Thanksgiving, throw the pan on the rack under the turkey when you first start roasting your bird, then reheat the potatoes at 350 degrees while your turkey rests.
Brioche Chestnut Stuffing
Stuffing with made from eggy brioche and roasted chestnuts is a Thanksgiving classic. This one, seasoned with celery, onion and sage, and a little diced fennel for sweetness and depth, sticks relatively close to tradition. Use it to stuff a turkey, if you like, but it’s even better baked separately in a shallow casserole dish, so the top can get nice and crisp. If you’d like to bake it ahead, you can do so up to 6 hours in advance. Just before serving, reheat it in a 350-degree oven.
Broccoli With Fried Shallots and Olives
The fried shallots on top of this dish make it seem a little like a baked green-bean casserole, but with broccoli as the starring vegetable. Olives and thinly sliced garlic give it verve, contrasting nicely with the sweetness of the shallots. You can cook the broccoli and fry the shallots a day ahead. Store the broccoli in the refrigerator, bringing to room temperature before serving; keep the fried shallots in a paper towel-lined container or a jar with an airtight lid. If they wilt, you can crisp them back up by popping them briefly in the oven. Be sure to save the shallot-flavored oil to use for sautéeing the garlic and olives right before serving.
Ginger Ice Cream
Fresh ginger root and candied ginger give this silky, custard-based ice cream an intense spice flavor. Don’t overlook the clove, which adds a deep, woodsy note. You can make this ice cream up to a week ahead, but after that it will start to develop ice crystals.
Roast Turkey With Garlic and Anchovies
In this flavorful recipe, a whole roasted turkey is seasoned like a Provençal leg of lamb, with rosemary, anchovies and plenty of garlic. Cutting tiny slits into the turkey’s legs helps distribute the garlic-anchovy paste, which perfumes the meat. You’ll need to start marinating the turkey at least a day ahead, although, if you have the space in your refrigerator and the time, starting two or three days ahead is even better. Chilling the turkey uncovered helps dry out the skin, yielding a particularly crisp and golden bird.
Spiced Pumpkin Pie
Most pumpkin pies rely entirely on ground spices for their heady flavor. In this one, whole spices (star anise, clove, cinnamon and black peppercorns) are infused into cream, which gives it a more interesting, nuanced character, while a hit of ground ginger added at the end makes it particularly intense. You can make the filling and par-bake the crust the day before, but this pie is best assembled and baked on the day you plan to serve it. If you can, use a high-fat, European-style butter for the crust. It really makes a difference.
Cranberry-Pomegranate Relish
This twist on the classic orange-and-walnut-studded cranberry relish has pomegranate and pistachios, which fleck the intense red berries with bits of green. You can make the cranberry mixture a day ahead, but don’t add the nuts and pomegranate seeds until just before serving to preserve the crunch.
Roasted Eggplant and Buffalo Mozzarella Pizza
In Italy, when high-quality buffalo mozzarella is used to top a pizza, it’s often added after baking instead of before. The heat of the just-cooked pizza softens but doesn’t melt the cheese, which retains its milky, sweet flavor and stays supple instead of becoming stretchy. Here, the cheese crowns a pizza topped with tomato, roasted eggplant, chile flakes and fresh basil leaves. If you can’t get good buffalo mozzarella, substitute dollops of fresh ricotta. Or, you could experiment with burrata, draining it first. Save the cream, mix it with olive oil and salt, then use it to top ripe tomatoes instead of dressing. And if you are in a rush, substitute store-bought pizza dough.
Vegan ‘Cheesy’ Popcorn
Using more oil than popcorn kernels — a technique developed by Jessica Koslow, the chef and owner of Sqirl in Los Angeles — gives you an ultracrunchy popcorn with rich flavor. Ms. Koslow prefers grapeseed oil for its high smoke point and clean taste. But to mix things up, you can combine grapeseed oil with a more flavorful oil such as virgin coconut, olive oil, butter, duck fat, or bacon grease. Use 1/4 cup of each. After popping, you can toss the kernels with just salt (they won't need any more fat by way of butter) or a flavorful spice mix. Here, they're tossed with nutritional yeast, which gives them a Parmesan-like umami flavor, along with a little rosemary or kelp powder for depth.
Ginger-Scallion Chicken
In this easy chicken stir-fry, adapted from Lan Hing Riggin, a home cook from Virginia who grew up cooking with her family in Hong Kong, slivers of ginger and scallions turn golden, adding their sweetness and pungency to the oil. A dash of soy sauce provides saltiness and depth, while a full cup of cilantro leaves, used as garnish, makes the dish a bit lighter and fresher. Fire seekers can add a sliced chile or two along with the ginger.
Peruvian Roasted Chicken With Spicy Cilantro Sauce
Burnished-skinned, deeply flavored and more than just a little spicy, it’s no wonder that Peruvian chicken has become something of an obsession here in the United States. There are dozens of way to make this dish, but most recipes call for two different kinds of Peruvian chile pastes — aji amarillo and aji panca — to add the necessary complexity and heat. You can find them at South American markets and online. But in a pinch, you can substitute a red chile paste (like sriracha or sambal) for the aji amarillo, and ground pasilla chile powder for the aji panca. The flavors won’t be traditional, but the chicken will still be tasty — especially when slathered with the irresistibly creamy, spicy cilantro sauce that goes alongside.
Grilled Steak Tacos With Cherry Tomato-Avocado Salsa
In this supremely summery taco recipe, chile-rubbed grilled steak is topped with a spicy tomato-avocado salsa before being rolled into warm corn tortillas. Grilling the onions, garlic and jalapeño for the salsa adds a concentrated sweetness, while lime zest keeps everything sharp and bright. If you don’t have access to a grill, feel free to use your broiler.
Shortbread, 10 Ways
Shortbread is not only one of the easiest desserts you can possibly make, it’s also one of the most adaptable. As long as you keep the butter-to-flour ratio constant (1 stick butter to 1 cup flour), everything else is negotiable. You can reduce or increase the sugar and salt, or mix in any type of flavoring from citrus zest to vanilla to herbs and spices. You can even alter the type of flour, swapping in some rice flour for all-purpose flour for increased crunch, or cornmeal for a nubby texture. Just be cautious about adding liquid to the dough; any more than one tablespoon could interfere with the texture. Here we give a master recipe and nine variations to play around with.
Baked Brie
Serve a creamy, runny-centered, pastry-wrapped baked brie at your next party and watch your guests cluster around it, slicing off bits until it completely disappears. Don’t be tempted to use a fancy, artisan brie from a cheese shop here. This recipe works best with the regular kind of brie you find at the supermarket; fancier bries may leak out of their pastry. Choose any flavor jam for the topping. Orange or ginger marmalade will give you something tangier than, say, raspberry and cherry jam, which are sweeter, more mellow options. While a wedge of brie will work in this recipe, a round of brie looks prettiest.
Ambrosia Cake
If you love the combination of oranges, coconut and marshmallows found in a traditional ambrosia — the salad or dessert that often also contains pineapple, bananas, cherries and some kind of creamy dressing such as whipped cream or sour cream — you’ll adore this cake. The coconut is baked into the cake layers and used as a sweet, shaggy garnish, while the oranges (in this case, diminutive, seedless clementines) are juiced into curd and sliced fresh for the filling. Then, as a final, fluffy touch, a homemade marshmallow frosting tops it off. It may be a lot of work, but it’s an impressive result. And you can make the curd and cake a few days ahead. Just be sure to make the frosting and assemble everything within 8 hours of serving. Otherwise the fruit starts to break down and the icing may crystallize.
Roasted Carrot Salad With Arugula and Pomegranate
This composed, bright salad of roasted carrots, thinly sliced fennel and arugula gains a fruity depth from a splash of pomegranate molasses in the dressing. You can find pomegranate molasses in Middle Eastern groceries and specialty food shops, and it’s worth seeking out for its complex, sweet-tart acidity. Once opened, it will last for years in your pantry. This salad makes a delightful side dish or light main course, especially if you include the optional toasted walnuts or pita chips, which add a satisfying crunch. If you can find multicolored carrots, this already striking salad becomes even prettier.