Recipes By Melissa Clark
1479 recipes found

Tomato Éclairs With Creamy Ricotta and Basil Filling

Asparagus With Walnuts, Parmesan and Brown Butter
Here's a sophisticated yet simple way to prepare spring's trademark vegetable. Steam the asparagus. Brown a knob of butter in a sauté pan and toss in a handful of chopped walnuts, garlic and fresh thyme (lemon thyme if you can find it). Whisk in a 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, then pour over your awaiting asparagus. Dive in.

Roasted Beets With Chiles, Ginger, Yogurt and Indian Spices
The pungent spices, zingy fresh ginger, dollops of tangy yogurt and fiery green chiles found in Indian cuisine tame the sugary beets in this recipe and open up a whole new universe of flavor. In traditional Indian cooking, beets are usually boiled or steamed, then often made into vegetable curries or chutney. But here they are roasted, which intensifies their sweetness.

Homemade Nondairy Yogurt
Of all the nondairy milks you could use for yogurt, cashew milk works best, turning pleasantly sour with an underlying sweetness. If you wish to go beyond cashew milk, and use soy milk, coconut milk or your homemade nut milk, our How to Make Yogurt guide can help, but whatever you choose, look for nondairy milk with the fewest possible ingredients, ideally just nuts, grains or pulses, and water. While not strictly necessary, the starch used here makes for a creamy, silky yogurt that’s still loose enough to stir. If you prefer a thicker yogurt, add a little more, or try the agar powder variation. Or leave the thickener out entirely for a thin, pourable yogurt that’s perfect for smoothies.

Eggplant Parmesan Deconstructed

Fish Cakes With Herbs and Chiles
Bright, bold and richly flavored, these are not your typical fish cakes. That flavor is layered into every step: the fish is browned with some garlic, and both are mixed with mashed potatoes along with vibrant herbs, green chile and fragrant lime zest. Choose a sustainable fish here, any mild white fillet will work. Consult either your local fishmonger, or the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s seafood watch website, which has current information about supply. Then serve these crisp-edged cakes with a dollop of plain mayonnaise — or mayonnaise spiked with minced Indian pickles or preserved lemons.

Stuffed Artichokes With Lemon Zest, Rosemary and Garlic

Corn, Tomato and Basil Chowder
This summer corn chowder is flavored with lime juice and basil and is nearly as light and fresh as a salad — until you add the optional dollop of crème fraîche.

Ale-Steamed Mussels With Garlic and Mustard
Looking for a sustainable, affordable seafood option back in a 2009 column, Melissa Clark landed on mussels. Here, she pairs them with a good ale, Dijon mustard, garlic, shallots and thyme for a quick weeknight dinner that’s ready in 15 minutes. Just don’t forget the baguette. You’ll want it for soaking up all those juices.

Fake Baked Beans With Crispy Bacon

Homemade Cultured Butter

Spicy Calamari With Tomato, Caperberries and Pine Nuts

Rustic Plum Crostata With Lemon Thyme
Whether you call it a crostata, a galette or a rustic fruit tart, this juicy, messy confection has a charm that lies with its flavors rather than its looks. It hits the same luscious, buttery, jammy notes as a fruit pie, but instead of being neatly trimmed, crimped and latticed, it features hasty folds and raggedy edges: perfectly acceptable points of style. Unlike jewel-like tarts crowned with perfect fruits, crostatas do just as well with weeping, bruised specimens, as long as you cut out any obviously funky bits. And crostatas are easy to improvise. You can use whatever fruit you have, making this a handy recipe to pull out when the result of your farmers’ market shopping exuberance begins to wrinkle and fade.

Olive-Oil Poached Halibut Nuggets With Garlic and Mint
