Recipes By Melissa Clark
1476 recipes found
Chocolate Pavlova With Chocolate Mousse
Most Pavlovas are white and fluffy nests filled with whipped cream and fruit. This is a dark and fudgy reinterpretation, with cocoa powder in the meringue and bittersweet chocolate in the mousse on top. What was once billowing and light becomes rich and intense. Because the cocoa powder has a small amount of fat in it, the meringue here will not hold its shape as well as a regular pavlova. So there’s no need to pipe out any fancy designs, which will melt in the oven. Instead, decorate the top with fresh berries or chocolate shavings to create a showstopper of a dessert. You can make the meringue and mousse a day ahead, but don’t assemble the dessert until just before serving.
Alfajores
Popular all over Latin America, dulce de leche confections called alfajores come in many varieties. In this popular version, delicate, crumbly butter cookies are sandwiched with a thick layer of dulce de leche before being rolled in coconut. They are petite yet decadent morsels that go particularly well with strong black coffee to cut their creamy richness. You can make the dulce de leche a week ahead (store it in the refrigerator) and the cookies 5 days ahead (store them in an airtight container at room temperature). Once sandwiched together, the cookies will keep in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 3 days, but are best eaten within 24 hours of filling.
Golden Leek and Potato Soup
Most potato leek soups are smooth, creamy and decidedly on the richer side. This one doubles the ratio of leeks to potatoes, giving you something sweeter, chunkier and homier, brimming with soft pieces of potato and browned slivers of leeks. A tablespoon or two of heavy cream, drizzled into the soup just before serving, is an optional luscious touch.
Chocolate Peppermint Bars
A little-known fact: Creamy chocolate-covered peppermint patties are not hard to make at home. Here, the minty filling and chocolate coating are layered onto a cocoa-imbued shortbread base, which adds a cookie crunch to each bite. These keep well, so you can make them a week ahead; store airtight at room temperature. They also freeze well. The coconut oil makes the chocolate coating slightly shinier and a little more brittle in a good way, so use it if you have it. But if you don't have it on hand, you can omit it.
Japanese Chicken and Root Vegetable Stew
This vegetable-rich stew is based on a Japanese nimono, a simmered dish flavored with kombu, soy sauce and dried shiitake mushroom caps. Although the ingredients may take some searching (check Japanese or Asian markets, or online), the cooking itself is no harder than the usual chicken soup, and the results are just as comforting. You can substitute other root vegetables for the ones called for here. Just make sure to add the sturdier chunks first (taro, celery root, burdock, kohlrabi, turnip, beets) so they have enough time to cook before adding the quicker-cooking ones (turnips, sweet potatoes, winter squash). If you want to make this vegetarian, you can leave out the chicken. It works equally well. Adding cubes of tofu or pieces of fish or seafood during the last few minutes of cooking is also a nice way to go.
Fragrant Chicken Soup with Chickpeas and Vegetables
This substantial soup is zippier than the usual matzo-ball-type golden chicken soup. It has a rich tomato base that is laced with fragrant spices – turmeric, cinnamon, paprika, ginger, nutmeg and cayenne – and it's loaded with hearty vegetables.
Cardamom Cream Cake
Layer cakes are always festive, particularly when they are four-layered, fluffy and cloudlike. This one, based on the flavors of an Indian dessert called ras malai, combines rose water, ricotta cheese and cardamom. Egg whites in the batter and mascarpone in the buttercream give the cake an especially ethereal texture, while a cardamom-infused milk syrup keeps it moist. Make sure to use cold, straight-from-the fridge mascarpone and yogurt for the frosting; it can curdle if you try to beat it when the ingredients are too warm.
Raspberry Rose Rugelach
With its garnet-hued raspberry jam filling and fragrant rose sugar topping, this rugelach is a vivid departure from more traditional incarnations. It also uses two different kinds of salt, which provide forthright seasoning and a bare hint of crunch. You can make them up to 5 days ahead, if stored in an airtight container.
Roasted Squash and Radicchio Salad With Buttermilk Dressing
Roasted delicata squash brings sweetness and a velvety texture to the bitter radicchio and arugula in this colorful salad. A light buttermilk dressing adds creaminess and brightness. It’s satisfying enough for a light dinner, or serve it before or alongside roasted or grilled meat or fish.
Salt-and-Pepper Roast Chicken
Calling for just four ingredients – chicken, salt, pepper and whatever herbs you have around – this is a recipe for roast chicken at its simplest and best. The method is fairly straightforward. You season the bird, then roast it at high heat until the skin is bronzed and crisp and the flesh juicy. If you have time to season the chicken ahead, you should; it makes a difference in flavor. And bear in mind, if you have the kind of oven that starts smoking at high heat, you can cook your bird at 400 degrees instead of 450, though you’ll need an extra 5 to 20 minutes to get it done.
Meatballs With Any Meat
Making great meatballs is all about memorizing a basic ratio that you can adjust to suit your taste. Start with a pound of ground meat — any kind will work, even fish if you want to take it in that direction. Add 1/2 cup bread crumbs for lightness, a teaspoon of salt, and an egg to bind it together. That’s all you need. Pepper and other spices, chopped herbs and minced allium (garlic, onion, scallions or shallot) can be added to taste. Then broil or fry as you like. Why You Should Trust This Recipe Melissa Clark, a food writer for more than 25 years, creates her fresh takes on classic recipes by trying at least half a dozen different approaches. A professional recipe tester then makes her recipe a minimum of three times (and sometimes more than 12) to ensure it’ll come out perfectly for all home cooks. For these meatballs, Melissa tinkered with ratios of seasonings to breadcrumbs to ensure the formula works with any type of ground meat.
Roast Chickens With Plums
This recipe, which roasts two chickens at the same time, has been engineered to feed a crowd. It's no harder than roasting one chicken. The birds get rubbed down with a garlicky sumac spice rub brightened with lemon zest. Then, as they cook, their fragrant drippings season sliced plums roasting in the pan underneath them, which caramelize into a fruity, chutney-like sauce. Feel free to halve the recipe if you’d rather, but be sure to reduce the oven temperature to 425 degrees. For two chickens you need the higher heat so they both crisp properly, but for only one chicken, slightly lower heat keeps the plums from burning.
Caramelized Tomato Tarte Tatin
This tart is a stunning mosaic of red, orange and yellow tomatoes so shiny and candied that the tart really looks like dessert. But it's safely on the savory side thanks to a splash of vinegar and a sprinkling of briny olives.
Panzanella
At the height of tomato season, for every perfectly ripe, taut and juicy specimen there’s an overripe, oozing counterpart not far away. The Tuscan bread salad called panzanella is the perfect place to use those sad, soft tomatoes that are still rich in flavor. Traditional panzanella is made with stale, dried bread that’s rehydrated with a dressing of sweet tomato juices, vinegar and plenty of olive oil. This version includes mozzarella for richness and cucumber for crunch. It’s an ideal do-ahead dish; the longer the mixture sits (up to 6 or so hours), the better it tastes. Just be sure to dry your bread out thoroughly in the oven so it won’t turn to mush. For a make-ahead summer party, serve alongside crunchy fried chicken and round out the meal with a luscious coconut cake accented with peaches.
Grilled Sesame Lime Chicken Breasts
Brining chicken breasts in a soy sauce and fish sauce marinade flecked with lime adds flavor and helps retain moisture while they are on the grill. Chicken breasts do particularly well when pounded into an even thickness and cooked quickly over a hot fire, which chars the exterior but keeps them juicy inside. But if you or anyone in your clan would prefer dark meat to white, this recipe will also work with boneless, skinless thighs, though you might have to add a minute or so to the cooking time. Or use a combination of breasts and thighs. Serve these with a cucumber salad and grilled eggplant in the heart of summer.
Lemon and Thyme Grilled Chicken Breasts
These classic herb and lemon-seasoned chicken breasts will win over fans, especially when cooked over charcoal to give them the deepest, smokiest taste. For dark meat lovers, this recipe will also work with boneless, skinless thighs, though you might have to add a minute or so to the cooking time. Or use a combination of breasts and thighs and make everyone happy.
Waffles
These airy, delicate and crisp-edged waffles are so fabulous, yet so simple to throw together, they're destined to become part of your weekend breakfast routine. These make the best classic waffles, but if you’re craving different flavors, try chocolate waffles, or savory scallion waffles. For gluten-free waffles, make these buckwheat blueberry waffles. How to Make Lighter Waffles: For a fluffier waffle, separate the eggs and proceed with step 2 using the egg yolks. Beat the whites until stiff, then fold into the batter. How to Make Whole-Grain Waffles: Use 1⅓ cups all-purpose flour and ⅔ cups whole-wheat flour for the proportions below. You can also substitute brown sugar for the granulated. How to Freeze Waffles: Fully cooked waffles can be frozen in resealable airtight plastic bags for up to 3 months. You can pop them in the toaster to reheat (use a light setting) and they come out nearly as well as freshly made, maybe even slightly crunchier. What to Serve With Waffles: Aside from the beloved maple syrup and butter combination, you can top them with blueberry syrup and whipped cream or serve them with fried chicken. Why You Should Make This Recipe Melissa Clark, a food writer for more than 25 years, creates her fresh takes on classic recipes by trying at least half a dozen different approaches. A professional recipe tester then makes her recipe a minimum of three times (and sometimes more than 12) to ensure it’ll come out perfectly for all home cooks. For these waffles, Melissa experimented with the ratios of butter, flour and sugar, and beat eggs in different ways to end up with crisp edges, a fluffy interior and a streamlined technique.
Lemon Potato Salad With Mint
This light and refreshing potato salad is the antithesis of the usual, creamy, mayonnaise-based recipes. The mint and scallion add a bright, herbal flavor while the sprinkle of chile lends a kick. Make this the morning you plan to serve it and let it marinate at room temperature all day long. Or refrigerate for longer storage but be sure to bring it to room temperature before serving. Other herbs like cilantro, parsley, tarragon and sage can be substituted for the mint; adjust the quantity to taste.
Sheet-Pan Chicken With Potatoes, Arugula and Garlic Yogurt
Your typical sheet-pan chicken recipe roasts everything together on a pan at once. This version pairs potatoes with the poultry, and tops everything off with fresh herbs and arugula, making it a true one-pan meal, salad included. A savory yogurt sauce adds a creamy touch, but it’s optional if you’re not a yogurt sauce fan. Feel free to double the recipe if you’re feeding a crowd, though make sure to use two sheet pans so that everything is spread out in one layer, which is critical for browning.
Radish and Herb Salad with Meyer Lemon Dressing
Thinly slicing radishes, celery and fennel, preferably on a mandoline, makes for a salad as ethereally light as the usual baby lettuce, but with a more interesting mix of colors and textures. If you can find watermelon radishes, use them here — they turn a good-looking mix into something truly stunning, with a piquant bite. If you can’t find Meyer lemons, substitute regular lemon juice spiked with a touch of orange or tangerine to compensate for the missing sweetness.
Moroccan Chickpeas With Chard
An array of aromatic spices, along with chopped dried apricots and preserved lemons give this chickpea stew a complex, deep flavor, while chard stems and leaves lighten and freshen it up. Served with couscous or flatbread, it’s a satisfying meatless meal on its own. Or serve it with roasted chicken, beef or lamb as a hearty side dish. If you can find rainbow chard, you’ll get the best color here, but any chard variety (red, Swiss, yellow) will work well.
Chicken Parmesan
A classic Italian-American Parmesan — a casserole of fried, breaded meat or eggplant covered with tomato sauce and molten cheese — is all about balance. You need a bracing a tomato sauce to cut out the fried richness, while a milky, mild mozzarella rounds out the Parmesan’s tang. Baked until brown-edged and bubbling, it’s classic comfort food — hearty, gooey and satisfying. Although chicken or veal cutlets are the standard, boneless, skinless chicken thighs make a more flavorful alternative. Pork or turkey cutlets work nicely here, too. Serve with an assertively-dressed green salad and a loaf of crusty bread. Store leftover chicken Parmesan in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days, and wrapped tightly and frozen for up to 6 months.
Cauliflower Parmesan
Think of cauliflower Parmesan as the winter analogue to eggplant Parmesan. This fried cauliflower is worth making all on its own, with golden, crisp florets that are impossible to stop eating. But they’re even better when given the parm treatment — baked with marinara sauce, mozzarella and grated Parmesan cheese until bubbling and browned. If you’re not a cauliflower fan, this recipe also works with broccoli.
Lemon Bars With Olive Oil and Sea Salt
Traditional lemon bars balance the tangy sweetness of lemon curd with a rich shortbread crust. This recipe adds extra notes of flavor to the mix: the compelling bitterness of good olive oil and a touch of sea salt sprinkled on top. They lend a mild savory character to this childhood favorite, making it a little more sophisticated than the usual lemon bar, but just as compelling. Choose an olive oil with personality, otherwise you’ll miss the point. Something herbal and fresh tasting with peppery notes works best. Although the bars will last up to five days when stored in the fridge, they have the brightest flavor when eaten within 24 hours of baking.