Recipes By Sarah Digregorio
132 recipes found
Creamy White Beans With Pecorino and Pancetta
These superfast, incredibly delicious beans are inspired by pasta alla gricia, a classic Roman dish that is similar to pasta carbonara but without the egg yolks. Because the dish is so simple, it helps to use good pancetta (or guanciale, if you can find it) and not the pre-diced kind. (It often comes in a roll; just unroll it and slice it up. You could even use good thick-cut bacon instead of pancetta, if that is easier to find.) Cut into fat batons, the pork crisps up into chewy, salty little nuggets that contrast with the soft beans. The starch from the beans along with the fat from the pancetta plus Pecorino cheese and hot water all emulsify into a creamy, peppery sauce when stirred together vigorously. Because of its salty ingredients, this dish is unlikely to need added salt, but taste at the end and add it if you like.
Baked Cod With Buttery Cracker Topping
Baked, stuffed fish is an old-school restaurant staple in New England; covered in lemony, butter-soaked cracker crumbs, it’s a wonderful way to eat mild white fish like cod or haddock. The dish has a long history and relies on two ingredients New Englanders have in abundance: fresh seafood and crackers, which are descended from sailors’ hardtack. Fannie Farmer’s 1896 “Boston Cooking-School Cook Book” has a recipe for cracker-stuffed halibut, seasoned with butter, salt, pepper and onion juice. Some modern versions use saltines, others use butter crackers like Ritz, and many enrich the crackers with crab meat. This recipe is an easy weeknight variation: Instead of rolling the fish up around the stuffing, which requires long, thin filets, it is generously covered in the stuffing and roasted until the cracker topping is toasted and the fish flakes.
Mushroom and Potato Paprikash
This recipe is a vegetarian adaptation of chicken paprikash, a classic dish in Hungary, where there are many regional and cultural variations. This version is not at all traditional, though mushrooms are common in Hungarian cooking. To make this dish doable on a weeknight, par-cook the potatoes while you’re searing the mushrooms. If time is not an issue, you can skip that step, but it will increase the lid-on cooking time to about 30 minutes in Step 2. Avoid washing your mushrooms, which makes them less likely to sear. Instead, wipe off any dirt with a damp cloth. Meaty trumpet mushrooms add a wonderful texture in the stew, but you can use any mushrooms you like, including all-purpose creminis. This recipe can also be made in an Instant Pot. To get vegetarian recipes like this one delivered to your inbox, sign up for The Veggie newsletter.
Corned Beef and Cabbage
The addition of potatoes and carrots makes this corned beef and cabbage recipe not only great on St. Patrick’s Day but a satisfying meal any day. Cure beef brisket in a salty, spiced brine and it becomes savory, tangy and aromatic corned beef. Get a corned beef made from flat-cut brisket, if you can, as it will be easier to slice into neat, uniform slabs. (The point cut has more striations of fat and may fall apart when sliced.) Braise the meat until tender, and add the vegetables toward the end of the braising time so they’ll absorb the beef juices and soften until perfectly crisp-tender. Finish the beef with a simple honey-mustard glaze and a quick broil to caramelize, then serve it with more Dijon mustard and beer. (Here are slow cooker and pressure cooker versions of the recipe.)
Spicy Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili
This thick, smoky vegan chili comes together in just under an hour, and most of that time is hands-off simmering. You can use any kind of sweet potato here — keep in mind that the orange or garnet “yam” you see at the grocery store is actually a sweet potato — but you could also switch it up and use any peeled sweet winter squash, like butternut or kabocha. The recipe calls for either coconut oil or vegetable oil. If you’d like a mild coconut flavor, which plays well with the orange juice, choose unrefined or virgin coconut oil; for a neutral flavor, choose refined coconut oil or any vegetable oil. Use one chipotle chile for a very mild chili, and four if you like yours very spicy. (Get the slow-cooker version of this recipe here.)
Chole (Tangy Chickpeas With Tomatoes and Black Tea)
Chana masala, or chickpeas with spiced tomato gravy, has regional variations all over India; chole is a related, but specifically Punjabi, dish from northern India. It’s ubiquitous at snack shops and often served alongside bhatura, a puffed fried bread. While chole is traditionally made with dried chickpeas, canned chickpeas streamline cooking on a weeknight. Chole has numerous versions, but it is characterized by a rich, tangy flavor from black tea and amchur powder, which is made from green mango.
Farro and Cauliflower Parmesan
This dish has all of the crispy-melty-tomatoey appeal of a chicken or eggplant Parmesan, but it uses only one pot. Olive oil provides richness, and broiling lends a cheesy crunch without the mess of breading and frying. The pizzalike flavors and mellow cauliflower make it a (potentially) kid-friendly meal. Feel free to omit the olives if that makes more sense for your family. In fact, this dish is highly customizable: Add more or less red-pepper flakes, throw in some capers or use broccoli rabe instead of cauliflower. Any salty, hard aged cheese will work in place of Parmesan, like asiago or pecorino. Leftovers are great crisped in the oven.
Turkey Tetrazzini
This classic turkey or chicken spaghetti casserole is rich with cheese and has a crunchy bread crumb topping. It was named after Luisa Tetrazzini, a famous Italian opera star at the turn of the 20th century. She enjoyed her fame with a flamboyant and generous public life, singing not only in opera houses but also for free on city streets: In 1910 she gave an outdoor Christmas Eve concert for a huge crowd in San Francisco. It’s unclear exactly how this particular dish came to be named after her — it was certainly meant as a compliment — but some accounts say it was her own recipe. The optional curry powder isn’t traditional, but it’s delicious, and a little added flair seems in the spirit of Ms. Tetrazzini.
Oven-Braised Guinness Beef Stew With Horseradish Cream
Classic beef stew is good, but this sophisticated beef stew — enriched with beer, cocoa powder and espresso — is really something special. Start by browning the beef and making a quick roux to guarantee a thick, flavorful stew instead of a watery, bland soup, and finish with hit of balsamic vinegar and lemon juice to balance out the rich, round notes. Dried shiitake mushrooms provide another layer of complexity, but if you can’t find them, leave them out. The stew will still be delicious. Top big bowls of it with swirls of tangy horseradish cream. (Here are slow cooker and pressure cooker versions of the recipe.)
Creamy Spinach-Artichoke Chicken Stew
This creamy chicken stew is spinach-artichoke dip reimagined as a simple stovetop braise. It comes together quickly, thanks to frozen spinach and jarred artichoke hearts, though if you have time, there is also a slow-cooker version of this recipe. Fresh dill and scallions are added just before serving, and provide bright, herbal flavor that offsets the richness of the finished dish.
Mulled Cider With Cardamom, Black Pepper and Ginger
Traditional mulled cider is cozy and fragrant, but sometimes tastes a little too much like potpourri. In this version, toasted cardamom, allspice berries and black peppercorns provide sophisticated spiciness, while fresh ginger and citrus add fresh zing. It’s a subtle but noticeable makeover, resulting in cider that’s tangy and aromatic with a savory edge. If you want to spike it, don’t pour the whiskey into the pot with the cider; the alcohol will burn off over the course of an hour or so. Instead, let guests add whiskey to their own mugs. If you've got a slow-cooker, this recipe is for you.
Crispy Cilantro-Chile Shrimp
These zesty, pan-fried shrimp are inspired by the cuisine of Maharashtra, the state on the west coast of India that includes Mumbai. Maharashtrian cooking often features lots of seafood and bright, fresh flavors, like the wallop of cilantro that flavors this dish. (Puréeing cilantro, as in this recipe, changes the enzyme that makes it taste soapy to some people, and reveals a deeply savory, almost mellow side to the herb.) A coating of farina, of which Cream of Wheat cereal is made, gives a dramatically craggy, crunchy texture; rava or semolina flour also work well. Be sure to pat the farina onto the shrimp before frying to help the coating adhere. Serve the shrimp with flatbreads, like chapatis.