American Recipes
2885 recipes found
Crushed Sour Cream Potatoes
These extremely rich, highly textured potatoes are no less luxurious than the silky mashed variety, but they are a lot less work. There’s no ricing, mashing or whipping — just a simple crush to expose the potatoes’ craggy interior. From here on out, the key word is “cream”: Creamy potatoes meld with the garlicky heavy cream mixture and lots of sour cream. Small (and yes, creamy) potatoes on the waxy side, like a new potato or even a fingerling, work best here, but a more floury potato cut into large chunks would also work in a pinch. Don’t skimp on the black pepper or chives. They truly make this dish.
Huli Huli Chicken
In 1955, Ernest Morgado, a Honolulu businessman, served a group of farmers grilled chicken that had been marinated in his mother’s teriyaki-style sauce. It was such a hit that he decided to market it with the name “huli huli.” Huli means “turn” in Hawaiian and refers to how it’s prepared: grilled between two racks and turned halfway through cooking. This simplified version calls for chicken pieces and a standard grill. The original recipe is a trade secret, but you can find many slightly different variations on the internet, typically including ginger, garlic, soy sauce, something sweet (honey, brown sugar or maple syrup) and something acidic (vinegar, white wine, lime juice or pineapple juice). This recipe is adapted from “Aloha Kitchen: Recipes from Hawai‘i” by Alana Kysar (Ten Speed, March 2019). It also works beautifully with boneless chicken thighs, but adjust your cooking time accordingly.
Chocolate Truffle Tart
This special occasion dessert takes a little time to put together, but it's much easier to make than it looks. It starts with a simple press-in chocolate cookie crust that doesn’t require a rolling pin or chilling. The crust is filled with dark chocolate ganache and a layer of milk chocolate truffles. The truffles can be finished simply with cocoa powder, or coated in finely chopped nuts, powdered sugar or a colorful, tart powder made by crushing freeze-dried fruit. (Or you can skip the truffle recipe entirely and instead use store-bought truffles.) This is the moment to splurge on high-quality chocolate, as you’ll taste it in the final result. Don’t be tempted to use chocolate chips, as the added stabilizers make it difficult to achieve a shiny, creamy ganache. For picture-perfect slices, dip your knife in warm water before each cut and wipe it dry after.
Pork Chops in Cherry-Pepper Sauce
You can use this sauce — spicy and fragrant and slightly syrupy, what the Italians call agrodolce — on pork chops as I call for here, or on veal chops, on steaks, on chicken. I bet it’d be good on grilled seitan or drizzled over tofu. The recipe is reminiscent of the cooking at red-sauce emporia like Bamonte’s in Brooklyn, Rao’s in Manhattan, Dominick’s in the Bronx and, I hope, Carbone in Greenwich Village, where I first learned how to put it together at the elbow of the chef Mario Carbone. Serve with spaghetti dressed in butter and Parmesan, with garlic bread, with a spoon so you can slurp what’s left on the plate. “It’s a flavor that’s purely Italian-American,” Carbone told me. “You won’t find it in Italy, no way.”
Maida Heatter’s Chocolate Mousse Torte
Maida Heatter, the legendary dessert-cookbook author, tested this recipe 20 times before deeming it good enough for publication in The Times in May 1972. Her toil was worth the trouble: Eight months later, it was named the paper’s most requested dessert recipe of the year. This is an adaptation of the version that appears in Ms. Heatter’s book “Happiness is Baking” (Little, Brown, 2019). It begins with a big batch of chocolate mousse, half of which is baked in a pie plate. As it cools, it sinks in the middle, creating a dense, fudgy cake with a bit of an elevated edge. The remaining mousse is piled in the center, then topped with snowy whipped cream and chocolate shavings. One note: Like most traditional mousses, this one contains raw eggs. Use the best pasteurized eggs you can find. If that worries you, try another Maida Heatter dessert instead.
Lemon-Raspberry Danish With Mascarpone
This braiding technique looks fancy, but it couldn’t be easier to achieve. The lemon-raspberry-mascarpone filling is pudding-like, which makes it important to weave the dough as tightly as possible to prevent too much leakage (though a little is to be expected). Let the pastry cool completely before glazing and serving. This allows the glaze and the filling to set properly; impatient slicers will be met with a sloppy filling rather than a creamy one.
Long-Cooked Broccoli
If you’re used to quick-cooked broccoli, barely blanched in boiling water, or crisp, raw florets, this old Alice Waters recipe from “Chez Panisse Vegetables” (HarperCollins, 1996) might seem a little off. A whole hour of simmering with the lid on? Yes! The result is an incredibly sweet, tender, juicy and delicious vegetable with almost no hands-on work. Finish the dish with plenty of cheese and lemon zest, and an extra drizzle of olive oil, and eat it just the way it is, or break it up into some hot, just-cooked pasta for a bigger meal.
Cinnamon Roll Bread
This stunning bread is made from 16 small cinnamon rolls that are arranged in a loaf pan, creating a swirled pattern that’s surprisingly easy to achieve. The bread is delicious served slightly warm, but if you want to see precise spirals in your slice, let it cool completely before slicing. The icing is meant to be quite thick; if you apply it while the loaf is still warm, it will remain soft and gooey. If you apply it once the bread is fully cooled, it will harden to a thick, glossy frosting. Both are equally delicious, and which one you choose may depend entirely on how patient you can be once the aroma permeates your kitchen.
Apple Cider-Caramel Dumplings
This may not be the dish you think of when you see the words “apple dumplings,” but this delicious dessert couldn’t be simpler to make, or more comforting to eat. It starts with a basic dumpling batter. Just stir together the ingredients, then cook them in liquid on the stovetop until they become fluffy all the way through. Poaching the dumplings in a combination of apple cider, brown sugar and cinnamon means they take on a jammy exterior and absorb some of sweetness in the process. As the dumplings cook, they release some starch into the liquid, which thickens the poaching liquid into a sauce. It’s topped with a lightly whipped vanilla cream, which has a consistency similar to melted ice cream and coats each and every bite.
Deluxe Cheesecake
Craig Claiborne brought this version of the classic dessert to The Times in September 1963, and it quickly became one of the paper's most requested recipes. It makes an excellent backdrop for almost any ripe and sweet fruit. Feel free to play around with flavorings like vanilla, and spices like cinnamon or crystallized ginger.
Spiedies
Spiedies are a mainstay sandwich of Binghamton, N.Y., and its surrounding boroughs. They’re made of meat marinated for a long time in what amounts to Italian dressing, then threaded onto skewers, grilled, and slid into a cheap sub roll, sometimes with a drizzle of fresh marinade or hot sauce. The recipe that follows calls for beef, but pork or venison can be used almost interchangeably. Marinate for a long time: a full 24 to 36 hours is not uncommon, and results in chunks of meat that are so deeply flavored that they taste great even when slightly overcooked. (If you use chicken, however, reduce the length of time in the marinade, since the meat starts to break down after 12 hours or so.) Serve the spiedies with an additional drizzle of lemon juice and olive oil, on top of Italian bread or alongside rice.
Chinese Roast Pork on Garlic Bread
Chinese roast pork on garlic bread is one of the great New York sandwiches, a taste of the highest peaks of Catskills cuisine: thinly sliced, Cantonese-style char siu married to Italian-American garlic bread beneath a veil of sweet-sticky duck sauce. It’s been around since the 1950s, a favorite of the summertime borscht belt crowd. You can make the sandwich with store-bought char siu if you like, but I prefer the homemade variety because I can make it with fancy pork from the farmers’ market. It’s also juicier and more flavorful. Then, layer the meat onto garlic bread, and add a drizzle of duck sauce – for that, I use leftover packets from Chinese takeout orders or make my own with apricot preserves cut through with vinegar. Some people add a slash of hot mustard; others fresh pickles, or coleslaw. “It’s the ultimate assimilation crossover food,” the food writer and erstwhile restaurant critic Arthur Schwartz told me. “That sandwich is a symbol of acculturation.”
Turkey Brine
This classic wet brine is adapted from an old Yankee Magazine recipe for a traditional New England roast turkey. It yields a moist and tender bird.
Onion Sandwich
James Beard took this recipe from his colleagues Irma and Bill Rhode over 60 years ago, but there’s something delicate, fresh and unfussy about the sandwich even now. There isn’t much to it, so each component really matters: Slice the onions thinly and evenly, season well, and be gentle so you don’t squish the bread as you press each sandwich shut. Rolling the edge of the sandwich in chopped parsley (or a mix of parsley and other fresh herbs), gives it a retro styling touch, but it’s crucial for flavor, too.
Spinach-Artichoke Stuffed Rolls
These fluffy rolls look unassuming on the outside, but on the inside, they're generously filled with creamy spinach-artichoke dip. They're inspired by bierock, a bun of Eastern European origin that is traditionally stuffed with ground meat and onions — but this creamy meatless version takes the cake. If you have a little spinach-artichoke dip leftover, snack on it hot or cold with pita chips, or use it to fill a sandwich or an omelet.
Pierre Franey’s Coleslaw
Pierre Franey, that consummate reinterpreter of American cooking, provided this recipe for a Dijon-and-honey spiked coleslaw to The Times in a “60 Minute Gourmet” column in 1990. (It takes much less time to prepare than that.) The result pairs beautifully with any fried seafood and many grilled meats, particularly those scented with soy or curry. It will improve in flavor over the course of a few hours, so it is a good recipe to make in the heat of a weekend day, ahead of an evening barbecue.
Mini Gingerbread Houses
If you’re looking for the sturdiest of gingerbread houses, this recipe will get you there. (Here's a printable cut-out template.) A high quantity of shortening is the secret to a strong house that will last for weeks (or more). If you like to nibble on your gingerbread house, use unsalted butter in place of shortening for a tastier and more cookie-like flavor. Whichever you choose, be sure to bake the cookies until they’re very crisp; doing so will reduce the moisture in the dough, which is important for the house’s stability. This recipe will produce more dough than you need for one large house or three small houses. Re-roll the scraps and make an extra small house, or create decorative elements like a door, window ledges, shutters, a chimney, or gingerbread people to snack on while you decorate.
Salted Chocolate Pudding With Whipped Sour Cream
A classic, old-fashioned chocolate pudding, this dessert is made a bit more interesting by layering with whipped sour cream (for a little tang) and crushed cookies of your choosing (for texture). While you can absolutely make and serve chocolate pudding in individual cups, there is something delightfully communal about sharing it from one giant vessel, which can be nearly anything you want: Mixing bowls, trifle bowls or baking dishes all work, just aim for something tall and deep so you can build as many layers as possible.
Beef Stroganoff
Forget what you think you remember about this putatively Russian dish, which saw its zenith in American kitchens during the 1950s and its nadir in school cafeterias two decades later. Beef stroganoff makes for an outstanding dinner: a vat of tender sautéed meat in a silken gravy studded with caramelized mushrooms, alongside a huge tangle of buttered noodles. Be careful when adding the cream at the end: Sour cream easily curdles in the heat, while crème fraîche or heavy cream offer smoother results.
Roasted Chicken Thighs With Peanut Butter BBQ Sauce
Peanut butter is the surprise guest in this spicy-sweet barbecue sauce, which cooks up in just 10 minutes. This versatile sauce, which adds nutty richness and depth, keeps for 2 weeks in the fridge and also freezes well. You'll have quite a bit: This recipe yields 2 cups of sauce. It's great to have on hand, doing double-duty as a sauce or a fantastic marinade for chicken or baby back ribs. (If allergies are a concern, substitute in almond butter for the peanut butter.) Serve with sautéed green beans, roasted broccoli or coleslaw.
Baked Chicken Tenders
Chicken tenders may be known as a kid favorite, but it's hard to find an adult who doesn't enjoy them just as much. And there's a lot to love when a crisp, golden brown coating meets juicy, tender chicken strips. This weeknight version strays slightly from the traditional deep-fried recipe: It can be pan-fried (see tip below), but it shines when baked in the oven. Proper chicken tenders, or the smaller muscle underneath the breast, can be hard to find, but boneless, skinless breasts — from chicken, or even turkey — sliced into thin strips are an excellent stand-in. For a little punch, feel free to add cayenne, crushed red-pepper flakes or fennel seed, or ground cumin to the flour mixture. Lastly, this version is paired with an herbed yogurt dip, but it can also be served with ketchup.
Thumbprints With Dulce de Leche, Nutella or Jam
Thumbprints are the simplest of cookies, but these are packed with flavor from freshly toasted nuts, each paired with its own filling: pecans with dulce de leche (or homemade caramel sauce, if you have some on hand), hazelnuts with Nutella, or pistachios with a festive pool of red currant jelly in the center. Choose a single combination, or make a batch of each. These cookies benefit from forming the thumbprint halfway through baking, but if you can't take the heat, let the dough soften a bit and then press the thumbprints into the dough before baking.
Cheesecake Pudding
This easy stovetop pudding is smooth, rich and tangy, just like your favorite cheesecake — but it’s far faster (under an hour), far easier (no fussy water baths) and far less intimidating (the topping won’t crack). It’s considered a boiled custard, meaning the ingredients are heated slowly until the mixture forms large bubbles in the pot. Whisking the cornstarch and sugar together before adding them to the custard is a crucial step that helps the sugar granules break up the starch, which prevents lumps. This silky pudding is delicious served alone, enjoyed with just a spoon, but you can also gussy it up with fresh berries and crumbled graham crackers for a more cheesecake-like experience.
Blood Orange Poppy Seed Window Cookies
The classic linzer cookie provided inspiration for this sandwich cookie. You’ll want to roll out the dough on a silicone baking mat or sheet of parchment paper, removing the excess, rather than trying to move each cookie, which might distort its shape. The added bonus is that you can also slide them onto a baking sheet should the dough warm up too much, and chill it until it’s workable again. You can fill these window cookies with any kind of marmalade, jam or preserves — even lemon curd. If using any of the first three, warm the filling in the microwave, adding a dribble of water if very thick. Strain through a sieve to remove the solids, if you want.