Appetizer
3523 recipes found
Breaded Jalapeños
These pickled jalapeño peppers are stuffed with chunky peanut butter, dipped in flour, egg and bread crumbs, then fried. Carlos Jacott, El Parador’s owner and maître d’hôtel, is said to have created the dish when, as a college student, he only had jalapeños and peanut butter in his refrigerator.
Cornmeal Waffles With Smoked Salmon
A touch of fine cornmeal in the batter gives these waffles a delicious crispness. For a savory approach, they are embellished with smoked salmon, crème fraîche and caviar, perfect for a celebratory soiree, midnight supper or brunch. Serve a whole waffle or cut in quarters for appetizers. If you don’t have a waffle iron, the batter can also be used to make pancakes or blini. Of course, if preferred, serve these corn-perfumed waffles with sweet toppings instead.
Bright Green Pesto and Its Many Uses
I’ve been making pesto forever and have never been able to keep it bright green. It has such promise, such flavor, and I know that the pasta or whatever else I use it in will taste wonderful. But I’ve always been frustrated by how quickly the basil oxidizes and the color goes from bright green to drab. So I decided to try blanching the leaves very briefly to see if that would solve the problem and voilà! It did. You need to blanch the basil for only five seconds, and you don’t want to blanch it for more than 10. Doing this leaches out a wee bit of the basil’s vivid flavor, but not enough to change that of the pesto significantly. The texture and color are wonderful, and the pesto will keep for several days in the refrigerator (but it’s best to wait until you’re ready to use the pesto before adding the garlic and cheese).
Cacio e Pepe Corn on the Cob
Cacio e pepe is a traditional Italian pasta made with pecorino, Parmesan, black pepper and a little pasta cooking water. These cobs borrow the flavors of the traditional dish, but the cheese sauce is not thinned with water, so it’s very rich and creamy. Serve the cacio e pepe corn with grilled steak or fish and a green salad with acidic dressing. You’ll be happy.
Caesar Salad
Making the dressing for Caesar salad is an exercise in the art of layering salty ingredients to build flavor; there are anchovies, Parmesan and Worcestershire sauce, in addition to the salt itself. (There is also garlic, which is pounded with a pinch of salt using a mortar and pestle to make a smooth paste.) Since a delicious balanced dressing depends on working in the right amounts of each of those ingredients — and the other, unsalted elements — refrain from adding the salt crystals until you’ve added the right amount of everything else. This recipe is adapted from "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat" by Samin Nosrat, and it's absolutely worth making the torn croutons — store-bought croutons can’t compete, and you'll have leftovers for another salad.
Corn on the Cob With Coconut and Lime
Anyone avoiding dairy might notice that corn on the cob served at cookouts usually comes slathered with butter. This vegan alternative uses coconut oil to add richness, lime juice for a little acid, and finely chopped, toasted coconut chips for added texture. Mixing half of the chips into the oil helps them stick to the cob, which is smart because you’ll want them in every bite. If you can’t find coconut chips, toasted unsweetened coconut flakes will add a nutty flavor, but you won’t get the delightful crunch.
Pure Potato Latkes
Perfect for Hanukkah or any time of year, these latkes bring out the pure flavor of potato, because that is basically the only ingredient in them. Making latkes can be a last-minute nightmare, with overeager cooks putting too many patties in hot oil, thus taking longer to fry and resulting in a greasy mess. But these can be prepared in advance. This recipe, adapted from the chef Nathaniel Wade of the Outermost Inn on Martha’s Vineyard, starts with parbaked potatoes, which are cooled, grated, seasoned with just salt and pepper, pressed into patties and refrigerated, then fried just before serving. You can either serve them with crème fraîche or sour cream, smoked salmon and tiny flecks of chives, or traditional brisket and homemade applesauce.
Seeded Whole-Wheat Scones
True scones are not overly sweet. These have wonderful texture; even with whole-wheat flour and all the seeds, they’re light. The seed mix I use includes sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, flax and poppy seeds.
Cheesy Cornbread Muffins With Hot Honey Butter
Smoky chipotle takes these muffins into savory territory, but this recipe can be used purely as a blueprint: Want them a bit sweeter? Lose the minced chipotle chiles, and increase the sugar by a couple of tablespoons. Need them to hold up to a heavily spiced pot of chili? Double the chipotles en adobo, add 1/4 cup minced red onion and a dash of ground cumin, onion powder or garlic, perhaps. Whatever you add, don’t overmix: Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined (a few lumps are O.K.) before folding in the cheese for muffins that are rich but not dense.
Tofu Mushroom Soup
For a full meal in a bowl, serve this deeply flavorful soup with warm brown rice or noodles.
Marinated Shaved Fennel with Avocado and Minneola Tangelos
This recipe, from the chef Norman Van Aken, came to The Times in 2001 as part of a story about the raw food movement, in which every element of every dish is raw, organic and vegan -- no meat, fish, eggs or dairy products.
Whole-Wheat English Muffins
Yes, it is worth your while to make English muffins from scratch. Not only is the texture lighter and crisper, homemade muffins taste better, too — yeasty, wheaty, complex. You will need to sear these muffins on the stove top before baking. That’s what gives them their unique crunch on their bottoms. This recipe does not require muffin rings, but if you have them and would like to use them, go right ahead. Just add a few minutes onto the baking time to accommodate the muffins’ increased thickness. Then fork-split them, toast and serve with plenty of butter. After all, that’s what those crevices are made for.
Gluten-Free Whole Grain Cheese and Mustard Muffins
A savory muffin with a delicious strong flavor.One of my favorite savory muffins. Add the nuts if you want more texture, but they have plenty without them. Because the cheese and mustard add such a nice strong flavor, I don’t mind using a gluten-free blend that includes bean flour in these muffins because I don’t really taste the bean flour.
The Original Waldorf Salad
"Millions who never visited the Waldorf owe him a debt," The New York Times wrote in 1950, upon Oscar Tschirky's death. Mr. Tschirky, a Swiss immigrant who became known as "Oscar of the Waldorf," is credited with creating this piece of Americana in 1893, a timeless dish whose popularity has spread far past the Waldorf's exclusive doors and into home kitchens. Over time, variations would include blue cheese, raisins and chopped walnuts, which can be added here alongside the celery and apples. But the original is an exercise in simplicity: four ingredients that have lived on for over a century.
Gluten-Free Cornmeal Molasses Muffins
Strong molasses provides a good source of iron in an easy-to-make muffin. One of my favorite breads is a steamed brown bread called Boston brown bread. It is made with cornmeal and flour, and is the inspiration for these muffins, which are easier to make. The strong molasses, which is a good source of iron, flavor will mask the bean flavor of commercial gluten free mixes, so feel free to use one.
"Gnocchi" of Hass Avocado with Apples and Shaved Walnuts
This recipe is from the French Laundry, the chef Thomas Keller's restaurant in Yountville, Calif. It was published as part of a 2001 story about the raw food movement, in which every element of every dish is raw, organic and vegan.
Welsh Rarebit
Anyone can lay a few slices of cheese on toast and melt them, but creating a thick sauce of cheese, beer and spices and then spreading it on toast creates one of the best late-night snacks I know. This is Welsh rarebit, or rabbit, a traditional British dish whose name has a long and complicated history, one we will not go into here.
Mashama Bailey’s Pecan Pesto
This recipe, from the chef Mashama Bailey of the Grey in Savannah, Ga., came to The Times in 2015. The pesto’s roots are Italian, of course, but its flavor and texture nod first to the South, with pecans swapped in to the paste in place of more traditional pine nuts, and then to the wider world, with the inclusion of both Thai and opal basils to the mix. But use whatever basil you can find. Ms. Bailey’s cooking is more about bending the rules than enforcing them.
Baron Bagels
Dan Graf, a genetics major who dropped out of Rutgers, founded Baron Baking in Oakland, Calif., after working in a delicatessen. The son of a Bergen County, N.J., contractor, he grew up accompanying his father to jobs on weekends. Stopping for bagels was part of the ritual. After moving to California, he worked for two years at Saul’s Restaurant and Delicatessen in Berkeley, where he became fascinated with baking. He began baking bagels in his apartment and eventually won an account with his former employer. There are all kinds of bagels; Mr. Graf’s has a chewy bite and an almost pretzel-like crust. This is his recipe.
Spring Rolls With Thai Basil
Fatima’s Fingers (Tunisian Egg Rolls)
These deep-fried pastries, which are known as “doigts de fatima” in French, are named after the prophet Muhammad’s daughter and her delicate fingers. They are commonly eaten to break the fast during Ramadan, but are also enjoyed year round, especially at weddings. While this particular recipe is Tunisian, many North African and Middle Eastern countries have their own versions. They are typically made with thin, delicate malsouka pastry sheets, but spring roll wrappers are used here instead. The fillings are wide-ranging (you may find versions with tuna, shrimp, ground beef or vegetables) and flexible: Feel free to omit the chicken in this recipe for a tasty vegetarian snack.
Scalloped Scallops
Blue Crab And Melon Soup With Nori Crème Fraîche
Mark Bittman's Gravlax
Use king or sockeye salmon from a good source. In either case, the fish must be spanking fresh. Gravlax keeps for a week after curing; and, though it's not an ideal solution, you can successfully freeze gravlax for a few weeks.