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404 recipes found
Lemon-Honey Nian Gao (Mochi Cake)
Jessica Wang, who runs Gu’s Grocery, a Chinese Taiwanese online store, in Los Angeles, always sells a variation of her mother’s mochi cake at her pop-ups. Subtly sweet, this honey-lemon variation gets a double jolt of moisture from a blend of honey and macerated lemon that gets stirred into the batter and then drizzled on top after baking. Mochiko (sweet rice flour) multitasks here, bolstering the hints of the cake’s sweetness and imparting this gluten-free treat with a unique textural crumb that’s both bouncy and light. Though this dessert is well-suited for a crowd, it also makes for a lovely snacking cake as it keeps well too, since the soaking liquid softens the cake over the first day and into the second.
Baked Red Bean Nian Gao (Mochi Cake)
There’s a decadence to red bean nian gao that might lead you to assume there’s labor behind the richness. Instead, this butter mochi cake couldn’t be simpler. This recipe is as easy as it is riffable, and the snack invites different nuts and seeds as additions or substitutions for toppings. Mochiko (sweet rice flour) results in a lovely, paradoxical cake crumb that’s both chewy and springy. Jessica Wang, who runs Gu Grocery, a Chinese Taiwanese online store, in Los Angeles, has collaborated with her mother, Peggy Wang, teaching cooking classes and baking pastries at pop-ups where they sell lemon-honey nian gao and other variations of her mother’s baked nian gao (red bean butter mochi cake). For added caramelization and even more textural contrast, Ms. Wang recommends briefly broiling the top or lightly searing any leftover pieces in a cast-iron skillet.
Braised Pork With Leeks and Mushrooms
Inspired by blanquette de veau, a classic French veal stew, this comforting braise unites pork, leeks, mushrooms and carrots in a creamy, rosemary-infused broth. In this simple braise, nicely seared pork and softened veggies are combined with the broth and aromatics and simmered until the pork is tender and juicy. The dish is finished with a beurre manié — a mixture of equal parts butter and flour — that gets whisked into the stew at the end of cooking to create a smooth, thickened sauce. The final addition of just enough heavy cream creates a silky texture, with fresh chopped parsley to brighten the rich stew.
Loose Meat Sandwich
The sandwich of choice around Sioux City, Iowa is the loose meat sandwich — think Sloppy Joes without the tomato-based sauce. Here, ground beef and onions are cooked into intensely flavorful crumbles with a few seasonings, then piled high on a hamburger bun with dill pickles and yellow mustard. Sometimes known as a Maid-Rite (named after the restaurant chain that popularized it), a “tavern” or a “canteen,” this is the nostalgic sandwich of a million Iowan childhoods. The recipe easily satisfies a crowd: Just make a double batch of the beef filling, then scoop onto buns until you run out.
French Lentil Salad
Bright with flavor, dynamic and crisp with a combination of roots and chicory, and fresh with major herb appeal, this is a hearty, friendly, anytime salad that will work well with any grocery or farmers’ market haul. It can easily become a staple in your home: You can make it on Sunday and eat it throughout the week, its flavors changing as it marinates. Because of this, it’s also a salad you can adjust as days go by, adding more lemon here and there, maybe some cheese to change up its flavors after a day or two. Sturdy enough to stand alone as a light meal in and of itself, this lentil salad also makes a fantastic side served with roasted chicken or fish. This is one special and easygoing recipe to have on hand for all occasions.
Easy Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting
The whole point of carrot cake is that, in its most ideal form, it’s a vehicle for cream cheese frosting, a triple stack of fluffy spiced cake, finished with generous swoops of frosting. Baking the cake batter in a half-sheet pan, then cutting the flat cake into three rectangles delivers thin, even layers and skips the hassle of baking and slicing tall cake rounds. To highlight the tang of cream cheese, this frosting includes sour cream instead of butter. It gives the whole thing a fresh lightness, each forkful equal parts tender cake and silky frosting. The resulting cake looks modern with its sharp angles but can still be cut into classic triangular wedges.
Grilled Asparagus With Burrata and Furikake
There’s something truly special about this combination of charred asparagus and scallions, milky burrata and crunchy furikake, a Japanese condiment of seaweed, sesame seeds and fish flakes. Maybe it’s the umami of the naturally savory asparagus, which intensifies on the grill; or the nubbly seeds blanketing the soft cheese; or the ingredients so redolent of land and sea. It’s probably best to not overthink it, and just dig in. Serve it alongside lentils, grains or grilled chicken, seafood or mushrooms for a full meal.
Mushroom and Tofu Sticky Rice
Sticky rice, known as lo mai fan in Cantonese, with its signature chewy texture and natural whisper of sweetness, feels like a celebration dish but is easy enough to whip up on a weeknight. This version is vegan, and dotted with toothsome shiitake mushrooms, bouncy extra-firm tofu and, if you like, nutty roasted chestnuts. While sticky rice is often steamed or made in a rice cooker, this one can be made in any heavy pot and cooks slowly on low heat, resulting in grains that are sticky but not mushy. Start by soaking the sticky rice (boiling water cuts the soak time to just 30 minutes), which helps it cook more evenly. Naturally gluten-free, sticky rice is sometimes sold as sweet or glutinous rice and is available from most Chinese markets, as well as larger Asian grocery stores.
Roasted Carrots With Whipped Tahini
For a spectacular vegetable side at home, try this tried-and-true formula: A swoosh of sauce on a plate topped with a cooked vegetable and a confetti of finely chopped garnish. For this iteration, blend the base (a cloud of yogurt, tahini, citrus and garlic) and chop your garnish (a pretty pile of pistachios, dill and chives) while the carrots roast. Set on a platter, served hot or at room temperature, it’s a special side dish that can also hold its own as a vegetarian main, supplemented with chickpeas, quinoa, couscous or toasted bread.
Herby Asparagus Salad With Beets and Prosciutto
Asparagus is absolutely a symbol of spring, so what better way to celebrate the season than by centering them in a salad. A platter of green spears, bathed in a mustard-tinged vinaigrette, would be perfectly fine, but for something more celebratory, it’s nice to dress things up, with finely slivered raw beets, a shower of dill, parsley and mint leaves, and chopped (or quartered) soft-cooked egg. A few slices of prosciutto complete the colorful assembly. For the best flavor, look for the freshest firm, shiny asparagus available, whether pencil thin, medium or hefty.
Lemon Cake With Strawberries and Cream
For dessert, a bowl of strawberries and cream is always a winner. But instead, consider this lemony spongecake topped with strawberries and cream, which may well generate applause. It’s worth seeking out smaller strawberries, which tend to be riper and sweeter than the large, white-shouldered type. The spongecake may be baked in advance, up to 2 days ahead. It’s fun to hide the strawberries under a thick layer of whipped cream, but you can serve the cream on the side if preferred.
Lamb Shoulder With Greens and Beans
Spring and lamb are synonymous, so in honor of the season, make this succulent lamb shoulder braised with white wine and aromatics. While the lamb is, of course, a showstopper, the real star is a mélange of greens (chard, kale or large spinach) and beans, punched up with rosemary, hot pepper and orange zest. Look for fresh favas, or substitute the peeled frozen variety (found at Middle Eastern grocery stores), frozen edamame, baby limas, green peas or a combination. An ideal dinner party main, every part of this dish can be prepared hours (or a day) ahead and reheated just before serving.
Roasted Cabbage With Capers and Garlic
It sounds so simple — roasted cabbage with a garlicky caper oil — but the resulting dish is anything but plain. Sharp from briny capers and unapologetically pungent from the garlic, with a bold kick of zesty lemon, the flavored oil serves as both a marinade for the cabbage and a finishing glaze. As the cabbage roasts, it turns savory and caramelized while the capers develop a crunch. Make this dish heartier by roasting chickpeas alongside the cabbage, serve alongside a protein like quinoa or pan-fried tofu, toss through pasta, or simply serve with bread to mop up every last drop.
Loaded Oven Fries
Roasting thick wedges of well-seasoned potatoes skin-side down on a sheet pan delivers the crispness of fries while maintaining the soft, pillowy insides of a perfectly baked potato. Top them with crispy bacon, melted sharp Cheddar, chopped scallions and sour cream for a crowd-pleasing game-day snack or hearty appetizer.
Lemon Butter Salmon With Dill
Glossed with a tangy blend of honey and lemon, this salmon caramelizes around the edges while staying juicy and tender. Dill, lots of it, brings freshness, green as cut grass. Wild salmon works especially well here because the butter in the sauce gives the lean fish richness. (Fatty farmed salmon will simply taste even richer, not a bad thing at all.) Quick-pickled cucumbers and mustard seeds offer a cool, crunchy pop to this dish, but the salmon is also tasty on its own. Serve this with rice, potatoes or a tray of asparagus roasted alongside the salmon.
Spice Muffins
Deep, complex flavors from molasses and stout distinguish these muffins from the typical sweeter varieties, and nutty brown butter and spices like cardamom, allspice and cinnamon bring a toasty warmth. Those familiar with Jamaican spice bun will be pleasantly surprised to find many parallels between that cake and these muffins. The chewy, spicy tendrils of crystallized ginger — which are optional in this recipe but highly recommended — stand in for the traditional fruit mix and further amplify the ground ginger in the batter.
Chantilly Lili
This dessert, named for Meghan’s daughter, Princess Lilibet, is based on a banana pudding recipe of Meghan’s grandmother. In the Southern classic, vanilla pudding is layered with cookies and sliced banana; Meghan’s version adds the sweet-tart sting of strawberries macerated with lemon. She happens to have a passion fruit vine in her garden, and its yellow seeds make a nice, juicy garnish. This layered pudding can be made in individual glasses for a party, or a big bowl for a family night in.
Chocolate Pretzel Shortbread
In this sweet and salty shortbread, finely ground pretzels replace a portion of the flour to deliciously toasty effect. Use any style of salted pretzels you have on hand; just make sure to finely grind the pretzels until they are the texture of almond flour for the best results. (If the ground pretzels are too chunky, the shortbread will not hold together.) Bittersweet chocolate chips add richness to this simple cookie, but any type of chocolate chips will do the job. Slice the baked shortbread with a very sharp knife to reduce crumbling.
Sweet Potato Cornbread
Old-school Southern cornbread is good anytime and anywhere, but make it a bit more surprising with sweet potato. This cornbread is seasoned with caramelized sweet potatoes and warm spices, then smeared with a delicious sweet potato-brown sugar butter that’s reminiscent of classic sweet potato pie. To save time and energy, a can of sweet potato stands in for fresh ones that require roasting. When jazzed up by caramelizing in a skillet, its flavor instantly changes from back-up dancer to star.
Salpicón de Pescado (Spicy Citrus-Marinated Fish)
In Mexican cooking, salpicón is a dish of fish, shellfish or meat mixed with chopped vegetables and tossed in an aromatic dressing. In the Yucatán, salpicones are flavored with sour orange juice and habaneros. In this version, quick-roasted fish fillets are tossed in lime and orange juice to mimic that tropical flavor. The fattiness of the fish and avocado tame the heat of the habaneros, but if you are sensitive to spice, use half of a habanero or look for habanadas, a chile that tastes just as sweet and floral as a habanero but with zero heat! You can serve this dish right away while the fish is still warm, or refrigerate the fish and pico de gallo separately for a few hours — the flavors only get better. Then mix together cold for parties, picnics or a day at the beach.
Orange-Ginger Brussels Sprouts
Bring sunshine to your vegetable routine with a sharp dressing of turmeric, ginger, citrus and lots of black pepper. The combination is reminiscent of nose-clearing tonics and the spices in sabzis which can brighten roasted brussels sprouts as well as cooked beets, squash, carrots, cabbage or other hardy vegetables. Juicy orange chunks, chopped peanuts and cilantro (including crunchy stems) add pops of texture and freshness. This side would glow on a dinner party spread, or make it a weeknight meal by stirring in chickpeas or eating it with grains and yogurt.
Disco Fries
The Garden State's answer to poutine, make the Jersey diner staple at home with this easy recipe.
Spiced Chicken Breasts in Pastry
These chicken breasts baked in pastry may sound impossibly fussy, but they’re quite simple to prepare. The only tedious part is making sure the chicken breasts are the same size and thickness. Small boneless chicken breasts work well, and will need only a little trimming, but if all you can find are large ones, you’ll need to cut them into four 6-ounce pieces, an easy butchering project. (Save leftover scraps for a stir-fry or freeze them to add to a future chicken stock.)
Cucumber-Cabbage Salad With Sesame
Taking cues from Vietnamese flavors, this colorful salad can be served on its own or be a fine accompaniment to roast chicken, grilled meat or fish. The dressing, a zippy mixture of garlic, ginger, sesame oil, fish sauce, lime juice and jalapeño, makes sure the vegetables shine. Ordinary cabbage will work fine, but if you can find napa cabbage, so much the better.