Recipes

Suzanne Hamlin · NYT Cooking

Suzanne Hamlin · NYT Cooking

Suzanne Hamlin · NYT Cooking

This is a real julep, the now classic julep first served to Derby guests in 1875 by Col. Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., the founder of Churchill Downs. Now, as then, it is made with just four ingredients: finely crushed ice, a little sugar water, fresh spearmint and fine, aged, 90-proof straight Kentucky bourbon.

Amanda Hesser · NYT Cooking

Amanda Hesser

Amanda Hesser · NYT Cooking

This recipe came to The Times in 2003 from Suzanne Goin, the Los Angeles restaurateur whose braised vegetables are a hallmark of her cuisine. It is a marvelously flavorful dish, rich with garlic and salty pancetta. It is one to keep. Amanda Hesser

Amanda Hesser · NYT Cooking

Amanda Hesser

Julia Moskin · NYT Cooking

Here is a refreshing twist on a Creamsicle: a swirl of vanilla ice cream (either store-bought or homemade, your preference) doused in fresh tangerine juice and seltzer. Get an industrious child to help juice the tangerines. Their reward will be sprightly, sweet and satisfying. Julia Moskin

Sam Sifton · NYT Cooking

Suzanne Goin, the chef and owner of a number of Los Angeles restaurants, published a recipe for this surprisingly light concoction of onions, rice, cream and Gruyere in her invaluable 2005 cookbook, "Sunday Suppers at Lucques." Years later, Mark Bittman and I served it as part of a feast menu we cooked up for the Sunday Times Magazine. It is a marvelous accompaniment to roast chicken. Sam Sifton

Julia Moskin · NYT Cooking

When you’re making a turkey, making stock with the bones is the logical next step. This recipe, from the Los Angeles chef Suzanne Goin, has the usual aromatics — carrots, celery, onions — plus a concentrated shot of white wine and a dried chile, which add a welcome breath of freshness. (Sometimes poultry stock can taste flat.) Roasting the bones and the vegetables in the same pan streamlines the process and adds depth of flavor. You can use this stock in virtually any recipe that calls for chicken stock (except for chicken soup). Julia Moskin

Sam Sifton · NYT Cooking

Here is a recipe from the Los Angeles chef Suzanne Goin that plays to children as well as to the most sophisticated of palates. It is for crisp lamb meatballs cooked through in a fragrant North African-inspired sauce of tomato sauce zipped up with orange juice and warm spices, then topped with feta and mint. Ms. Goin first served the dish at one of her Los Angeles restaurants, and put it into ‘‘The A.O.C. Cookbook’’ (Knopf, 2013), devoted to that restaurant’s food. A version of the dish was later introduced to the menu of her children’s school. It can be cooked in an hour’s time, not all of it busy, and served with pita or plain pasta, bulgur or couscous. Sam Sifton

Susan Spungen · NYT Cooking

Amanda Hesser · NYT Cooking

As enjoyable as pounding the lights out of an innocent garlic clove or olive may be, probably the most satisfying flat food to prepare are these smashed and fried potatoes from Susan Spungen, which draw in part from a technique used to make tostones. You steam baby potatoes until they’re just tender, let them cool enough to be handled, then press them between your palms until they flatten a bit and you hear their skins begin to snap. Next, you heat up some oil in a skillet and fry the potatoes until they’re nice and brown on their flat sides. Each potato is then crisp and caramelized but still moist inside. Amanda Hesser

Susan Spungen · NYT Cooking

This version of the classic French soup simmers and bakes in a Dutch oven, while the toast broils right on top. Dried porcini mushrooms, fresh fennel and leeks provide deep umami flavor. Unless you have homemade beef stock on hand, go with a good chicken stock rather than boxed beef stock, which tastes mostly of salt. You could opt for vegetable stock for a vegetarian version, but skip the demi-glace, in that case. The preparation of this soup is time-consuming, but the flavor is well worth the effort. You can make the soup through Step 5 up to two days ahead of time. When ready to serve, reheat on the stove then continue with the final baking step for a hearty communal feast.

Susan Spungen · NYT Cooking

Finding a brunch dish that feeds a crowd can be a challenge, but this large-scale frittata does just that by layering sausage, kale and fontina with cream-thickened eggs. Use any fresh sausage you like (chorizo, merguez, or hot pork sausage work well), and swap in mild Swiss chard or peppery mustard greens in place of the kale. You can prepare this dish the night before serving by cooking through Step 5 and layering the sausage, vegetables and cheese in the baking dish. Let it warm up slightly at room temperature before adding the eggs, then bake as directed. Baking times will vary depending on how cold or warm the dish is, as well as its depth and ingredients, so keep an eye on the eggs; they should be just set in the center.

Susan Spungen · NYT Cooking

It’s always a clever idea to cook extra rice so that you can make fried rice the next night, or the one after that, using various bits and bobs in your fridge. Allowing the rice a day or two to dry out makes it doubly flavorful: Since the grains have less moisture, they’ll absorb even more flavor from whatever liquid you add to them. Plus, the dry grains remain separate, which means more surface area to soak up any seasoning. When it comes to fried rice, anything goes — leftover meat or fish, or whatever stray vegetables are lurking in your produce drawer or freezer will do. Just make sure you don’t crowd the pan, or your rice will steam instead of crisp.

Susan Spungen · NYT Cooking

This plump and juicy roast chicken benefits from tenderizing in a yogurt-lemon-garlic marinade for as long as 24 hours, but if you don’t have a lot of time, slathering it with the mixture before sliding it into the oven will still add flavor, and give the spices something to stick to. Za’atar, a Middle Eastern herb-and-spice blend, can still be hard to find in the supermarket, so make your own by combining sumac, sesame seeds, thyme, coriander, oregano and cumin. You can buy sumac, a garnet-colored lemony spice, in Middle Eastern markets or online, but the rest of the ingredients are most likely already on your spice rack, and leaving out one or two of them is perfectly O.K. If you have a premade za’atar blend on hand, you’ll need about ½ cup to coat the chicken.

Susan Spungen · NYT Cooking

Originating in Capri, Caprese mimics the colors of the Italian flag in salad form using the now-classic combination of mozzarella, tomato and basil. Here, that trinity transforms everyday chicken cutlets into something special. Thanks to the proliferation of hothouse tomatoes (which are better enjoyed cooked than raw), this dish can be enjoyed year-round. Cocktail tomatoes, slightly larger than a golf ball and often sold on the vine, are perfect for this, but any size will work. Simple to assemble, this dish forms its own delicious pan sauce as the liquid from the cheese and tomatoes mingles with the caramelized juices from the browned chicken.

Susan Spungen · NYT Cooking

Japanese buckwheat noodles are usually served cold or in a hot soup, but here, they’re given a bright jolt of color and texture. Delightfully chewy soba noodles are combined with chicken, mango, snap peas, cucumber and a spicy peanut dressing for a great warm-weather lunch that’s also picnic-friendly. Serve it alongside any grilled meat or fish, or leave the chicken out to make it vegetarian. To make this ahead, prepare all the salad components in advance, but wait until serving time to combine to keep flavors and textures vibrant.

Susan Spungen · NYT Cooking

You might be tempted to call this a focaccia, not pizza, and you might be right, but it probably falls somewhere in between. Store-bought pizza dough can be a real time-saver, but if you can’t find it refrigerated, you’ll need to plan ahead to defrost frozen dough. Defrosting is best done for 24 hours or so in the fridge — or longer, as the dough will continue to ferment and improve in flavor after a day or two. The dough is easier to stretch if it’s not ice cold, so let it come to room temperature. The pancetta can be omitted for vegetarians, but the lemony herb and arugula salad on top is not to be missed.

Susan Spungen · NYT Cooking

This fast but fabulous chicken dish pairs Thai-inspired flavors with French technique. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts have weeknight appeal, largely because they cook so quickly, but that also means they can dry out and become tough if you’re not careful. Here, the chicken is gently cooked for about 10 minutes, then simmered in a ginger-scented coconut sauce studded with green beans and corn, resulting in tender and juicy chicken. Slicing the breasts before serving allows the sauce to coat each piece, adding more moisture and flavor. If you want more heat, sprinkle thinly sliced serrano chile over the top before serving. The best part is the entire meal comes together in about a half-hour: If you’re quick, you can get all the vegetable prep done while the chicken cooks.

Susan Spungen · NYT Cooking

This crunchy, tasty, not-really-fried rice gets a big umami punch from gochujang, the fermented Korean red-pepper paste that’s worth keeping in your fridge to perk up all sorts of dishes. As with any fried rice, you can add raw or cooked vegetables according to what you have on hand (though you’ll want to add cooked vegetables a little later in the cooking process). If you don’t have brussels sprouts, you could use any type of cabbage. Broccoli or cauliflower would be great substitutes for broccolini, and butternut squash can replace the carrots. The fried egg on top makes it feel like a more substantial meal, but you can leave it out for a lighter dinner. If you are a vegetarian, leave out the sausage, or add some smoked tofu. The dish is endlessly customizable.

Susan Spungen · NYT Cooking

If Cheddar on a slice of apple pie sounds good to you, you will love this twist on a grilled cheese sandwich, which marries salty and sweet elements between two caramelized pieces of buttery bread. Look for dark apple butter, with no added sugar, since it will have the richest flavor. Unlike most grilled cheese recipes, which call for building the sandwiches, cooking them on one side, then flipping, this one calls for cooking the sandwiches open-faced, then assembling them.The cheese melts more quickly and reliably if cooked this way. Depending on the size of your bread slices and your skillet, you may be able to cook two sandwiches at a time. You could also have two pans going, or just serve them as they are finished. To serve all four at once, just transfer the cooked sandwiches to a baking sheet in a 200-degree oven while you crisp up the remaining sandwiches on the stovetop.

Susan Spungen · NYT Cooking

If you like a good kale salad, or any type of crunchy salad, then you will love this one, which combines shredded raw brussels sprouts with roasted brussels sprouts leaves. As with any sturdy greens, the raw sprouts benefit from marinating in the dressing, which uses fresh lemon juice and salt as tenderizers. While the uncooked greens can be prepared in advance, you’ll want to add the warm ingredients just before serving, so you can enjoy the contrast of the crisp leaves and toasted almonds with the tangy shredded sprouts.

Susan Spungen · NYT Cooking

Wonderful served as a brunch centerpiece or as a holiday side, this rich meatless casserole can be assembled in advance, refrigerated overnight, then baked just before serving. You could certainly prepare it day-of and let the bread soak for 15 minutes before baking, but allowing it to sit overnight will make it more tender. Delicate brioche is the ideal bread for this pudding, and it is available in most supermarkets, often in the form of hamburger rolls, which are a good size and shape for this dish. Challah is also a good option, but it’s a bit denser, so it may take more than 15 minutes for it to soak up the custard.