Recipes

Eleanore Park · NYT Cooking

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. Eleanore Park

Elaine Sciolino · NYT Cooking

Elaine Sciolino

Elaine Sciolino · NYT Cooking

Elaine Sciolino

Elaine Sciolino · NYT Cooking

Elaine Sciolino

Elaine Sciolino · NYT Cooking

Elaine Sciolino

Elaine Sciolino · NYT Cooking

Elaine Sciolino

Elaine Sciolino · NYT Cooking

Elaine Sciolino

Elaine Sciolino · NYT Cooking

These are the rustic original macarons that begot the smooth-topped, puffed up, ganache-filled, pastel food-colored sandwich confections we know. Elaine Sciolino

Elaine Sciolino · NYT Cooking

Elaine Sciolino · NYT Cooking

Elaine Sciolino

Elaine Sciolino · NYT Cooking

This deeply flavored fish stew is a traditional specialty of Sète, a working-class Mediterranean port in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. While it has largely vanished from restaurants, it still turns up as a showpiece on Sunday and holiday tables. Save some time by having your fish counter do the skinning and boning for you, if possible. As a starter course, it can easily serve six. Elaine Sciolino

Elaine Sciolino · NYT Cooking

The risina bean has taken considerable work to rescue, and it may take some effort to track down. But it’s well worth ordering the heirloom legume online. La Boutique del Gusto ships Cuore Verde risina beans to the United States and other locations, or you can purchase them online from other vendors. Once you order, most of your toil will be over because the beans lend themselves to a simple preparation. This recipe, from the Umbrian couple who produce the Cuore Verde risina, brings out the beans’ subtle, grassy flavor.

Elaine Louie · NYT Cooking

This beautiful, verdant Persian-style frittata is made from a recipe that at first glance looks ridiculous. It’s not the list of ingredients, which sound fresh and lovely with heaps of parsley, cilantro, scallions and lettuce. It’s the last line, Step No. 4, which calls for cooking one side of the frittata 40 minutes, then flipping it over, and cooking the other side 40 more minutes. In the interminable 80 minutes that it cooks, several things happen. The vegetables give up their moisture, the frittata shrinks in height by two-thirds, and the outside becomes a slightly crisp, dark, golden brown — without burning. Elaine Louie

Elaine Louie · NYT Cooking

Elaine Louie

Elaine Louie · NYT Cooking

Elaine Louie

Elaine Louie · NYT Cooking

Elaine Louie

Elaine Louie · NYT Cooking

Elaine Louie

Elaine Louie · NYT Cooking

Elaine Louie

Elaine Louie · NYT Cooking

Elaine Louie

Elaine Louie · NYT Cooking

Elaine Louie

Elaine Louie · NYT Cooking

Elaine Louie

Elaine Louie · NYT Cooking

Elaine Louie

Elaine Louie · NYT Cooking

Jim Leiken, the executive chef at DBGB Kitchen & Bar, cooked us this hearty, rustic dish of fork-tender potatoes, Swiss chard and bubbling Gruyère that can move easily from a satellite role to the centerpiece of a vegetarian holiday meal. Elaine Louie

Elaine Louie · NYT Cooking

The Portuguese-born, New York-based chef Luisa Fernandes makes a savory empada — Portuguese stuffed pastry — that is similar to a ratatouille wrapped in puff pastry. She sautés eggplant, tomatoes, squash, onions and garlic, and once the vegetables are cooled, she tucks them into the pastry in muffin tins, and bakes them until they are golden. Serve them for lunch with a salad. Elaine Louie