Recipes

John Willoughby · NYT Cooking

You can substitute linguica, or even Spanish chorizo, for the Portuguese chouriço here. If any of the clams don't open, it's safest to toss them. Eat the lemon quarters as is (the rinds soften and sweeten under the flame) or squeeze the juice over the fish, as you wish.

John Willoughby · NYT Cooking

It's important to use smaller chicken thighs; if all you can get are the larger ones, it's best to cut them in half. If you don't have Maras pepper, it's worth buying, since its distinctive flavor will add depth and a sly heat to all kinds of dishes.

John Willoughby · NYT Cooking

You'll need a medium-hot charcoal fire to make this Argentine sauce. Either start cooking when your main grilled item comes off the fire or, if making this sauce separately, light a charcoal fire in your grill, putting all the coals on one side, and wait until it has died down to medium. Remove some or all of the pith and seeds from the jalapeños if you prefer a milder sauce. This relish is particularly good with beef.

John Willoughby · NYT Cooking

This spicy dipping sauce is particularly good with fish, shrimp or chicken. You'll need a medium-hot charcoal fire to make it. Either start cooking when the main dish comes off the fire or, if making this sauce separately, light a charcoal fire in your grill, putting all the coals on one side, and wait until it has died down to medium. Remove some or all of the pith and seeds from the jalapeños if you prefer a milder sauce.

John Willoughby · NYT Cooking

You'll need a medium-hot charcoal fire for this recipe. So either start cooking when the main dish comes off the fire or, if making this dish separately, light a charcoal fire in your grill, putting all the coals on one side, and wait until it has died down to medium. Serve this smoky chutney alongside pork or beef.

Charlotte Druckman · NYT Cooking

Going out on New Year’s Eve has always been, according to my parents, for amateurs. Their long-standing alternative: stay home and eat well. The ritual starts with caviar and Champagne. Then Dad might prepare steak tartare and Mom, a chocolate soufflé. Good stuff. Now, all grown up (and then some), I realize they’re on to something. A low-key, intimate gathering starring good food is my preferred way to ring in the new. But in these lean times — and in my significantly smaller kitchen — putting out a succulent spread and entertaining the troops chez moi calls for some creativity. This frittata can be cut in half and served as a meal for two with a bitter chicory salad, or sliced into strips and put into a salad of its own.

Charlotte Druckman · NYT Cooking

Going out on New Year’s Eve has always been, according to my parents, for amateurs. Their long-standing alternative: stay home and eat well. The ritual starts with caviar and Champagne. Then Dad might prepare steak tartare and Mom, a chocolate soufflé. Good stuff. Now, all grown up (and then some), I realize they’re on to something. A low-key, intimate gathering starring good food is my preferred way to ring in the new. But in these lean times — and in my significantly smaller kitchen — putting out a succulent spread and entertaining the troops chez moi calls for some creativity. Charlotte Druckman

Julia Moskin · NYT Cooking

The original recipe for these buttery, basic toffee bars belongs to Maida Heatter, the great American dessert maven of the 20th century. It was adapted for a cast-iron skillet by Charlotte Druckman, who wrote a book on cast-iron baking in 2016. “You can caramelize a crust in cast iron in a way that would never happen in a sheet pan,” she said. Make sure to bake the bars until very well browned across the top; that is the sign that the desired level of crisp chewiness has been achieved. The recipe calls for adding either nuts or chocolate to dough; you can add both if you like, but in that case use a larger cast-iron skillet (or use a plain old 9-by-13-inch baking pan). Julia Moskin

Charlotte Druckman · NYT Cooking

It was said that the recipient of the very first batch of these brownies polished them off, alone, in one sitting. There is no proof of this. What we do know is that they are vegan, deeply dark and fudgy. The recipe, which is based on one in Amy Chaplin's cookbook, “At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen,” uses everyday ingredients to reach that fudginess: olive oil (a proven amplifier of chocolate’s complexity) and dates (to round out the bitterness of the cocoa powder, and to act as a binder). But tahini and halvah are the two surprise players here, taking the recipe in a rich direction. The tahini disappears into the brownies, making them shockingly moist, while the halvah lends something familiar and unexpected. Regular almonds are fine; Marconas are better. You could replace the spelt flour with all-purpose for a less savory, more traditional effect. Charlotte Druckman

Charlotte Druckman · NYT Cooking

Marsala and chicken don’t always have to perform the same scaloppine routine, where you sauté the pounded breast and deglaze it with the wine to make a sauce, perhaps adding some mushrooms and cream. You’ll get so much more flavor if you use chicken thighs and let them marinate in the fortified wine with some Dijon and shallots before cooking. Transfer the poultry with mushrooms, carrots and more shallots to a sheet pan, roast them and dinner is done. This Marsala marinade is generous and versatile: It’s veal, pork and lamb-friendly. Set some aside before it touches the meat and you can even turn it into a salad-friendly vinaigrette.

Charlotte Druckman · NYT Cooking

Joe Trivelli, the head chef of the River Café in London, has a recipe for an apple cake in his 2018 cookbook, “The Modern Italian Cook.” It’s simple to prepare but complex in flavor, because its batter includes vin santo and brown butter. Both the fruit and fortified wine are ingredients associated with Northern Italy. In Sicily, Marsala would be the spirit of choice; it has more depth than its counterpart thanks to a subtle savory quality, and is often used for macerating strawberries. It’s a perfect pairing, improved upon when baked into this cake, especially when berries are in season. Charlotte Druckman

Charlotte Druckman · NYT Cooking

In 1954, the food writer Elizabeth David introduced her fellow Brits to carote al Marsala via her book “Italian Food.” She warned readers that Marsala and carrots may sound like “an unsuitable combination,” but lists the dish as one of her favorite vegetable recipes. Simmering the carrot in sweet wine until the liquid reduces to the point of becoming a glaze creates a delightful candying effect. The approach works equally well for parsnips and apples, which also have a natural sweetness, and any number of other root vegetables, like sunchokes or salsify.

Charlotte Druckman · NYT Cooking

If you’re not sure what green-podded cardamom tastes like, there’s no better way to find out than by tasting a Swedish kardemummabulle, a sweet bun perfumed with the southern Indian spice. The best place to try it would be at Fabrique, a Stockholm bakery that has opened a location in New York. Here, the knotted pastry is at its buttery finest, imbued with the piney warmth of the spice. The second-best place to try it would be at home, in your own kitchen, where, with a few adjustments, you can replicate the original. Yours will use less potent forms of cardamom — the store-bought ground version and the whole pods, instead of the fresh, coarsely ground seeds painstakingly removed from their shells — and may look slightly less put-together than those shaped by the professionals. And, unlike cinnamon rolls, these cardamom buns won’t rise as tall or be as fluffy — but they will taste so good that no one will care. Charlotte Druckman

Charlotte Druckman · NYT Cooking

What makes these cookies truly “perfect” isn’t anything radical; it’s simply an attention to detail. The pastry chef Ravneet Gill was meticulous in developing her recipe, and all of her instructions exist for a reason. When she tells you to chill your dough overnight, don’t think you can skip over that. (If you do, your cookies will spread.) When she instructs you to roll the dough into balls before transferring them to the fridge to rest, do as she says, and you’ll get a nice plump, domed cookie instead of a sad flat one. Don’t go swapping in milk chocolate for dark, and chop the chocolate into large chunks for those dramatic, dense puddles of goo. One allowance: If you don’t have Maldon salt, another flaky salt or even kosher salt will do. Charlotte Druckman

Charlotte Druckman · NYT Cooking

Although one may assume banana peels are the star of the show, they’re minor players in this flavor-packed production, adapted from “Cook, Eat, Repeat” by Nigella Lawson (Vintage Digital, 2020). It all hinges on the performance of a concentrated paste made with shallots, ginger, garlic and a red chile of your choice. This mixture forms the base of an intensely aromatic sauce that would make anything taste good. Feel free to swap out the banana skins for their surprising doppelgänger, eggplant, and the cauliflower for broccoli, potato or parsnip. Prep makes up the bulk of the work in this recipe; the curry itself comes together in under 30 minutes. Charlotte Druckman

Charlotte Druckman · NYT Cooking

There are a lot of flavors beyond banana hanging out in this loaf: coconut, chocolate, tahini and almond extract. They get along so well that you end up with something that tastes notably better than almost any other banana bread you’ve had before. It’s cocoa-rich, nutty and not too sweet. Using the whole fruit — both banana flesh and peel — punches up the banana flavor, but doesn’t overshadow the other notes. Nadiya Hussain’s recipe offers numerous substitutions; you could play up nutty notes by opting for almond butter and almond milk, or swap in olive oil in place of coconut oil. The recipe inspires infinite permutations. Charlotte Druckman

Celia Barbour · NYT Cooking

Celia Barbour · NYT Cooking

Celia Barbour · NYT Cooking

Celia Barbour · NYT Cooking

This savory tart is built upon a layer of store-bought puff pastry and topped with goat cheese, fennel, mushrooms and leeks. It makes an impressive (and easy) party appetizer or weeknight dinner for two.

Celia Barbour · NYT Cooking

Celia Barbour · NYT Cooking

Celia Barbour · NYT Cooking

Celia Barbour · NYT Cooking