Olive Oil and Brown Sugar Granola Minus the Grains
This recipe for grain-free granola calls in roughly chopped sliced almonds to replace the oats. It's adapted from Nekisia Davis' Olive Oil and Maple Granola, which more than 2,000 Food52 users consider a favorite. Consider this a template for grain-free granola: Riffing is encouraged. Swap out the dried cherries for another tart dried fruit, like cranberries. Toss in dark chocolate chips after it cools. The recipe yields about 7 cups, which'll fly off of your pantry shelves in no time, but you can easily double or halve it as you wish. Stored in a jar and adorned with a twine bow, it'd make a beautiful holiday—or any day—gift.
Oregon Trail Mix
Transcend good ol' raisins and peanuts. And if you want to try a trail less traveled, here's a handy formula: 2 cups nuts, 1 cup crunch (seeds or grains or cereal), 1 cup dried fruit, 1 cup surprise, such as cacao nibs, candied ginger, or edible gold flakes.
Alex Raij s Radishes with Vanilla Butter & Salt 2 Ways
“What’s important is the temperature of the butter,” Raij says. “It should be plastic and cold.” Raij was initially inspired by a snack at Roscioli delicatessen in Rome that combined salty Spanish anchovies with curls of cold vanilla butter.
5 Minute Hummus From Zahav Restaurant
As Michael Solomonov & Steve Cook write in Israeli Soul, "We believe 5-Minute Hummus to be a medium step forward for mankind.
Molly Yeh s Roasted Potatoes With Paprika Mayo
There is this one little step to getting the finest, crispiest roasted potatoes: Boiling in salty water first. It seasons the potatoes all the way through in a way that a cloak of fat and salt on a raw potato can’t.
Magical Three- Ingredient Dressing
Mayonnaise-haters, look away. This magical dressing—which leans entirely on the creamy, tanginess of mayo and the spicy, garlicky Huy Fong sauce I eat by the jarful—is my secret weapon for any quick salad, grain bowl, seared protein, or sautéed green in need of some zhooshing up. It asks pretty much nothing of you, and gives you everything in return.
Pasta With Creamy Crushed Walnut Sauce From Heidi Swanson
Thank goodness for a new speedy pasta—especially one with a proper sauce that requires almost no cooking. As Heidi Swanson writes on 101 Cookbooks| New Window, “This is the best thing I’ve cooked with the least amount of effort in the past month.” I would have to agree.
Louisiana Barbecued Shrimp From Toni Tipton Martin & B Smith
Louisiana barbecued shrimp is that sort of magical dish that's intensely flavored, super fast to cook, and perfect for entertaining. But don't let the name fool you. As author Toni Tipton-Martin writes, "You won’t find any barbecue sauce in the model/chef/restaurateur B. Smith’s dish of shrimp in spiced butter sauce: 'Barbecue shrimp' is just the name Louisiana Creole cooks assigned to shrimp braised in wine, beer or a garlic-butter sauce."
Epic Snickerdoodles From Jessie Sheehan
This fancy bakery-style cookie is ready in no time. Because of course the queen of easy-peasy desserts, Jessie Sheehan, knows all the genius tricks for making a truly epic snickerdoodle, without an epic wait.
Bicyclette Cocktail
This is a really nice aperitif in that it's not too alcoholic (in other words, one or two won't knock you on your heiney), refreshing, and pretty to look at.
Vegetarian Reuben
I started making this sandwich when I became a vegetarian because I love reuben sandwiches. My family, who was not vegetarian, loved this sandwich equally. This is the recipe I want to be remembered by, because I would eventually like to open up a deli that specializes in grilled cheese sandwiches. I like to call this a "vegetarian reuben", but it's really not a reuben at all. I make my own "pickled" red cabbage and replace the meat with mushrooms. Instead of a Thousand Island dressing, I make a concoction of mayonnaise, Dijon mustard and dill relish. I generally use rye bread, because I love, love, love rye and pumpernickel breads. So as you see, this is really not a reuben at all. But let's be honest, who's stopping me from calling it one?
Coconut Pudding Dairy Free
Pudding is one of those especially friendly and forgiving recipes. Not only is it easy to make, and typically made with pantry staples, it can also easily be tweaked to suit a number of different dietary preferences. Take this dairy-free pudding, for example. It was born solely out of a desire to have a super creamy, ultra coconutty pudding—which is when I realized it could so easily be a 100% dairy-free pudding, too. Puddings are a delicious, nostalgic dessert on their own—but they also moonlight as the star of your favorite cream pies. Chocolate cream pie = chocolate pudding in a crust. So think of this as coconut cream pie, minus the crust. Just the creamy, coconut-flecked goodness of the interior—maybe topped with a little whipped cream, if you like.
Super Quick Asparagus Tart
Your guests will think you spent hours on this gorgeous asparagus tart—I won't tell if you don't! The prep time is actually short and sweet, since we skip the fussy and unnecessary steps of rolling out, trimming, and blind-baking the dough. Feel free to adapt this recipe to whatever's in season next: the basic puff pastry + ricotta + vegetable (or fruit!) formula is endlessly riffable.
Rotisserie Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad
This is a summery, easy-prep pasta salad with all your favorites: rotisserie chicken, homemade Caesar dressing, ciabatta croutons, fusilli, and lots of freshly grated Parmesan. It comes together in just one big salad bowl, and can be made in advance to bring to the beach, on a picnic, or to have in the fridge to snack on whenever hunger strikes. Since it makes a big batch, it’s also perfect for summer BBQs and entertaining.
Crispy Cornflake Treats
In this recipe for Crispy Cornflake Treats, I gently caramelized brown sugar in melted butter for a nutty flavor before adding marshmallows and cornflakes. I then cut them into 1-inch square pieces and dipped them in melted dark chocolate to make them look like bite-sized candies. My original thought was to develop these as DYI Halloween candies, so if you wanted to go crazy, you could wrap them up in wax paper and hand them out.
Thai Puffy Omelet
For Thais, the recipe for a puffy fried omelet is almost too basic to say. It's made from ingredients that all Thai people have in their fridge or pantry—eggs, sugar, fish sauce, herbs, and ground pork or crab if you want—and if you cook at all, then of course you can make it. Even if a restaurant doesn't list it on its menu, it's assumed that it can be whipped up at any time. The texture of this style of egg is almost like a frittata more than a traditional omelet, though you do achieve that same fluffy-inside effect but with the added bonus of crispy browned edges. The technique is essentially a shallow-fry, which causes the eggs to puff up as they quickly cook.