Three-Cup Cauliflower

Let’s give cauliflower a three-cup makeover. Three-cup chicken is a Taiwanese classic, named for the formula once used to prepare the dish: 1 cup each of sesame oil, soy sauce and rice wine. We use cauliflower for a vegetarian version. The recipe work

By Hisham Ali HassanSeptember 5, 2025

Balsamic-Roasted Beets with Hazelnuts and Chives

A dose of vinegar and honey added to beets as they roast results in a well-rounded, sweet-sour flavor, without the aggressive acidity of pickled beets. Whole beets take a good, long while to become tender, giving the vinegar—we use balsamic—a chance t

By Courtney HillDecember 10, 2025

Yogurt-Roasted Carrots with Warm Spices

Warm spices, cooling yogurt, and fresh herbs give roasted carrots new dimension.

By Calvin CoxOctober 1, 2021

Sichuan Dry-Fried Cauliflower

Finding the breath of the wok in a skillet, with a bold vegetable stir-fry

By Albert StummDecember 19, 2019

Spiced Sweet Potato Tian

These buttery, spiced sweet potatoes balance savory and sweet—rather than a side that often feels closer to the dessert realm.

By Courtney HillSeptember 1, 2021

Sesame and Soy-Glazed Roasted Celery Root

Celery root—also known as celeriac—has a parsnip-like texture and mild celery-like flavor. At the grocery store, look for firm 1-pound roots that are evenly round and not too knobby; the knobs make peeling off the tough skin more challenging. Though o

By Courtney HillNovember 19, 2021

Parmesan-Roasted Butternut Squash

Inspired by classic Italian pasta with pumpkin, this recipe pairs the earthy sweetness of butternut squash with warm nutmeg, woodsy herbs and salty-savory Parmesan. The cheese is sprinkled on midway through roasting so it browns and crisps in the oven

By Rose HattabaughOctober 17, 2023

Garlicky Quick-Cooked Collard Ribbons

This speedy side is a vegetarian (vegan, even) version of the Brazilian dish known as couve à mineira, which often is flavored with smoky bits of meat. The collards are cut so thinly that their cooking time is a mere two minutes and their finished tex

By Courtney HillNovember 17, 2021

Lentils with Swiss Chard and Pomegranate Molasses

This hearty vegetarian dish combines quick cooking brown lentils and silky, sweet caramelized onion. The earthy, deep flavors are brightened with lemon juice and tangy-sweet pomegranate molasses, while Swiss chard lends minerally notes and cilantro br

By Julia RackowOctober 15, 2019

Carrots with Maple and Cider Vinegar

These self-saucing carrots celebrate the simple beauty of the vegetable.

By Diane UngerAugust 5, 2019

Hot Oil-Flashed Chard with Ginger, Scallions and Chili

We tenderized Swiss chard with sizzling oil, a technique we learned from cookbook author Fuchsia Dunlop. Her recipe is modeled on a classic Cantonese method in which hot oil is poured over lightly blanched greens. We scattered fresh ginger, scallions

By Matthew CardNovember 26, 2016

Broccoli Rabe and Sausage

Simple and satisfying, the classic dish of broccoli e salsiccia—well-browned Italian sausage and tender broccoli rabe—was one of our favorite meals during a recent trip to Naples. The earthy, pleasantly bitter brassica pairs perfectly with spice-rich

By Rose HattabaughFebruary 1, 2023

Roasted Whole Cauliflower with Feta

This whole-roasted cauliflower encapsulates Ikaria’s no-fuss home cooking with minimal manipulation, lots of flavor and brightness.

By Courtney HillJanuary 22, 2024

Shaved Carrot and Parsnip Salad with Gingery Hazelnuts

Shaving carrots and parsnips into ribbons transforms the fibrous root vegetables into a tender, sweet salad base. The long, thin strips have ample surface area to soak up flavors and support contrasting ingredients, such as crunchy chopped nuts. They

By Courtney HillAugust 16, 2024

Bagna Cauda Brussels Sprouts

The original Italian flavor bomb. Made with garlic, anchovies, butter and olive oil, bagna cauda is a savory dip from Piedmont, Italy. It’s a perfect pairing with Brussels sprouts that have been blistered and charred on a sizzling-hot baking sheet and

By Courtney HillMarch 26, 2025

Butter-Toasted Steel-Cut Oats with Dried Apples

Cooking steel-cut oats in a pressure cooker means the grains tenderize quickly, without any stirring and without any risk of boiling over, making this breakfast staple a breeze to prepare. To build rich flavor, we start by cooking a couple tablespoons

Cauliflower Soup with Harissa Butter

This soup gets a burst of bold, rich flavor as well as stunning color from a drizzle of harissa bloomed in browned butter. Look for harissa, a North African spice paste, in well-stocked supermarkets and Middle Eastern markets. Spiciness varies by bran

By Elizabeth MindreauNovember 3, 2021

Roasted Butternut Squash with Ginger and Five-Spice

Instead of pureeing butternut squash and loading it up with butter, we cut it into chunks and roast it, seasoning it with fresh ginger and Chinese five-spice to complement its natural sweetness. You will need two large, heavy rimmed baking sheets. The

By Phoebe MaglathlinOctober 8, 2018

Browned Butter and Lemon Pasta with Chicken

We cook butter until the milk solids caramelize to add nutty fragrance and flavor to this pasta dish. The richness of the browned butter is balanced with a generous measure of aromatic lemon zest and tart, tangy lemon juice. Either boneless chicken br

By Courtney HillOctober 17, 2023

Browned Butter Vinaigrette with Walnuts and Herbs

Toasting walnuts while browning the butter gives this warm vinaigrette an intense nuttiness and luxurious richness. Garlic, rosemary and lemon zest add layers of bright, herbal flavor and fragrance. This is perfect spooned onto roasted vegetables such

By Rose Hattabaugh & Julia RackowOctober 18, 2023

Browned Butter Skillet Cornbread

For a crispier, savory cornbread, we bake the batter in a pool of browned butter in a ripping hot cast iron skillet.

By Diane UngerJuly 18, 2024

Maple–Browned Butter Pie

Sweet and rich maple custard filling, cut with a hit of apple cider vinegar, and embedded in a nutty whole wheat crust.

Chewy Molasses Spice Cookies with Browned Butter Icing

These generously sized cookies are soft and cake-like. Spiced with cinnamon and ground ginger and made with just 4 tablespoons of butter, their flavor is mostly about the bittersweet, subtly smoky notes of molasses. Use either mild or “robust” (or “fu

By Rose HattabaughOctober 16, 2019

Pork Chops with Kimchi, Scallions and Browned Butter

Tart, spicy kimchi complements and contrasts sweet, juicy pork in this single-skillet meal. We begin by searing the pork chops until caramelized, then use the remaining fat to build a bright, kimchi-based pan sauce, balanced by rice vinegar and mirin

By Dimitri DemopolousOctober 17, 2023

Broccoli with Browned Butter and Almonds

Paired with butter and toasted almonds, broccoli gets the “amandine” treatment in this recipe. When sautéing the shallots and almonds in the butter, be sure to cook the mixture long enough so the milk solids that separate out from the butter turn gold

By Courtney HillOctober 13, 2020

Mashed Potatoes with Caraway-Mustard Butter

Classically creamy, with a kick of sweet heat from horseradish. A drizzle of browned butter spiked with caraway and mustard seeds adds balancing complexity.

By Sandra Rose GluckOctober 16, 2017

Brown Butter-Cardamom Banana Bread

Two simple changes, and zero additional effort, make banana bread holiday-worthy, and we now only make it this way. OR Two simple changes, and zero additional effort, put this banana bread head and shoulders above the rest.

Browned Butter and Coconut Loaf Cake

This moist, dense, buttery loaf cake comes from Briana Holt of Tandem Coffee + Bakery in Portland, Maine. It's baked until the exterior is deeply browned, developing rich, toasty flavors and an amazing aroma. A coconut syrup is brushed on while the ca

Buttermilk Monkey Bread

Monkey bread gets an update that makes the pull-apart loaf even better thanks to buttermilk, a little whole-wheat flour and a lighter hand with sugar. The result is more tender and nuanced—and less sweet—than the versions many of us grew up with. Brow

By Erika BruceSeptember 12, 2024

Shaved Brussels Sprouts with Browned Butter Vinaigrette

Rich, nutty browned butter and woodsy notes of sherry vinegar pair perfectly with earthy shredded sprouts. Smoked almonds add salty crunch and tangy dried cranberries add a pop of color.

By Diane UngerDecember 10, 2018

Toasted Tacos with Adobo Beans and Cheese

At Restaurante Bar Fernando, a casual eatery in Nayarit on the west coast of Mexico, we tasted simple bean- and cheese-filled tortillas, folded in half and lightly charred. The tacos are a typical side to pescado zarandeado, seasoned fish slow-cooked

By Courtney HillFebruary 1, 2023

Steak and Bacon Tacos (Tacos de Alambre)

Tacos de alambre, the skillet version of Mexican beef kebabs (alambres), features steak, bacon, peppers, onion, tomato and a blanket of melted cheese. If you like, serve the tacos with additional toppings to add fresh notes to balance the richness. We

By Julia RackowFebruary 4, 2019

Oven-Fried Potato and Cheese Tacos Dorados

These crispy oven-fried tacos are loaded with cheese and potatoes, with a kick from pickled jalapeños and chipotle.

By Laura RussellNovember 16, 2022

Shrimp and Cheese Tacos (Tacos Gobernador)

If you think seafood and cheese don’t mix, this recipe will change your mind. Tacos gobernador, or “governor’s tacos,” are a modern Mexican classic said to have originated in the state of Sinaloa. A blend of shrimp and melty cheese is tucked inside to

By Laura RussellNovember 15, 2022

Chili Verde Turkey Tacos

When you reach the last bit of leftover turkey, these green turkey tacos are a welcome quick and light lunch. Fragrant cumin, tart tomatillos, and pickled jalapeños—plus lots of lime—bring just-right zinginess to rich turkey meat.

By Diane UngerOctober 8, 2018

Baja-Style Fried Shrimp Tacos

These fantastic tacos are a shrimp version of the ever-popular fried fish tacos. The recipe comes to us from Jorge Fritz and Beto Estúa, proprietors of Casa Jacaranda cooking school in Guadalajara, Jalisco. The shrimp, with their briny-sweet flavor an

By Courtney HillNovember 1, 2022

Beef Chili Colorado Tacos

Don’t wear your dry-clean-only for these succulent, stewy chili colorado, for the Spanish word colorado, or “red-colored.”

By Courtney HillApril 1, 2022

Mojo Pork Tacos

Cuban mojo is a tangy, pungent garlic-citrus mixture that’s often used as a marinade for pork as well as a sauce. We use it to balance the richness of tender, shredded pork in these flavorful tacos. A pressure cooker helps us keep the cooking time wee

By Diane Unger & JM HirschJune 4, 2018

Chili and Citrus–Marinated Fish Tacos

At Casa Jacaranda cooking school in Mexico City, Jorge Fritz and Beto Estúa showed us how to make delicious fish tacos that were not only quick and easy to pull together, but also a feast for the eyes. Snapper, marinated in a blend of citrus juice, gu

By Calvin CoxAugust 9, 2021

Fish Tacos with Lime-Pickled Jalapeños

The secret to the most delicately crisp fish taco with tender, flaky interiors: skip the batter!

Ancho-Spiced Pork and Potato Tacos

Flavorful, juicy tacos hit the table in 25 minutes. "Definitely a keeper!" one reader writes.

By Rose HattabaughOctober 13, 2020

Seared Shrimp Tacos with Tomatoes and Cotija

In her friend’s outdoor kitchen, Josefina López Méndez, chef at Chapulín restaurant in Mexico City, showed us how to make tacos gobernador, a modern Mexican classic that combines a sauté of shrimp, fresh tomatoes and chilies with quesillo, a stringy c

By Calvin CoxAugust 9, 2021

Yucatecan Citrus-Marinated Pork Tacos

Our editorial director J.M. Hirsch considered himself a “toppings guy” until poc chuc: citrus-marinated pork taco meat which takes taco meat to a new level.

By Courtney HillAugust 9, 2023

Fried Shrimp Tacos with Salsa Roja

Many will never know the crispy, shrimp-stuffed joy of Raul Ortega’s legendary tacos, but these are close!

By Courtney HillApril 1, 2022

Single-Seared Garlic Shrimp Tacos

We are very one-sided when it comes to shrimp. And that’s a good thing. Shrimp are notoriously easy to overcook, so to keep them plump and tender, we deeply brown them in a hot skillet on just one side. That develops plenty of flavor without turning t

By Rose HattabaughMarch 26, 2025

Maque-Style Mexican Bisquetes

Maque is a bakery/café with multiple locations in Mexico City. During a visit to the Condesa shop, we became particularly enamored of their bisquets. Mexican bisquets are common, but Maque’s stand out as unique. The deeply golden oversized buns featur

By Chris Kimball & Rose HattabaughApril 28, 2025

Broken Phyllo Cake with Orange and Bay

The soaking syrup we use in this pudding-like citrus cake is infused with warm spices for added dimensions of flavor and fragrance.

By Rose HattabaughJanuary 5, 2022

Tomato-Olive Focaccia

The world’s best focaccia comes from Bari, Italy, where oozing buckets of dough bake up into an impossibly airy, tender crumb. OR A recreation of a light, open-crumbed focaccia from Bari, Italy, with tomatoes and olives melded in the crust.

By Diane UngerJanuary 21, 2024

Portuguese Sponge Cake (Pão de Ló)

Portugal's famously airy, eggy cake with a gooey layer underneath a thin withered crust.

By Rose HattabaughFebruary 5, 2021

Georgian Cheese Bread (Khachapuri)

We adore Georgia's staple snack—a bread boat made of a plush, yeasted dough that’s easy to tear and dip into an abundant filling of creamy cheese.

By Erika BruceFebruary 1, 2024

No-Fry Neapolitan Eggplant Parmesan (Parmigiana di Melanzane)

Skip the breading for a lighter, silkier eggplant Parmesan. OR Naples's hands-off eggplant Parm is lighter, silkier, and golden-browned. OR In Naples, we learned a hands-off, no-fry eggplant Parm that's lighter and silkier—opposite of the familiar gut

By Rose HattabaughFebruary 1, 2023

French Onion Soup

Is there such a thing as “light” French onion soup? The answer is an herbaceous, brothy bowl served to Chris Kimball at Bichettes in Paris.

By Courtney HillMarch 7, 2024

Skillet Spanakopita

We love spanakopita—Greek spinach and feta pastry pockets—so much that we turned it into a skillet-sized brunch dish. OR We took spanakopita—the popular Greek spinach-and-feta-stuffed triangle—and expanded it into an abundant, skillet-filling course.

By Courtney HillApril 20, 2022

Yogurt and Olive Oil Flatbreads

Incredibly delicious and soft, these flatbreads from chef Marianna Leivaditaki make smart use of a short ingredients list.

By Rose HattabaughAugust 9, 2021

Turkish-Style Flaky Flatbreads

Lavishly flaky and buttery, these skillet flatbreads, katmer, come together with just four ingredients. OR This buttery, flaky flatbread was inspired by katmer—just flour, water, and salt, transformed into a tender, rich skillet bread.

By Diane UngerFebruary 1, 2023

Piadina

This quick, supple flatbread from northern Italy gets its bubbly and charred from a screaming-hot cast iron skillet. OR The quick, supple flatbread gets its flavor and supple texture from a combination of yogurt and lard.

1-2-3-4 Yogurt Cake

In France, gâteau au yaourt is a cake that uses an entire container of yogurt then cleverly employs the empty container as the measuring cup for the flour, sugar and oil. It’s easy to throw together and a perfect recipe to make with children. If you’v

By Milk StreetOctober 5, 2023

Potato Gnocchi

It helps to have a kitchen scale to weigh out the 1¼ pounds of cooked potatoes needed to make the gnochhi dough. To process the cooked potatoes, a ricer or food mill works best for obtaining the smooth texture needed for light, fine gnocchi. A potato

Gnocchi in an Instant

Potato flakes make for the most pillowy gnocchi- in just 30 minutes!

Marika Contaldo Seguso’s Basil Tagliatelle with Butter, Sage and Parmesan

Marika Contaldo’s luscious, homemade tagliatelle, flecked with basil and coated with a luscious buttery sauce.

By Rose HattabaughNovember 1, 2022

Chicken and Noodle Soup with Turmeric and Dill

Turmeric lends golden hue and earthy spice to this herbal riff on classic chicken noodle soup.

By Diane UngerAugust 10, 2022

Hand-Torn Noodle Soup with Chicken and Vegetables

In most chicken noodle soups, the noodles are an afterthought. Here, they’re the star. Inspired by sujebi, a Korean hand-torn noodle soup, we form our noodles from a simple flour-and-water dough. While it rests, the chicken and vegetable base comes to

By Hisham Ali HassanSeptember 20, 2024

Indonesian Spiced Beef and Lemon Grass Soup

This aromatic soup is our adaptation of the sop konro that home cook Nobita Budianti demonstrated for us in her kitchen in Jakarta, Indonesia. The blender does much of the heavy prep, pureeing many of the ingredients into a spice paste, called bumbu d

By Courtney HillAugust 26, 2025

Lentil Soup with Lemony Shrimp

At Vittoria Ristorante, a 100-year-old eatery in Marche, Italy, chef Sunni Martelli taught us to make her grandmother’s lentil and shrimp soup. The coastal region is known for its seafood, while lentils are a nod to its neighbor, Umbria. To make the l

By Hisham Ali HassanMarch 25, 2025

Polenta Soup with Kale and Parmesan

Soft polenta takes on a brothy quality in our take on comforting polentina alla toscana.

Vietnamese Meatball and Watercress Soup (Canh)

“This is my favorite Milk Street soup recipe,” a reader writes of this Vietnamese pork meatball soup: a bright green bowl of juicy, tender pork with a complex background of fish sauce, scallions, garlic, ginger and lime juice.

By Diane UngerAugust 7, 2017

Garlic and Cilantro Soup with Chickpeas (Açorda Alentejana)

This brothy bowl of green—our take on Portuguese açorda alentejana—starts with a sort of jalapeño-cilantro pesto, served with a hefty dose of Parm.

Peruvian Chicken, Rice and Cilantro Soup (Aguadito de Pollo)

This emerald green chicken and rice soup gets its vibrant broth from a bunch of herbaceous cilantro and sweet pops of peas.

By Courtney HillOctober 15, 2019

Chili Crisp Chicken and Corn Soup

James Ooi—founder of Little Bao Boy, an Asian street food business based in Leeds, England—inspired us with his go-to soup for a quick weeknight dinner. Chicken breast, soy sauce, and canned corn. We were intrigued. Based on his description, we develo

By Hisham Ali HassanSeptember 2, 2025

Thai Rice Soup (Khao Tom)

One of our readers’ favorite recipes, this pork soup showcases almost magical layers of aroma and flavor.

By Diane UngerApril 2, 2018

Homemade Chicken Broth

For broth-centric soups, store-bought pales in comparison to slow-simmered homemade broth that is full-bodied with gelatin and rich poultry flavor. This recipe is minimalist—we’ve even left out the usual aromatics (onion, carrot, celery) and herbs (pa

By Hisham Ali HassanFebruary 26, 2025

Soup from Nothing (Caraway Soup with Parsley and Walnut Pesto)

At Milk Street, this simple, comforting broth is affectionately known as “soup from nothing.” It is our adaptation of a recipe we learned from Oana Udrea, chef at Meșendorf 65 in the Transylvania region of Romania. The heart of the soup is a light but

By Courtney HillMarch 7, 2025

Thai-Style Coconut and Chicken Soup

This fragrant Thai soup is rich with coconut milk, awoken with chili heat, lime, and lemongrass, and studded with meaty chicken and mushrooms—and its electricity depends on that deep, coconutty backdrop. Ersatz homemade coconut milk provides the rich

By Courtney HillJanuary 21, 2024

Bread and Tomato Soup with Poached Eggs (Acquacotta)

In Colle di Val D’Elsa, cookbook author Giulia Scarpaleggia prepared this classic Tuscan soup for us. It is called acquacotta, or “cooked water,” because the thrifty dish originally was made with little more than day-old bread, vegetables and hot wate

By Hisham Ali HassanJanuary 13, 2025

Rice Porridge with Chicken and Mushrooms

Warm up with this intensely flavored congee, a soul-soothing alternative to chicken soup—rice porridge with chicken and mushrooms, a comfort meal from parts of Asia.

By Courtney HillDecember 15, 2021

Braised Potatoes and Mushrooms with Garlic and Parsley

The combination of potatoes and mushrooms is an Italian classic. Meaty, umami-packed fresh porcini foraged at the height of the season are the fungi of choice. But according to Colman Andrews in his book “The Country Cooking of Italy,” because porcini

By Courtney HillApril 22, 2022

Crisp Oven-Fried Cauliflower with Tahini-Yogurt Sauce

Corn starch and oven frying mimics crispy-creamy Lebanese fried cauliflower, for the home kitchen.

Potato, Eggplant and Pepper Stir-Fry

In the classic Chinese dish called di san xian, purple eggplant, yellow potatoes and green bell peppers are fried then tossed in a simple, lightly sweetened soy-based glaze-like sauce. The vegetables create an interesting textural combination of silky

Taiwanese Grilled Corn

This smoky-spicy-sweet grilled corn was the highlight of Chris Kimball’s trip to a carnival-like market in Taipei.

By Diane UngerJune 4, 2018

Broccolini with Miso Caesar Dressing

This spin on Caesar dressing uses mayonnaise as a base. It’s rich in umami because of the Parmesan (or anchovies), and a couple tablespoons of white miso adds incredible depth of flavor, loads of complexity and a subtle sweetness. A splash of olive oi

By Malcolm JacksonOctober 17, 2023

Butter-Roasted Cabbage with Citrus, Hazelnuts and Mustard

Butter-roasted cabbage: a humble vegetable made luxe and elegant.

By Courtney HillNovember 19, 2021

Vietnamese-Style Caramel Cauliflower with Shiitake Mushrooms

Caramel sauce is not just for sundaes! Inspired by Vietnamese caramel pork, we skillet-braise cauliflower and shiitake mushrooms in a savory-sweet sauce with garlic, ginger and fresh chili. The pan gets very hot while the florets are seared, so let it

By Milk StreetMarch 27, 2025

Eggplant “Katsu”

In this vegetarian version of the widely popular Japanese fried chicken, a cornstarch slurry makes for an ultra-crispy “cutlet.”

By Calvin CoxNovember 3, 2021

Braised Mushrooms with Sichuan Chili Oil

A heap of meaty mushrooms, with tongue-tingling spice: the ultimate dish for lovers of both veggies and Sichuan spice.

By Courtney HillNovember 17, 2021

Baked Zucchini Fritters with Feta-Yogurt Sauce

The perfect vehicle for yogurt dip: zucchini fritters with a light and crispy Panko coating.

Cauliflower and Chickpea Tagine

A tagine is a shallow Moroccan earthenware pot with a conical lid. The term also refers to the stew cooked in the vessel. Here, however, we use the more common Dutch oven to simmer a cauliflower and chickpea “tagine,” and we season it with ras el hano

Grilled Eggplant with Sesame and Herbs

We learned the beauty of smoky-fresh, summery eggplant in the Arabic restaurant Ein Hod, by the Mediterranean Sea: smoky and charred, yet bright and herbal.

By Diane UngerJune 5, 2017

Bucatini with Sweet Corn and Scallions

Peak-season fresh corn gives this creamy-yet-light pasta dish a beautiful vegetal grassiness. OR This creamy, no-cream pasta sauce balances corn’s sweetness with a buttery, savory flavor base.

Roasted Whole Cauliflower with Feta

This whole-roasted cauliflower encapsulates Ikaria’s no-fuss home cooking with minimal manipulation, lots of flavor and brightness.

By Courtney HillJanuary 22, 2024

No-Fry Neapolitan Eggplant Parmesan (Parmigiana di Melanzane)

Skip the breading for a lighter, silkier eggplant Parmesan. OR Naples's hands-off eggplant Parm is lighter, silkier, and golden-browned. OR In Naples, we learned a hands-off, no-fry eggplant Parm that's lighter and silkier—opposite of the familiar gut

By Rose HattabaughFebruary 1, 2023

Ancho Chili Soup

Ancho Chili Soup

By Courtney HillOctober 8, 2018

Moroccan Beef and Chickpea Stew

Packed with vegetables and spices, a simple stew from Fes delivers riches of flavor

By JM HirschAugust 17, 2022

Spicy Red Lentil Stew with Coconut Milk and Spinach

“One of the best lentil soup recipes I’ve ever tried,” a reader writes about this lentil soup that mixes soothing coconut milk, woken up with spices, heat, and cut with lime.

Cape Malay Chicken Curry

Lemony and richly savory, Cape Malay curry is a chicken and vegetable one-pot from South Africa. Its ingredients are similar to those in Indian curries, but the techniques are different, creating a refreshingly light curry. Spices, for instance, aren'

By Diane UngerAugust 7, 2017

Green Pozole with Chicken

A reader favorite, one commenter writes that this pozole “has a ton of flavor for not much work, my kind of recipe.”

Tuscan Beef and Black Pepper Stew (Peposo alla Fornacina)

The simple, generously peppered beef stew known as peposo is said to have been created by 15th century kiln (fornacina) workers in Tuscany, Italy. Chianti is the best-known wine produced in that region and is the traditional choice for peposo, but any

By Diane UngerAugust 6, 2018

French Onion Soup

Is there such a thing as “light” French onion soup? The answer is an herbaceous, brothy bowl served to Chris Kimball at Bichettes in Paris.

By Courtney HillMarch 7, 2024

Somali Chicken Soup

This electric Somali-style chicken soup is heaped with fresh, crisp ingredients added at the end and spiked with hot sauce. OR. Warming spices, a cut of lime juice, and broth simmered in a pot-full of browned onions is our prescription for all ailment

By Diane UngerJanuary 8, 2018

Romanian Pork and White Bean Soup with Vinegar and Caraway (Ciorba de Porc)

This soup, called ciorbă de porc, was inspired by a recipe from “Carpathia: Food from the Heart of Romania” by Friend of Milk Street, Irina Georgescu. It’s a hearty, subtly smoky potful of pork and beans in a tomatoey broth scented with caraway and fi

By Diane UngerAugust 9, 2021

Peruvian Beef and Cilantro Stew

Seco de carne is a classic Peruvian meat and vegetable stew, and a perfect contender for cooking in an Instant Pot, either quickly under pressure or using the slow-cooker function. Fresh cilantro is a defining flavor of the dish. We blend an entire bu

By Calvin CoxSeptember 30, 2021

Red Lentil Soup

This simple yet robust soup is rich with butter and earthy paprika. Red lentils cook quickly and become creamy as they break down. The infused butter that's drizzled on at the end gives the soup a moderate heat; adjust it by reducing or increasing the

Georgian Chicken Soup (Chikhirtma)

This pearly Georgian chicken soup (chikhirtma) is incredibly satisfying to make—while relatively hands-off—with all of the components are built from scratch. OR Adapted from Darra Goldstein, this egg-and-flour-thickened Georgian chicken soup (chikhirt

Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

Niu rou mian, or beef noodle soup, is one of Taiwan’s signature dishes. Chuang Pao-hua, founder of the Chung-Hua Culinary Teaching Center, located in Taipei's Datong District, taught us how to make the hearty meal in a bowl the slow, labor-intensive t

By Diane UngerSeptember 8, 2018

Romanian-Style Potato and Sausage Soup

In Bucharest, Romania, at Bucataria Local Food, a restaurant owned by brothers Adrian and Gabriel Alexe, we tasted a broth containing aromatic vegetables, potatoes and a local smoked sausage called babic. The dish is one of countless types of borş, or

By Courtney HillMay 5, 2025

Coriander-Cumin Beef Stew with Lime

This hearty, fragrant stew is a simplified Instant Pot version of a recipe from Hawa Hassan. Large chunks of beef chuck are pressure-cooked or slow-cooked—depending on your preference—with aromatics, tomato paste and spices until the meat is tender; t

Portuguese Sponge Cake (Pão de Ló)

Portugal's famously airy, eggy cake with a gooey layer underneath a thin withered crust.

By Rose HattabaughFebruary 5, 2021

Broken Phyllo Cake with Orange and Bay

The soaking syrup we use in this pudding-like citrus cake is infused with warm spices for added dimensions of flavor and fragrance.

By Rose HattabaughJanuary 5, 2022

Spanish Almond Cake (Tarta de Santiago)

This fragrant almond cake taught us the secret to extra springy, chewy texture.

By Julia RackowAugust 6, 2018

Amalfi-Style Lemon Cake

"I married her just for the lemon cake," a sixth-generation Amalfi lemon farmer told us.

By Rose HattabaughOctober 22, 2021

Bête Noire

Cookbook author Lora Brody’s creation bête noire is no typical chocolate cake: silky, custardy, with a base of sugar syrup.

By Wes MartinOctober 16, 2019

Almond-Coconut Cake with Cherries and Pistachios

A Milk Street fan favorite, this cake adapted from “Honey & Co.: The Cookbook” mixes rustic Middle Eastern flavors—fruits, nuts, spices, and coconut.

By Rose HattabaughApril 9, 2021

Chocolate-on-Chocolate Three-Layer Cake

This grand, triple-layer, old-fashioned chocolate cake comes from “Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook” by Cheryl Day and Griffith Day, proprietors of Back in the Day Bakery in Savannah, Georgia. Cheryl Day learned the recipe from her grandmother but put

By Rose HattabaughOctober 29, 2021

Chocolate-Hazelnut Cream Cake

Rich chocolate cake, layered with a light, hazelnutty whipped ganache: our special-occasion dessert adapted from Dominique Ansel.

By Wes MartinOctober 12, 2020

Danish Dream Cake

This fluffy vanilla "dream cake" (drømmekage), gets its dreaminess from a light crumb and a gooey, glossy, caramelized coating.

French Almond-Rum Cake (Gâteau Nantais)

France’s decadent (and doable) almond-rum cake

By Diane Unger & Rose HattabaughDecember 18, 2019

Yelapa-Style Sweet Corn Pie (Pay de Elote)

This pie is our adaptation of a recipe from food writer Paola Briseño-González, who was inspired to re-create the pay de elote (corn pie, translated from the Spanish) sold by the slice in the beach town of Yelapa in central Mexico. Use either white or

By Milk Street & Erin BarnhartNovember 14, 2025

French Apple Cake

This simple French cake is more apples than cake, held together with a light crumb and thin golden crust.

German Apple Cake (Apfelkuchen)

“This is one of those slam dunks that worked, and I loved it right away."

Italian Flourless Chocolate Torta

A deeply chocolatey flourless cake, devised from a century-and-a-half-old secret recipe from Vignola, Italy.

By Rose HattabaughJune 11, 2021

Mexican Sweet Corn Cake

This super versatile reader favorite makes a light and sweet breakfast, dessert, or anytime snack. And it's made in a blender!

By Calvin CoxMarch 25, 2020

Fettuccine Alfredo

In Rome, fettuccine alfredo is totally unlike gloopy American versions—silky-smooth, buttery, and light.

By Diane UngerJune 11, 2021

Thai Cashew Chicken

[T]his not only is unlike any cashew chicken I’ve ever eaten,” writes J.M. Hirsch, “it’s also wildly better.”

By Courtney HillDecember 6, 2022

Toss-Your-Garlic Tomato Sauce

This two-ingredient (not including oil and salt), 15-minute tomato sauce requires a can opener but no knifework and is super easy to make. It mirrors the technique used by the many Italian home cooks and chefs with whom we’ve spent time in the kitchen

By Milk StreetJune 25, 2024

Beef Bulgogi

Korea’s tender, succulent strips of thin-sliced beef aren’t just a special occasion restaurant order—bulgogi comes together quickly with a blender marinade.

By Courtney HillAugust 9, 2023

Fried Eggs

For the best fried eggs, we cook them covered so the surface of the whites sets quickly and without risk of overcooking the yolks. Runny-yolked fried eggs can make a complete meal out of a simple salad. They also are excellent over fried rice, soft po

By Milk StreetApril 10, 2024

Cacio e Pepe

Cacio e pepe is the simplest of dishes, but achieving creamy, silky perfection took us years of attempts. We did it. And you will too.

By Rose HattabaughFebruary 12, 2024

“Creamed” Corn with Scallions

This rich and velvety side dish relies on corn’s starchy “milk” to deliver supreme creaminess without diluting its flavor. OR Creamed corn, without the cream. Rather than dilute corn’s grassy sweetness with heavy cream, we rely the corn “milk” from th

Homemade Vegetable Broth

Store-bought vegetable broth tends to be watery, sweet and lacking freshness. This homemade version has savoriness and depth of flavor, as well as body. In addition to the aromatics that are foundational, we coax umami out of cremini mushrooms and tom

By Diane UngerMarch 17, 2024

1-2-3 Frosting

American-style buttercream, made by beating butter with powdered sugar and a little milk, is one of the easiest frostings to make, but it tends to be cloyingly sweet, with a noticeable granularity from the sugar. This 1-2-3 formula—1 cup cream, 2 stic

By Rose HattabaughFebruary 9, 2024

Milk-Simmered Mashed Potatoes

By cooking your potatoes in a little milk, which doubles as your mashing liquid, you get natural, creamy lusciousness—no cream needed.

By Diane UngerJanuary 21, 2024

Hard-Cooked Eggs

There are many ways to hard-cook an egg, but after much testing, we found no better method than the one used by Chris Edwards, chef at Le Saint Sebastien in Paris’ 11th arrondissement and vice-champion of the 2021 Oeuf Mayo World Championship (oeuf ma

By Milk StreetMarch 20, 2024

Broccoli with Garlic, Pepper Flakes and Basil

In this recipe, we cook broccoli florets and stems in a scant amount of well-seasoned water into which a little butter has melted. Once the broccoli is just tender, we uncover the pan and allow the water to reduce over high heat, concentrating the sea

By Diane UngerAugust 5, 2019

Crisp Oven-Fried Cauliflower with Tahini-Yogurt Sauce

Corn starch and oven frying mimics crispy-creamy Lebanese fried cauliflower, for the home kitchen.

Herbed Egg Salad with Pickled Red Onion

This egg salad, inspired by a recipe from “In My Kitchen” by Deborah Madison, is made without mayonnaise. Instead, three of the 12 cooked egg yolks are mashed to a paste with onion-infused vinegar, then mixed into coarsely chopped eggs to lightly bind

Quick Creamy Hummus

A quick simmer and bit of baking soda render canned chickpeas super creamy.

By Diane UngerNovember 8, 2022

Rigatoni alla Zozzona

This Roman mash-up of carbonara and Amatriciana is, as Claudia Rinaldi describes it, “a dirty mess of delicious stuff.”

By Courtney HillAugust 9, 2023

Tagliatelle alla Bolognese

We do our Ragù Bolognese the authentic way—cream-free and silky-smooth. OR Ragu Bolognese—a velvety, creamy-yet-creamless meat sauce—luxuriates in ribbony tagliatelle.

By Diane UngerOctober 30, 2020

Fettuccine Alfredo

In Rome, fettuccine alfredo is totally unlike gloopy American versions—silky-smooth, buttery, and light.

By Diane UngerJune 11, 2021

Cheesy Mushroom-Thyme Fettuccine

Inspired by the fettuccine con funghi we tasted in Italy, we developed this recipe for creating a quick yet elegant dinner using supermarket ingredients. Be sure to use dried fettuccine or pappardelle made with egg; this type typically is sold coiled

By Courtney HillSeptember 11, 2024

Pasta with Pistachios, Tomatoes and Mint

Sicily is known for its pistachios, so it’s no surprise that the colorful, subtly sweet nuts feature heavily in the region's cuisine. This recipe is our take on a pistachio- and tomato-dressed pasta taught to us by Doriana Gesualdi, owner of Sicilia i

By Courtney HillDecember 10, 2018

Lemon-Garlic Fettuccine

In Amalfi, Italy, we were taught a delicious, bracing pasta dish of handmade lemon fettuccine tossed with a simple, quick sauté of garlic, olive oil and fresh lemon segments. To mimic the sweet, mild flavor of Amalfi lemons using the standard lemons a

By Diane UngerDecember 14, 2020

Pasta with “Fake” Sauce

In Italy, we learned about Tuscan sugo finto, or “fake sauce,” so called because the vegetables—onion, carrot and celery—are minced, then gently cooked in fat to the point where they resemble, in both appearance and texture, bits of long-simmered meat

By Rose HattabaughOctober 4, 2024

Miso Butter Spaghetti with Scallions

Miso and garlic deliver a flavor upgrade to that classic kid food—buttered noodles. Softened butter mixed with miso, garlic, scallion whites and lemon juice creates a simple, flavorful no-cook sauce for pasta. The heat from the noodles and some of the

By Felisia TanFebruary 19, 2025

Fettuccine with Miso and Kale Pesto

Bold, salty-sweet white miso forms the backbone of this vegan earthy kale and basil-based pesto. For richness and body, we add walnuts, echoing miso’s umami punch (pine nuts are a good stand-in for those who aren’t fans of walnuts). A few splashes of

By Dimitri DemopolousOctober 17, 2023

Cacio e Pepe

Cacio e pepe is the simplest of dishes, but achieving creamy, silky perfection took us years of attempts. We did it. And you will too.

By Rose HattabaughFebruary 12, 2024