recipesMy love of both KFC popcorn chicken and dakgangjeong, a traditional Korean dish of fried chicken coated in a sticky, sweet, and garlicky glaze (and often topped with nuts or sesame seeds), informed this recipe. These days you can find versions of dakgangjeong that combine the chicken with chewy, lightly pan-fried rice cakes. I took that inspo and ran, turning it into a snacky starter served on a skewer or stick for a finger food no one can resist.
This crisp coating on the chicken is due to two details: potato starch (you can sub corn starch) and the double fry. In the first phase of cooking, you will divide up the chicken into two batches, shallow-frying each with enough space to prevent steaming. In the second phase, everyone goes back into the pool (er, the pan) for a quick final fry. This stage takes barely any time and helps to keep the shell on the popcorn chicken crisp for an extended period (if they don’t all get eaten at once!). One recommendation: Plan to make more than you think if you're expecting guests—this dish has a tendency to disappear faster than you can make ’em.
recipesWhen I was growing up, Manwich, the canned sloppy joe sauce, was a family favorite for making and enjoying quick skillet meals. My still-speedy take uses gochujang for a smoky, spicy undertone. Treat this recipe as a way to hone your ideal levels of heat and sweetness by playing with the amount of gochujang, ketchup, and vinegar. Potato buns provide an ideal soft landing and cold pickle spears are a bright, crunchy counterpoint. When it comes to sloppy joes, the sloppier the better, so be sure to load up those buns and arm yourself with plenty of napkins!
recipesKalbi jjim is a classic Korean braised short rib dish my family ate at countless celebrations. This recipe nods to that tradition while also paying homage to my favorite NYC delicatessen staple: brisket. This hearty crowd-pleasing roast, braised in a luscious soy and oyster sauce combo, takes a lot less time than traditional Korean kalbi jjim would and results in much more to share too. Cut the brisket in half if it doesn’t fit in one pot, and if it comes with a fat cap, trim only the fat that extends beyond the meat. The fat will render slowly and help baste the brisket during cooking. Sweet dates (subbing in for traditional jujubes) lend a balancing touch to the savory jus, and frozen pearl onions will save you peeling time.
recipesAt Italian American restaurants, my family always ordered pastas heartened with garlicky seafood broth. Both linguine alla vongole and shrimp scampi were favorites among my clan, as they weren’t too far off from all of the full-flavored Korean ways we’d enjoy the fruits of the sea. This riff uses chubby udon noodles, soy sauce, and a dab of assertive Korean doenjang in the butter sauce. If you can’t find doenjang (fermented soybean paste), double up on a light miso instead. My very favorite udon to cook with are the frozen Sanuki udon blocks (such as from the Shirakiku brand); do not overcook them or forget to reserve some udon cooking water for the sauce to ensure the glossiest results.
recipesThe dome cake is the It girl of cakes; she’s completely unique and impeccably styled. You’ve likely seen one on your social feed, bedecked with flowers and seemingly shrouded in mystery. Though dome cakes are often shown off in their finished glory, the secrets of their making are seldom revealed. Consider them declassified now. It’s by no means a piece of cake, but if you like an artful project (this involves stacking layers of varying-size cake) and obsessing over details, follow along. It’s held together with a whipped peanut butter filling and finished with a strawberry cream; we promise it’s worth the elbow grease. You can always break up the project over a day or two to make it more manageable.
While most dome cakes are made in a specialty hemisphere cake pan, this one is assembled in a large mixing bowl for ease and accessibility. Choose the roundest one on your shelf for the most rotund dome. For a super smooth, professional-looking cake, finish the cake by running a strip of acetate over the curved surface (outlined below). Acetate sheets are easily found online and in craft supply stores and come in handy for building tall layer cakes.
Whatever flowers and foliage you use, check with your florist that they’re nontoxic. And always remove them before cutting and serving the cake.
recipesMaking carrot cake is all fun and games until you break a sweat and shred a knuckle grating all those carrots. Taking a page from Brazilian bolo de cenoura, this sheet cake blends them right into the batter instead, resulting in a sunset orange treat, softly squidgy from the purée and remarkably easy to make. Chunks of chewy dried pineapple and candied ginger stand in for raisins, and the cream cheese frosting is light and airy, a mousse-like delicacy. Baked in an entirely unfussy 13x9" pan, this is begging to be toted to a spring picnic in the park.
Think of this cake as a lesson in making good choices. Choose slim, tender carrots instead of those massive, gnarly things that are often woody and bitter. Pick sticky, sugar-plumped dried pineapple over the sun-dried, fruit leather version. And if you simply cannot find dried pineapple, opt for golden raisins in an equal quantity.
recipesMy favorite upgrade to make to basic, but always satisfying avocado toast (haters to the left) is to add smoked salmon. The fattiness of the fish and the creaminess of the avocado make the two ingredients a delightful pairing—and one that can be moved in a number of different flavor directions. Here you’ll dress them up in the style of a poke bowl, another dish where avocado and salmon often shine together. Homemade ponzu (made from soy sauce and fresh citrus juice), crunchy cucumbers, bright pickled ginger, and a slick of spicy mayo round out the dish; hunt down a hearty white bread as opposed to something overly crusty, to let the toppings be the star.
recipesThis carne guisada recipe is a crowd favorite at Ninfa’s in Houston. Founded by local legend Mama Ninfa, the 50-year-old Texas institution has two locations, each filled nightly with families that have been visiting for generations. “The kids grow up and come back,” says chef Alex Padilla who’s worked on the line for 17 years. “And now they’re bringing their kids.”
A hallmark of Tex-Mex cuisine, this slow-cooked beef stew is the descendant of a Puerto Rican dish by the same name (the main difference lies in the base aromatics of the dish). Though the cook time here is an investment, the results are worth the multiple-hour braise: tender, shreddy short ribs in a deeply flavorful tomato sauce. Padilla cooks carne guisada on the stovetop, but you could easily do the first round of braising in a slow cooker for a partly hands-off approach, then cool and chill the mixture for up to three days before continuing.
Serve the spiced stew meat and sauce over white rice, or with warm flour tortillas for tacos. The chunks of beef, potato, and veggies also make a great filling for enchiladas, a topping for tostadas, or the base of a breakfast hash. Save any unused braising liquid to use in place of beef broth in your next batch of soup.
recipesIdeal for breakfast or a midafternoon pick-me-up, these banana nut muffins possess all the fun of banana bread in a portable, oh-so-charming package. A few simple steps are critical for superior muffins. First, do take the time to toast the nuts for a warmer flavor and more serious crunch. Second, skip plain old melted butter in favor of brown butter to enhance their nuttiness and bring a caramelly essence. Third, for bold banana flavor and a tender crumb, wait to make them until you have overripe bananas—all those black speckles are a sign they’re perfect for baking.
The batter for our banana nut muffin recipe comes together in one medium bowl (for minimal prep time and easy cleanup). We call for chopped walnuts and chocolate chips, but you can get creative with the mix-ins. Stuff them with cream cheese or, for a little extra spice, add a teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the dry ingredients. If you don’t have paper liners, spray the muffin tin with cooking spray, or plan ahead and invest in some reusable muffin liners (they’re great for cupcakes too!).
These banana walnut muffins are freezer-friendly, so you can stash ’em away for future breakfast emergencies, but they’re also fine stored in an airtight container on the counter for up to three days. They need very little gilding, but a pat of butter or a swath of peanut butter never hurt.
recipesWhen it comes to steak fajitas from the El Paso border region, we’re talking about skirt steak, cooked over mesquite wood at extremely high temperatures. Mesquite is the only hardwood to be found in the desert area where I grew up; it imparts a very distinctive and robust flavor, and also happens to produce the hottest coals for cooking. We use a commercial log-burning grill at my restaurant, Rancho Lewis, in Charleston, South Carolina, but this method is really easy to execute at home on the backyard grill using a combination of charcoal briquets and mesquite chunks available at any hardware store.
I recommend seeking out sun-dried chile powder if you can, as it makes a world of difference. It’s sweeter and less bitter than the typical mechanically dried chile powder—think of the flavor difference between oven-roasted dried tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes. It’s very easy to source online.
If you are looking for the restaurant-style “sizzling beef fajitas” presentation, top a hot cast-iron griddle (that you heat in the oven or on the stove) with the grilled onions and peppers, followed by the sliced steak, and finish with a drizzle of the melted seasoned butter over the top—specifically on some of the exposed edges of the cast iron. You’ll get a definite audible and visible smoke show. —John Lewis
Editor’s note: If skirt steak is unavailable, you can use flank steak for this easy recipe.
recipesThe chicken salad filling for these pastries takes inspiration from the one served at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation luncheon. We kept the signature curry powder but made our own creamy dressing and added dried cranberries for a hint of sweetness. While most often used to make sandwiches (which you can and should do too), baking this filling up in flaky, buttery pastry results in an irresistible entertaining snack or even full-on dinner.
recipesClassic creamed spinach contains masses of both cream and spinach, reduced down to a pasty green (though admittedly delicious) gunge. This version takes a much lighter tack, wilting fresh, mature spinach into silky tenderness in just seconds, then folding in crème fraîche for brighter, more balanced richness. Inspired by the writer Julia Langbein’s trips to the greenmarkets of France where she first tasted this phenomenal combination, it is simply silky, creamy spinach heaven. Crème fraîche is cultured heavy cream that starts out the texture of extra-dense whipped cream but turns fluid when heated; instead you could use heavy cream and a squeeze of lemon for a similar effect.
recipesBriana Valdez, the daughter of first-generation Mexican-American parents, moved all over Texas while growing up, but didn’t dedicate her life to making the food of her childhood until she moved to LA and noticed a migas-shaped hole in the city’s culinary landscape. “After a decade of wishing someone would open the restaurant of my dreams in the beautiful city of LA, I decided to give it a go myself,” she said. Since opening HomeState in 2013, the restaurant has grown to five locations and has become a destination in the city for breakfast tacos and the best migas.
You could skip the tortilla-frying part of the recipe and use store-bought corn tortilla chips instead, but you’ll lose some of the heft and flavor that fresh tortillas bring to the final dish. In either case, you’ll want a stack of flour tortillas for assembling your own tacos, along with sliced avocado, pickled jalapeño peppers, and a drizzle of the verdant, vibrant salsa. Also up for grabs: refried beans, a perfectly sliced mango, and, if you’d like, some homemade chorizo.
However you make them, they’re just as good for breakfast or brunch as they are for dinner.
recipesI love Caesar salad and make a version of it at each of my restaurants, including this one at Bar Amá. This is a Tex-Mex version with chile spice and Cotija cheese on the croutons and in the dressing. There’s more Cotija on top of the salad, too, along with avocado. And of course, it wouldn’t be a Caesar salad without garlic, anchovies, and mayo.
recipesIf cake had a personality, this one would be the people pleaser. Gluten-free? “Pick me!” it would say. Dairy-free? “I’m here!” No mixer? “I got you.” Intensely chocolaty with a brownie-like chew, it has a little something for everyone. (Semisweet chocolate contains no dairy by default, but check your package to be sure.) Thanks to its slick viscosity, tahini magically emulsifies with water and chocolate for a smooth, satiny sauce. For the fudgiest texture, be careful not to overmix the cake batter.
recipesFor fans of biscuits and gravy, this dish is hard to ignore; when we see the classic breakfast combo on a menu, we’re going to order it, no questions asked. In this recipe, traditional pork sausage gravy gets an update with the help of ground chicken, a Cajun spice blend, and the Holy Trinity of Cajun cooking: onion, bell pepper, and celery, which add heft and a little sweetness to the mix. Flaky biscuits make the ideal accompaniment, and this simplified version tastes much more complicated than it is (a.k.a. no chilling required). One note: Be sure to note whether the Cajun spice blend you are using includes salt and adjust your seasoning accordingly.
recipesAvgolemono is a classic Greek sauce made with eggs, lemon, and a warm broth. It’s incredibly tangy and silky. The dish is often made with rice and chicken, but this bright sauce works extremely well with seafood. My version features clams, snapper, and shrimp; but squid, mussels, and cockles would work just as well. The bright and briny broth is balanced with sweet anise flavor of fennel and onion. Save the fennel fronds as they make an excellent garnish adding a bright freshness.
recipesThis extra-chewy and nutty chocolate chip cookie is really an ode to a favorite store-bought treat: the Pepperidge Farm Sausalito, featuring milk chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. (As a kid I devoured them while watching ABC’s TGIF lineup.) My slightly more adult spin stays true to its core essence, while scaling back the sugar to a not-too-sweet level. I’ve also added brown butter and a dollop of miso to provide depth and balance. Don’t forget to toast your macadamia nuts to bring out all their buttery flavor.
