Entrees
Shrimp Niçoise Salad
Niçoise salad, fairly well known in America these days, is a specialty from the city of Nice in the south of France. It consists of tuna, tomatoes, blanched string beans, boiled potatoes, hard cooked eggs, and a vinaigrette dressing. I have adapted it by pureeing the tuna in the sauce…
Fresh and Smoked Salmon Salad
I think smoked salmon is a wonderful secret ingredient, it adds not only a unique salmon taste but also an appealing smokiness, and a little goes a long way. This is my favorite way to cook fresh salmon on a weeknight, drizzled with lemon juice and olive oil and baked…
Basil Chicken Salad with Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato
Time and again viewers of my show e-mail me wondering, “How do I cook white meat chicken so that it doesn’t get tough?” The answer appears to be simple. Don’t overcook it. In fact, that is easier said than done these days. The threat of salmonella requires that you cook…
Chopped Salad with Feta, Chickpeas, and Pita Croutons
I love almost any kind of salad—and the more ingredients, the better. “Chopped Salad,” a catchall for any salad boasting a rich variety of chopped vegetables, is my favorite. This recipe was inspired by a low-fat dish I first encountered several years ago in Gourmet. Created by Chef Ed Brown of…
Arugula Salad with Aged Gouda, Savory Praline, and Mustard Dressing
This is a guests are coming for dinner salad, fancier and more labor intensive than most, but the extra effort really pays off. My husband, the salad hater, scarfed it down so enthusiastically that I added extra arugula to the recipe to stretch it. All the parts can be made…
Slow-roasted Spiced Baby Back Ribs
One of my all-time favorite field trips for “Cooking Live” was to Memphis to cover the huge annual barbecue cook-off there. It is an astonishing event that attracts more than 200 teams from all around the country, from funky little crews of like-minded friends to heavily financed corporate outfits. Everyone…
Orzo and Basmati Pilaf with Spring Vegetable Ragout
Orzo is a rice-shaped pasta from Italy. Basmati is a fragrant Indian long-grain rice with a wonderful nutty taste. The two of them combine to make a great side dish, but you can top it with anything and turn it into a main dish. Here we’ve chosen asparagus, mushrooms, and…
Mexican Chicken Salad
This is my favorite kind of salad because it has so many ingredients—and each with a different texture, from the creamy avocado to the crispy homemade tortilla chips. I have cheated here by using leftover or rotisserie chicken. It would work just as well with leftover pork, shrimp, or beef.…
Spring Spaetzle
Soon after I started making spaetzle as a side dish at home on a regular basis, it occurred to me that you could dress up and sauce this German pasta much as you would any other fresh pasta—an inspiration that automatically promoted spaetzle from a side dish to an entrée.…
Vegetarian Chili Pie with Monterey Jack Cheese and Corn Bread Crust
Vegetable chili, like any stewed dish, is even better the day after you make it, when all the flavorings have had a chance to sink in. Of course, it’s also fine if you eat it the same day you make it. But whenever you make it, make a double batch…
Butternut Squash Soup with Gruyère Pesto
The generic recipe for winter squash soup or puree typically begins by calling for a scary amount of the squash “peeled, seeded, and cubed,” and then steamed or boiled. Have you ever tried to peel, let alone cut, even one of these hard winter squashes? There may be no easier…
Cauliflower Soup with Caraway and Rye Croutons
What I love about vegetable soups like this one is that they boast the soul satisfying consistency of cream without actually containing any. Cooked and pureed, most vegetables are amazingly creamy all by themselves. (OK, some of them need to be pureed with potato to create the desired effect, but…
Spanish-style White Bean, Kale, and Chorizo Soup
In the early nineties, I went on a weeklong press trip to Spain. Other than learning everything there is to know about olive oil—the stated purpose of our trip—all we did for a week was eat ourselves silly and drink many bottles of beautiful Spanish wine. Not surprisingly, I fell…
Gingery Chicken Broth with Wonton Ravioli
This soup combines two of my favorite recipes—Eileen Yin Fei Lo’s gingery Chinese chicken broth and Jacques Pépin’s chicken breast stuffing—with one of my favorite techniques, wonton as ravioli. Eileen introduced me to Chinese-style chicken broth when she appeared on my show to make recipes from her book The Chinese Way.…
Oven-baked Chowder
I was born and bred in New York, but my roots are in New England, so you might say that chowder is in my blood. My family has always made New England-style chowder by starting with whole cod or haddock on the bone, because the bones are the key to…
Southern Manhattan Corn Chowder with Fried Pickles
Everyone knows that corn and tomatoes go together like love and marriage. Adding pickles to the mix is my own little twist. Originally, I wanted to create a Manhattan Corn Chowder on the model of a Manhattan Clam Chowder. But when I thought of Manhattan, I thought of delis. When…
Smoky Salmon Chowder with Lemon Pepper Crackers
This hot and hearty chowder is a great dish for a winter weeknight. Made with milk, not cream, it’s healthier and lighter than a classic chowder but seems plenty substantial as you are enjoying it. (The downside is that it is a bit more likely to look a little curdled…
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito
Some time ago Good Morning America ran a low-fat, low-calorie Healthy Eating contest that asked viewers to submit original recipes for Best Entrée and Best Dessert. We received hundreds and hundreds of entries, narrowed them down, then flew the winner in each category to New York to make their dish…
Hungarian Pork Cutlets
This is one of the four quick meat sautés that I included in Sara Moulton Cooks at Home. You start by pounding the meat nice and thin which allows it to cook quickly. Then you coat it in seasoned flour which keeps it from drying out when it is cooked,…
Cooking Duck with Ariane Daguin!
I love duck, cook it frequently, and have included it in all my books. Recently Ariane Daguin, founder of D’Artagnan, invited me to cook with her in an Episode of her video series, Back of the House. Please take a look. Ariane really knows duck; she was raised in Auch,…
Salmon Cakes
If you live on the East Coast and your electricity has been out for more than 48 hours, do take a look at the “From the Pantry” chapter of Sara’s Weeknight Meals. In most recipes, you don’t need anything from your refrigerator. If frozen ingredients are called for, you can…
Tomato Pie
Make this pie during the high tomato season and you just can’t lose; those big ripe local tomatoes will do all the work for you. After you slice and salt the tomatoes and roll out the dough, the rest is simple. (If you want to cheat, use a store bought…
Spicy Shrimp and Avocado Salad with Cashews
Haven’t you often wondered how they make the delicious citrus dressing that glorifies the Iceberg salads often served at sushi restaurants? The orange dressing in this recipe is my attempt at duplicating it, and I think I’ve come pretty close. With the dressing in hand, I wondered just which ingredients—other…
The Ultimate Spinach Salad
I just love salad. When I’m in the city, I eat salad every day for lunch. When I’m on the road for business, I often order salad from room service for dinner. Of course, I understand that not everyone shares this leafy passion (take my husband, please), so when I…