Tips for Rescuing the Most Humble Dishes
Meat Loaf with Red Wine Glaze
This meat loaf is extra-delicious, thanks to a red wine glaze that caramelizes as it bakes.
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Cashews with Crispy Sage and Garlic
Tossing cashews with fried sage and garlic elevates this classic snack.
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Three-Cheese Mini Macs
Anything big made small is ultrafun for cocktail parties, and these quick, one-bite mac and cheeses are the ultimate example. Cooked in mini muffin pans, the mini macs can be assembled early and baked just as guests arrive.
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Cornmeal-and-Ricotta Waffles
These waffles, from chef Michael Mina, go far beyond the ordinary. Cornmeal makes the waffles crispy; ricotta keeps them moist.
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Vanilla Bean-Whipped Sweet Potatoes
Here, sweet potatoes get a boost from fragrant vanilla beans.
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Toasted Spaghetti with Clams
Ferran Adrià credits the idea for this dish to one of his acolytes, Moreno Cedroni, the hyper-creative Italian chef at La Madonnina del Pescatore in Italy’s Marzocca di Senigallia. The method is very similar to risotto, but spaghetti fills in for the arborio rice: Adrià toasts it in a pan with a little oil, then adds hot clam juice until the pasta is fully cooked and loaded with briny flavor.
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Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs with Avocado
It may not be an obvious combination, but topping a bacon-wrapped hot dog with avocado and sour cream yields delicious results.
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Chicken Soup with Jasmine Rice and Ginger
Ginger lends terrific flavor to this warming chicken soup.
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Cocoa Nib-Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate with cocoa nibs adds an ingenious twist to the classic chocolate chip cookie.
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Bloody Mary Cocktail Meatballs
The Three-Pepper Bloody Mary in the meatball gravy acts like a tomato sauce and becomes a terrific, spicy glaze.