Recipes, Cooking, and Baking Site
What I’m Eating
Katharine Hepburn’s Brownies
Who knew Katharine Hepburn was as agile at baking as acting? These brownies make us think maybe she missed her true calling.
1 hr
Autumn-Inspired Apple Recipes
Chai Spiced Apple Cider
This chai spiced apple cider calls for nothing more than apple cider, your favorite chai tea, and a cinnamon stick. Quick liquid comfort.
10 mins
Apple and White Cheddar Scones
These sweetly savory scones take the traditional sweet and savory intermingling of apple pie and Cheddar and make it portable and pastry perfect.
1 hr 15 mins
Red Truck Bakery Apple Cake
A yearround charmer, this is sorta like Bundt cake gone to finishing school yet retains all the comforts of home. From the justifiably famous Red Truck Bakery in rural Virginia.
1 hr 45 mins
Hey, I’m David Leite
I’m a three-time James Beard Award-winning food writer, cookbook author, memoirist, podcast host, and publisher. I created this site in 1999 to help you find simple, quick, and wicked flavorful recipes. For the past 24 years, I’ve been cooking, teaching, and writing about all types of food, including those from my Portuguese heritage. Let’s eat! Vamos comer!
Celebrate Rosh Hashanah
Apple Cake
What’s easy peasy to make, lovely to look at, even lovelier to taste, and certain to impress? This cake.
1 hr 30 mins
Roast Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Dates
An easier yet no less elegant riff on the classic chicken Marbella. Ideal for the Jewish high holidays yet ecumenical enough for Sunday suppers everywhere.
1 hr 30 mins
Fresh Figs with Ricotta and Honey
Fresh figs alone, while stunning if savored by you alone in the kitchen, isn’t exactly what you want to serve guests. Here’s what you do want to offer them.
10 mins
Challah
As buttery and airy as brioche but with a far weightier responsibility than its breakfast chum, challah ensures a sweet new year in Jewish tradition. We’ll break bread to that.
3 hrs 15 mins
Weeknight Quick Recipes
You love to cook & feed the fam. But you don’t want to live in the kitchen. I’ve got your back.
One-Pan Spaghetti Puttanesca
All of the classic flavors of spaghetti puttanesca with the convenience of just one pan and barely any effort? Umm, yes, please!
50 mins
White Pizza with Broccolini, Fontina, and Sausage
A terrifically easy (and, yes, slightly healthy) pizza that’ll satisfy your craving in no time, whether on a hectic weeknight or a lazy weekend.
50 mins
Sheet Pan Chicken with Apples, Bacon, and Brussels Sprouts
Sheet pan dinners are not only trendy but they’re a weeknight lifesaver, too. Less dishes to wash, less time spent in the kitchen and loads more flavor.
1 hr
Pork Chops with Applesauce
No ordinary pork chops and apples recipe, this particular approach takes its sass from crisp, fried sage leaves and can be on the table in 30 minutes.
30 mins
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Most Beloved Recipes
These are the most popular, most loved, and most made dishes over the past 25 years.
Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese Sauce
Is anything more soothing than standing before a burbling pot of Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese sauce? (Hint: Our answer is absolutely not.)
6 hrs
Batter-Fried Chicken
Proof that it doesn’t take buttermilk or an insufferably long overnight brine to make insanely tender, crazily crisp, gosh darn perfect fried chicken.
1 hr 30 mins
Pastéis de Nata ~ Portuguese Custard Tarts
Not Portuguese? Not a problem. It won’t lessen your appreciation for these little lovelies with the shatteringly crisp pastry cradling ridiculously creamy custard.
2 hrs 30 mins
Easy Slow Roast Pork Butt in the Oven
This roast pork butt, coated in a simple rub of brown sugar, paprika, cumin, and red pepper flakes, is an incredibly easy recipe to make and yields enough pulled pork to feed a small army.
10 hrs
Portuguese Recipes
Homemade Portuguese Chouriço
If you’ve got some time, patience, and access to a smoker, homemade smoked Portuguese sausage is within your reach. Go on. Impress your friends.
2 d
Portuguese Shrimp Turnovers ~ Rissóis de Camarão
A Portuguese classic, these diminutive shrimp turnovers boast a filling that’s creamy and comforting yet made interesting with a little heat. All tidily packaged in fried dough.
2 hrs
Portuguese Tea Flan
Creamy custard is infused with tea for an unusual take on the classic Portuguese flan. The classic caramel topping gives the dessert its depth and sweetness.
4 hrs 30 mins
