Irene Seales, Recipe Tester

A list of all the recipes Irene Seales has tested.

Irene Seales

Picking blackberries and peaches for canning, snacking on stalks of homegrown rhubarb, and rolling grape leaves just right, Irene learned to cook in her Greek motherʼs kitchen, where she worked her way up like any new line cook, eventually earning the privilege of assembling baklava under watchful guidance. Today, Irene views cooking as both a creative endeavor and a way to understand the world, savoring both the solitary meditations of chopping, slicing, and sautéing along with the unpredictable experiences inherent in cooking and eating good food with others. Her willingness to talk to anyone has led to shameless interrogations of waiters and chefs, baristas and bakers, farmers and butchers, and fellow home cooks. For Irene, the best seat is always at the kitchen counter, especially if it’s affogato time.

Cheddar cheese sauce being ladled over a chili-topped burger.

Cheddar Cheese Sauce

So satiatingly superlative, this cheese sauce is going to whisper seductively to you to ladle it onto everything. And we do mean everything.

A plate filled with spicy roasted cauliflower florets.

Spicy Roasted Cauliflower

A perfectly cooked and gently spiced specimen of cruciferous loveliness. You’re seriously not going to be able to stop noshing this.

Two white plates of Italian salad made with iceberg, tomatoes, red onion, and Parmesan.

Italian Salad

The perfect excuse to justify the return of iceberg lettuce to your life.

Nine roast lemon chicken thighs in a round Dutch oven with lemon slices tucked between them.

Roasted Lemon Chicken Thighs

In this simple one-pot supper, chicken thighs are bathed in a sauce that’s informed, though not overwhelmed, by lemon. Warning: You’re gonna wanna spoon that sauce onto everything.

A panettone studded with dried fruit on a silver platter with a couple of wedges cut from it.

Panettone

Panettone, which makes its traditional Italian Christmas appearance, is gussied up here with any dried fruit you fancy. An ever so slight twist on a classic.

Gray speckled bowl of beet salad with feta and pumpkin seeds, along with spinach and sliced red onions.

Beet Salad with Feta and Pumpkin Seeds

A stunning jumble of ingredients you’ll forget are healthy the moment you take a bite. Sweet roasted beets. Peppery watercress. Tangy feta. And a perfectly balanced vinaigrette.

A round blue plate topped with rainbow chard salad, candied nuts, and creamy dressing.

Rainbow Chard Salad

This rainbow chard salad teaches you the magnificence that is Swiss chard when served ever so slightly cooked with walnuts and cheese.

A peach berry sonker in a square baking dish with one serving missing.

Peach Berry Sonker

That’s right. Sonker. And it’s the simple yet unforgettable fruit dessert—sorta like pie meets cobbler—that you’ve been missing your entire life.

Four scoops of blueberry frozen yogurt in a wooden bowl with a spoon resting beside it.

Blueberry Frozen Yogurt

No sugar. No creepy preservatives. Nothing but blueberries, plain yogurt, honey, lemon juice, purple smiles, and requests for seconds.

Three Champagne cocktails with a Champagne cork an a plate of sugar cubes beside the drinks.

Champagne Cocktail

The quintessential something to sip at an elegant soirée, a large party, or just because it’s a random Tuesday night.

Three stacks of chewy molasses cookies on a white marble cake stand.

Chewy Molasses Cookies

The holidays incarnate. That’s what these cookies are to us. They’re magnificently and traditionally spiced and are crinkly and chewy. All in the best possible sort of way.

Three bowls of fennel potato soup, one with a soup spoon, beside a small bowl of salt.

Fennel and Potato Soup

A spectacular riff on the classic French potato and leek soup known as Vichyssoise, this is astoundingly good. So much so you may just find yourself raising the bowl to your lips.

Chili mac and cheese in close up, with breadcrumbs and melted cheese.

Chili Mac and Cheese

Chili mac. It’s short for chili mac and cheese. And yes, it’s exactly what the name would make you think it is. You’re welcome.