Linda Pacchiano, Recipe Tester

A list of all the recipes Linda Pacchiano has tested.

Linda Pacchiano

Linda Pacchiano has been a Leite’s Culinaria tester since December 2006. After graduating with a degree in foreign languages and international business from Georgetown University, followed by a long career in the pharmaceutical industry, she pursued culinary and pastry arts at the International Culinary Center (founded as the French Culinary Institute) in New York City. She also trained in advanced cake design at New York’s Institute for Culinary Education.

Pacchiano worked as a Chef/Instructor at the Viking Cooking School in Fairfield, NJ for six years, as an Adjunct Culinary Instructor at the County College of Morris in Randolph, NJ, and served as a Wilton Method Instructor for 10 years, teaching all levels of cake decorating courses.

She currently volunteers at the Morris County Interfaith Food Pantry, leading their Kitchen to Table program, creating nutritious meals, and guiding corporate volunteer groups in preparing meals for the Food Pantry’s homebound clients. She has also led cooking demonstrations for the Food Pantry’s clients, instructing them on how to prepare simple, nutritious meals in their home kitchens. She is ServSafe Certified by the U.S. National Restaurant Association.

A Dutch oven with braised chicken thighs and olives, and a single thigh and three olives on a white plate.

Braised Chicken Thighs

Transport yourself to the Mediterranean with this cozy meal of tender chicken thighs that are gently cooked with vermouth, lemon, olives, and prosciutto.

Three plates, each with a crème caramel on them with spoons resting on the side.

Crème Caramel

Similar to flan in its delicate texture, this classic creme caramel is as simple as it is sophisticated. You’d expect nothing less from the French, yes?

A skillet filled with pan seared scallops cooked in butter.

Pan Seared Scallops

Perhaps the easiest and most elegant dinner conceivable. Here’s how to cook your pricey (and worth every penny) sea scallops to perfection.

Ten hamantaschen -- jam filled, triangle-shaped pastries -- on a white background.

Hamantaschen

Our testers are singing the praises of these sweet cookies that are stuffed with poppy seed and apricot filling. We’re quite certain you will be, too.

A cast-iron skillet with four cooked chicken apple sausages inside.

Chicken Apple Sausage

Seriously, it’s so easy to make your own sausage. Insanely easy. And holy heck, does it taste phenomenal. No meat grinder required.

Cheese danish braided and sprinkled with sugar, on a sheet of parchment paper.

Cheese Danish

A startlingly spectacular made-from-scratch cheese Danish that is going to forever change your notion of what a cheese Danish ought to be.

A white bowl of wild mushroom risotto with peas with a fork resting inside and a glass and decanter of wine in the background.

Wild Mushroom Risotto

The secret to this intensely flavored risotto? Using chicken stock mingled with the liquid from rehydrating dried porcini mushrooms.

A partially covered Dutch oven filled with cooked Parmesan potato gratin.

Parmesan Potato Gratin

We used to get our gratins and scalloped potatoes confused. But then we tried this gratin. Guess which one is now our favorite?!

A rectangular baking dish filled with wild mushroom stuffing with leeks.

Wild Mushroom Stuffing

Earthy collides with slightly sweet in this beautiful burnished brioche and wild mushroom stuffing. (Did we mention it’s easy?)

A platter with several crab cake burgers topped with tomato in a soft roll.

Crab Cake Burger

Fresh crab necessitates only Old Bay and very little in way of other ingredients. That’s exactly what you’ll find here.

A peach and crème fraîche pie sitting on a window sill with a pitcher nearby.

Peach and Crème Fraîche Pie

Whether you seek convention or innovation, you’ll find it in this haute yet humble peach pie, which draws on tradition yet still wields some surprises.

A white bowl of corn and roasted poblano soup garnished with cheese, paprika, and corn kernels, with a napkin and spoon on the side.

Corn and Roasted Poblano Soup

Our testers are calling this creamy, comforting bowl of sweet corn and roasted poblano soup “the essence of summertime”. We couldn’t agree more.