Marilee Johnson, Recipe Tester

A list of all the recipes Marilee Johnson has tested.

A white baking dish filled with easy rhubarb crisp and a spoon resting in the center.

Easy Rhubarb Crisp

An obscenely easy, sweetly tart rhubarb crisp that you simply must experience at least once. (Although we doubt you’ll be able to stop at just once.)

A yellow Dutch oven filled with white bean and chicken chili, topped with pieces of bacon.

White Bean and Chicken Chili

Stop your scoffing. This may not be conventional chili, but it’s no sissy imposter. It’s just a little subtler, soupier, and smokier.

A metal skillet filled with creamy pasta covered with shredded Parmesan and cracked pepper, with a large serving spoon. A bowl of Parmesan and a pepper mill sit beside it.

Cacio e Pepe

This crazy satisfying, ridiculously cheap, pantry-minded dinner consists of just pasta, cheese, oil, salt, pepper, and a nifty technique.

Big Chewy Brownie Cookies

Big Chewy Brownie Cookies

“Everything I love about brownies. The fudgy center. The crisp edges. And that wondrous crinkly top.” That’s what folks are saying about these.

A white bowl filled with smoky gazpacho drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil, and a spoon resting inside the bowl.

Smoky Gazpacho

Sometimes a little unexpected tweak to tradition isn’t a bad thing. Nope. Not a bad thing at all…

A plastic container filled with vanilla bean ice cream with a metal ice cream scoop resting in it.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Sometimes it’s nice to just let your spoon sink into something that tastes pure as the driven snow. Indulgently rich, sigh-inducingly creamy, vanilla-enhanced snow.

A Cosmopolitan cocktail in a martini glass with a twist of orange peel floating in it.

Cosmopolitan

If ever a drink symbolized an era, the bright pink, citric Cosmopolitan SCREAMS the 1990s and then into the present.

A halved fancy tuna melt with tomato and cucumber on a baguette on a piece of parchment.

Fancy Tuna Melt

A tuna melt is a tuna melt is a tuna melt, right? Uh, not exactly. This is a welcome departure from what we choked down as children.

Oval casserole dish with spring asparagus and Asiago gratin, topped with coarse bread crumbs

Asparagus and Asiago Gratin

Our easy and elegant solution when you buy not-quite-spring spears of asparagus from the grocery store? Just add cheese and butter and bread crumbs.

Three grilled artichoke halves, some lemon wedges, and dip on a wooden peel

Grilled Artichokes

Simple and stunning. That’s what we expect outta any side that we pull off the grill. These artichokes deliver all that—and then some.

A bowl of Cuban black bean soup with a wooden ladle next to a yellow plate filled with white rice.

Cuban Black Bean Soup

This Havana-style black bean soup is gonna surprise you with just how intensely flavored it is despite calling for inexpensive everyday ingredients.

Potatoes with Mexican chorizo tucked inside tortillas with a glass of beer on the side.

Potatoes With Mexican Chorizo

Easy, authentic, and awesome any time of day, whether accompanied by steaming hot coffee in the morning or cold cerveza any (other) time of day. One of our recipes folks rave about most.

A tangle of fettuccine with scallops finished with lemon zest and chervil on a brown plate.

Fettuccine with Scallops

Whether you need a no-fail romantic or celebratory dinner for two, here’s how to pull it off with ease and impressiveness.

Southside Cocktail

Mint. Muddled. Mine. When we’ve got this gin-based mojito on our minds, those are about the only words we can muster. Well, maybe add “More.”

Two red tropical fruit popsicles on a plastic tray.

Tropical Fruit Popsicles

Remember making popsicles in paper cups as a kid? These taste just as compelling as the ones back in the day. But with no fake ingredients. And no fancy popsicle molds required.

Six coffee-crusted grilled pork chops on a speckled platter.

Coffee Crusted Grilled Pork Chops

“Wow!” “Off-the-charts good!” “Divine.” “Amazingly juicy and tender.” “A definite keeper.” That’s what we’re hearing about these subtly and beguilingly spiced chops.

A bowl of spaghetti all'Aglio e Olio topped with olive oil and flakes of Parmesan cheese.

Spaghetti all’Aglio e Olio

This Italian classic is gonna bring ease to your everyday supper situation with its understated complexity and undeniable frugality.