We know, we know. Blender drinks are for sissies–or so you may think. If that’s the case, take a sip of this stiff riff on the gin and tonic. Then get back to us.
Melissa Maedgen, Recipe Tester
A list of all the recipes Melissa Maedgen has tested.
Melissa Maedgen owes her passion for cooking and gardening to her parents. Like her mom and dad, she’s fond of improvisational cooking with a focus on fresh produce from her garden or from local farmers. She enjoys cooking outdoors, sometimes in a particularly rustic manner—she once roasted a goat on a spit (actually just a piece of rebar) over a fire in a field in Texas. Maedgen was raised to be a DIYer, so she often makes her own tofu or beer. She’s been following Leite’s Culinaria since 2001, when she was studying Portuguese and developed an interest in Brazilian and Portuguese food. She became a tester in 2009 and loves that she gets to cook foods she might not otherwise make.
Grilled Zucchini with Mint Salsa
This healthy, low-carb side dish of grilled zucchini topped with punchy mint salsa verde makes excellent use of an abundance of summer zucchini.
Homemade Sriracha Sauce
This traditional and incendiary Thai condiment has incited quite the following. Here’s how to save yourself a trip to your local Asian market.
Spanish Cod Fritters ~ Buñuelos de Bacalao
To his surprise, and horror, some of the best salt cod fritters David Leite ever ate weren’t Portuguese, but Spanish. Light, crunchy, and perfectly balanced.
Blueberry Frozen Yogurt
No sugar. No creepy preservatives. Nothing but blueberries, plain yogurt, honey, lemon juice, purple smiles, and requests for seconds.
Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta
For this easy weeknight meal, angel hair pasta is tossed in a no-cook sauce of sun-dried tomatoes, fresh mint, oil, vinegar, and garlic.
Ground Chicken Meatballs
These subtly flavored, relatively healthful (shhhh!) sliders are the sleeper hit at The Meatball Shop. Not hard to understand why.
Sidecar Cocktail
Created during Prohibition, this collision of Cognac, orange liqueur, and lemon isn’t for the faint of heart—nor for the slight of tolerance.
Tareko Aloo ~ Nepali-Style Fried Potatoes
A perfect little snack made from deep-fried potatoes with a lemony, spicy finish. Serve with drinks and other little plates for a superb cocktail hour.
Baked Chicken with Cinnamon Butter
This understated hen owes its curious lure to a simple, subtle blend of butter and unexpected spice. Appallingly easy and enthrallingly enticing.