Melissa Maedgen, Recipe Tester

A list of all the recipes Melissa Maedgen has tested.

Melissa Maedgen

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.

A metal platter holding five grilled portobello mushrooms, topped with garlic rosemary butter.

Grilled Portobello Mushrooms

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These grilled portobello mushrooms are topped with butter, garlic, rosemary, and soy sauce for an incredible and indescribable umami savoriness.

  • Quick Glance
  • 15 M
  • 30 M
  • 0
Four adobo marinated pork chops and several lime halves, some squeezed, on a wooden chopping block.

Adobo Marinated Pork Chops

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We teach you how to make your own homemade adobo and then wield it to make your weeknight meals exponentially more enticing.

  • Quick Glance
  • 15 M
  • 1 H, 30 M
  • 0
Three bottles of store bought Sriracha sauce.

Homemade Sriracha Sauce

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The traditional and incendiary Thai condiment has incited quite the following. Here’s how to save yourself a trip to your local Asian market.

  • 5 M
  • 7 D
  • 58
Several halves of tomato Provençal on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet.

Tomatoes Provençal

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Is there anything as sweetly satisfying as heirloom tomatoes eaten raw over the sink? Probably not. But when you tire of that, there’s always this deeply satiating tactic.

  • 10 M
  • 40 M
  • 14
A stack of johnnycakes on a white plate topped syrup and butter.

Johnnycakes

updated posted by

Make no mistake, pancakes they are not. Johnnycakes are lighter and crunchier and grittier and arguably best drenched in butter and maple syrup.

  • Quick Glance
  • 15 M
  • 45 M
  • 2
A spinach tomato mushroom burger between two toasted bun halves on a brown plate.

Spinach, Tomato, and Mushroom Burger

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“A keeper.” That’s what people are saying about this portobello mushroom burger piled high with garlicky spinach and marinated tomatoes.

  • Quick Glance
  • 30 M
  • 1 H
  • 0
A red woven basket with a pile of buttermilk onion rings

Buttermilk Onion Rings

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Crisp on the outside, sweet and tender on the inside, these buttermilk onion rings are going to ruin all over onion rings for you.

  • 30 M
  • 40 M
  • 4
An oval platter topped with a tangle of spaghetti and raw tomatoes with a fork and spoon resting in the pasta.

Spaghetti with Raw Tomatoes

updated posted by

Summer at its simplest, not to mention it’s most splendid, seeing as how five minutes of effort yields a meal that rivals round-trip tickets to Italy.

  • 20 M
  • 50 M
  • 33
A white bowl of sweet pickle relish with a spoon with a wooden handle in it

Sweet Pickle Relish

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So long, Vlasic. Once you try your hand at making your own sweet relish, you can cross one more condiment off your shopping list.

  • 45 M
  • 1 D
  • 10
A blue bowl filled with grilled pineapple salsa on a platter with tortilla chips., beer, and lime wedges.

Grilled Pineapple Salsa

posted by

A quick summer fixer-upper for plain grilled chicken or fish for those nights when turning on the stove just seems like too much.

  • Quick Glance
  • 30 M
  • 30 M
  • 0
An eggplant kebab on a pita with a lemon wedge, garlic sauce, spinach leaves, red onion, cherry tomatoes, red pepper, and cabbage.

Eggplant Kebabs

updated posted by

An entertaining-worthy dinner that’s most magnificent during the height of summer. No turning on the stove required.

  • Quick Glance
  • 45 M
  • 1 H, 30 M
  • 0
A glass jar filled with green sauce with a spoon resting inside.

Green Sauce

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Dubbed “magic sauce,” this zingy green sauce lends an exaggerated oomph to just about anything. Watch how quickly it disappears and you’ll understand the magic.

  • Quick Glance
  • 10 M
  • 10 M
  • 0
Three bowls of vegan mango ice cream topped with mango slices.

Vegan Mango Ice Cream

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Creamy. Indulgent. Easy. Healthy. Just three ingredients. And no ice cream maker required. (What are you waiting for?!)

  • Quick Glance
  • 10 M
  • 10 M
  • 0
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