You say artichoke. We say carciofi. That’s Italian for “pointy leafy thing that turns meltingly tender when cooked like your nonna knows how.”
Sofia Reino, Recipe Tester
A list of all the recipes Sofia Reino has tested.
Sofia Reino grew up in many kitchens. With her diplomat parents, Sofia lived a gypsy life, moving from one country to another and one cuisine to the next. Her passion for food began while she lived in Norway. At age nine, she’d run downstairs to the kitchen as soon as she finished her homework to help her mother and the cook prepare a variety of meals. The dishes were mostly Portuguese but with an international twist.
She spent each summer in Portugal, where again she enjoyed countless hours in the kitchen, this time with her avó (grandmother) and the kitchen helpers. Food and wellness were always important to her, though after finishing her architectural degree in Brooklyn, she followed the design and marketing profession.
In every place she lived, she had a small vegetable garden, volunteered at organic farms, and would keep on taking culinary courses. She even ended up becoming a plant-based personal chef, has been giving cooking workshops, and owned her own organic farm in Sintra. She is now based in Lisbon.
Since the first time she became a recipe tester for LC, she has loved every second to test even more recipes and enlarge her culinary fan. She also has had a chance to be a tester and developer for a few published chefs. Apart from design, marketing, and her two daughters, food is the center of her life and she loves to entertain and experiment in the kitchen.
Sofia has so many favorite recipes on the site and her all-time favorite is the Portuguese Duck Risotto. This is closely followed by the Flourless Chocolate-Vanilla Marble Cake, Shrimp and Grits, Goat Cheese with Olives, Lemon and Thyme, which no party can happen without, and the Raw Cranberry Sauce that is always on the Thanksgiving table! She could go on and on and on.
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.
Oven Fried Drumsticks
Some things never go out of style. Witness this throwback to the 50s recipe for drumsticks rolled in crumbs of any sort. Potato chips. Wasabi peas. Rice crackers.
Christmas Eve Calamari
The much-ballyhooed Italian Christmas classic, Feast of the Seven Fishes, stars one fish in Domenica Marchetti’s home. Calamari. And it’s the centerpiece of her Christmas Eve dinner.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Crisps
Crisp as a cracker. Less sweet than a cookie. And certain to be safe from the kids as they have a distinct adult dark chocolate allure.
Ground Turkey Sliders
If ever there was an unabashedly, unapologetically girlie burger, this is it. Still, we’ve seen guys polish them off without complaint.
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.
White Pizza
We find this lovely, albeit subtly flavored, little number to be one of the simpler pleasures in life. We think you’ll concur.
Ground Chicken Meatballs
These subtly flavored, relatively healthful (shhhh!) sliders are the sleeper hit at The Meatball Shop. Not hard to understand why.
Steak Chimichurri
Chimichurri-induced happiness can be yours with this foolproof, fuss-free, Argentine-approved answer to what’s for dinner.
Arugula Salad with Pear and Blue Cheese
Peppery greens, creamy blue cheese, and crisp pear are jumbled together with a sweetly nutty vinaigrette that’s so delicious you may just catch folks licking the plate.
Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder with Stuffed Squash
A long, slow spell in the oven coaxes this lusciously fatty, fat, fat pork roast into supple, aromatic, cider-infused, sigh-inducing submission.
Basic Crepes
A simple, step-by-step recipe for the classic French crepe that can easily be mastered by anyone. Yes, anyone. Including you.
Roast Duck Stuffed with Farro, Figs, and Hazelnuts
Truly impressive and a heck of a lot less fussy than it looks. Tastes pretty darn phenomenal, too. Sign us up.
Classic Green Bean Casserole
Green beans? Check. Creamy mushroomy sauce? Check. Can opener? Uh…no thank you. Not this time.
Velvet Mashed Potatoes
No mere mash, this creamy potato purée owes its uber velvetiness to truly indecent amounts of butter and cream. And we mean that in the best possible way.
Momofuku’s Fried Chicken
This flour-free fried bird is contrary to everything we know about fried chicken. Or think we know. That’s exactly what makes it so darn genius.
Brown Sugar Cookies
These beauties aren’t unlike classic sugar cookies in terms of ease and appeal. They’re just a little richer and a lot less expected.
Rabbit Confit
Rabbit confit is so delicious, so falling-off-the-bone tender, you’ll wonder why you don’t eat it more often. Made even better with loads of spices, it’s rather elegant, too.
Moroccan-Spiced Roast Chicken
What do we adore most about roast chicken? The fix-it-and-forget-about-it-ness of it. That and the countless ways to fancy it up. Here’s one of our fuss-free favorites.