Tamiko Lagerwaard, Recipe Tester

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

No ice cream maker required. Just watermelon, citrus, sweetness, mint, and a little time in the deep freeze. Vodka optional. Then all you do is scoop it up and plop it in a pretty bowl.

Infinitely more complex than the toddy of yore, this little number owes its lure to apple-y cider spiked with a hint of star anise and quite an indecent glug of bourbon.

Green beans and mushrooms are a classic recipe combination. Adding bacon to the mix creates an unbeatable trio of flavors. A terrific side dish or salad.

Happy World Vegetarian Day! Here’s a soupy, stewy, smoky chili with stealth veggie goodness galore. Healthful never tasted so darn good.

All’Amatriciana—go on, roll that “r” like they do in Italy—means a spicy pasta sauce of tomatoes and pancetta or bacon. Prego.

This panini isn’t for those whose preferences run towards the mild or bland. Full of ingredients that are loved for their outstanding taste, it all works together brilliantly here.

This panna cotta has the most luscious of textures. How to best explain it? Hmmm. It’s sorta like swooping velvet over your tongue.

Sweet and simple. Nothing but cabbage, cider vinegar, sugar, mayo, a little onion, salt, and oil. Just like you’d find at a BBQ shack.

True to its name, this dense, brownie-like cake takes its allure from a full pound of chocolate. A hint of cocoa lends even more chocolatey complexity.

A swift stovetop version of classic pommes Anna, these sliced spuds are swaddled in butter, garlic, and Julia Child’s enthusiastic approval.

Don’t let these delicate, diminutive cakes with the froufrou French name fool you. They’re a cinch to toss in the oven–and even easier to toss in the mouth.

This flourless chocolate-vanilla marble cake has a texture between fudge and cheesecake. The chocolate marbles between the vanilla for a gorgeous look.

We don’t even like veggie burgers. We swear. Except for this deliciously irresistible, soulfully satiating riff on mushroom and barley soup.

Whether you’re five or fifty-five, sometimes nothing is more satiating than a plate of spaghetti with butter and cheese.

The lilt of lemongrass. The sour smack of tamarind. The warm-your-belly pervasiveness of galangal. The unmistakable funk of fish sauce. All in this exquisitely authentic soup.

Like the classic, these sponge cakes are crammed to almost bursting with irresistibly sweet, fluffy, creamy goodness—but minus the chemicals and other abominations.

Lend a little swanky to everyday spaghetti by gilding it with chunks of sweet, sweet lobster and juuuuust the perfect hit of chile pepper.

One of our most requested recipes. Easy, elegant, and pretty much foolproof. Sorta impressive for something that you toss together in less than 15 minutes, wouldn’t you agree?

This simple yet spectacular riff on coffee cake—there’s actually coffee in the cake—is rich and robust and rousing in that way only espresso can be.