Here Are The Recipes We Tried And Loved Recently

I have high standards for dinner recipes. I want them to come together in about an hour (including my slow prep, as I watch TV), use the least number of dishes possible, and still be stunningly delicious so I can look forward to dinner as much on day four as I do on day two. (The struggles of cooking for one.)

This recipe delivers. You just dump frozen peas and haphazardly-sliced leeks on a roasting pan, mix 'em up with garlic, vermouth (this is key!), olive oil, and herbs of your choice, top with chicken thighs, and pop the whole thing in the oven. Forty five minutes later, you have a glorious, caramelized feast of veggies and chicken — trust me, you haven't tasted peas until you've tried caramelized peas. Who knew?

The recipe actually calls for another 30-minute bake after the initial 45 minutes, but in my 400-degree oven, neither the chicken nor the peas and leeks needed any more time. Was that because I baked the recipe in halves, once on Monday and again on Wednesday, or that the pan was stoneware and slightly smaller than required, or some combo of those? Probably. Maybe the extra 30 minutes would've made more caramelized peas, but honestly I'm too impatient to know. And I still devoured every last little pea, night after night. — Natalie Brown

Get the recipe here.

One of the very first dates my boyfriend and I went on was to an Italian restaurant called Mercato Osteria & Enoteca. It was about an hour from my campus and located inside a small house in the sleepy town of Redhook, New York. He was in pastry school and I was in culinary school, so our dates always centered around food. The meal was good, with standard plates of mozzarella, pastas, and bread — but the one thing that stuck out to us was this vibrant green sauce served with gnudi. It looked almost like a creamy pesto, but it tasted insanely savory — as if it was made with mushrooms or cheese. The texture was velvety and perfectly smooth — we couldn't stop talking about it the whole drive home.

Years later, I came across the exact recipe online for the sauce, so I made it for our anniversary. Turns out, it's actually made with kale, dried porcini mushrooms, butter, onion, and stock — that's it! I went ahead and made it and served it over pasta, and my boyfriend and I once again fell in love with it. To this day, it's our favorite sauce and we make it every few months. — Jesse Szewczyk

Get the recipe here.

Bibimbap is one of my favorite things to order when I go out for Korean food, but I've never thought to make it at home mostly because it always seemed intimidating. But when I finally gave it a try, I was shocked at how easy it was.

I made a quick batch of pickled carrots and cucumbers (ready in 15 minutes), while I sautéed spinach and mushrooms in sesame oil. Then I put everything on a bed of brown rice with a fried egg and Sriracha on top. It was SO good, especially when you stir the egg into the rice. I'll definitely be making this recipe again when I'm craving a more adventurous dinner than my typical roast chicken or pasta routine. — Hannah Loewentheil

Get the recipe here.

I'm always doing tray bakes as my meal prep for the week, so when I found this recipe for ratatouille that you can prepare completely in the oven, I was instantly intrigued. Even though the recipe calls for certain vegetables, you can pretty much use any vegetables you have on hand; I added mushrooms, for example, and when I make this again, I will probably leave out the fennel because the licorice taste just wasn't for me.

The only super essential vegetable in this recipe is the Roma tomatoes because the water that comes out of them when cooking becomes the sauce. I did make a few changes to the recipe to pump up the flavor: When drizzling the oil on the vegetables before cooking, I also drizzled some balsamic vinegar on them to add some acidity. And when I added the chickpeas to the tray, I also added a half cup of dry red wine, which brought out all the flavors in the best way possible.

The recipe says it makes four servings, but I ended up with about six servings, so I was able to eat this throughout the entire week! The chickpeas give a good amount of protein, and you can serve this with quinoa, whole wheat pasta, or rice to make it more substantial. If you're looking for a new vegan staple to add to your meal plan routine or just want a yummy, plant-based meal that will fill you up, this is a perfect recipe to try out. — Ciera Velarde

Get the recipe here.

When I sent the above picture to my mom (yes, I often send pictures of my meals to my mom and she loves it), she made fun of me and said that this was just a plain bowl of pasta with tomato sauce. She was wrong.

First of all, there is nothing wrong with a plain bowl of pasta with red sauce. Second, there is nothing plain about this bowl. Pasta all’arrabbiata is chili-spiked and brings in the kind of heat you don't necessarily expect from an Italian dish.

I modified the recipe a little, halving the tomato paste (1/2 cup seemed like a lot) and using one and half teaspoon of red pepper flakes instead half a teaspoon of crushed red peppers. Oh, and I also added a teaspoon of harissa at the end (sue me, Italy) because I wanted an extra kick. It was delicious and will be part of my dinner rotation from now on. — Marie Telling

Get the recipe here.

Edd (the creator of this recipe) was teasing photos of these cookies for weeks before he published the recipe. Every time I saw them on Instagram, they always made me envious. The tops were perfectly shiny, beautifully crinkled — I knew I needed to make them. So the moment the recipe went up, I made them.

The batter isn't that hard to make. You basically melt some chocolate, then add a few ingredients to it to make a soft dough. (The dough will be really soft, but this is OK.) The trick at this point it to work fast and bake them all at once. This is what gives them their shiny top and brownie-like texture. Once baked, they become beautifully chewy and (IMO) even better than brownies. — Jesse Szewczyk

Get the recipe here.

I go to a lot of amazing events, but it’s very rare that I am so impressed with something that I actually reach out to the hosts and ask for the recipe — but I did with this cocktail. I love margaritas so when someone does one right, I want to know how!

This “Tequila Mockingbird” cocktail was the perfect combo of salty, tart, and not too sweet. It was a Dasani event, so they topped the whole thing off with Dasani’s Sparkling Pear Kiwi which added a really nice flavor and some even nicer bubbles, but you could probably use something else and get a great result too. It was SO yummy! — Elena Garcia

Here's the recipe:

TEQUILA MOCKINGBIRD

.5 oz Ginger Syrup

.5 oz Lime Juice

.5 oz Pineapple

.5 oz Velvet Falernum

1 oz Tequila

1 Dash Boston Bitters

DASANI Sparkling Pear Kiwi (or similar)

Shake, then fold in sparkling beverage, and pour into a salted rim glass over ice.