Easy Authentic Recipes Fully Tested

A white plate sitting on a folded napkin on a wooden table, with a pile of cheese crisps on top and one leaning against the plate.

Starters

Sliced skirt steak topped with salsa with a bowl of salsa and charred lime halves on the side.

Pan-Seared Moroccan Salmon

These sexy salmon fillets have got “come hither” appeal in spades thanks to a citrusy lilt and a beguiling blend of spices.

20 mins

My Christmas Favorites

Beef Wellington

A favorite holiday dish, beef Wellington is beef fillet slathered with pate, covered in a dice of mushrooms, wrapped in puff pastry, and baked.

3 hrs 30 mins

Old-Fashioned Potato Gratin

This old-fashioned gratin comforts you with everything indulgent could possibly crave in a gratin, namely ample amounts of potatoes, cream, butter, and cheese. Red wine optional.

1 hr 45 mins

Green Beans Gremolata

An easy way to gussy up green beans and make them seem fancy without being fussy.

15 mins

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Sweet, sticky, and classic. What else matters when you’re looking for a traditional dessert that tastes as good as this one does?

1 hr 20 mins

Hannukah Dishes

Nach Waxman’s Beef Brisket

Like a chorus line of Rockettes, tender slices of brisket lean on each other in perfect symmetry and perfect doneness. Here’s how to replicate this performance at home.

4 hrs 10 mins

Potato Latkes with Apple-Date Chutney

All fancied up for the holidays, these boast all the perfectly-crisp-on-the-outside-tender-on-the-inside awesomeness of traditional potato latkes as well as a few surprises.

1 hr 30 mins

Challah

As buttery and airy as brioche but with a far weightier responsibility than its breakfast chum, challah ensures a sweet new year in Jewish tradition. We’ll break bread to that.

3 hrs 15 mins

Hamantaschen

Our testers are singing the praises of these sweet cookies that are stuffed with poppy seed and apricot filling. We’re quite certain you will be, too.

2 hrs 15 mins

Hey, I’m David Leite

I’m a three-time James Beard Award-winning food writer, cookbook author, memoirist, podcast host, and publisher. I created this site in 1999 to help you find simple, quick, and wicked flavorful recipes. For the past 24 years, I’ve been cooking, teaching, and writing about all types of food, including those from my Portuguese heritage. Let’s eat! Vamos comer!

Portuguese Recipes

come mais

Christmas Eve Cod ~ Bacalhau da Consoada

A traditional recipe on Christmas Eve in Portugal, this dish of salt cod, potatoes, and cabbage is drizzled with a garlic oil and topped with hard-boiled eggs.

1 hr

Portuguese Fennel Soup

Fennel soup, or sopa de funcho in Portuguese, is a staple in Madeira and the Azores Islands. This recipe is full of fennel, pork, sausage, cabbage, and beans.

2 hrs