5 Quick, Easy Recipes America's Best Chefs Make at Home
No sous vide machine? No problem. Our chef friends—all 50 Best New Restaurant nominees—reveal the quick, simple, and satisfying meals they love to cook at home and some tips for making them worthy of both a family and a restaurant menu.
"Always make more so you have leftovers. When I was growing up, my grandma would make spaghetti and fried chicken on Sundays. The best part about it was later that night: As I got older, we’d go outside and have a couple of beers, and the thing I looked forward to more than anything was coming back in and eating cold spaghetti. I think it’s every Italian kid’s gluttonous dream.” —Chef Michael Hudman, Hog & Hominy
“Just a few ingredients can make an interesting salad,” says Table’s Frederik de Pue. For the chef—and his two kids—it’s all about crunch. In this recipe, that comes from toasted baguette and superthin fennel slices. The logic’s easily adaptable: Adding nuts, seeds, or crisp, thinly sliced veggies to your greens promises a simple salad that more than delivers.
1/5Cornmeal Crêpes with Figs and Pears
Paper-thin crêpes aren’t so fussy. “They’re almost simpler than pancakes,” says pastry chef Megan Garrelts of Rye in Leawood, Kansas.
2/5Pasta with Chorizo and Chickpeas
As co-chefs at Hog & Hominy in Memphis, Michael Hudman and Andy Ticer see each other daily, but the old friends still cook together on days off. “Andy does the steak,” says Hudman, “and I do the pasta.”
3/5Fennel and Orange Salad with Lemon-Ginger Vinaigrette
Typically steamed or sautéed, fresh mustard greens are also great raw and simply dressed. “I like the strength they give to salads,” says chef Frederik de Pue, of Table, Washington, D.C.
4/5Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Speck and Chimichurri
Feel free to play with different herbs in the chimichurri recipe—that’s what Michael and Patrick Sheerin (brothers and co-chefs at Trenchermen, Chicago) have always done: “When we were younger, our mom would buy lots of herbs, but she’d never use them,” says Michael. “So we’d just blend them with garlic, oil, and vinegar.”
5/5Strip Steak with Japanese Dipping Sauce
To give steaks a boost, chef David Myers of Hinoki & The Bird in Los Angeles, makes an herb rub (he likes to dry the herbs himself; if you don’t have a microwave, sub in 1 tsp. of each dried herb) and pairs the meat with a tart ponzu sauce (ponzu is available at Asian markets and some supermarkets).
