Wood-fired pizza made on my back porch's pizza oven--with shredded mozzarella, blue cheese, purple and yellow fingerling potatoes and fresh greens.

Homemade Ultimate Banana Bread adapted from America's Test Kitchen.

Cooks Illustrated's best blueberry muffins on Kitchen Extract.com. They weren't exaggerating.

No, I did not make up the "man breakfast" thing. It's actually in Alton Brown's Good Eats 3: The Later Years. While you can argue about the name, my wife can attest to the fact that females can enjoy this meal, too. I mean, what's not to love about properly made hash browns with eggs and bacon? But the best part is that this meal comes together so quickly. Anyone else craving breakfast for dinner? More

Editor's note: We write about restaurants all over the city. But sometimes, you don't want to travel for food; you want the best eats right in your neighborhood. Over the next few weeks, we'll have the Serious Eats staff share where they eat around their own 'hoods. First up? Serious Eats overlord Ed Levine! More

This sounds obvious, but it needs to be said: these really are the kind of noodles I could eat everyday. The recipe, which comes from Saveur's The New Comfort Food, tastes like what every carton of greasy take-out noodles wishes it could be. It's not about just dumping a bunch of ingredients into a wok. Every ingredient is introduced at the right point; the flavors are clean and precise. More

This Valentine's Day, instead of blowing big bucks on a restaurant meal, why not pour a big ol' glass of red wine and whip up this lightened version of Better Homes and Gardens' Spinach Lasagna? It has all the cheesy goodness of regular spinach lasagna, minus a few extra calories. More

I was not looking for a new garlic soup recipe, as I have a couple that I already quite like. But this one from the magnificent Moro The Cookbook differs so wildly from the other versions that it's basically a completely different soup. But man, is it delicious. More

This flank steak is rubbed with chili for heat, sugar for sweetness, coffee for bitterness, pepper for spice, and salt. Together, with the char of a hot grill, the result is a juicy sliced steak with a complex and flavorful crust. More

I had assumed that the mixture of spinach and chickpeas was solely an Indian combination. The creaminess of the spinach is a perfect match for the hearty chickpeas, and with the addition of a few spices, it could turn into a satisfying full meal. Well, it turns that if you change some of those spices and add an interesting new thickener, you can end up in Morocco with a completely new dish. It's kind of astonishing. More

[Photograph: Andrew M. H. Alexander] This is a pretty classic brownie approach, but these are anything but boring. I've modified the classic (and well-loved) Baker's One Bowl recipe to produce a firmer slice with a stronger chocolate flavor, which, while... More

The brilliance of this soup, besides the shocking color, is how deeply flavored it is with very little fat (just a few tablespoons needed to coat the chunks of roasted beet and potato). That's all thanks to a hot oven and the complex sweetness of roasted beets (If you're stuck on childhood memories of the pickled stuff, this might change your mind). More

Here's the idea: grab some produce, seasoning, and perhaps some protein, throw it on a sheet tray and roast until golden and tender, then mash it up into a rustic, warming soup. Roasting adds a depth of flavor to this Roasted Chicken and Butternut Squash Soup that simmering will never provide, and it also makes for a low-fuss dinner that tastes like it took a lot more effort than it did. More

Baked ziti is a bad cliché: overcooked pasta in a dull, grainy sauce topped with a rubbery mass of mozzarella. The cooks at America's Test Kitchen wanted to rescue baked ziti so they could have perfectly al dente pasta, a rich and flavorful sauce, and melted cheese in every bite. Watch the video here for step-by-step instructions or get the recipe at America's Test Kitchen (free registration required). More

Loaded with beans and vegetables, each sizable serving also contained about two or three ounces of hearty meat—enough to get some with every bite, but not so much I felt like I was eating a burger. The spice was dead-on, as well. A combination of chili powder, diced jalapeño pepper, and hot Italian turkey sausage punched everything up without overwhelming the other flavors. I served the dish with cornbread muffins, the way nature intended. More

Pasta and grapes may sound like a strange combination, but the flavors here are delicious together: the savory sausage, sweet grapes, sage, and a touch of vinegar make for a dish that's quite rich and complex. Note: Use small and... More

In the introduction to this recipe for Honey Crisp Apple Cake from Fresh from the Market, Laurent Tourondel explains that he adapted this cake from his favorite carrot cake recipe. A quick perusal of the ingredients confirms this—all of the usual carrot cake suspects are represented, even canned pineapple. But this recipe is a little more complex than that. You start by caramelizing the apples in butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar, then line your baking dish with the apples, in essence creating a tarte tatin-carrot cake mashup. More

It happens every September. I want a little taste of fall but I'm not ready for serious fall baking. Happily I am always in the mood to pop popcorn. (And even happier: Popcorn is naturally gluten-free.) One day I decided to toss popcorn with white chocolate, dried fruit, and some spices. Success! I had a little taste of fall and I didn't have to turn on the oven. More

It's not exactly Mexican and not exactly European, but a nice compromise between the two. The recipe can be made with a high-quality canned tuna or, in this variation, topped with thin slices of medium-rare skirt steak. But the real star is the mixture of warm potatoes, poblanos, and sweet slices of red onion, dressed lightly with rice vinegar and olive oil and seasoned with a little oregano. More

There's been a chill in the air the past few days, so I chose Margarita Salinas' Mexican Potato Soup. Aside from potatoes, it includes fresh, ripe tomatoes at the peak of their season. The potatoes play a strong supporting role in this delicious, tangy soup, perfectly balancing the acidity of the tomatoes. More

What could be better than chocolate, tequila and ice cream on a hot August afternoon? So why not put them all together in one amazing ice cream concoction? Funny you should ask, because that's exactly what we did. More

These cookies were worlds away from Chips Ahoy and remarkable different from the classic Toll House version that so many of us find synonymous with chocolate chip cookies. Their incredible depth of flavor might make you pause and think about the ingredients. For a humble chocolate chip cookie that's a pretty incredible feat. More

[Photograph: Joy Manning] Almost every week when I do my grocery shopping at Whole Foods, I marvel at how little I spent. I guess that's because I'm constantly hearing people complain about the prices at "Whole Paycheck," as it is... More

Hearing the dish "Baked chicken and pasta in a cheesy wine and cream sauce" has an entirely different connotation than Chicken Tetrazzini. How could the lunch ladies of our collective past gone so wrong?... More

You only need to follow a recipe once or twice when making tzatziki before the process becomes almost automatic. Thick tangy yogurt; crisp, sweet cucumber; pungent garlic and dill; sunny lemon. The formula, a staging ground for countless dip platters and a condiment for the thousands of gyros dished up daily, is as familiar to us now as salsa and ketchup. And its preparation is about as intuitive—recipes matter less than solid ingredients and a willingness to dip a tasting finger along the way. More

Carnitas can be prepared through step 3 up to three days in advance. Pork can be crisped up straight from the refrigerator. You can lower the heat in your salsa verde by removing the seeds from the jalapeños, or omitting... More