Arnaboldi Recipes
Family favorites & culinary adventures

Mushroom Bread Pudding
Wonderful served as a brunch centerpiece or as a holiday side, this rich meatless casserole can be assembled in advance, refrigerated overnight, then baked just before serving. You could certainly prepare it day-of and let the bread soak for 15 minutes before baking, but allowing it to sit overnight will make it more tender. Delicate brioche is the ideal bread for this pudding, and it is available in most supermarkets, often in the form of hamburger rolls, which are a good size and shape for this dish. Challah is also a good option, but it’s a bit denser, so it may take more than 15 minutes for it to soak up the custard.

Lobster Pasta With Yellow Tomatoes and Basil
This is an uncomplicated dish for warm weather and sunny days. Olive oil, garlic, hot pepper, barely warmed tomatoes and tons of fresh basil are the only ingredients besides lobster and dried pasta, preferably a variety with a bit of texture, like frilly edged reginette, cooked perfectly al dente. The only real work is cooking the lobsters and chopping the meat. Once that’s done, go out and enjoy the sunshine while it lasts.

Greek Lemon Potatoes
For the dreamiest roasted potatoes — with creamy insides and very crispy outsides — follow this classic Greek method of roasting peeled potatoes in equal parts olive oil, lemon juice and chicken stock. The potatoes soak up the flavorful liquid, allowing the insides to remain tender while the outsides crisp in the oven’s high heat. You can follow the same method for russet potatoes, though the final result will be less moist.

Hummus from ‘Jerusalem’
There’s a lot of unattended prep time in this recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi for hummus, which was featured in The Times in 2013. The unusual yet helpful addition of baking soda speeds the process. Cooking the chickpeas with baking soda softens them, allowing for less time on the stove as well as a smoother, creamier finished product. (If you find that your hummus is too stiff, loosen it with a little water.) A plate of this hummus served with fresh pita, chopped olives and pine nuts makes for a perfect lunch.

Chicken Enchiladas
My favorite chicken enchilada recipe is easy to make, customizable with your favorite fillings, and made with my favorite homemade enchilada sauce. It’s always a crowd fave, and perfect for meal prep and freezing too!

Greek Chicken Chopped Salad with Lemon Tahini Vinaigrette
Pan-seared Greek chicken tossed together with greens, chickpeas, tomatoes, avocado, feta cheese, cucumbers, and the most deliciously addicting creamy, lemony tahini vinaigrette. It doesn’t get more delicious than this loaded greek salad. It’s simple to toss together, extra colorful, super flavorful, yummy, and even healthy too. The perfect dinner to serve any night of the week from now through summertime

Grilled Corn, Mexican Style
Not only is this recipe very easy, it results in the kind of deep flavor associated with the crunchy street corn of Mexico. In many parts of Mexico, though, that crunchiness is highlighted with a creamy chile-lime sauce. This is more unusual than the tried, true and unbeatable butter-salt-and-pepper combination, and only slightly more complicated. Just mix together mayonnaise, freshly squeezed lime juice, chile powder, salt and pepper. It’s pretty authentic, and a combination that brings out the grilled flavor, and balances the sweetness of fresh corn perfectly.

Crispy Lemon Feta with Spiced Chickpeas and Basil Orzo
This plate of Crispy Lemon Feta with Spiced Chickpeas and Basil Orzo is a great easy meatless dinner for any night of the week. Crispy pan-fried feta cheese paired with spiced chickpeas and zucchini and severed over a creamy garlic lemon yogurt and buttery basil orzo. When you’re in need of an easy, colorful, and fresh dinner…make this vegetarian dish. Every bite is layered with delicious spring flavors. And the feta? It’s salty, crispy, and keeps everyone coming back for seconds.

Spiced Chicken and Rice With Cardamom and Cinnamon
Inspired by the combination of warm spices, nuts and sweet raisins used in Iranian dishes such as jeweled rice and various fragrant stews, this comforting and speedy one-pot chicken and rice gets a fragrant boost from turmeric and cardamom, plus roasted pistachios and golden raisins. Chicken thighs are browned in olive oil until golden, then the spices are bloomed in the same oil to release all of their aromas; the chicken and rice simmer in broth together. While saffron is often used to season rice and impart a golden hue, it is expensive. Dried ground turmeric is a great alternative that offers a similarly sunny hue and floral citrus notes. When all the liquid is absorbed by the rice, a prized layer of crispy socarrat forms on the bottom of the pot for anyone who enjoys the super toasty flavor. Stuff any leftovers with a dollop of yogurt or labneh into burritos for an easy desk lunch the next day.

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Pecans, and Cranberries
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Toasted Pecans, and Dried Cranberries is an easy Christmas side dish that will add colors and vibrancy to your holiday menu!

Peanut Butter-Miso Cookies
These cookies were the result of a happy accident. (The best things always are, aren’t they?) When the peanut butter ran out, similarly creamy white miso stepped in. The other ingredients were tweaked to offset the miso’s savory character, and what came out of the oven was salty and sweet, crunchy and chewy. A brief stint in the fridge helps mellow the miso’s bracing brackishness, and a roll in Demerara sugar adds a subtle crunch that pairs well with the tender cookie.

Vegan Mapo Tofu
Mapo tofu is a justly popular menu item in many Chinese restaurants. It is a quickly cooked dish of braised tofu with minced pork (sometimes beef) in a bracing spicy sauce made with fermented black beans and fermented broad bean paste, along with hot red pepper and Sichuan pepper. This meatless version with fresh shiitake mushrooms is completely satisfying, and surprisingly easy to make. For the best texture, use soft tofu rather than firm, taking care to cook it gently to keep it from crumbling.

Moroccan-Spiced Chicken Meatballs
Chicken meatballs may not be a traditionally Moroccan dish, but they work beautifully when spiced with paprika, cumin, cinnamon, ginger and garlic, which are commonly found in the country’s cuisine. Whole-milk yogurt does double duty here: It’s used to make the meatballs moist and tender, and makes for a speedy sauce to serve with them. Don’t use ground chicken made with ultralean breasts; look for labels that show a mix of white and dark meat. (Or if you’re feeling ambitious, grind your own boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the food processor.) Serve the meatballs with couscous and a green vegetable for a flavorful weeknight dinner that’s well worth the effort.

Ina Garten Beatty’s Chocolate Cake
This Ina Garten Beatty’s Chocolate Cake is a beautiful chocolate cake made with all-purpose flour, sugar, good cocoa powder, and other essential ingredients. It’s frosted with a chocolate frosting that consists of semisweet chocolate, unsalted butter, and confectioners’ sugar.

Basil Chicken Saltimbocca with Marinated Tomatoes and Burrata
Extra Crispy Basil Chicken Saltimbocca with Marinated Tomatoes and Burrata…that I love so much! Prosciutto-wrapped chicken breasts, breaded in Panko bread crumbs, then pan-fried in olive oil until lightly golden and crisp. Serve each piece of chicken with marinated cherry tomatoes and creamy burrata cheese. It’s simple, quick, and every last bite is full of delicious summer flavors. This is sure to become your go-to summertime dinner from now until September.

Richard Sax’s Chocolate Cloud Cake

Merry Cheesecakes Recipe

The Marrow’s Ginger Stout Cake
This is a rich, fragrant ginger cake with a crunchy raw-sugar coating and moist crumb. The combination of grated fresh ginger root and powdered ginger, along with black pepper and cloves, gives it a particularly intense spice flavor. Make sure to use a good stout here. Since you’ll only use part of a bottle, choose one you’d be happy to finish off while the cake is in the oven. As with most gingerbread, this is a good keeping cake, and can be made a day or two ahead. Store it wrapped in foil at room temperature. Then serve it with cream whipped with a little crème fraiche or sour cream for tartness, which will offset all that crunchy sugar coating the cake.

Squash with Chilli Yoghurt and Coriander Sauce
One of the easiest recipes in Ottolenghi’s vegetable bible, Plenty More, this delicious dish of roasted squash, chilli yoghurt and a fresh herb dressing is a vibrant vegetarian dish

Cucumber-Avocado Salad
Crunchy cucumbers and creamy avocados are the stars of this simple five-ingredient salad. Peeling the cucumbers in alternating stripes helps them soak up seasonings while maintaining their shape. After being cut into bite-size pieces, they are combined with salt to draw out moisture, concentrating their flavor. Cubed avocado is tossed with lemon juice or vinegar to prevent browning, then everything is stirred together vigorously so that the avocado breaks down a bit to add a glossy coating. Finish with a hit of red-pepper flakes for heat, or embellish with herbs, lettuces, beans, soft-boiled eggs, feta, nuts and so on.