The Original Hollywood Brown Derby Cobb Salad

From Hollywood’s Brown Derby restaurant and named for its owner, Robert Howard Cobb, the Cobb Salad is the original chopped salad. 

There’s some dispute about the recipe’s genesis. Was the first Cobb salad made by Cobb and theater mogul, Sid Grauman, while rummaging through the restaurant’s cooler for a late-night snack in 1939, or, by the restaurant’s executive chef Robert Kreis, who created it for the restaurant’s 1929 launch? Either way, the Cobb is one of America’s longest-standing salad favorites, inspiring dozens of different renditions. The original recipe consisted of a head of lettuce, watercress, avocado, tomatoes, cold breast of chicken, hard boiled eggs, cheese, crumbled bacon and some old-fashioned French dressing.

By Leslie Blythe

Bananas Foster Upside-Down Cake

This Bananas Foster Upside-Down Cake has all the flavors of the New Orleans classic in easier-to-prepare cake form that's just as stunning as the original for a healthier dessert you'll be proud to serve.

By Leslie Blythe

Red Wine-Braised Short Ribs

These Red Wine-Braised Short Ribs are from Ina Garten's new cookbook, Cook Like a Pro: Recipes & Tips for Home Cooks. She browns the short ribs on a sheet pan, which saves time and mess. You sauté the vegetables while the ribs brown in the oven. Then they are all slow roasted in the oven.

By Leslie Blythe

Persian-ish Rice with Tahdig

Tahdig is a special Iranian cuisine with a crispy, browned layer of rice at the bottom of the rice pot that everyone wants. The bottom layer of the rice gets pan-fried while the rice above it gets steamed. There are a few ways to make tahdig. The simplest is to use plain rice. This recipe mixes the rice with yogurt to give it a thick, pasty texture before spreading it in the pot. It comes from Samin Nosrat's, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking Netflix episode 4 - Heat.

By Leslie Blythe

BBQ Chicken Twice-Baked Yams

These BBQ Chicken Twice-Baked Yams make a great busy weeknight meal. It's perfect if you have some leftover chicken. Yams are a very rich source of starch, vitamins, and minerals.

By Leslie Blythe

Rosemary, Almond and Parmesan Cocktail Cookies

These Rosemary, Almond and Parmesan Cocktail Cookies are from Dorie Greenspan. They are absolutely delicious and are a perfect pairing with cocktails. She brings out the flavor of the rosemary in these barely sweet cookies by rubbing the leaves with granulated sugar—a technique she learned from renowned French pastry chef Pierre Hermé.    

By Leslie Blythe

Roasted Vegetable and White Bean Salad

This Roasted Vegetable and White Bean Salad recipe from Samin Nosrat is amazing. She said loves showing people that simple, humble ingredients can be extraordinarily delicious. It's so true!

By Leslie Blythe

Buttermilk-Marinated Roast Chicken

I made everything from Samin Nosrat's, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking Netflix episode 4 - Heat. I woke up and just cooked. Actually, I had to marinate this chicken the day before and also, I made her focaccia, which I started the day before. Anyway, it was my idea of fun and relaxing. Her Buttermilk-Marinated Roast Chicken, which is the epitome of tender and delicious. It's so simple, just chicken, salt and buttermilk. The buttermilk helps to tenderize the chicken and it does just that!

By Leslie Blythe

Ligurian Focaccia

Focaccia is a flat oven-baked Italian bread product similar in style and texture to pizza doughs. This focaccia is from Samin Nosrat’s Netflix series called Salt, Fat, Acid, and Heat: The Four Elements of Good Cooking.

By Leslie Blythe

Jacques Pépin’s Criques (Crispy Potato Pancakes)

I happen to LOVE potato latkes. I ate them right before I went into labor with my second daughter Grace. These are incredibly fast and easy to make.

Jacques Pépin is an internationally recognized French-born American chef. He was inspired by the various forms of potato pancakes called criques in the Lyon region of France where he grew up.

The beauty of this recipe is that all the raw ingredients are thrown into a food processor and turned into a pulp then fried in oil to get crispy. Who doesn't like crispy potatoes?!

If you don't have a food processor, Pépin says you could make the batter in a blender, starting with the liquid in the bottom and chopping the potatoes a little smaller.

By Leslie Blythe