When you work with America’s foremost food tasters and testers, food is always on the brain, whether you spend most of your day stirring bubbling pots or typing at a desk. At the end of the day, if we’re not lucky enough to get Test Kitchen leftovers, we have to keep thinking about food as we answer the question, “What’s for dinner tonight?”
Thankfully, many Test Kitchen employees love to cook—even off the clock. Below are some of their tried-and-true favorites:
1. Test Kitchen Favorites
After making his Thin-Crust Pizza Recipe over 500 times for Cook’s Illustrated, Andrew Janjigian admits that he still makes it “every week or so.” Andrew isn’t the only fan of his pizza—Louise Emerick, a senior editor for books, says that it’s a stand-by at her house, too (as is Keith Dresser’s recipe for homemade Whole-Grain Mustard).
Laurel Zeidman, eCommerce Marketing Manager, has a long list of Test Kitchen favorites in her repertoire, from Cheese Balls to Roasted Broccoli with Garlic, which she admits to cooking three times a week (Laurel even introduced a friend to the White Chicken Chili recipe, and now she cooks it for her family at Christmas). Test Cooks even use Test Kitchen cookbooks. Dan Zuccarello uses the America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book at home as well. Since his specialty is cooking—not baking—he relies on the cookbook for foolproof baked goods at home.
2. Quick and Simple Fare
Whether Test Kitchen employees are testing recipes all day, or working at a desk, they often rely on simple but delicious food on weeknights. Associate Editor Amy Graves loves making fried egg sandwiches on a cast-iron skillet. Dan Souza likes using leftovers to make impromptu fried rice dishes, and Andrea Geary admits to being a big fan of cooking with oats at home because of her time as a chef in Scotland. Sandra Greenberg, eCommerce Marketing Coordinator, makes quick tortilla pizzas by putting tomato sauce and toppings on a 9-inch wrap and baking it in a 375-degree oven. Kate May, Client Services Associate, often relies on two basics at home: grilled cheese or breakfast for dinner.
3. Best-Loved Recipes
Test Kitchen staffers also have recipes in their repertoire from other cooks—both famous and not. Louise Emerick loves making Rick Bayless’s tortillas at home as well as her grandmother’s cornbread recipe. Assistant Editor Amy Scheuerman makes the deceptively simple and surprisingly delicious Fresh Greens and Grains Plate every few weeks, and Social Media Editor Steph Yiu makes homemade pasta every Wednesday.
Sometimes, best-loved recipes of Test Kitchen staffers may even become a Test Kitchen recipe. Executive Editor Lori Galvin makes spaghetti with a fried egg on top a ton – so she pitched it for Best International Recipes. The Test Kitchen version is known as Salerno-Style Spaghetti with Fried Eggs and Bread Crumbs (pictured above).
What are some of your favorite stand-by dishes? Let us know in the comments for a chance to win a copy of our Best Simple Recipes cookbook. The winner will be notified by email on Tuesday, Oct. 2.
About the Author: Marshall Bright
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We make the Test Kitchen tacos quite regularly, as well as Test Kitchen spaghetti and meatballs. Since there are only two of us, we have plenty of leftovers and enjoy them for lunch or dinner the next days as well!
Greek salad. We eat it at least once every 10 days. Pair it up with bread and cheese and call it a night! (It’s been adapted from the Mediterranean Chopped Salad Cook’s Illustrated recipe.)
You can’t go wrong with pasta! I always have some sort of dried noodles on hand and I make whatever sort of sauce I have the ingredients for. I also always have either baking or new potatoes on hand and I can always make a meal out of them! I think I have a carb complex:)
Chickpeas, onions and tomatoes cooked down with olive oil and lots of pepper over rice. So delicious and so simple.
My go-to quick dinner is waffles with scrambled eggs. I always have the ingredients on hand (usually I have the dry ingredients for the waffles measured out and mixed up in the pantry) and I just need to throw it together! Dinner in 15 minutes=happy kids =calm, peaceful evening.
our staple dinners are biscuits and gravy, pizza (the dough from baking illustrated), BLTs, and more recently the thai shrimp scampi.
ATK Veggie Lasagna recipe w/ italian sausage, ATK Healthy Family Cookbook white chicken chili and spaghetti-O’s recipes, shredded BBQ chicken wraps, Indian butter chicken, chorizo breakfast burritos, taco meat that is used later in the week for nachos or mexican pita pizza. Yum!
I agree with Shannon. My wife calls her quick pasta dinner a “pasta toss” and includes whatever vegetables we have around and usually either nuts or shrimp to add a protein punch. She loves cooking a meal that takes only as long as pasta to boil!
Burritos. They are so simple and I can toss in a variety of veggies (leftovers are great) and make them a little different each time.
Steamed kale with an egg on top.
A lot of our stand-by dishes come from The Best 30-Minute Recipe. We love Quick White Chicken Chili, Skillet Lasagna, and Skillet Chicken Fajitas, just to name a few. Grilled cheese and tomato soup is always welcome as are pancakes and eggs.
CI’s Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup… Creamy Gazpacho Andaluz…Huevos Rancheros.. I cook a LOT of CI recipes. Tonight… it’s dessert for dinner and I”m pulling out CI’s Quick Dutch Apple Crisp… YUM.
I always….ALWAYS…have two things in my house at all times: Eggs and pasta. When I have those two items, I have dozens of possibilities. I often make quick red sauce with sauteed aromatics, canned tomatoes (mostly crushed, but sometimes I use the old Test Kitchen method of roasting whole peeled tomatoes in the can), and fresh herbs from my modest garden. Sometimes I use the opportunity to test out one of the endless pesto possibilities with various herbs (basil, mint, taragon, even dill) nuts (pine, walnut, cashew, pistachio, almond, hazelnut) and various veggies like peas, broccoli, or asparagus. I love playing around on weeknights, when there is no pressure from pleasing guests or family. At least once a week, I make frittata as well. Its a great way of using up virtually any leftover and is infinitely easier than an omelette. Fantastic with a quick, simple salad, or on top of toasted ciabatta.
We like to make spaghetti with meat sauce but add some sauteed squash in to the homemade tomato-based sauce.
Another quick meal we like is roasted red peeper rotini – pasta, red peppers, spinach, chicken, and ceasar dressing.
So many things. I make the flank steak, spinach, and ramen stir fry often, as well as the recently published pad see ew recipe. Pan seared chicken breasts, weeknight roast chicken, hot sauce shrimp (cook’s country recipe card). I would actually say the vast majority of my recipes are from Test Kitchen. The next largest percentage would of course be my mother or I would not be a good Italian daughter.
Making a stirfry is usually the easiest since I can throw in whatever is in my fridge. Pair it with a steaming bowl of brown rice and I’m all set.
because my husband works afternoons our big meal is at lunchtime. so our evening standby dish is pizza. our two little boys and i gather up leftovers and we make individual pizzas (using atk dough recipe, of course).
As a new household with only two people to make meals for, it’s difficult to always want to throw together something elaborate and delicious, so I’ve got a few family favorites on standby. Homemade macaroni and cheese (My husband always had the boxed kind, so he balked when I made it from scratch and it wasn’t oddly orange.), pork chops with mashed potatoes (A family staple that about drove all 6 of my family members crazy one winter because we could have it 2 or 3 times a week.), spaghetti with a sauce that my dad uses for both spaghetti sauce and chili (Makes leftovers really simple.), and a new favorite Hot Tamale Pie from allrecipes.com (Cornbread, homemade salsa, beef, and a veggie makes for one fast and delicious meal. Plus, my husband actually likes to help with this one.). Wow, listing those, I didn’t realize how many options I actually have, but tonight, I think we’ll do tacos.
I double the recipe for the chicken nuggets and potato tots and freeze them. If the grandchildren come over when I am not expecting them, I have a back up in the freezer. The nuggets are my favorite.
For go to meals it would have to be BEEF: Classic Pot Roast with Vegetables; CHICKEN: (ATK) Crisp-Skin High-Roast Butterflied Chicken with Potatoes; PORK: Thick Pork Chops stuffed with a savory Corn Bread and Dried Cherry Stuffing; SALAD: Creamy Coleslaw; and DESSERT: Gooey Butter Cake. These are stand-by recipes for family and friend gatherings.
I can usually count on having everything I need to whip up a bowl of spaghetti alla carbonara, if my other plans fall through. Always a delicious change of plans!
I keep quart bags of chicken and sausage gumbo in my freezer. It defrosts quickly in hot water and in no time I have a yummy Southern supper of gumbo with rice and saltine crackers. Another standby is frozen salmon fillets, again, quickly defrosted and can be cooked in many ways. My favorite is with brown butter and toasted sliced almonds. For a bit heartier dinner I saute a few shrimp in the brown butter to serve with the salmon.
Fried rice. We always have left over rice at my house, it can get pretty creative. Just last night we had Curred Shrimp Pineapple Fried Rice!
Hey Everyone- thanks for sharing your favorite go-to meals (there were some great ideas!) and congrats to Christina C. who won this week’s giveaway.