Blog Posts by bon appétit magazine

Recipe by Mary-Frances Heck

This weeknight chicken soup goes Greek with orzo, lemon juice, and a handful of fresh dill.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium leek, white and pale-green parts only, halved lengthwise, sliced crosswise 1/2-inch thick
1 celery stalk, sliced crosswise 1/2-inch thick
12 ounces skinless, boneless chicken thighs
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup orzo
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
Lemon halves (for serving)

See more: Top 20 Best-Tasting Burger Recipes

Preparation
Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add leek and celery and cook, stirring often, until vegetables are soft, 5-8 minutes. Add chicken and broth; season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer until chicken is cooked through, 15-20 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate. Let cool, then shred chicken into bite-size pieces.

See more: 8 Essential Kitchen Gadgets

Meanwhile, return broth to a boil. Add orzo and

Recipe by Son of a Gun in Los Angeles, CA


If your idea of coleslaw is the pleated paper cup of shredded stuff alongside BLTs at the diner, it's time for a new rule: Slaw doesn't go with the sandwich, it goes on the sandwich. Slaws deliver on several fronts. They're crunchy, and sandwiches need crunch. Done right, slaws give a bright acidic kick to counter the fatty goodness of meats and mayo. And they provide a temperature contrast to warm sandwiches, like this fried-chicken masterpiece from Son of a Gun in Los Angeles. We can't think of a sandwich that doesn't deserve slaw, so pile it on.

See more: Top 20 Best-Tasting Burger Recipes

Fried Chicken Sandwiches with Slaw and Spicy Mayo

INGREDIENTS
Spicy Mayo and Slaw
1 garlic clove, finely grated
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Louisiana-style hot pepper sauce
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 jalapeño, thinly sliced
4 cups thinly sliced cabbage
1/2 cup Bread-and-Butter Pickle slices, plus 1/4 cup pickle juice

Fried Chicken

Recipe by Mary-Frances Heck

There is a time for low-fat, high-protein, super lean, mean, skinny salad machine, but brunch isn't it. Give those sugar-salt-fat receptors one last chance to jump for joy before you return to your healthy weekday routine with this decadent Parmesan bread pudding. Six perfect eggs, half a pound of beautiful crusty white bread, whole milk, and a some pleasantly bitter broccoli rabe--just to pretend it's healthy. An illusion quickly dispelled by a generous dusting of grated Parmesan and--the one thing that makes everything better--bacon. Well, technically pancetta, but you get the idea. --Marilyn He

See more: Top 20 Best-Tasting Burger Recipes

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 medium bunch broccoli rabe (rapini), trimmed, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 teaspoons kosher salt plus more
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper plus more
6 large eggs
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 pound

Scott Desimon

Asparagus may be a year-round presence these days (gracias, Peru!), but we can't help feeling a little giddy when the "real," seasonal stuff appears each spring. For a couple of too-short months, we indulge in these flavorful spears as often as we can. We serve them barely cooked with a simple vinaigrette, but we also put their unique, grassy goodness to use in all sorts of other ways, from shaved raw in salads to grilled and spiked with harissa. If we follow any rule, it's this: Do not overcook. No one likes limp, stringy asparagus. No one. Now, for eight more ideas to diversify your stalk portfolio.

More from Bon Appétit:

Easy Ways to Upgrade Instant Ramen Noodles

Your New Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie

Healthy Snacks? Maybe Not

Spring Vegetables: 26 Ways to Eat 'Em

Mary-Frances Heck

Brian W. FerryWe like skirt steak because it's a tasty and affordable cut. Slice it thinly so it's tender.

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons sliced almonds
8 ounces soba (Japanese-style noodles) or spaghettini
Kosher salt
1 tablespoon plus 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
12 ounces skirt or flank steak
Freshly ground black pepper
2 scallions, whites and greens separated, chopped
4 medium garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon grated peeled ginger
2 heads baby bok choy, quartered
1 medium carrot, peeled, thinly sliced on a diagonal
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

See more: 8 Essential Kitchen Gadgets

PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 350°. Spread out almonds on a small rimmed baking sheet; toast, tossing occasionally, until golden brown, 8-10 minutes. Let cool and set aside.

Cook noodles in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Drain; rinse to

Mary-Frances Heck

Eating well doesn't mean serving rib eye and Dover sole every night. These six knock-out recipes in the slideshow above feed a family of four and cost under $15. Here are a few other delicious ways to cook on a budget:

Rely on potent pantry items: Low-cost staples can amp up flavor. Oyster and soy sauces bring umami to the stir-fry; chiles and ginger in the salsa add punchy kick.

Think quality, not quantity: Pancetta isn't cheap, but you need only a few slices of the good stuff to lend depth to the bread pudding.

Shop seasonally: Peak produce tastes best. Plus, it's frequently more economical than the imported stuff that needed a plane ticket.

Still a Bargain: My meals have changed a lot since college (ice cream for breakfast, anyone?). But I still go back to my favorite budget dish: a fried egg and cheese on toast. It used to be American cheese, doused with hot sauce; now it's aged cheddar and Korean gochujang.

More from Bon Appétit:

Healthy Snacks?

Danielle Walsh

French toast: not as easy as you think French toast is the champion of brunch. Nothing says "weekend" like tucking into what should be a dessert (it's basically fried bread pudding) and washing it down with something bubbly that you can cloak in orange juice and serve in a flute. But there's also a practical reason why it's uniquely a weekend dish: it requires multiple steps, considerable prep and cooking time, and adequate post-meal downtime to surrender to a carb and sugar-induced coma on the couch. We asked Bon Appetit's assistant food editor Alison Roman to work around our most common French toast mistakes. Her tips below.

Adding too much dairy and sugar to the custard
Don't go overboard with the milk. If there's too much, the egg in the mixture won't cook, meaning wet, soggy, bread. You want the French toast to be dry on the surface with slightly crisp edges. As for the sugar, if you're adding maple syrup, honey, or dusting the toast with powdered sugar on the plate, you don't need the custard

CN Digital StudioWe know: It seems impossible to improve on a creamy swipe of mayonnaise. But spiking our favorite decadent spread with another ingredient or two makes it even more complex and flavorful. Just stir one of these components into store-bought mayo.

WHERE TO BEGIN: Our base isn't a made-from-scratch ail. We love Helmann's, also known as Best Foods (but when we're in the South, we'll take Duke's).

See more: 8 Essential Kitchen Gadgets

Think about adding some sriracha, a mix-in we're seeing everywhere. Try it with pulled pork, roast turkey, grilled chicken…

Season mayo with anchovy paste (the kind in a tube) to add a hit of deep umami flavor to a tuna fish sandwich.

Go British: Thin some mayo with malt vinegar and spread it on fried fish or chicken cutlet sandwiches.

Mix in sambal, a spicy Southeast Asian chili sauce, and serve on a roast beef sandwich with plenty of chopped fresh herbs, like basil and mint.

See more: Top 20 Best-Tasting Burger Recipes

Fold sesame seeds and toasted