Too Many Cooks: Your Most-Cooked FOOD52 Recipe

You'll be hearing from the staff at FOOD52 every week in Too Many Cooks, our group column in which we pool our answers to questions about food, cooking, life, and more.

The thrill of discovering a new recipe to test and share with friends is always great, but sometimes you just want to lay back and enjoy your old standbys. This week in Too Many Cooks, we answer the question, which FOOD52 recipe do you cook the most?

The answers are full of delicious, simple workhorses that would be as welcome at Thanksgiving as they would be on a weeknight. Chime in with your favorite recipes in the comments!

Peter S.
The Food52 recipe my family cooks the most is a contest runner-up from Ashleyza: extremely easy and addictively delicious Mashed Maple Chipotle Sweet Potatoes. Why? Well, mainly because it's so absurdly good. But beyond that, it takes mere minutes to make (thanks to the rare appropriate use of the microwave), reheats extremely well, ages even better, impresses dinner guests, can be adjusted in heat and spice to suit any palate, and can be toyed with in terms of ingredients (yogurt or creme fraiche instead of the sour cream, cayenne or smoked paprika instead of the chipotle in adobo, honey instead of the maple syrup, etc.)

Michael Hoffman
(Michael just started this week as our new developer -- welcome!)
We've made gingerroot's Chevre Devils quite a few times. In fact, they've become something of a Thanksgiving tradition. Assembling them is fun and easy, so it's the perfect task to get friends and relatives involved in making the meal, and they're delicious with a glass of sparkling wine or a cocktail.

Kristy
Reeve's Roasted Carrot Soup! It's my favorite thing to serve to groups -- it's friendly to vegetarian, lactose intolerant, and gluten-free friends, and it's satisfying to the friends who like rich foods. It's also super easy to make, and I almost always have the ingredients on hand (not that I'm well-stocked all the time, it only calls for a few things). I love the method. I just think it's genius.

Kristen
Merrill's Steak with Arugula, Lemon and Parmesan because I love it and I love seeing my boyfriend Mike freak out when he learns I've brought steak home. The whole thing takes about 20 minutes, start to finish. You use one cutting board and one pan. And a big steak feeds 2 people, especially if you serve it with Amanda's Squashed Potatoes (which Mike calls "Splats") and crisp them in the steak-y skillet while the steak is resting. Another lazy trick: Sometimes I steam the potatoes in the microwave to hustle the Splats along.

Brette
Since deensiebat's One-Pot Kale and Quinoa Pilaf is equally good hot, room temperature, or cold, I find myself constantly going back to it for dinner, for lunch the next day, and for parties where I need a trustworthy make-ahead dish. Sometimes, I make a gigantic batch and eat it all week. It's also easy to adapt; sometimes, I use feta instead of goat cheese, or I use walnuts and almonds instead of pine nuts.

Nozlee
What I always say is, why make espresso when you could be making Amanda's affogato?

Stephanie
The Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies from KelseyTheNaptimeChef. Which will surprise no one. I like chocolate and I like cookies. It's as simple as that.

Kenzi
This is a tough question for me, because I'm still working on cooking my way through our lovely database, but I find myself throwing together Midge's Okonomiyaki for dinner more than I'd care to admit.

Christina
Well, the obvious answer is Grandma DiLaura's Ricotta Gnocchi - I would have 100+ fingers if I counted how many times I've made that memory-evoking dish. It is my standby easy comfort meal.

Rachel
I love the Moroccan Carrot Salad with Harissa from Cordeliah. It's a perfect side dish-- even my friend who doesn't love vegetables like this dish. My favorite recipe that I've never tried or tasted is the Chocolate Thai Green Curry Cake. i just dream about it and aspire one day to take on the challenge of gathering the ingredients and preparing this cake.