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Shilpa Uskokovic head shot - Epicurious

Shilpa Uskokovic

Senior Test Kitchen Editor

A graduate of The Culinary Institute of America, Shilpa worked as a line and pastry cook in some big-name, Michelin-starred restaurants in NYC, including Jean-Georges, Marea, and The NoMad, before crossing over to the world of food media. At Bon Appétit, she translates her restaurant experience into reliable recipes running the gamut from pasta to pudding to pizza. Besides her work in print, Shilpa writes regular columns, including Baking Hows, Whys, and WTFs, wherein she answers all your burning baking questions, What a Steal, where she details how cooking on a budget doesn't have to be boring, and, along with test kitchen colleague Jesse Szewczyk, the BA Bake Club. For Epicurious, Shilpa reviews featured archive recipes to ensure they work in modern kitchens and with modern ingredients. She lives in NYC and loves cake and grocery shopping.

Loaded Scalloped Potatoes

Plain scalloped potatoes are good but loaded like a baked potato–with scallions, sour cream, cheddar, and bacon–they’re exponentially better.

10-Minute Broccoli in Garlic Sauce

This easy broccoli stir-fry uses a genius two-step cooking technique of searing the veg for color, then steaming it in a concentrated broth to tenderize.

Garlic Bread Biscuits

Tall, flaky buttermilk biscuits are given the garlic bread treatment–plenty of butter, two kinds of garlic, and lots of herbs and cheese.

Hazelnut Green Beans With Prosciutto and Dates

Rich, tangy, bright, and crunchy from olive oil roasted hazelnuts, this stovetop green bean salad is an arresting holiday side.

Bouillon-Baked Tofu

Aided by jarred bouillon paste and some spices, the flavor of this baked tofu is intriguingly complex, and good enough to eat on its own.

Roasted Eggplant With Sausage and Ricotta

Split open like a baked potato, eggplant becomes a custardy vessel for dinner.

Charred Cabbage With Sausages and Apples

Roasted alongside sausages until tender and blistered, cabbage is the star of this sheet pan dinner that’s offset with horseradish cream and crunchy apples.

Chocoflan

Part silky flan, part decadent chocolate cake, chocoflan, or impossible cake, as it is sometimes called, feels like a magic trick, inverting in the oven as it bakes.

Apple Som Tam

In this take on Thai som tam, crisp, juicy apples replace green papaya for a crunchy, sweet, sour, and spicy salad that’s ready in 20 minutes.

Corn Fritters With Hot Honey

A golden brown, lacy fritter filled with summer’s sweetest corn.

Lemon Drizzle Cake

My mother is not a baker, but she makes a spectacular lemon drizzle.

Figgy Almond-Polenta Tea Cake

This sturdy almond-polenta cake is a gentle landing spot for fresh figs, and also happens to be gluten-free. Swap figs for plums, raspberries, or blueberries.

Alfredo Corn

Alfredo sauce is for more than just pasta. Fresh summer corn is given the pasta treatment with plenty of cheese in this lightning-fast side.

Summer Bean Gribiche

Gribiche, the classic French sauce made of hard-boiled eggs, mustard, and herbs, is tossed with snappy summer beans for a simple but substantial salad.

Samosa-dillas With Cucumber Salad

All the flavors of a samosa with none of the deep-frying. A cheesy, spiced potato filling folded into whole wheat tortillas is the best double-carb mashup.

Southern-Style Caramel Cake

This buttermilk layer cake features a cloud-soft crumb and brown-butter-caramel frosting.

Cold Noodles With Tomatoes and Peanut Sauce

Spicy, slurpy noodles meet summer’s sweet tomatoes.

Basil Chicken Stir-Fry

This savory and spicy dinner takes less than 30 minutes to make.

Gingery Tomato Bruschetta

Instead of balsamic vinaigrette, think fresh ginger, nutty sesame oil, scallion, and a dash of soy.

Salted Melon Salad with Jalapeños and Feta

A simple combination of shallots, chile, and loads of acid, fat, and salt transforms any mediocre melon into something juicy and joy-inducing. Feta helps too.