Leite’s Culinaria

A cast-iron skilled filled with choriqueso, a cheese dip topped with queso.StartersA sliced air fryer prosciutto-wrapped pork tenderloin covered in mustard-fig sauce on a white platterMainsA large yellow Dutch oven with a roast chicken on a bed of cooked shallots, topped with lemon zest and herbs.ChickenA white bowl filled with peach, burrata, and basil salad.SaladA loaf of Everything Bagel Bread in a Challenger Bread PanBreadsA pineapple upside-down cake on a white plate with a slice taken outDesserts

Pepperoni Pan Pizza

Made with the simplest, freshest tomato sauce ever, two types of mozzarella, and everyone’s favorite topping. And it’s made on a plain old baking sheet. No fancy pizza stone required.

3 hrs 30 mins

Blueberry Hand Pies

Love in pastry-encased incarnation. Simply envelope fruit filling in pie crust and fry until crisply golden outside, bubbling and lush inside. Deep-frying phobes, it’s easy as pie.

1 hr 40 mins

Easy Rhubarb Jam

Making preserves was never so easy or gratifying as with this foolproof old-fashioned recipe. Just four ingredients and an occasional stir. No prior canning experience required. Swear.

2 hrs

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Batter-Fried Chicken

Proof that it doesn’t take buttermilk or an insufferably long overnight brine to make insanely tender, crazily crisp, gosh darn perfect fried chicken.

1 hr 30 mins

Homemade Yellow Mustard

Why make your own mustard? Because you can, dammit! And if that’s not reason enough, there’s no comparison between this and the store-bought stuff. Enough said.

1 hr 45 mins

Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Grab your spoons. Whether you crave sweetness or sustenance of a different sort, this simple childhood pleasure may at least bring you a little pleasure in the moment at hand.

15 mins

A bag of Leite's Culinaria Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix.

The viral NY Times cookies

Finally, they’re here! The viral sensation from the article I wrote for the New York Times. Now, you can make them at home with the very same hard-to-find ingredients as the original. All you need are melted butter and eggs! They’re a great Father’s Day gift!

Get yours now

Father’s Day Recipes

Grilled Beef Short Ribs with Bourbon BBQ Sauce

These tender beef short ribs are cooked low and slow, then slathered with a boozy homemade bbq sauce and finished on the grill. They’re perfect for backyard barbecues, picnics, and summer celebrations.

5 hrs

More Father's Day Dishes

Most Beloved Recipes

These are the most popular, most loved, and most made dishes over the past 25 years.

Find a New Recipe

Pastéis de Nata ~ Portuguese Custard Tarts

Not Portuguese? Not a problem. It won’t lessen your appreciation for these little lovelies with the shatteringly crisp pastry cradling ridiculously creamy custard.

2 hrs 30 mins

Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese Sauce

Is anything more soothing than standing before a burbling pot of Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese sauce? (Hint: Our answer is absolutely not.)

6 hrs

Garlic-Butter Shrimp Pasta

Only 30 minutes and a few simple ingredients stands between you and a warm bowl of pasta and shrimp bathed in lemon garlic butter. What are you waiting for?

30 mins

David Leite

Hey, I’m David Leite

I’m a three-time James Beard Award-winning food writer, cookbook author, memoirist, podcast host, and publisher. I created this site in 1999 to help you find simple, quick, and wicked flavorful recipes. For the past 24 years, I’ve been cooking, teaching, and writing about all types of food, including those from my Portuguese heritage. Let’s eat! Vamos comer!

Read More About Me

Say Hello to Spring

Welcome warmer weather with these spring-inspired dishes featuring seasonal ingredients.

See all spring recipes

Sweet Pickle Relish

So long, Vlasic. Once you try your hand at making your own sweet relish, you can cross one more condiment off your shopping list.

1 d

Rhubarb Vodka

Rhubarb vodka. Yep. It’s a thing. And you’re going to want to make this tipsy spring tonic again and again and again.

15 mins

Shrimp and Leek Pasta

So long, noodles that are buried beneath heavy cream sauces. This shrimp and leek pasta is made with a barely-there broth enhanced by the sweetness of leeks.

30 mins

Celebrate Portugal Day (June 10)

come mais

Bacalhau a Gomes de Sa

Marcel Proust had his madeleine. David Leite has his Portuguese salt cod, potato, and egg casserole.

2 hrs 10 mins

Weeknight Winners (Quick Recipes)

You love to cook & feed the fam. But you don’t want to live in the kitchen. I’ve got your back.

More Quick Recipes

Quick Cacio e Pepe

Dinner doesn’t get any easier or more elegant than pasta tossed with butter, olive oil, Parmesan and pecorino Romano cheeses, and dusted with lots of black pepper.

35 mins

Chicken Piccata

Ever heard that little ditty, “Winner, winner, chicken dinner?” We like to think of it as “Winner, winner, chicken piccata dinner.”

30 mins