24 cream mock recipes

Zucchini in mock cream sauce uses the vegetable's own extracted juices to make a thick, creamy sauce with no cream at all. A clever lacto-vegetarian technique with garlic, butter, and optional Asiago.

Cold crab dip with flaked imitation crab, crunchy celery, green onions, fresh dill, and a creamy mayo-sour cream base. Make-ahead party dip best after an overnight chill, served with crackers.

Country vanilla ice cream churned the old-fashioned way, with a rich custard of eggs, cream, milk, and real vanilla. Made in an electric rock-salt freezer for the creamiest, most nostalgic scoop of summer.

Eastern European cabbage rolls stuffed with rice and sausage, simmered in sauerkraut with a smoked pork hock. Topped with paprika and sour cream for a true Old World feast.

Chinese hot orange soup made with fresh-squeezed orange juice, rock sugar, and preserved ginger, lightly thickened with cornstarch. Served warm with citrus slices and cream wafers.

Oysters Thomas bakes fresh oysters on the half shell topped with lump crab meat, bearnaise sauce, and cream sauce under golden bread crumbs. An elegant appetizer.

Unadulterated black bean soup with dried beans, ham hocks, red and yellow onion, pureed silky smooth and finished with dry sherry. A purist's approach with no spices masking the beans.

Refined split pea soup with fresh sorrel, ham hock, lemon, and cream, puréed silky smooth and strained. Serve it piping hot in winter or well chilled as an elegant summer starter.

A delicious cabbage soup made with chicken broth, ham hock and wine vinegar.

Bajan black bean soup from Barbados: dried black beans simmered with a ham hock, fragrant with allspice and lemon, finished with cream and an optional splash of dark rum. Caribbean comfort in a bowl.

Loaded black bean soup pureed silky-smooth with smoky ham hock, sherry, lemon, and a finish of sour cream and fresh dill. Steakhouse-style classic that elevates the humble bean.

Spicy black bean soup with eight jalapeños, smoky ham hock, cumin, and a final splash of tequila stirred in off heat. Half-pureed for body, garnished with sour cream.

Lobster and roasted corn chowder with bacon, smoked ham hock, and a Southwestern kick from jalapeño and green chiles. A creamy bowl built from a lobster-stock base and pan-charred corn kernels.

Mock caviar made with finely chopped ripe olives, anchovies, hard-boiled eggs, and sour cream. A budget-friendly no-cook appetizer with rich, briny flavor on lettuce cups.

Creamy casserole with mock crabmeat, hard-boiled eggs, curry powder, mayonnaise, and sour cream. Baked golden with paprika, served over rice.

Mock lobster made from haddock poached in tomato juice and served with a zesty chili-horseradish-sour cream sauce. Budget-friendly seafood with lobster-like flavor.