160 blanco recipes

Traditional Pakistani gajraila with grated carrots slow-simmered in milk with rice, cardamom, slivered almonds, pistachios, and raisins. A fragrant, creamy dessert served hot or cold.

Currant wheels are buttery pastry spirals filled with currants, sultanas, and chopped almonds, then topped with a simple sugar glaze while still hot. A European bakery classic in under an hour.

Steamed fish and vegetables in stove-top papillotte: halibut and sugar snap peas steamed in plastic over diced tomatoes and basil. A clean, light, restaurant-style dinner in 20 minutes.

Cherry and almond Christmas cake: maraschino cherries, apricots, ginger, and almonds macerated in amaretto and brandy, baked into a lighter apple-puree batter, then soaked in more amaretto. A boozy, fruit-packed festive cake that keeps for a month.

Almond and hazelnut pastry ring with a sweet marzipan-style nut filling, baked in a glossy golden spiral. Classic European dessert pastry for coffee or tea.

Navy bean red pepper and green bean salad tosses canned navy beans, blanched green beans, and matchstick red pepper in apple cider vinaigrette. A 10-minute summer side.

Chilled broccoli soup pureed with potato and chicken stock, served ice cold with paper-thin raw porcini mushroom slices, chives, and ricotta toasts. A refined, restaurant-quality cold soup for summer.

Curried turkey salad with papaya, kiwi, toasted almonds, and a warm chutney-yogurt dressing served in crispy tortilla bowls over fresh spinach.

Traditional English piccalilli with cauliflower, cucumber, pearl onions, and green tomatoes in a turmeric-mustard sauce. Homemade mustard pickle that improves with keeping.

This dish is best at room temperature, although it is good hot or cold also. I have given just the basic recipe; you can add all kinds of things, like corn, fresh tomatoes, cilantro, scallions, blanched chayote squash, etc.

Pappardelle smothered in a chunky red sauce with artichokes, roasted peppers, cannellini beans, and sun-dried tomato pesto. Hearty, rustic Italian comfort in 40 minutes.

Ratatouille is a Provencal vegetable stew that is popular all along the Mediterranean coast. It is a summer dish, best when the vegetables are in season and at their peak.

Christmas compote jam blends dried figs, dates, apricots, three nuts, and candied orange in a quince-juice base spiced with cinnamon, clove, cardamom, and star anise. A three-day European holiday preserve worth every step.

Dum gobi is a fragrant North Indian cauliflower and pea curry, the steamed florets folded into a creamy yogurt-tomato gravy spiced with garam masala, cardamom and turmeric. A golden, lacto-vegetarian classic.

Classic French yule log cake with chocolate meringue buttercream, caramel mushrooms, and orange-almond sponge. This stunning Buche de Noel is a traditional Christmas centerpiece.

Braised baby goat with ground saffron-almond paste, pancetta, tomatoes, and potatoes. A one-pot Mediterranean stew with deep, complex flavor built from that almond-saffron base.