13 cleary recipes

Homemade marinara sauce with crushed plum tomatoes, mushrooms, and a secret trio of steak sauce, barbecue sauce, and ketchup for unexpected depth. Vegetarian and ready in 45 minutes.

Mrs. Johnson's peach preserves boil ripe sliced peaches in clear sugar syrup with lemon extract for old-fashioned Texas-style preserves. Spoon over biscuits or warm over vanilla ice cream.

Candied orange peels turn citrus rinds into glossy, sugar-coated treats by double-blanching the peels, simmering in syrup, and rolling in sugar. A holiday gift project, ready overnight. Works with lemon or lime peels too.

Nana Keele's carrot cake with crushed pineapple, cinnamon, and nuts, topped with a hot buttermilk syrup that soaks right into the warm cake. A family heirloom recipe.

One-pot beef and corn casserole with rice, peppers, leeks, and carrots simmered in beef broth. Cubed beef browned then slow-cooked with vegetables until tender.

Old-fashioned pumpkin preserves with lemon and mixed spices, slow-macerated overnight in sugar then boiled until clear and glossy. A heritage canning recipe for fall.

Crock-made crystal sweet pickles brined for 2 weeks, then dressed in a cinnamon and clove vinegar syrup over 5 days. A labor of love from grandma's kitchen that yields jars of glass-clear, spiced pickles.

Homemade apple pie filling for freezing or canning combines sliced apples with cinnamon, nutmeg, and a clear cornstarch syrup. Make-ahead pantry filling for instant pies all year.

Authentic Hanoi-style beef pho with charred aromatics, star anise, cinnamon, and a 6-hour broth. Crystal-clear, deeply savory, topped with paper-thin raw beef cooked by the hot soup.

Homemade raspberry liqueur made with fresh berries, sugar syrup, and grain alcohol. A French-style framboise that ages for weeks into a beautifully clear, fruity spirit.

Old-fashioned raspberry jelly with no commercial pectin: apples provide natural set, raspberries give the flavor. Traditional jelly-bag technique for a clear, pure-fruit preserve.

End of summer beef stew packed with fresh tomatoes, corn, green beans, peas, potatoes, squash, and carrots. A garden-clearing one-pot meal for the season's last harvest.

Chili-glazed tofu over asparagus and rice with a sweet-salty soy-ginger sauce. A 30-minute one-skillet vegetarian dinner using boil-in-bag rice to clear weeknight dinner in under half an hour.