10,000 crema recipes

Build-your-own chicken tacos with a slow-caramelized garlic and onion base, serrano chiles, dual paprikas, and toasted cumin. Simmered chicken filling served with radishes, pinto beans, sour cream, and cilantro for a generous taco-night spread.

A showstopper lattice pie with three layers: almond cream cheese, fresh raspberries, and glazed cherries, all in a flaky homemade vinegar crust. Bake-sale worthy.

Cajun lamb curry blends Louisiana heat with Indian spice. Coconut cream, cayenne, jalapeno, ripe banana, and toasted pecans build a sweet-hot curry served over rice.

Indian potato curry with baby potatoes, coconut cream, garam masala, and fresh chili, served with a spiced onion relish and cooling cucumber raita. A complete vegetarian feast.

Premium steaks marinated in a Roquefort, sour cream, and red wine marinade, charcoal-grilled and topped with butter-sautéed mushrooms. A show-stopping steakhouse dinner for a crowd.

Stuffed soft-shell crawfish: Louisiana bayou classic with shells packed full of buttery crawfish-bread stuffing, fried golden, and crowned with rich hollandaise. A full-on Cajun centerpiece.

Restaurant-style penne in a rich coconut-curry cream sauce with crab and broiled scallops, finished with spiced tomato chutney and fresh basil. A showstopper fusion dish.

Classic spaghetti primavera with seven blanched vegetables, sauteed mushrooms and tomatoes, a white wine cream sauce, pine nuts, and Parmesan. A springtime showstopper.

Cheesy enchilada casserole layered with seasoned ground beef, black beans, corn tortillas, and melted cheddar. A weeknight Tex-Mex bake topped with shredded lettuce, sour cream, and salsa.

Maryland-style crab cakes pan-seared then finished in a hot oven, served with a Dijon mustard cream sauce. Loaded with lump crab, colorful bell peppers, and just enough breadcrumbs to hold them together.

A crispy vermicelli-Parmesan crust topped with mixed seafood, broccoli, mushrooms, and a rich sherry cream sauce under bubbly mozzarella. Part pasta, part pizza, all comfort.

Jalapeno chicken white chili goes creamy, built on a roux-and-cream base loaded with chicken, great northern beans, and corn. Fresh and pickled jalapenos bring double the heat. Top with Jack cheese.

One chicken breast is turned into two individual chicken pot pies.

Full-spread taco bar: chipotle-spiced ground beef simmered in tomato broth, chunky homemade guacamole with lime and garlic, and fresh serrano pico. Twelve tacos' worth of filling with every fixing on the table.

Grilled chicken fajitas marinated overnight in Worcestershire, soy sauce, lime juice, cumin, and a shot of tequila. Served sizzling with sauteed peppers and all the fixings.

Here I adapted an 18th century English spice cake recipe which also makes nice cupcakes.