Europe recipe collection

Green beans and butternut squash glazed in currant jelly, garlic butter, basil, and lemon juice, topped with toasted walnuts. A make-ahead holiday side dish.

Italian-style grits casserole layered with hot sausage, ground beef, pizza sauce, green peppers, onion, and melted cheddar. A Southern-Italian comfort food mashup.

Gruiben, German-style pork cracklings rendered slowly from cubed bacon, yielding crisp, golden bits and a pot of pure lard. An old-world, two-ingredient technique for the ultimate savory snack.

Homemade gyros with seasoned ground lamb on skewers, spiced with allspice, coriander, and savory, bacon-basted on the broiler. Served in pita with yogurt and fresh tomatoes.

Hamburger fischsalat is a German-style fish salad with poached white fish, hard-cooked eggs, dill pickles, and capers in a mustard-lemon sour cream dressing. Chilled and garnished with beet slices.

Hamburg-style fish salad with poached white fish, hard-cooked eggs, dill pickles, and capers in a tangy mustard-mayonnaise-sour cream sauce. A classic North German cold lunch.

This is as good as any Italian sandwich I have eaten in Chicago! Even my grandkids loved it! PK

Pan-seared lamb loin chops pressed with a garlic-parsley rub, served over a Greek-style couscous salad with tomato, cucumber, feta, and fresh dill. A bright Mediterranean dinner ready in 25 minutes.

Bread that is baked on a sheet pan with an Italian twist.

Hunter's minestrone with cubed beef, kidney beans, pasta shells, and red wine simmered for four hours in three stages. A hearty, meaty Italian soup built for cold weather.

Traditional Irish stew casserole with lamb, potatoes, onions, and rosemary layered and slow-baked for 8 to 10 hours. The potatoes dissolve into a thick, silky broth.

Italian barley soup slow-simmered for 3 hours with red wine, tomatoes, garlic, fresh herbs, and Parmesan. A thick, hearty vegetarian soup with deep, layered flavor from the long cook.

Italian bean and pasta salad with anasazi beans, spinach spaghetti, fresh vegetables, and a lemon-herb dressing. A no-cook, protein-packed side that improves as it chills.

Italian chicken pastry bites with crescent roll dough wrapped around garlic chicken, spaghetti sauce, and mozzarella. Golden, flaky, and ready in 40 minutes.

Italian lasagna with ground beef, ricotta, mozzarella, and Parmesan layered with a homemade tomato meat sauce. A big-batch recipe that makes four 8x8 pans, perfect for feeding a crowd or freezing ahead.

Fresh mushroom slices marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic, chilled until tangy and tender, perfect with breadsticks.