24 lecho recipes

Colombian dulce de leche simmers milk and sugar with cinnamon for 4 hours into thick, golden caramel spread that's worth the constant stirring.

Chocolate cake layers filled with caramelized coconut-pecan dulce de leche, then glazed with glossy dark chocolate for an inside-out German chocolate showstopper.

Meatless red beans and rice simmers dry red beans with onion, garlic, and a clever pinch of fennel seed that echoes sausage, cooked down to a thick, creamy gravy and spooned over rice. Vegan comfort, no meat needed.

Three-ingredient chilled coffee caramel pudding with caramelized sweetened condensed milk, hot coffee, and chopped pecans. A retro dulce de leche dessert served in sherbet glasses.

A traditional Mexican caramelized milk dessert (leche quemada) made by slowly cooking milk and sugar into a thick, golden custard scented with cinnamon. Just four simple ingredients.

Pear walnut salad tosses crisp greens with thinly sliced pear, toasted walnuts and red onion under a pear-nectar vinaigrette that echoes the fruit. A light, vegetarian salad in about 10 minutes.

This is from Paul, who used to run an old BBS (remember those?) with a cooking "echo". You can use all beef or all turkey. Also good with some shredded Parmesan cheese sprinkled over the marinara before serving.

A super quick and easy Apple Spice Cake with frosting quickly comes together for a weeknight dessert, using cake mix and apple pie filling.