Main Dish Recipes

Tuna mac and cheese with green olives, celery, and a sour cream and white wine sauce. Layered with American cheese and baked until golden. A retro casserole with grown-up flavor twists.

Slow cooker pot roast braised in red wine for 10-12 hours, finished with a sour cream gravy made from the pan drippings. Fork-tender beef, set-and-forget method.

Creamy crawfish pasta in a Dijon mustard cream sauce made from crawfish-soaked milk. Two pounds of tender tails over fresh pasta, Cajun-style and ready in an hour.

Slow cooker halibut steaks in a creamy white wine sauce made with butter, flour, and milk. A hands-off way to cook tender, flaky fish with a rich, silky finish.

A simple two-ingredient pan gravy made from roast pork drippings and flour, spooned over sliced roast pork. The no-fail Sunday supper sauce with zero waste.

Beef meatballs in tangy buttermilk gravy served over noodles or homemade spaetzle. Pan-fried with mustard and onion for old-fashioned German-American flavor.

Cheese-scalloped potatoes and carrots in a homemade sharp cheddar sauce with a hint of cayenne. A from-scratch layered casserole with a golden, bubbly top.

Sauerbraten with Coke uses cola in the vinegar marinade for a sweeter, more caramelized take on the classic German pot roast. Marinated 2 to 4 days, braised until fork-tender, and finished with gingersnap gravy.

Hungarian chicken paprikash simmers chicken in paprika and onions, finished with sour cream and served over tender homemade nokedli (Hungarian egg dumplings).

Swordfish Provencale braised in a French bouquet garni-perfumed tomato sauce with mushrooms, peppers, and white wine. A classic southern French main dish topped with pimentos and capers.

Low Country seafood boil reimagined as an oven-bag bake, with shrimp, smoked turkey sausage, whole potatoes, corn on the cob, and onion in savory broth. All the Carolina coast flavor, none of the pot wrestling.

Savory onion-tomato cheese pie with sweet onions, Swiss cheese, and sliced tomatoes in a custard filling. A microwave-friendly quiche-style main dish.

Jimmy's chili builds a from-scratch chili paste from whole dried chili pods, blended with browned beef, tomato sauce, oregano, cumin, and red wine. Slow-simmered for 3 hours into deeply spiced Texas-style chili.

Rich venison and mushroom stew braises marinated game low and slow into a dark, glossy gravy, then crowns it with crisp lemon-parsley forcemeat balls. A deeply savory, make-ahead wild-game casserole.

Pork 'n' spicy apples: pan-seared pork loin cutlets topped with sauteed Granny Smith apples in a steak sauce, apple jelly, and cinnamon glaze. Classic sweet-spicy pairing ready in 40 minutes.

Old-fashioned homemade liver bologna with beef liver, potatoes, bacon, and graham flour, boiled in cloth bags. A heritage charcuterie recipe from scratch.