Recipe Sifter

Country Captain is a storied Southern curried chicken stew with tomatoes, green peppers, garlic, and warm spices. A whole hen simmered tender and served over rice. Feeds 8.

Szechuan-style spicy pork stir-fry with green peas, carrots, and ginger in a savory oyster and soy sauce. Served over steamed rice for a quick weeknight dinner.

Chickpea dip with 6 cloves of garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice pureed smooth. A tahini-free hummus-style appetizer served with pita bread, scallions, crackers, or red cabbage.

Poulet a l'Intrigue: a Louisiana-style stuffed chicken breast marinated, packed with a sausage-eggplant dressing under the skin, lightly hickory-smoked, and finished with an andouille-pecan cream sauce.

Freezer-friendly beef meatballs in a creamy mushroom-basil sauce served over brown rice with buttered carrots. Batch-cook now, reheat later for easy weeknight dinners.

Warm potato salad with a garlic-parsley vinaigrette, nutmeg, and a dash of hot sauce. No mayo, served hot or at room temperature as a versatile side dish.

Homemade chicken stock from scratch: chicken parts and aromatics simmered low and slow, skimmed for clarity, then strained and defatted. The deeply savory foundation for soups and sauces.

Chinese-style lamb hot pot with paper-thin slices cooked tableside in boiling chicken broth, dipped in a soy, sesame, peanut butter, and bean curd sauce. Served with spinach, cabbage, and cellophane noodles.

Hearty beef and vegetable stew loaded with tomatoes, potatoes, corn, green beans, peas, and summer squash. Simmered low and slow in a Dutch oven, this feeds a crowd of 10.

Penne pasta with sun-dried tomatoes, crushed dried chile, black olives, fresh basil, lemon zest, and Parmesan. A bold no-cook sauce that sits at room temperature to marry the flavors before tossing.

Fettuccine tossed with a no-cook tomato, basil, and yogurt sauce. A light summer pasta that skips the cream and comes together while the noodles boil.

Easy chicken cacciatore with canned tomatoes, garlic, basil, and parsley simmered uncovered for 40 minutes. A rustic Italian one-pan dinner with minimal prep.

Fish and crawfish mold: a creamy Louisiana-style cold seafood spread blending cooked fish, crawfish tails, cream cheese, wine, and hot sauce. Make ahead, serve on crackers at your next cocktail party.

Corn and shrimp salad with boiled seasoned shrimp and sweet corn tossed in an emulsified Dijon vinaigrette with red onion and parsley. A bright, summery seafood salad.

Garden turkey and brown rice salad with toasted wheat germ, celery, carrots, and a light Italian-lemon dressing. A healthy no-cook meal salad ready in 10 minutes.

Chiles en Nogada, Mexico's patriotic dish: roasted poblanos stuffed with a sweet-savory pork picadillo, draped in a cool, creamy walnut sauce and scattered with ruby pomegranate seeds. The green, white, and red of the flag on one plate.