Pasta recipes

Homemade Thai red curry paste pounded in a mortar with dried chilies, lemongrass, galangal, shallots, garlic, and kaffir lime. Authentic flavor no jar can match.

Ground beef chili with kidney beans, tomato sauce, celery, green pepper, and scallions simmered until thick. A classic weeknight chili topped with cheddar, lettuce, and tortilla chips.

Crispy deep-fried spring rolls packed with stir-fried tofu, shiitake mushrooms, and julienned vegetables seasoned with garlic, curry paste, and soy for an addictive Thai appetizer.

Lamb stew with chestnuts and pomegranate layers tender braised lamb with saffron, cinnamon, ground walnuts, and tart pomegranate juice. A jewel-toned Persian-style stew, sweet, sour, and savory, spooned over saffron rice.

Italian meat sauce mix is a bulk-batch freezer sauce: hot Italian sausage and ground beef slow-simmered for 8 hours with tomato puree, basil, and hidden broccoli and cauliflower florets. Makes 8 pints to stash.

If you're having friends over, then don't hesitate to make this hearty dish made with succulent ham, smoked sausage and hot pepper sauce.

Joyce's Indonesian fried rice (nasi goreng): the classic Southeast Asian fried rice with shrimp paste, tamarind, and ketjap manis, loaded with shrimp, chicken, and barbecued pork. Dinner for four in 45 minutes.

A traditional Swiss-Italian tripe soup from Ticino with borlotti beans, carrots, leeks, celery, and Parmesan, served alongside broiled Gruyere garlic bread. Hearty, rustic, and warming.

Portuguese garlic chicken slow-cooked with port wine, brandy, ham, golden raisins, and six cloves of garlic, then broiled golden. A rich slow cooker showpiece.

Vegan Italian spaghetti casserole with tofu ricotta, nutritional yeast cheesy sauce, and a homemade tomato-herb sauce baked until bubbly. A plant-based baked ziti.

Vegan carrot burgers bound with tahini and peanut butter, seasoned with tamari and herbs. Baked golden on both sides for a hearty plant-based patty with real substance.

Homemade pizza on a nutty whole wheat crust topped with a quick-simmered tomato sauce, chopped green chilis, mozzarella, pepperoni, and olives. From dough to table in about 40 minutes.

Thakkali isso is a Sri Lankan prawn and tomato curry simmered in two rounds of coconut milk with lemongrass, cardamom, fenugreek, and curry leaves. Finished with lime and curry powder.

Baked falafel made with chickpeas, garlic, tahini, cumin, turmeric, and fresh parsley. A low-calorie vegetarian falafel recipe coated in flour and oven-baked instead of deep-fried.

Steamed fish rolls: salmon and sole wrapped in napa cabbage leaves, bamboo-steamed and served over a silky roasted red pepper sauce. An elegant, low-fat dinner party starter.

Rustic vegetable barley soup simmered with carrots, corn, peas, spinach, and garlic in a blended tomato-marjoram broth. Vegan comfort food that feeds 8 from one pot.