Recipe Sifter

Marinated swordfish steaks in lemon, white wine, garlic and basil, microwaved with red onion for a fast, low-fat seafood dinner. Ready in under an hour.

Pickled fish poaches mild white fillets, then bathes them overnight in a citrus-bright marinade of vinegar, orange juice, green chiles, bay leaf, and garlic. A make-ahead Mexican escabeche-style dish served cold.

Marchand de vin sauce with red wine, mushrooms, ham, and shallots simmered in beef stock. A classic New Orleans French butter sauce for steaks and grilled meats.

Garlic butter shrimp scampi with a creamy clam juice sauce, white wine, lemon, and fresh basil served over fettuccine. A restaurant-quality scampi with a rich, simmered butter sauce.

Fresh green pasta salad tosses spinach spaghetti with asparagus, zucchini, snow peas, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes in a curry-spiked mayo dressing. A vegetable garden in a bowl.

Chicken korma marinated in yogurt with freshly ground spices, simmered with a poppy seed-cashew-almond paste, coconut, and green chilies. A rich South Indian curry.

Homemade Mexican chorizo with ground pork shoulder, ancho chile powder, cumin, coriander, fresh oregano, and vinegar. No casing needed, ready overnight.

Frijoles rancheros with pinto beans, crispy bacon, jalapenos, beer, and tomato paste baked until bubbly. A smoky, spicy Mexican-style bean casserole.

Plain basic chili, a Texas-style chili con carne made with cubed beef, not ground, simmered low in chili powder, beef broth, and crushed tomatoes until fork-tender. No beans, no filler, just rich, beefy chili.

Spicy homemade dill pickles with hot chili peppers, garlic, mustard seeds, and fresh dill in a vinegar brine. Crunchy, fiery refrigerator pickles ready in 3 to 4 weeks.

Hearty Portuguese soup with smoked chorizo, potatoes, kidney beans, cabbage, and tomatoes simmered in chicken broth. One-pot peasant cooking, big-flavor weekend stew.

Acadian eight-bean chili with kidney, white, pink, black, red, pinto, cranberry, and navy beans slow-simmered with bacon, ground beef, beer, tomatoes, and warm spices.

Add some sophistication to your dinners with this scrumptious pasta dish you will love.

Use this paste to give your sandwiches a brand new experience.

Bring memories of the Windy City into your kitchen with this succulent beef dish.

Here is a kind of throw together recipe I came up with: If you are entertaining you can garnish with fresh parsley and serve with a caesar salad, garlic bread and a nice chablis. The vegetables can vary. I've used mushrooms, spinach, cauliflower etc. Grouper works well with this because it has a lot of flavor. I've used fresh tuna and halibut but prefer grouper.