Recipe Sifter

Greek gyro sandwiches blend ground beef and lamb with oregano, thyme, and garlic into thin patties, then tuck into pita with homemade cucumber-yogurt sauce and sliced onion. Street food classic done at home.

A simple and scrumptious dish made with rice, green and red lentils and grated coconut.

Thai pasta seafood salad tosses chilled shrimp and scallops with rice vermicelli, cucumbers, peppers, and cilantro in a peanut ginger dressing. A bright, refreshing summer dinner with a kick.

Use solid white tuna, not chunked tuna. To keep the tuna moist this recipe uses a quick marinade to allow the tuna to absorb the flavors.

Caramelizing onion and garlic was a great idea, which developed lots of deliciousness; then sautéing the bell peppers together really made the toppings very flavorful. Goat cheese added another layer of tangy creaminess.

A delicious way to make some stuffed mushrooms, the combination of prosciutto, wine and all the spices is so tasty, mixed with bread crumbs, stuffed into the mushroom caps. They are great appetizer.

So to start off with the first post, I decided to make a meal that screams of comfort food. Whilst it does take a bit of a while to get the meal done, once you take that first bite, heaven couldn’t seem closer if you were Adam trying to touch God’s finger in the “Creation of Adam” fresco created by Michaelangelo. The meal I speak of is Cottage Pie. There is much debate as to what exactly a cottage pie is and how it is different to a Shepherd’s pie...I don’t know. The dominant theory is that Sheperds pie uses lamb mince, whilst a cottage pie uses beef mince. I don’t know about you, but the term “Sheperds Pie” does not get my tastebuds going quite as well, so I prefer the term cottage pie. Besides, comparing the price of ground (mince) beef to ground lamb, a student would pick up the beef mince in a heartbeat without even so much as glancing at the lamb in the meat section. This cottage pie that I made is full of flavour, and just makes you want to cuddle up next to a fire and watch TCM movies all day either by yourself, or with a significant other. Here is the recipe:

I've always thought of fried rice as the quintessential comfort food. Think of it - a bowl of steaming white rice cooked to just the right consistency, filled with full of vegetable. No wonder fried rice is one of the world's most popular rice dishes!

It's easy to make, and it tastes delicious. There are lots of great flavors in this mango dal. Serve it with Indian naan bread bread or rice, a tasty and nutritious week-night meal. You can make it ahead, and simply reheat it.

This simply delicious Chinese stir-fry is made with not too many ingredients, it's quick and easy as well. Serve it with a bowl of rice to complete the meal.

Although quite good with using cottage cheese, I prefer to make the rolls with part-skim ricotta. They are delicious!

This turned out quite nicely, great mix of textures and flavors. If you use store bought salsa and store bought tortilla chips you will want to watch the salt levels.

The addition of ingredients like curry powder and grated Parmesan make this salad special. Great for sandwiches, on crackers as an appetizer or served on lettuce leaves.

Cheesy, juicy, tasty and delicious. We used all ricotta cheese, put most of the mozzarella cheese into the filling ingredients, which we really enjoyed.

Authentic Pad Thai with shrimp, chicken, and rice ribbon noodles in a dry-coat sauce of yellow bean, fish sauce, and tomato paste. Finished with peanuts, bean sprouts, lime, and cilantro the way a Bangkok street stall would.

Shredded chicken enchiladas in corn tortillas smothered with homemade tomatillo verde sauce, bubbly Monterey Jack, and cool sour cream. Make-ahead friendly and packed with green chile flavor. Feeds six.