Pasta recipes

Homemade Barbecue Sauce built on apple juice, tomato paste, honey, and soy sauce, simmered and blended smooth. Vegetarian, no refined sugar, with cinnamon adding warm depth.

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.

Homemade Filipino-style banana ketchup simmered with raisins, tomato paste, allspice, cayenne, and dark rum. Sweet, tangy, and warmly spiced. Makes 3.5 cups and keeps for a month.

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.

Fiery pork and bamboo shoots over crispy rice noodles: stir-fried slivered pork with winter bamboo, Thai chili paste, and ginger served over a cloud of deep-fried puffy rice stick noodles.

Kahlua chili: ground beef chili spiked with coffee liqueur, served Cincinnati-style over spaghetti with cheddar and onion. The coffee-and-cocoa background note that makes it work.

Veal chops in spicy sauce: braised with cumin, saffron, coriander, and cayenne, then finished with a cool cucumber-yogurt spoon sauce. Warm spice meets bright tang in one Dutch oven.

This tasty stew will reward you for the time it takes to make a proper roux, which add depth.

By using braising to cook the chicken slowly over a long time creates fall-off the bone tender meat and allows the rich flavors to mingle perfectly together. Creamy and rich flavor without all the fat.

Eggplant, mushrooms, asparagus, and red bell pepper simmered in a spicy Thai chili paste and rice milk sauce with fresh basil. A hearty vegan stew for rice or grilled polenta.

Homemade pizza sauce simmered with fresh garlic, grated Parmesan, and Italian herbs into a thick, robust, slightly spicy spread. The from-scratch base that beats any jar.

Cheesy beef stuffed eggplant hollows out parboiled eggplants, fills the shells with seasoned ground beef, Romano, and breadcrumbs, then bakes under tomato sauce. Italian-American main course.

Red snapper a la Mexicaine with seared fillets baked in fresh tomatoes and herbs, finished with a creamy avocado sauce spiked with lime and Tabasco. French-Mexican fusion at its finest.

Slow cooker sloppy joes with ground beef, ketchup, tomato paste, Worcestershire, and vinegar. Brown the meat, dump everything in the crock pot, and come home to thick, tangy sandwich filling.

Italian potato salad tosses steamed red potatoes with green beans, Kalamata olives, Roma tomatoes, and fresh basil in a light cornstarch-thickened red wine vinaigrette.

Crispy baked vegan burgers made from mashed zucchini, tahini, sesame seeds, sunflower seed meal, and cornmeal with sautéed garlic, onions, and carrots. Plant-powered patties with serious crunch and savory depth.