Recipe Sifter

Vegetarian baked pasta with mushrooms, bell pepper, and tomatoes, layered with a cottage cheese filling and topped with savory tomato sauce. Lighter, lower-fat take on classic baked ziti.

Gazpacho salad takes all the fresh vegetables from the classic cold soup and serves them chopped over lettuce with a tangy herb dressing. No cooking, no blender, just crisp tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers chilled until the flavors meld.

Macaroni and cheese baked into firm, sliceable squares with eggs, breadcrumbs, and a quick herbed tomato sauce. A retro pantry dinner that actually holds its shape on the plate.

Stuffed squid in saffron sauce: whole squid bodies filled with chopped tentacles, smoked ham, Parmesan, and breadcrumbs, then braised in a saffron-tomato-white wine sauce. Spanish-Italian dinner-party seafood.

Hearty meat and Vidalia onion pie layers ground beef, sweet onions, mushrooms and a Swiss-cheddar sour cream custard over a flaky buttermilk biscuit crust. Southern comfort food in a skillet pie.

Swordfish marinade with soy sauce, orange juice, tomato paste, garlic, and lemon. A savory-citrus blend that caramelizes beautifully on the grill.

Chili taco salad: spicy chicken chili with kidney beans and chickpeas piled on tortilla chips with lettuce, tomato, jack cheese, sour cream, olives, and jalapenos.

Linguine with white clam sauce built from canned minced clams, garlic, olive oil, and Italian herbs. Italian-American pantry pasta on the table in 35 minutes for 8.

Skillet fettuccine pie with seasoned beef sauce on the bottom and a Parmesan-egg-noodle crust on top. Pan-flipped onto a platter for a stovetop one-pan dinner.

Pounded round steak dredged in flour, browned crisp, then simmered in crushed tomatoes with oregano, garlic, and a hint of dry mustard. Fork-tender Sicilian comfort food.

Pasta e fagioli with sweet Italian sausage, white beans, Roma tomatoes, white wine, and fusilli. A hearty Italian pasta and bean dish loaded with herbs and Parmesan.

Spinach lasagne with sauteed mushrooms, tomatoes, garlic, and fresh wilted spinach folded into a three-cheese filling. A vegetarian Italian lasagna with no jarred sauce needed.

Italian-American spaghetti and meatballs with a three-meat blend (beef, pork, veal), a slow-simmered tomato sauce with red wine, and parmesan-bread crumb meatballs browned then finished in sauce.

Halibut steaks Marengo with a rich tomato-mushroom sauce, Greek olives, and a parsley-garlic-lemon gremolata. A classic French-inspired fish dish thickened with beurre manie.

Grilled vegetable garden burgers with marinated eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, Bermuda onion, and tomato layered into whole wheat pita. A vegan, herb-laced summer sandwich for cookouts.

Louisiana courtbouillon of redfish, the classic Cajun fish stew. Whole redfish or red snapper steaks simmered in a brown roux, holy trinity, tomatoes, herbs, and white wine. Spooned over rice, this is bayou comfort food.