Recipe Sifter

Potato soup with tender egg dumplings, celery, sauteed onions, and a finishing swirl of sour cream. A Central European comfort bowl for cold nights.

Curried shellfish pot pie with lobster, shrimp, shiitake mushrooms, and toasted almonds in a sherry-cream curry sauce under golden puff pastry.

Vegetable lasagna layered with spinach, broccoli, carrots, and shallots between a parmesan bechamel and a ricotta-mozzarella-egg cheese filling. White-sauce lasagna with no red sauce.

Breakfast lasagne with sliced ham, gruyere, mozzarella, ricotta, and a mustard-spiked bechamel. Layered in a 13x9 pan for a brunch crowd of six to eight.

Chunky peanut soup with a creamy peanut butter base, loaded with potatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, sweet halibut, and peas, then brightened with lemon and cayenne. A hearty West African-inspired bowl.

Lamb phyllo rolls stuffed with cinnamon-spiced ground lamb, myzithra, and feta, wrapped in flaky pastry and dusted with powdered sugar. A Greek savory-sweet showstopper.

Pasta Fontina is a five-ingredient Italian linguine dish tossed with grated Fontina and Asiago, browned butter, and fresh parsley. Nutty, rich, and on the table in under half an hour.

Italian lemon ginger chicken breast (Petto di Pollo al Limone e Zenzero) pan-cooked in butter, white wine, and fresh lemon juice with marinated ginger. Just six ingredients.

Seared bay scallops in a white wine butter sauce with pine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes, and fresh lemon. A quick, elegant seafood dinner ready in 20 minutes.

Seared monkfish tournedos paired with lobster meat in a Cognac cream sauce finished with homemade lobster butter. A show-stopping French seafood dish worthy of a fine dining experience at home.

Turkey piccata: flour-dredged turkey cutlets sauteed in butter and finished with a fresh lemon pan sauce. A lighter, faster take on the Italian veal classic.

Penne with pumpkin cream sauce, red bell pepper, and fresh nutmeg finished with Parmesan. A cozy fall pasta for two that uses canned pumpkin puree for a silky, savory sauce in under 35 minutes.

Brook trout sauteed with mushrooms, finished with brown butter, lime juice, and fresh parsley. A French meuniere-style preparation with whole fish or fillets.

Porcini mushroom crostini with shiitake, cream, garlic, and Asiago cheese broiled on Italian toast. A rich, earthy Italian appetizer with deep mushroom flavor from dried and fresh fungi.

Linguine with Brussels sprouts barigoule braises savoy cabbage, leeks, and sprouts in wine, lemon, and thyme, then tosses the whole thing with linguine. A Provencal vegetarian pasta.

Velvety Greek cream of green bean soup pureed with carrots and onion, thickened with a buttery roux, and finished with a swirl of butter. Serve with crunchy croutons for a comforting Mediterranean bowl.