Recipe Sifter

Baked salmon with olives that adds a sophisticated look to your dinner!

Shell-on shrimp stuffed with herb-loaded Creole compound butter made from garlic, shallots, oregano, thyme, and three peppers, then grilled until pink and sizzling. New Orleans flavor in 30 minutes.

Golden-crusted sweetbreads braised in dry sherry and chicken broth, finished with cream and butter. A classic French bistro dish with a warm hint of mace that's easier than you think.

These make everyone happy. Bite into the fluffy, cakey cookie and fudge frosting and the hidden mashmallow will stretch and stretch until it finally breaks leaving you with a Gandalf beard, at least this has been my experience.

Buttery lemon scones with bright fresh lemon zest packed into every bite, a tender three-times-sifted crumb, and golden cream-brushed tops. A genuinely lemon-forward scone, not a hint.

Spiced pumpkin butter: shelf-stable canned spread with cooked pumpkin, pectin, sugar, and warm pumpkin pie spice. Six half-pint jars perfect for fall gifting or toast.

By using mostly whole wheat flour, apple sauce and vegetable oil make these cookies much healthier but still taste delicious.

Scallops with garlic, ginger and chives: bay scallops seared in butter, baked in coquille dishes under a parmesan-bread crumb crust. A 30-minute dinner party appetizer with restaurant polish.

Skin-on chicken breasts pan-seared French bistro style, finished in the oven, and drizzled with a quick orange-tarragon pan sauce mounted with cold butter. Ready in 30 minutes for a weeknight dinner that eats like restaurant food.

Noodles with mustard butter tosses hot egg noodles in a quick compound butter of Dijon, lemon juice, cayenne, and parsley. A 30-minute French-leaning pasta side or light supper.

Polvorones: traditional Mexican pecan cookies made with butter and lard, spiced with cinnamon and anise seed. Sandy, crumbly, and sugar-coated.

Cereal killer cookies: chewy oatmeal cookies loaded with almond brickle chips for buttery toffee crunch in every bite. The big-batch cookie that vanishes off the cooling rack.

Baked pumpkin empanadas with a brandy-laced pastry dough and spiced pumpkin-brown sugar filling, finished with cinnamon sugar. A Mexican-Californian fall dessert pastry.

Baked squid with garlic-anchovy capellini, the Italian-American Feast of Seven Fishes star reimagined for the home oven. Crispy crumb-coated calamari over silky anchovy-garlic pasta, all in 30 minutes.

Triple-ginger crumb crust made with gingersnap crumbs, crystallized ginger, and ground ginger. A spicy, fragrant pie shell that pairs with frozen or chilled fillings.

I make this cake for about 10 years, every time people like it.