Pasta recipes

Italian meat sauce mix is a bulk-batch freezer sauce: hot Italian sausage and ground beef slow-simmered for 8 hours with tomato puree, basil, and hidden broccoli and cauliflower florets. Makes 8 pints to stash.

Crispy deep-fried spring rolls packed with stir-fried tofu, shiitake mushrooms, and julienned vegetables seasoned with garlic, curry paste, and soy for an addictive Thai appetizer.

Slow cooker chicken cacciatore with two whole chickens braised in tomatoes, red wine, garlic, and Italian herbs. Set it, forget it, and feed a crowd of ten with zero effort.

Joyce's Indonesian fried rice (nasi goreng): the classic Southeast Asian fried rice with shrimp paste, tamarind, and ketjap manis, loaded with shrimp, chicken, and barbecued pork. Dinner for four in 45 minutes.

A traditional Swiss-Italian tripe soup from Ticino with borlotti beans, carrots, leeks, celery, and Parmesan, served alongside broiled Gruyere garlic bread. Hearty, rustic, and warming.

If you're having friends over, then don't hesitate to make this hearty dish made with succulent ham, smoked sausage and hot pepper sauce.

Classic cold sesame noodles with peanut butter, tahini, Hunan pepper sauce, and crunchy cucumber. Nutty, spicy, and slurp-worthy Chinese noodles ready in about an hour.

Homemade pizza on a nutty whole wheat crust topped with a quick-simmered tomato sauce, chopped green chilis, mozzarella, pepperoni, and olives. From dough to table in about 40 minutes.

Vegan carrot burgers bound with tahini and peanut butter, seasoned with tamari and herbs. Baked golden on both sides for a hearty plant-based patty with real substance.

Classic French Provencal dish usually cooked in a heavy casserole on the stove top or in the oven; would also work well in slow cooker. Use inexpensive stewing beef or oyster blade; it will not be anywhere near as good if you use more expensive cuts of beef.

Thakkali isso is a Sri Lankan prawn and tomato curry simmered in two rounds of coconut milk with lemongrass, cardamom, fenugreek, and curry leaves. Finished with lime and curry powder.

Baked falafel made with chickpeas, garlic, tahini, cumin, turmeric, and fresh parsley. A low-calorie vegetarian falafel recipe coated in flour and oven-baked instead of deep-fried.

Rustic vegetable barley soup simmered with carrots, corn, peas, spinach, and garlic in a blended tomato-marjoram broth. Vegan comfort food that feeds 8 from one pot.

A traditional British Easter fruitcake with a hidden almond paste layer, golden raisins, currants, and candied cherries. Topped with 11 marzipan balls for the Apostles.

Keema mattar is an Indian ground lamb curry with green peas, cooked in ghee with cumin, coriander, turmeric, ginger, and whole cloves. Serve with naan or rice.

Ranchera sauce made from scratch with a roux-thickened tomato base, cumin, garlic, and fresh vegetables. A versatile Mexican sauce for rice, enchiladas, and huevos rancheros.