Sauces/7 recipes

Swiss steak with flour-pounded round steak braised in tomatoes, onions, celery, and green pepper. A retro skillet supper simmered fork-tender in 90 minutes.

Grilled Hawaiian fish draped in a silky basil-coconut curry sauce with lemongrass, ginger, kaffir lime leaves, and homemade red curry paste. Island-meets-Thai fusion, fresh and fragrant.

Broiled eggplant topped with a creamy Mediterranean walnut sauce spiked with crushed fennel seed and garlic. A rustic vegetarian starter or side dish that makes produce-section eggplant taste like a proper restaurant plate.

Bite-size pepperoni pizza bites made on English muffins with pizza sauce, green pepper, and melted mozzarella. Microwaved in 1 minute for a 5-minute snack.

Chocolate Purses with Rhubarb-Raspberry Mousse recipe

This creamy, low-fat dressing lends itself to salad greens, cooked or raw vegetable combinations, pasta and grain salads, or as a dipping sauce for crudites or steamed artichoke leaves.

Hot and sour garlic chive soup with silky tofu, cloud ear mushrooms, seaweed, and miso. A vegetarian Asian-style broth with tangy rice vinegar, chili heat, and herbaceous garlic chive garnish.

Tender zucchini and crisp green beans tossed in a vibrant herb sauce packed with basil, capers, and lemon. Serve warm or chilled as a bright summer side.

Marinated asparagus is crunchy and full of flavor, artichoke or palm hearts perfectly match it. It is a great side dish in spring time.

Fresh corn and summer squash sauteed in a cream sauce infused with whole cloves, coriander seeds, cinnamon, and jalapeno. A refined seasonal ragout with serious depth.

Stuffed oranges filled with wild rice, chickpeas, and raisins bound in an orange-tahini sauce. A vegetarian Middle Eastern-inspired dish served in the orange shell itself.

Chocolate bar brownie sundaes layer fudgy toffee-studded brownies with Heath-bar vanilla ice cream and a homemade caramel sauce. A make-ahead, three-part dessert where every component is built from scratch.

A full recipe of this sauce is enough for about 1 1/2 pounds of cooked fish, seafood or firm cubed tofu.

Oven-bag barbecued chicken with homemade tangy BBQ sauce. Easy hands-off cooking method keeps chicken tender and juicy in 1 hour.

Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Smoky Red-Onion Salsa recipe

Orange angel food cake with cardamom caramel sauce and tropical fruit compote of mango, passion fruit, kiwi, and blood orange. A three-part make-ahead showstopper for dinner parties.