Sauces/5 recipes

Fettuccine with prosciutto, peas, carrots, and fresh tomato tossed in a light chicken broth sauce with Parmesan. A quick, lighter pasta dinner ready in 15 minutes.

Louisiana red beans and rice simmered with a meaty ham bone, smoked sausage, the holy trinity, and hot sauce. Soaked overnight, slow-cooked, and served over fluffy rice with scallions.

Steamed stuffed bitter melon with seasoned pork, water chestnuts, and ginger, finished with a garlicky fermented black bean sauce. A classic Cantonese home-style dish.

This 15-minute ground beef and macaroni skillet gets its velvety richness from a clever swirl of mayo-style dressing stirred into spaghetti sauce, then crowned with melted cheddar.

This recipe was absolutely divine. The Korean spicy-sweet sauce was the key, which gave the dish an authentic Korean taste. Assorted mushrooms and vegetables added layers of great textures. The combination was just delicious!

Fresh berry crepes filled with blueberries and strawberries, drizzled with a cream cheese orange honey sauce. A no-cook 15-minute brunch dessert.

Meat filled green peppers in a spicy tomato cream sauce. A hand me down family recipe that I have greatly modified & finally written down.

Medaillons de veau en croute: veal loin medallions seared, topped with mushroom duxelles, and baked in puff pastry. Classic French haute cuisine served with a white wine pan sauce.

Green peas and sauteed mushrooms with green onions tossed in reduced-sodium soy sauce. A quick, low-fat, diabetic-friendly vegetable side dish ready in 15 minutes.

Slow cooker one-dish meal with ground beef, bacon, smoked sausage, and four kinds of beans in a sweet-smoky ketchup and honey sauce. A hearty crowd-feeder for 10.

Portuguese garlic dip with cream cheese, fresh minced garlic, mayonnaise, and Worcestershire sauce. A bold, no-cook spread for chips, crackers, or crudites that takes 15 minutes.

I used Cornish Game Hens, but you could also use a cut up chicken. If you can't get winter melon, watermelon will work. Winter melon is white, very mild tasting and a tad denser than watermelon. I think you could get away using something like Honeydew too.

Curry-spiced chicken and sautéed mushrooms wrap in rice paper rounds to create these Vietnamese-inspired spring rolls where Indian flavors meet Southeast Asian technique for a fusion appetizer that's light, fresh, and boldly seasoned.

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.