139 meal recipes

Cocktail wieners and sausage slices are combined with a tangy and sweet sauce to create a delicious and flavorful dish for a brunch or other gathering.

Thin-sliced cold flank steak marinated overnight in barbecue sauce and red wine, broiled, chilled, and served as a cocktail appetizer on garlic bread baguette slices.

Reptile pot pie poaches alligator, snake, or iguana meat in a Thai-Indian curry sauce of coconut milk, fish sauce, turmeric, and coriander. Served over baby vegetables with fresh cilantro. Bold, unexpected, and surprisingly approachable.

Seafood quiche squares are a party favorite: a flaky crescent-roll crust topped with shrimp, crab and two cheeses, baked in a custard and cut into bite-size squares. Easy, crowd-feeding finger food, served warm.

Haricot Vert are tender French string beans. Use regular string beans if your supermarket doesn't carry them.

Cajun-spiced crab stuffed mushroom caps with Parmesan, parsley, and hot sauce, baked low and slow until tender. A savory two-bite appetizer that's easy to love.

San Francisco-style seafood stew loaded with shrimp, clams, crab, and whitefish simmered in a garlicky tomato-wine broth. A homemade shellfish stock from the shrimp shells builds deep, briny flavor.

Silky crab meat stir-fried with ginger, scallions, and cooking wine, finished with wispy egg white and poured over blanched baby bok choy. A light, elegant Chinese seafood dish ready in 35 minutes.

Crustless crab quiche with zucchini, mushrooms, reduced-fat cheddar, and evaporated skim milk. A lighter take on quiche with both microwave and oven instructions.

Tender crepes filled with crab, mushrooms, and scallions in a white wine cream sauce, baked until heated through and broiled golden. French-inspired elegance in 45 minutes.

Persian lamb soup simmered with dried fruits (prunes, apricots, peaches), turmeric-browned onions, and a sweet-sour balance of brown sugar and citrus for comforting depth.

Kentucky-style burgoo soup made with mixed cooked meats, okra, lima beans, corn, and garden vegetables in a rich beef-and-chicken broth. A lighter take on the legendary Bluegrass State stew.

Crab cakes with tomatillo salsa bind lump crabmeat with bread and egg white for a light crust, pan-seared and topped with tangy diced tomatillo-lime salsa. Southwest-style seafood dinner.

Cold green vegetable soup with poached fish. Source: Olga Gorechev, St. Petersburg, Russia

Fried turtle meat simmered in a dark roux-based tomato sauce with mushrooms, shallots, bell pepper, lemon peel, and cayenne, served over hot rice. An authentic Louisiana Cajun dish that's as wild as the bayou itself.

Layered sausage and macaroni casserole with mushrooms, cottage cheese, and Italian herbs, topped with bread crumbs. A hearty weeknight bake with big savory flavor.