325 mellow recipes

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A stunning composed salad of fresh corn, peppers, squash, zucchini, and Japanese eggplant on peppery arugula, dressed in walnut oil and rice vinegar.

Cuban-style chicken picadillo with tomato sauce, white wine, cumin, capers, raisins, and green olives. Serve over white rice with fried plantains for the full island experience.

A quick pasta with sweet red, yellow and green peppers, scallions and a hit of fennel seed, all tossed in olive oil. Light, colorful and meatless, on the table in about 30 minutes.

Italian chicken with sweet sausage, red and yellow bell peppers, and red onion finished with balsamic vinegar and thyme. A one-skillet dinner ready in about an hour.

Classic French onion soup with deeply caramelized onions simmered in beef broth and white wine, ladled into bowls with crusty bread and broiled under a bubbly Swiss and Parmesan cheese cap.

Slow-cooked chicken with pineapple, tri-color bell peppers, mushrooms, and Vidalia onions, served over brown rice cooked right in the flavorful broth. A colorful crowd-pleaser for 10.

Ratatouille pizza with eggplant, yellow squash, bell pepper, and red onion on a quick Bisquick crust. A veggie-loaded, mozzarella-topped pizza ready in 40 minutes.

Sweet 'n' sour squash medley: zucchini, yellow squash, and green beans simmered in a cinnamon-spiced brown sugar and white wine vinegar brine. A refrigerator side that lasts for days.

Warm porcini soup turned into a silky, airy foam: porcini and portobello cooked down with white wine and cream, blended smooth, strained, then charged in an iSi whipper for a cloud-light mushroom espuma.

Curried shrimp toasts top toasted baguette with chopped shrimp in curry, mango chutney, and a soy-spiked mayo. Make-ahead-friendly cocktail party hors d'oeuvres.

Spicy, creamy cheese dip loaded with green chiles, cumin, chili powder, and sour cream. The kind of party dip that empties the bowl before halftime and has everyone begging for the recipe.

A no-cook Texas caviar dip with black-eyed peas, jalapenos, tomatoes, and bell peppers tossed in a cumin-oregano vinaigrette. The ultimate make-ahead Super Bowl snack that feeds a crowd.

Grilled fish salad bruschetta piled onto garlic-rubbed Italian bread with charred zucchini, eggplant, peppers and a lemon-basil fish flake topping. Summer entertaining at its most relaxed.

Grape leaves stuffed with ground lamb, rice, pine nuts, mint, parsley, cinnamon, and allspice, simmered in olive oil and lemon juice. A hearty meat-filled dolma served at room temperature.

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.