Ravioli with Cheese Tomato Sauce

Keeping in mind that Valentine's Day is only a few days away, this recipe captures the romantic spirit, while requiring minimal effort to produce lots of flavor. To make the dish I used store-bought, heart-shaped four-cheese ravioli pasta. All you need to do is boil the ravioli, pan-fry them so the texture isn't soggy and accompany it with a tasty sauce. I made the sauce fairly simple so the ravioli are still the shining element in the dish. The base of the sauce is a blend of oven-roasted onion wedges and Parmesan cheese. I also topped the pasta with sautéed oyster mushrooms and fried green onions.

It's a quick and easy dish, so you still have time to give your hair and makeup some TLC. Not only food needs to look good!

Beet Marinara Pasta Sauce with Mozzarella

March has definitely been beet season in my house. I made salads, beet risotto, drinks, and more recently, beet pasta sauce. Beets have a gorgeous, rich color; I experimented more by mixing marinara sauce with beets for a simple pasta dish. The acidity from the tomato sauce cuts the sweetness of the beets.

Tomatoes are not in season, so I cheated and used a store-bought jar of tomato sauce. I finished the dish with pieces of mozzarella for extra creaminess.

Spaghetti in Spicy Tomato Sauce

I'm not a professional cook and I always appreciate learning something new. Recently, I posted a recipe for cacio e pepe, and one of the readers, Julio, told me I wasn't making it the right way. I decided to follow Julio's instructions on how to cook the spaghetti. The preparation was very simple: the pasta was cooked al dente and grated cheese and pasta water were added. I sprinkled a little freshly cracked pepper. To add a little twist, this time I topped the pasta with a spicy tomato and eggplant sauce.

The results were spectacular. Thank you so much, Julio for your much needed piece of advice! The sauce is optional but I think it makes a complete meal, and adds a little heat that lingers plus a kick just at the end. Perfecto!

Chicken Kofta Recipe in Makhani Curry

Chicken kofta is not your average meatball. It's packed with Indian spices, garam masala and chiles. To top that off, in this recipe the kofta are drenched in a rich, creamy curried, tomato sauce made with tomato, onions, cashew nuts, lemon juice, ghee, cream and a few spices.

Seriously, what’s not to love? Any time you can say "meatball" and "cream sauce" in the same sentence, something delicious is probably going on. We often make this for dinner parties because it’s a little too rich to serve on a regular basis. Having said that, I find myself coming up with “special” occasions all the time as an excuse to make this dish. If you try it out yourself, I bet you will too!

Quinoa with Vodka Tomato Sauce

I flavored this quinoa [pronounced keen:'wah] dish with homemade vodka cream tomato sauce, roasted bell peppers and parsley for color. I also added lightly toasted pine nuts for a nutty taste and a poblano pepper to give it a kick.

Quinoa is a great alternative to pasta, potatoes or rice.  One of the advantages is that quinoa is gluten-free. If you have someone in your house who is allergic to gluten, quinoa is the perfect option. It has a nutty flavor and is packed with protein and amino acids. The preparation is so easy that you will be making this dish over and over again.

If you're looking for other ways to prepare quinoa, check out my eggplant vegetarian caviar recipe.