The Perfect Pantry®

Recipe for Greek pasta salad with sun-dried tomato vinaigrette

In a typical winter, we'd be tromping through snow banks, shoveling our paths, digging out our cars, waiting for the plow guy to come and extricate our driveway. This year (and I don't mean to jinx us by saying this), we've had February days warm enough for T-shirts and sidewalk café dining. Everything here in southern New England seems out of season; if you don't believe me, wander in my garden, where rosemary, thyme, oregano and even parsley still show some green. It's not quite as warm here as the Greek Isles, but the sight of fresh herbs in my mid-winter garden makes me crave Mediterranean flavors. For this Greek pasta salad, I reached into the pantry for the sun-dried tomato vinaigrette ingredients. You might want to make extra dressing, to keep in the refrigerator for a quick sauce for warm pasta, a dip for crudites, or a sandwich slather.

Recipe for pasta with shrimp, lemon, herbs and feta

We're all on diets in my house (yours, too?), yet here I am, sharing a recipe chock full of creamy, gooey, cheesy goodness. Forgive me, but this mac-and-cheese is too good to keep under wraps. A stovetop riff on the most popular recipe ever featured on The Perfect Pantry, this pasta with shrimp, lemon, herbs and feta comes together in less time than it takes to boil a pot of water. You already have almost everything in your pantry, freezer and fridge. Substitute garden-fresh dill for the parsley, if you wish, and use any type of twisty pasta you have on hand. If you don't have Greek seasoning, combine dried oregano, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and lemon peel, to your own taste. Everyday or dinner party, this pasta dish more than satisfies, with just a green salad on the side.

Recipe for a lighter vegetarian lasagne

When you read the recipe for this lighter vegetarian lasagne, you're going to ask what's so special about it. I don't know. I really don't. What I do know is that I made it three weeks in a row, for three different parties of four people, and each time not one single bite was left. In fact, we were stabbing with our forks at the last little bits stuck to the pan, unwilling to concede that we'd eaten the whole pan, which really should feed six or eight people. The sauce I use, Mayor's Own Marinara Sauce (a.k.a. Buddy sauce), is a very thin and light tomato-based sauce, not overly sweet, and that's the kind of sauce I recommend for this recipe, whether you're making your own or using a jar sauce from the market.

Recipe for sweet potato and apple potstickers

Fun with sweet potatoes, all week.

When I was younger, I loved the predictability of holiday meals. Turkey, sweet-and-sour meatballs, brisket, overcooked green vegetables, undercooked mashed potatoes -- I loved it all. Now that I'm the cook, though, I like to stir things up. Take sweet potatoes, for example. Why not have them as an appetizer? These sweet potato and apple potstickers are a bit of a cultural mash-up, to be sure, yet I predict they'll be the hit of any Thanksgiving menu. Kids can help stuff the potstickers, and everyone will have fun with this finger-food app. An inexpensive Chinese dumpling press makes quick work of filling and pleating, but you can make potstickers just as easily without one. And, like risotto, once you master the technique, you can create infinite variations.