I've always loved the shape of tortellini! This one-pot dish features all of the food groups, lovingly cradled in a light butter-cream sauce. A family favorite with its bright colors, Tortellini with Spring Salmon as my kids called it can be easily made all year round with just a few ingredients.

Cheese tortellini with Alaskan smoked salmon, sugar snap peas and carrots

Hot and Sour Soup 酸辣汤 is one of the most beloved Chinese restaurant soups. The gentle white pepper heat and vinegary tang are perfectly balanced in a velvety smooth broth, enlivened by delicious slivers of earthy ingredients and lacy egg. Its flexibility and comforting nature make Hot and Sour soup the perfect "shelter-at-home" dish. Following a trip to an Asian market to pick up shelf-stable pantry staples, you can enjoy this delicious soup any time!


By the 4th century BCE, in the late Zhou dynasty, Chinese concepts of the five flavors of spicy-hot, sweet, sour, bitter and salty were well recognized, and copiously discussed in ritual, political, moral, cosmological, medical and gustatory contexts. Food ingredients and flavors, particularly in soups, are regarded for their medicinal properties in correcting imbalances within the body. 

While Beijing has its version of a peppery soup, most food historians believe Hot and Sour soup originated in Sichuan and the western region of China. It exemplifies the art of harmonizing strong, zesty flavors, which characterizes Sichuan cuisine. Indeed, hot and sour soup is famous for curing a Ming Dynasty Chinese official, Yu Qian, from a bad cold. When passing through Henan 河南, he ordered a Hot and Sour soup that caused him to sweat profusely, breaking his fever and clearing his sinuses by the next day.

Although Sichuan cuisine is well known for its hot dried red peppers, numbing Sichuan peppercorns, and many varieties of sour pickled vegetables, Hot and Sour soup has none of these ingredients. This may be because it predates the introduction of red Capsicum peppers from the Americas in the late 15th or early 16th centuries. 

While Sichuan peppercorns from the prickly ash of the Zanthoxylum genus are native to that region of China, linguistic evidence suggests that peppercorns of the genus Piper were introduced to China via the Silk Road as the "foreign pepper" 胡椒 (hú jiāo). The adjective 胡 signifies an origin with non-Han ethnic groups to the north and west of China, or Eurasia. Sometime between the third and 12th centuries, these peppercorns became widely used in Chinese cuisine. 

According to theories of traditional Chinese medicine, chicken broth is believed to confer healing qualities by showing warming effects. The black wood ear fungus, with its pleasing, almost crunchy texture, and ground peppercorns are believed to help boost circulation, while vinegar aids digestion. This homestyle soup may also contain cubes of coagulated fresh poultry blood, although this has fallen out of favor in modern times. 

Hot and Sour soup commonly contains a triumverate of earthy, dried pantry staples believed to have healing qualities: dried wood ear mushrooms, dried shiitake or winter mushrooms, and dried daylily flowers called golden needles. The soaking water used to rehydrate these ingredients is very flavorful, and can be used to help flavor the soup, or reserved for use whenever a umami punch is desired. 

Clockwise from top: rehydrated winter mushrooms or shiitakes, caps sliced thinly; rehydrated dried "wood ear" or "cloud ear" fungi, torn into bite sized pieces; rehydrated day lily buds, cut in half and shredded lengthwise.

A classic Chinese street food, dan dan noodles 擔擔面 are supremely satisfying and easy to assemble with make-ahead components. Named for the long pole used to balance a pot of noodles and a pot of sauce across a street vendor's shoulders, this Szechuan dish is typically topped with ground pork richly flavored with pickled mustard green stems. Due to canceled vacation travel and a challenge by my daughter, I had time at home to perfect a delicious vegetarian dan dan noodle that is also visually and texturally satisfying. 

Vegetarian Dan Dan noodles with vegan topping (recipe below), but using egg noodles

Pork dan dan noodles, traditional recipe from Land of Plenty.

Over the years, I have tried both of the recipes in Land of Plenty by Fuschia Dunlop, Cecilia Chang's recipe in The Seventh Daughter, and Diana Kuan's recipe from the Appetite for China website. I also tried Andrea Nyugen's vegetarian recipe, which uses my favorite dried noodles made by the Quon Yick Noodle company. I am intrigued by the Woks of Life recipe, which adds fresh Chinese greens, but have not yet had a chance to try it.

Pork dan dan noodle, recipe from the Appetite for China website.

At almost every family gathering, from ski weekends to Labor Day at the lake, my nieces and nephews have come to expect a delicious, cheesy beef macaroni casserole in a slightly tart-sweet chili tomato sauce. Part of my own childhood memories, the dish was lost for 30 years until a chance conversation with our children's nanny...

Tart, slightly sweet, tomato sauce with lots of cheese, complemented nicely with Sriracha for a bit of extra heat

Shortcut to the Love2Chow recipe.
In the late 1970's, my father was inspired by a short squat jar of "Old-Fashioned Chili Sauce" to create this mild, beef chili macaroni dish. It was a huge hit! My dad was so proud, amazing his friends when their kids, who were too picky to eat anything other than frozen chicken nuggets or hot dogs, eagerly consumed my dad's potluck dish. Before I went to college, I got the recipe from him and tried to make it. However, we could no longer find the right sweet-tangy old fashioned chili sauce, and the dish just was not the same.


Shortly before Christmas in 2004, I was reminiscing about this dish with our nanny from Utah. It turned out that she knew of a yummy chili sauce in a short squat jar that her dad used for sloppy joe sandwiches. She brought back a jar for me to try, and it was exactly the same shaped jar with the same type-face on the lid. Instead of "Old-Fashioned" it has been rebranded as "Homade Chili Sauce." As soon as I opened it, I knew it was the same sauce from my childhood. I made Chili Mac as a surprise for my sister, and she recognized it at once!
It turns out the sauce can be still be purchased in grocery stores in at least Utah and Indiana. I scoured the internet and found that I could also mail order it by the case. It was made by Ventura Foods in Cerritos, CA, and then later acquired by Allied Old English in NJ. 

In my own version, I have cut back the meat by half and added zucchini and/or yellow squash and/or carrots. It becomes a complete meal with all the food groups. At one gathering, my sister-in-laws thought that some of their kids would never eat anything with any vegetables in it and that I should leave out the zucchini. But I had been adding vegetables for years, and their kids had already been happily eating large quantities of it! Nevertheless, I started grating instead of chopping the zucchini.

Who doesn't love bacon, eggs and potatoes? While there are plenty of baked casseroles that combine these, nothing beats picking up crisp strips of bacon glazed in brown sugar and dipping breakfast potatoes into soft yolky eggs. Instead of spending long hours at the stove, you can prepare all three at the same time in a 400°F oven.

Sheet pan brown sugar-glazed thick cut bacon over seasoned fries

Brown sugar-glazed bacon, sunnyside egg and fries

Baked cheesy eggs coddled in salsa

Beef and broccoli is a classic Chinese restaurant dish that is so much better when made at home! The secrets to a great beef and broccoli dish is both a perfectly balanced sauce and techniques to make sure the broccoli is sufficiently cooked without overcooking the slices of beef. Inspired by the wok evangelist Grace Young's delicious recipe, I sought an even simpler, greener method to achieve the outstanding flavors and textures of this dish. 

Beef and Broccoli modified from Stir-frying to the Sky's Edge.

Dry-fried Szechuan green beans has become my go-to vegetable side for dinner parties, potlucks and family gatherings. The flavor and texture of the beans are amazing, and the dish gets even better after resting at room temperature! It is so frequently requested that I developed shortcuts to achieve the same great results, doubling or tripling the recipe as the finished beans have a way of disappearing each time my teenager walks past! 

Szechuan dry-fried green beans - meatless

Wild rice stuffing or dressing is one of my favorite sides to complement roasted poultry, whether it's the Thanksgiving turkey or a Christmas goose. This version with its mix of nutty brown rice, black slivers of wild rice, crispy prosciutto cubes, dry and fresh mushrooms, green peas and roasted hazelnuts really delivers on the rich drippings flavor with satisfying contrasts in color, texture and flavor.
The dressing that I love to serve with roasted poultry is basically a fried rice, using a blend of wild rice and brown rice, with hot turkey drippings stirred in. My mother used diced Virginia country ham -- the real dry-smoked kind that could be safely stored at room temperature -- to add a rich, smoky flavor to her rice stuffing. I have found that small cubes of prosciutto works well and is easier to handle. These are the same prosciutto cubes I use in Silken Tofu and Spinach soup. Thin slices of rehydrated dried Chinese winter mushrooms 冬菇 (Dōnggū, also known as black mushrooms or dried shiitakes), green peas and the triad of garlic, ginger and scallions round out the flavors. 
This year, I added some sliced fresh mushrooms and toasted hazelnuts which elevated the dressing to another level. Several people told me the wild rice dressing was their favorite Thanksgiving dish this year!

Who doesn't love tender slices of Honey Baked Ham served buffet style at a large family gathering! It's easy to serve, provides tons of food, and complements just about any type of potatoes or vegetables. Best of all, I can almost always get the leftover ham bone to pop into my freezer. Then throughout the winter, a hearty split pea-like soup is only a minimum of two ingredients away! 

One of the best parts of roasting a large turkey, after the crispy skin and succulent slices slathered in freshly made gravy, is having plenty of leftovers. Among my favorites are turkey noodle soup, turkey pot pie, turkey enchiladas, and a turkey version of Mennonite/Amish chicken and noodles served over mashed potatoes with our own family twist.

Thanksgiving Turkey

Everyone in the family, dogs included, is always happy to smell a chicken or turkey roasting in the oven. This single dish generates so much more than just meat; it provides for future meals through rich stocks and the tastiest fat for pan-frying (yes, save and freeze the fat!). Plus leftover turkey is great cold, on sandwiches, reheated with more gravy or re-invigorated into new culinary creations.

Every couple of years, it's our turn to host my husband's giant family Thanksgiving celebration -- a two-day eating and games extravaganza dating back to 1950. Roasting a small preview turkey helps to generate drippings to support 15-20 pounds of mashed potatoes and ensure enough leftover turkey for the requisite Friday turkey noodle soup. I also enjoy the chance to get in a little experimentation, and to enjoy the luscious crisp fresh-from-the-oven turkey skin without distraction! 

If you love the flavors of dan-dan noodles, Szechuan dry-fried green beans or mapo tofu, there is a secret ingredient that adds a distinctive flavor to these dishes and more. It can be cooked into a master mix with any type of ground meat, or even used on its own for vegan adaptations of Chinese dishes that use a sprinkling of meat as a condiment.

Dan Dan Noodles - recipe in Land of Plenty by Fuchsia Dunlop

Szechuan Dry-Fried String Beans - recipe in The Breath of a Wok by Grace Young

There are many different types of pickled vegetables used in China, each with its own distinctive regional (and probably even familial) variations. I first learned about ya cai 芽菜, a type of picked mustard green sprout/stem, from Fuchsia Dunlop's Land of Plenty. I was fortunate that our local Chinese grocery store stocked the Suimiyacai brand, made in Yibin, China.  Once I tasted ground pork browned with a tablespoon or two of this wonderfully aromatic, lightly salted condiment, I was hooked. 

Shortcut to Love2Chow recipes for Szechuan Master Meat Mix or Vegan Szechuan Master Mix.

Suimiyacai made by Sichuan Yibin Suimi Yacai Co.

I immediately stopped bothering with the more famous pickled mustard green stems called zha cai 榨菜 (Sichuan preserved vegetable), a half-fist-sized preserve that had to be diced into small pieces before being added to the ground meat. Although zha cai does adds a great, slightly sour flavor to pork stir-fries and soups. With its brown sugar, chili, cinnamon and other spices, suimiyacai not only added a richer, more complex flavor, but also the tiny, dark brown fragments enhanced the appearance of the ground meat. 

As meat is often used more as a condiment to flavor many Chinese dishes, rather than dominating the plate, many of the recipes I was happily cooking with suimiyacai used only 4 ounces of meat here, and 6 ounces there. I found this to be irritating as I would then have to figure out what to do with the rest of the ground meat.

Back when I was single and just starting to cook, I used to sauté up a master meat mix that I would subsequently transform in multicultural directions. This consisted of ground beef browned with minced garlic, mushrooms and a splash of soy sauce. I would use it as a starting point for spaghetti and meat sauce one day, a Chinese stirfry with frozen mixed vegetables another day, or tacos and microwave nachos until it was gone. 

Drawing upon this concept, I created a Szechuan Master Meat Mix (SM³) that works great with ground pork, ground beef or ground turkey.  

Some uses for the Love2Chow Szechuan Master Meat Mix (SM³) appear below: 

Charky's Basil Eggplant 

Although this dish did not originally have meat in it (aside from a bit of fish sauce), adding some leftover SM³ really elevated the eggplant to a whole new level (and it was already popular with friends and family)! The secret here is to use the long, skinny Chinese eggplants. They are tender and can be used right after cutting as they have no bitterness to draw out by salting, in contrast to western eggplants. The basil leaves are left whole and used as a vegetable rather than a garnish. Click here for the recipe. 

Charky's Basil Eggplant, a Love3Chow recipe

I grew up enjoying a unique version of chow mein 炒麵 noodles, consisting of tender, sauce-absorbing noodles sandwiched between two crisp golden layers. Recently, I learned that this dish, 两面黄 (liǎngmiàn huáng), is one of the regional Chinese specialties that was lost from Suzhou following the Chinese Civil War, but preserved by the Jiangsu/Shanghai diaspora.

The ultimate comfort food! Elbow macaroni or cavatappi cradled in a creamy sauce with bites of sharp cheddar and subtle spices to tantalize the tongue. This easy and delicious recipe has been a family favorite since 1995. Plus, a glimpse of memorable restaurant mac 'n cheese creations. 
First a bit of context, I love macaroni and cheese so much that I was once kicked out of an "all-you-can-eat" buffet restaurant called Sir George's Smorgasbord House. I was 5 years old, shorter than the counter top as I had to stretch up over my head to get the small plate with the tiny scoop of mac and cheese. They said I went back too many times and asked us to leave, even though none of us ate any seafood, prime rib or other expensive items. My dad was so mad that we never went back.
Shortcut to the printable Love2Chow recipe.
I've enjoyed my share of the Kraft variety with the powdered cheeses and the thin, mildly curved noodles. While several men that I know all seemed to share a penchant for making a meal of boxed mac and cheese with cut up hot dogs, I was much more likely to add spinach and mushrooms to ramen noodles. I also didn't really care for the Velveeta version, with its shiny, gluey processed texture. Even the addition of burnt ends from smoked brisket doesn't fix the apparently cheese food-dominant sauce served by one area restaurant. But I found myself liking the Boston Chicken/Boston Market rotini mac and cheese side despite its slightly gluey texture -- it must have been the addition of blue cheese into the Cheddar and American cheese mix.

Over the years, a handful of transcendental mac and cheese experiences at restaurants across the country have made their impression.

Urban Solace: Duckaroni

Skillet of Duckaroni - Urban Solace, San Diego, CA by Chef Matt Gordon. This is a divine rendition of Mac 'n Cheese featuring duck confit, Maytag blue cheese, arugula, scallions and roasted garlic. It is cooked and served in a small cast iron skillet with the cheese bubbling and the protruding edges of duck and biscuit crumb topping browned to crispy perfection. Some peppery arugula and the subtle bite of green onions add refreshing contrasts in color and flavor. I had the good fortune of sampling this amazing appetizer during two separate visits to San Diego. Unfortunately, while writing this post, I discovered that Urban Solace closed this past March, after 12 years of deliciousness. Fortunately, the recipe for Matt's cheese & chive biscuits, which form the crumbly topping, can be found online. I guess I'll have to get a cast iron skillet and figure out how to recreate duckaroni!

Urban Solace: Cheddar-Chive biscuits with Orange-Honey Butter & Smoked Tomato Jam

Brisket Mac & Cheese - Proper Brick Oven & Tap Room, 139 7th St., Pittsburgh, PA. 412-281-5700. Open 7 days a week for lunch, dinner and late night snacking. No reservations. Although I adore the creative, wood-fired pizzas, the salads, and the house-cured bacon candy, it is the brisket mac & cheese that I end up thinking about. This comes in a hearty ceramic bowl featuring fresh cavatappi spirals in a white cheddar sauce, punctuated by wood-smoked beef brisket, caramelized onions, and a perfectly balanced deep red, tart-sweet barbecue sauce. This is an ideal dish, paired with one of the half salads for a winter evening watching a show in the Cultural District.