Michael's Antipasti

In this lasagna, soft layers of pasta and béchamel are interspersed with a rich tomato sauce laden with hearty Mediterranean vegetables.

This is what I call a fridge-eater recipe. The key here is getting a nice sear on the sausage and cooking the tomato down until it coats the sausage and vegetables well.

This is what I call a fridge-eater recipe. The key here is getting a nice sear on the sausage and cooking the tomato down until it coats the sausage and vegetables well.

The mussels here add their beautiful, briny juices into the curry, which turn this into a stunning and spectacular dish.

An ex-boyfriend’s mom—who emigrated from Colombia—made the best meat sauce—she would fry sofrito for the base and simply add cooked ground beef, sazón, and jarred tomato sauce. My version is a bit more bougie—it calls for caramelized tomato paste and white wine—but the result is just as good.

This sauce is slightly magical. The texture cloaks pasta much like a traditional meat sauce does, and the flavors are deep and rich, but it’s actually vegan!

This piquant French sauce comes together in the blender in just five minutes.

Spaghetti is a common variation in modern Thai cooking. It’s so easy to work with and absorbs the garlicky, spicy notes of pad kee mao well.