Fast Easy Recipes

Small Bites: NW Elixir sauces, Portland Dining Month, Canstruction and more
Today's menu includes new sauces that impressed our resident hot heads with sensational flavor and just the right amount of heat, plus the return of Portland Dining Month and a national lentil cooking contest.

Get set for celebrity chefs in Perth
Much-loved dessert king Adriano Zumbo will be back in Perth in July to teach local foodies and fans some cooking tricks as part of the Good Food and Wine Show.

Recipe: Make your own masala
Masalas are blended spices that come in two forms. The powdery version uses different dried spices, while the paste combines dry spices with fresh ingredients such as onion, ginger and fresh herbs. The flavours can vary from mild and fragrant to hot and spicy, depending on the type of masala, the dish it is used in and personal preference. These spice mixes are a cornerstone of cooking in India ...

Mom and daughter bond through baking
generous squirt of lemon juice would fix my pasta salad right up, my mom told me last weekend. We were putting the final touches on our dishes for a potluck wedding, but my orzo-and-lentil salad was bland. Lemon juice is a cure-all, my mom said. And she was right....

Taste the World
Travelling is about experiencing new cultures, and one indispensable part of that experience is the food of your host country.

Going vegan, family style: New vegan fare makes an animal-free diet tastier than ever
Before the television appearances and the best-selling cookbook, Roberto Martin was a typical "Top Chef" kind of guy: meat, meat and more meat. But then Ellen DeGeneres and her partner, Portia de Rossi, both vegans, hired him to be their personal chef.

Vinegar: My rosy return to a pantry classic
I am thoroughly sick of balsamic vinegar.

Culinary classes and events: Week of May 2, 2012
Let's Get Cookin': Great Sauces on Grilled Entrees, 6:30 today ($85; $150 couples); A Menu from Melisse with Josiah Citrin, 6:30 p.m. Thursday ($95; $45 for a copy of Citrin's cookbook "In Pursuit of Excellence"); More Sous Vide, 10:30 a.m. Friday ($85); Margarita and Taco Bar Party, 6:30 p.m. Friday ($85; $150 couples);

Turkish blend: Center shares exotic, diverse flavors of cultural crossroads
The first time I encountered "Turkish Delight" (and this probably goes for most Americans) was while reading C.S. Lewis' essential novel for young readers, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe."

Homage to Catalonia: Claudia Roden has spent four decades taking our tastebuds on a grand tour
In the course of her culinary travels among the chefs, connoisseurs and gourmets of Spain, Claudia Roden met a grand academic lady of Madrid whose husband came from the Castilian aristocracy. As you might expect from a food writer who, over four decades, has opened our eyes and accustomed our tastebuds to the pleasures of the Middle Eastern, north African and Jewish tables, Roden's research ...