Quick Homemade Meat Sauce for Pasta

By Joanne Lamb Hayes
The latest from Inside Special Fork

When my family goes out to an Italian restaurant, despite all the enticing choices on the menu, half of the group orders Pasta with meat sauce. So I figured out early on that making this dish at home is a good way to get everyone to eat their dinner.

Rather than using a prepared pasta sauce, with this quick recipe you can create a homemade sauce that is ready to serve in the time it takes to bring the pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta.

A few years ago, I started adding some carrots to the sauce and no one complained. You can skip them if you want, but they provide a little sweetness to balance the acidity of the tomatoes and bring the added nutrition of another vegetable to the meal.

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The Secret to Moist Chicken Breasts

By Linda Lau Anusasananan
For Cooking Newbie, a blog for beginner cooks

My Hakka Chinese grandmother, whom I called Popo, was adamant that chicken should not be overcooked. She insisted that the flesh have a smooth, slippery texture.

I adapted her cooking technique for whole chicken, likely borrowed from the Cantonese, to chicken breasts. Breasts are convenient and easy to cook, but tend to dry out when overcooked. Steeping ensures a moist texture, every time.

This Chinese method is super easy and practically foolproof. Just boil water, add chicken pieces, return to boil, cover pan and turn off the heat. The chicken cooks in the residual heat, gently steeping to a silky smoothness that Popo would have approved of. It's a forgiving technique – since there is no constant direct heat, the chicken remains moist even if it steeps slightly too long.

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