Creamy Beef Bolognese with Mushrooms is a savory, slow-simmered ragù with layers of flavor that develop over time. Unlike a typical spaghetti meat sauce, which is often brighter, redder, and more tomato-driven, this Bolognese lets meat and vegetables take center stage.
A generous amount of onion, carrot, celery, and cremini mushrooms slowly cooks down into the ragù, creating a deeper, more nuanced foundation and adding layers of savory flavor to the beef. The long, gentle simmer allows the ingredients to meld into a rich, satisfying sauce with subtle earthy notes from the mushrooms.
Equal parts milk and cream mellow the acidity and give the ragù a velvety texture that clings beautifully to spaghetti (or keto-friendly cauliflower, see recipe below).
The chopped salad that originated at La Scala in Beverly Hills in the late 1950s was perfectly suited to its place and time. This was an era when Hollywood power lunches blurred into cocktails, dinner reservations stretched late into the evening, and dining out was as much about seeing and being seen as it was about the food. At tables filled with actors, producers, agents, and socialites, nobody wanted to wrestle with oversized lettuce leaves while carrying on a conversation.
La Scala’s answer was deceptively simple: chop everything into bite-sized pieces, toss it with a bright vinaigrette, and make every forkful complete before it ever reached the table. The result was a salad that felt effortlessly polished—easy to eat, easy to share, and perfectly aligned with the relaxed sophistication that defined Los Angeles dining. More than half a century later, that simple idea remains as appealing as ever.
The Original Chopped Salad
The classic version is intentionally simple and tightly structured:
Everything is cut small so it blends into a cohesive mix. The garbanzo beans add a soft, nutty creaminess and a bit of structure, rounding out the sharper edges of the salami and dressing. The salami brings salt and depth, and the cheese adds a mild richness. The greens are finely shredded so they integrate rather than act as a base.
This seafood doenjang jjigae builds layers of flavor from a simple base of fermented soybean paste, dashi, and a touch of gochugaru. Doenjang is a traditional Korean fermented soybean paste with a deep, savory, slightly earthy character—similar in function to miso, but generally more assertive and rustic.
It forms the backbone of many Korean stews, bringing both saltiness and complexity in one ingredient. “Jjigae” simply means stew in Korean, and it refers to a category of hearty, simmered dishes served bubbling hot at the table.
Onion, shiitake, and daikon simmer first, softening into the broth, followed by tofu and zucchini, which absorb the savory depth as the stew develops. A small splash of rice vinegar at the end brightens everything slightly without pulling focus from the earthy, gently spicy broth.
What makes this version especially weeknight-friendly is the seafood. The shrimp go in straight from frozen, and the mussels are already fully cooked, so there’s no peeling, cleaning, or extra prep required. Everything comes together in the pot in minutes, making it an easy way to serve a deeply flavored Korean-inspired seafood stew without advance planning or extra fuss.
Memorial Day weekend is first and foremost a time to honor and remember the men and women who gave their lives serving our country. It is a day of gratitude, reflection, and gathering together with family and friends while appreciating the freedoms their sacrifice made possible.
Across the country, the holiday weekend also marks the unofficial beginning of summer — pool season, grilling season, cold drinks al fresco and the simple delicious snacks everyone reaches for all afternoon long.
At my house, one of those snacks is almost always popcorn.
Not plain buttered popcorn, but big bowls of freshly popped popcorn tossed with bold seasonings. Every summer I rotate between three favorite versions: Mexican Chile Lime Popcorn with Tajín and Cotija cheese; Italian Herb Popcorn with Parmesan, garlic, and Italian seasoning; and spicy-buttery Buffalo Popcorn with just enough heat to keep everyone reaching back into the bowl.
Lunch at Estiatorio Milos was one of those meals where every dish felt simple at first glance, yet somehow absolutely perfect once it hit the table. A high-end Greek seafood restaurant located in The Venetian Resort on the Las Vegas Strip, founded by chef Costas Spiliadis, it is widely considered one of North America’s finest Greek dining establishments, known for its emphasis on pristine, fresh ingredients and authentic Mediterranean preparations.
We shared taramosalata with warm pita and crudité, a Greek salad with vine-ripened heirloom tomatoes and feta, slow-cooked gigantes, grilled jumbo prawns, chargrilled octopus with Santorini fava, sautéed diver scallops, and a beautiful sepia dish with fresh Mediterranean cuttlefish and black ink risotto.
The cuttlefish especially stayed with me afterward. I wanted to recreate that same Mediterranean combination of seafood, olive oil, lemon, and black rice at home, but since fresh cuttlefish wasn’t available, I decided to make my own version using grilled squid instead.
Grilled Squid with Black Rice, Two Ways
The squid turned out so tender and lightly smoky from the grill that I ended up making two variations. The first version was sliced into strips and paired with grilled chiles. For the second version, I sliced the grilled squid into rings and tossed it generously with fresh parsley and basil before serving it over black rice. To echo some of the briny depth of the restaurant’s black ink risotto, I cooked the rice in clam juice, which gave the dish an even deeper seafood flavor.
Squid worked beautifully here as a substitute for cuttlefish because the preparation is so simple and seafood-focused. While cuttlefish is slightly meatier and richer, grilled squid brings a similarly clean Mediterranean flavor and silky, succulent texture.
