Tastes of the Week (Naples Edition)

July 25 to July 31, 2011 The most unusual antipasti I have ever had in my life was at an agriturismo in Padula (near the dazzling monastery Certosa di San Lorenzo.)   At “Fattoria Alvaneta” we had “horn of the goat” peppers (corno di capra), which are dried peppers, peperoni cruschi, that were deep-fried (peperoni fritte) until ethereally crispy. About 6 inches long and deep red in color, you are truly amazed at the unexpected texture – like shards of delectable mica.  Peperoni cruschi (pronounced crew-ski) are the peppers used for making paprika dolce – which Cecilia uses for making her homemade pancetta.  I was fascinated by the sweet, aromatic notes of the peppers and wonder why we don’t think, or know more about Italian paprika.

“Fattoria Alvaneta” was also home to the best and most interesting array of antipasti we’ve encountered anywhere:  sauteed escarole with green olives, homemade pancetta and guanciale (made with the wonderful paprika), fresh ricotta cheese with honey and toasted walnuts, the same “dried-and-fried” crispy peppers mixed with scrambled eggs, rospi – balls of fried pizza dough with anchovies (we were surprised how light they were), oil-soaked tomato bruschetta, and an unusual bean and grain soup (made from 13 ingredients!) called Cuccia.  What followed?  Fresh cavatelli with pepperoni cruschi, and polpette di pane (bread balls!  fabulous!) served with a wonderful tomato sauce and a side dish of mashed potatoes, both flavored and colored with paprika.

A last dinner of braised water buffalo at Tenuta Seliano, beautifully cooked and very tasty, alongside a “compote” of braised green peppers and tomatoes.  Dessert was our first panna cotta on this trip.  It was topped with a fresh raspberry sauce.  At breakfast the next morning, we sampled the cakes Cecilia made for us – a chestnut cake made with chestnut flour, ricotta and yellow raisins, and a very interesting carrot cake made with a puree of pears and coarsely shredded lemon peel.

A real Neapolitan espresso (across from the Duomo in Naples) where the “head” or the “crema” is twice as big as the espresso!  (My husband bought a great suit next door!)

Lovely pizza at restaurant Europeo di Mattozzi, and excellent fried whitebait and a bean soup made from fresh beans, great olive oil and toast.

Fabulous cheap pasta at restaurant Nennella – one of the real finds of the trip. Paccheri with a light tomato-basil sauce and also paccheri with zucca (pumpkin) and tiny shrimp.  The zucca tasted of the shrimp water and was delicious.

Unexpectedly great, at another “worker’s place” called Cucina di Mamma  where you can have an entire lunch for 7 euros, we opted instead for the best fresh mozzarella, a salad caprese (made with cherry tomatoes) and a big plate of tender chilled octopus.  This was followed by spaghetti with a fresh cherry tomato sauce and a marvelous steamed lobster!  About 30 euros with wine and sparkling water.

A wonderful, soulful, beautiful dinner at Taverna dell’Arte. The restaurant and owner Alphonso, were recently featured in John Turturro’s new movie Passione (about the soul, life and music of Naples).  Bruschetta with Sicilian pesto (basil and almonds), a dry, pungent cheese from Sicily, polenta fritte, and black olive and cheese stuffed Roma tomatoes for starters.  Terrific gnocchi with mussels and squid, and veal meatballs with marsala and mushrooms.  The ambiance was lovely and felt authentically Neapolitan. The main course was followed by a “palate cleaner” of a basil and lemon sorbetto, followed by a shot of Rosolio (a wonderful liqueur made from a local apple), and peaches marinated in white wine.

We’ve also been walking 5 hours a day to keep up with all this!  Ciao, ciao.

Where the Water Buffalo Roam

Early in the morning, seated by a sunny window of Tenuta Seliano, an agriturismo in southern Italy, one gets a whiff of the not-unpleasant perfume of water buffalo. It is indeed the milk of these handsome creatures that goes into the making of the most famous, most delicious, and most coveted mozzarella cheese in the world – mozzarella di bufala.  Yesterday, with the Baronessa Cecilia Bellelli, we visited her varied agricultural treasures spread across two large expanses of plains and fields.  What a contrast from the “ultra-glam” days along the Amalfi coast.  Here we were gathering eggs from the chicken coops, saying hello to the honking geese, feeding grass to the horses, running after the chickens and roosters (and discussing how “cockscombs” are used in southern Italian recipes), being greeted by an assortment of several dozen cats and dogs, and finally staring the water buffalo face-to-face and watching them be milked one-by-one.  The bufala patiently wait as though they were in line for the movies, looking forward to helping Cecilia provide the 1 and ½ tons of milk that are delivered daily to the local dairies.  They in turn transform the sweet, very full fat milk, into the superb mozzarella we can’t stop eating!  We brought several gallons of the milk back to Cecilia’s kitchen so that we could make our own very fresh cheese for breakfast the next day.  Not bad at all accompanied by sturdy bread and excellent homemade preserves.

We also drank some of the buffalo milk “neat.”  Simply poured from the big jug less than an hour after milking, we found it sweet, and less “lactate” than we expected. We also tasted the water buffalo milk in gelato (with pistachios) and in yogurt which was so rich that it came close to the ultra-suave texture of crème fraiche.

But alas, since this trip is not about food alone (!), we visited the remarkable ancient city of Paestum, which is thousands of years old and home to the best-conserved Greek temple after the Theseion in Athens.   We drove along the pine forest which runs parallel to the sandy beaches of the area and ended up, mid-day, back at Seliano, for an amazing lunch of braided fresh mozzarella, ethereal burrata, bufula milk ricotta, homemade pancetta and prosciutto, and a main course of candele (pasta) with a spicy onion and red pepper sauce cooked with neonata – tiny newborn fish – an extraordinary recipe from Calabria.   Dinner lasted until midnight.  Indeed, this is the place, where the water buffalo roam.

Notes from Ravello: Chocolate Eggplant

This beautiful trip to Campania (the south of Italy) is not all about food, but also about music, discovery, brief encounters with strangers, valuable time with friends, shopping, Duomos, ancient gardens, walking, hiking, and oh, did I mention food? On what promises to be a splendid day of boating along the Amalfi coast from Minori to Positano, I am perched upon a terrace hanging over the sea, at our lovely Hotel Rufolo in Ravello. For my primo colazione, I try a cornetto with homemade quince jam (very sweet!), a few slices of boiled ham and a delicious roll with sweet butter and coarsely ground orange marmellata –also fatta en casa (homemade).  I am enjoying the sweet, bitter, and salty notes this morning against a double dose of strong espresso.  But alas, this is not all about food.

Cool-ish weather the last few days (with ominous dark clouds at times), had us opt for a hike around Salerno on Sunday.  We visited the grand hotels (once palaces) along the “gold coast” of Ravello and ended in the magnificent gardens of the Hotel Cimbrone, the perfect stage set for the wedding that was to take place there.  We hiked to the outer reaches of the town, passing organic vegetable patches, grape arbors, and olive trees.  We saw hanging “cucuzza” (slender green squashes 3 feet long) which we ate stuffed and steamed one evening (and stuffed, fried and doused in tomato sauce on another.)  Day turned into night and the small piazza in the center of Ravello feels smart with tourists (hardly any Americans) who come for the music festival each summer.  In the evening, one may roam the gardens of the Hotel Rufolo and visit the tiny museum with its curated show of famous fashions from the opera.  (I am reminded of a time decades ago in Florence when Arthur Schwartz and I were guests for dinner in the home of “Biki” – the couturier of Maria Callas.)

Perchance to sleep and then a beautiful drive to Salerno – a real city with a sprawling University, the magnificent Duomo di San Matteo, and the Giardino della Minerva, which we visited in honor of my friend, Dale Bellisfield, clinical herbalist and health care practitioner.  Circa 1305, the garden of Minerva is the oldest botanical garden in the Western world and the model upon which all European gardens were developed. One of the plants was the extraordinary “rucola” (arugula) which we have been eating, and it tastes nothing like the arugula we have come to know in the states.  Rubbed between our fingers, the earthy, verdant perfume lasted all day.

A ferry ride to Amalfi:  The flakiest, crunchiest sfogliatelle filled with pastry cream at Pasticceria Pansa (doing business since 1830), and a quick dinner of alici (anchovies) in the style of Amalfi – lightly fried and “glued” with a bit of cheese.  My husband loved them as he did the provolo – smoked cheese grilled between large lemon leaves.  For dessert?   Chocolate eggplant. But more about that later. Ciao, ciao.

Tastes of the Week (Italy Edition)

July 17th-24th, 2011 This week’s tastes all come from southern Italy on our summer holiday.  In the charming towns of Ravello, Minori and the lesser-known village of Scala, we have eaten well, sometimes superbly, and always with an eye to authenticity.

In the town of Minori, we sampled the two famous pastries of this area. One is the delicious, rum-soaked baba (here it is also available drenched in a syrup laced with limoncello), and the now-celebrated cake of pastry maestro Sal de Riso – made with ricotta and pears.  It was as good as Arthur Schwartz said it would be.  Arthur and Sal have become good friends because of Arturo’s many trips to this area.  In the same town, in the tiny main square in front of the yellow Baroque church (Basilica S. Trophimenae), we had for the first time, the famous fresh pasta of the Amalfi coast known as scialatielli. At ristorante Libeccio, we drank a fabulous and unexpectedly dry, sparkling rose from Greco di Tufo.  It was the perfect accompaniment to the local pasta adorned with an abundance of super-fresh seafood (including mussels, squid, and tiny razor clams), to the primal fresh vegetable soup, and a one-ingredient salad of arugula (the best and freshest!) with a squeeze of the extraordinary lemons of Amalfi and extra-virgin olive oil.

At the Ristorante dei Cavalieri in Scala, we sampled traditional dishes done in a slightly updated way, by chef Lorenzo Mansi.  There was sartu – a traditional Neapolitan rice dish baked in a mold.  Here it was surrounded by a thin coverlet of eggplant, filled with rice, provola, bits of chicken and meat.  Often it is filled with peas, mushrooms, sausages or chicken livers.  We also had a dish called gateau di patate – generally made as a sformata (a mold of potato, mozzarella, and bits of prosciutto), here was a more fluid, creamy version, almost risotto-like, or deconstructed.  It was delicious, if not quite the potato “cake” it should have been.  My husband had paccheri with seafood – another classic tubular pasta from this area.  Our friend’s birthday cake – served with fanfare – was a credible version of a Caprese cake (made with cocoa and almonds) – a classic from the Amalfi coast.

At Cumpa Cosimo in the town of Ravello, we ate gnocchi alla Sorrentino, a fabulous sausage smothered in melted provola, and a bit of tiramisu, offered by the ebullient Netta Bottone, the owner.

The best pizza so far was eaten at midnight, under the fireworks, inches from the sea in the town of Atrani on the evening of the feast of their patron saint.  The entire town came out to participate in this yearly event.  The pizza was da morire (to die for) – especially the one with tomato, anchovies and garlic.

Lots of wine on this trip: falanghina, fiano, and nameless but delicious dry, fresh, slightly frizzante reds. D.H. Lawrence spent lots of time here, as did Wagner (an all-Wagner concert last night at the Ravello music festival) with the superb (and very beautiful soprano), Martina Serafin.

Notes from Ravello

It is almost noon in Ravello on Friday afternoon, July 22^nd.  We are overlooking the Gulf of Salerno way up above the cliffs of Ravello -- not far from the former home of Gore Vidal and just steps away from the cooking school of Mamma Agata.  Perched on the balcony off the bedroom of our friend’s home, we gaze upon the tiny coastal beach town of Minori, across terraced hills to the never-ending expanse of a very blue sea. It is calm yet exciting to be here.  It is cool in the evenings, enough for a sweater, and magical enough to reconsider both where and how one lives. I am wearing “borrowed” clothes.  One of our suitcases (mine!) never made it from Rome to Naples.  Perhaps it never even left New York.  It might even be making a trip of its own, independent of me and my needs. It’s an odd feeling not to have your “stuff” but liberating in its own way.  As the days go by with no clue to its whereabouts, I am less optimistic of ever finding it, but maybe there will be good news along the way. Is this the way one feels about a child when they leave home?

Most liberating about this trip, however, is the lack of aforethought. Little planning and little research abandoned for in-the-moment pleasures.  It is the time of the Ravello Music Festival and so we had lunch, catered by Gino Caruso (the former owner of the Hotel Caruso and grand-nephew of the great singer Caruso) in the garden of our friend’s villa – our lunch guests were Wynton Marsalis and most of his orchestra. Pretty cool talking about music with these guys, as we sipped local white wine interrupted with fresh “hard” peaches (the required peach for this drink), gorging on fabulous pizza prepared in the wood-fired oven on the terrace, prepared by our very own pizziaolo, no less, slender fresh anchovies which I twirled around my fork as though they were spaghetti, the ubiquitous caprese salad – fashioned from scarlet local tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil, marinated calamaretti, the size of your pinky nail, and limoncello flavored with anise (great).  The wife of Gino Caruso makes a “dry limoncello” which is a simply fabulous idea.  I am eager to try it as the syrupy lemon elixir for which this area is famous can be very sweet!

In the evening, we joined our new friends for what was one of the most exciting concerts I’ve ever been to.  Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center orchestra in the amphitheater of the gardens of the Hotel Rufolo.  It was a packed house – under a royal blue sky, overlooking the sea, with the moon rising ‘round midnight, behind a large cloud. Wynton played his heart out, the others followed.   Then, a small reception – with adequate pizzettes and abundant prosecco -- and a long walk from the town square down hundreds of steps to…bed.

Secret Launch Revealed!

Apple, Cookstr and Rozanne Gold Heat Up the Digital Kitchen with Made-for-Mobile Cookbooks.

NEW YORK, July 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Cookstr, the world's #1 collection of cookbook recipes available online, today launches its first original offering of curated recipe content exclusively on Apple's iBookstore. Created as a model for Cookstr's collaboration with book publishers, the company's iBookstore offering includes curated sets of 10 recipes ($0.99), 50 recipes ($3.99) and 250 recipes ($9.99) that invite readers to choose between whole books or shorter form sets and chapters, to build their own a la carte cookbook and recipe libraries.

Cookstr is honored to present award-winning chef and cookbook author Rozanne Gold's The 1-2-3 Collection as its premier offering. The 1-2-3 Collection is now available at www.itunes.com/rozannegold for purchase and download on Apple's iBookstore, available via the free iBooks App for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, or at www.itunes.com/ibookstore.

Fifteen years ago, Gold started a revolution around the idea of simplicity in cooking. Today, her dynamic three-ingredient recipes, are breaking new ground in a format designed for in-kitchen use. Each recipe is 140 words or less and can be viewed on a single screen, with mouthwatering images and brand new notes by Gold that flow beautifully on the iPad's stunning display. Gold's The 1-2-3 Collection is also the first digital cookbook to incorporate Cookstr's proprietary search standards and technology, currently used by a growing number of America's leading media, consumer and healthcare brands.

"We believe this platform has the potential to benefit publishers and home cooks alike," said Cookstr CEO Art Chang. "We are using technology to enable publishers to sell a wide variety of books and booklets created from the best recipes in their catalogs and upcoming books. Cookstr believes you can maintain the highest standards for food and nutrition and give the home cook more choices when it comes to quality, curated content. Most importantly, we can continue to reward the cooks and authors who create the recipes, and the publishers behind them who play such a key role in the identification and support of talent."

The 1-2-3 Collection is comprised of 250 recipes ($9.99), which can also be purchased separately by theme:

• Quick & Easy 1-2-3, a 50-recipe collection ($3.99). Individual 10-recipe chapters are also available for purchase ($0.99), including: "Quick & Easy Mornings," "Quick & Easy Appetizers," "Quick & Easy Weeknights," "Quick & Super Easy" (recipes you can cook with one hand), and "Super Quick & Easy" (recipes you can complete in under 5 minutes).
• Be Well, Take Care 1-2-3, a 50-recipe collection ($3.99). Individual 10-recipe chapters are also available for purchase ($0.99), including: "Be Well, Low Sodium," "Be Well, Eat Light," "Be Well, Gluten-Free," "Be Well, Vegan," and "Be Well, Healthy Heart."
• No-Sweat Summer 1-2-3, a 50-recipe collection ($3.99). Individual 10-recipe chapters are also available for purchase ($0.99), including: "Summer Starters," "Summer Soups," "Summer Suppers," "Summer Sides," and "Summer Sweets."
• Menus for Entertaining 1-2-3, a 50-recipe collection ($3.99). Individual 10-recipe chapters are also available for purchase ($0.99), including: "BBQ Menu," "Al Fresco Menu," "Fiesta Menu," "Picnic Menu," and "Labor Day Menu."
• Dishes by Ingredient 1-2-3, a 50-recipe collection ($3.99). Individual 10-recipe chapters are also available for purchase ($0.99), including: "Poultry Dishes," "Meat Dishes," "Fish Dishes," "Veggie Dishes," and "Fruit Dishes."

"The opportunity to create new cooking experiences that embrace technology is exhilarating," said Gold. "My updated repertoire of three-ingredient recipes relies on fresh, unprocessed ingredients and streamlined techniques presented in a brand new form. The result? The revolutionary 1-2-3 Collection that mixes passion with practicality. It is designed to inspire a new generation of home cooks and professional chefs alike to keep it simple."

Visit http://ibooks.cookstr.com or www.itunes.com/rozannegold for more information. A free sample of The 1-2-3 Collection is also available by searching for "Cookstr" or "Rozanne" on the iBookstore.

About Cookstr

Cookstr develops and delivers innovative products and technologies to market leaders in the media, healthcare and food industries, to support enjoyable and healthy consumer lifestyles focused on quality home cooking. Since its inception, Cookstr has introduced technology innovations that have significantly improved the inspiration and decision-making experience around recipes. Cookstr, founded by Will Schwalbe, and launched in 2008 with Katie Workman and Art Chang, has worked closely with the cookbook publishing industry to build a hand-curated database of thousands of cookbook recipes offered directly to consumers via the Cookstr website, www.cookstr.com. Today, Cookstr's offering includes recipe curation solutions for the food media market, nutrition solutions for the health and wellness market and mobile solutions for the food publishing market. In addition, Cookstr has developed technologies that can improve expert content management for use in other markets.

About Rozanne Gold

Rozanne Gold is a chef, international restaurant consultant, author, journalist and four-time winner of the James Beard Award. She was the consulting chef to the legendary Rainbow Room and Windows on the World, and helped create three of New York's three-star restaurants. First chef to New York Mayor Ed Koch at the age of 23, Gold has been known throughout her career for anticipating and inspiring food trends, including "The Minimalist" column in The New York Times, which was based on her cookbook Recipes 1-2-3, and the grazing craze, which was initiated by her cookbook Little Meals. Gold is the author of twelve cookbooks, including the award-winning 1-2-3 series. She was the Entertaining Columnist for Bon Appétit magazine for five years, and has written and produced stories for The New York Times, O Magazine, Gourmet, Real Food and more.

Contact Aliza Pearlson Cookstr press@cookstr.com

Tastes of the Week

From July 11th to July 17th, 2011 Amazing fresh chickpeas at Union Square Market from the Bodhitree Organic farm (located 20 minutes south of Trenton). Boiled in their pods they taste somewhere between fresh peas and edamame. They are even interesting raw.  But we loved them best tossed with olive oil and a bit of garlic and "grilled" in a searing hot pan until slightly charred, then sprinkled with salt.  You suck them from their pods and then lick your fingers.

A pile of super-fresh peaches with thick yogurt and Rota organic honey from New Zealand.  A handful of fresh raspberries on top.  The honey is made from "the brilliant red flowering Rota trees" that flower every 3 or 4 years.  It is a highly prized white honey that is considered one of the world's best.

A slice of my Venetian Wine Cake made with olive oil, red wine, rosemary and lemon.  Am thinking about bringing it back on the market in the fall!

The best soft-serve ice cream at the Margate Dairy Bar in Margate, New Jersey.  Its chocolatey-ness came through the the black and white swirl like a blast from the past. Ultra-creamy texture.  Also enjoyed the orange and vanilla swirl (like a Creamsicle) on a cone.

A fun "cheese steak pizza" at Cavallino Nero in Mays Landing, New Jersey.  Sat outside in the front garden entwined with grape vines, feeling like we were somewhere in an obscure town in Italy.  (Where we will be next week!)

Fabulous cheeses from Cato Corner Farm located in the Union Square Market.  I especially adored the Black Ledge Blue and a very cheddary cheese called Bloomsday.  They name their cows and also their cheeses with great charm:  Dairyere, Drunk Monk, and Wise Womenchego. The amazing Dale Bellisfield, holistic medical practitioner, clinical herbalist and NJ bee keeper, turned me on to them.

Imported taralli, roasted almonds and white wine at Arthur Schwartz's house.

Lovely breakfast in Iva's garden (a friend in the neighborhood) sitting amongst fig trees and hanging clusters of green grapes. Fig trees!  Who knew? Great coffee and toasted slices of Amy's fennel-golden raisin rolls.

My daughter's homemade chocolate chip cookies.  Hers are much better than mine!

A large, lush, fleshy purple fig.

Technicolor Ice Pops

I was reminded of how much I loved ice pops as a kid the other day when I saw the cover of the magazine "Where" New York.  On it was a plate of frosty-looking, colorful ice pops, beckoning me on a very hot day in the city.  The image also reminded me of an article I did for Bon Appetit years ago, secreted in a computer folder called Old Docs (documents).  The recipes were devised for the "new" Williams-Sonoma ice pop molds.  But when I was a kid, we made ice pops in 3-ounce Dixie cups.  But I do love the molded forms you can buy (some classic, some torpedo-like) and dare say you can add some booze and serve them to adults at a midsummer night's dinner. There are ten amazing flavors from which to choose and a startling array of hues to match.  Not quite the color palate of the rainbow, but close.  You will want to make a different version every week to last way into Indian summer.  If you add liquor of any kind, the ice pops will take longer to freeze.  Don't add too much -- but a hint of peach schnapps or rum or bourbon will add untold megabites of pleasure.

If you're using ice pop molds, the rule of thumb is that in order to fill 8 molds, you will need 2 cups of mixture.  If using Dixie cups, put 2 ounces of any mixture into each cup; cover with foil; make a small slit in center of foil and insert wooden stick.  Another tip for either procedure is to freeze the mixture 30 to 60 minutes before inserting sticks.

Frosty Lemon-Mint Color:  bright green

2 large lemons 2 tablespoons green crème de menthe 6 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons corn syrup 1-1/2 cups water

Grate the rinds of lemons to get 1 tablespoon zest.  Squeeze lemons to get 6 tablespoons juice. Whisk all ingredients together until sugar dissolves.  Pour mixture into molds.  Freeze 3 to 4 hours. Makes 8 ice pops.

Summer Sunrise Color:  two-tone orange and coral

2 cups orange-peach-mango juice ¼ cup corn syrup 3 tablespoons grenadine

Put juice and corn syrup in a bowl. Stir until dissolved. Pour half of the mixture into 8 ice pop molds.  Freeze 1 hour.  Insert sticks.  Freeze until mixture is frozen.  Add grenadine to remaining mixture and pour this into molds.  Freeze 3 hours longer.  Makes 8 pops.

Royal Blueberry Color:  Purple-blue

1 pint fresh blueberries 8-ounces blueberry yogurt ¼ cup honey 2 tablespoons sugar ¼ cup water

Wash blueberries and put in food processor. Add remaining ingredients and process until very smooth. Pour mixture into ice molds.  Freeze 3 to 4 hours. Makes 8 ice pops.

Tropicali Color:  light orange with green flecks

12 ounces mango nectar 1 cup cream of coconut 2 large limes

Place nectar and cream of coconut in bowl.  Whisk until smooth.  Grate rind of limes to get 1 tablespoon zest.  Squeeze to get 3 tablespoons juice.  Add zest and juice to mixture.

Stir.  Pour into ice pop molds. Freeze 4 hours.  Makes 8 ice pops.

Strawberry Blast Color:  bright red

6 ounces strawberry daiquiri mix 12 ounces pineapple juice 3 tablespoons honey ¼ teaspoon rum extract

Place ingredients in a bowl. Whisk until smooth.  Pour mixture into ice pop molds.  Freeze 3 to 4 hours.

Lemon-Buttermilk (“tastes like cheesecake”) Color: white (with yellow flecks)

2 large lemons 3/4 cup superfine sugar 1-2/3 cups buttermilk pinch of salt

Grate rind of lemons to get 2 tablespoons zest.  Squeeze lemons to get 5 tablespoons juice.  Put zest and juice in a bowl.  Add sugar and salt. Stir to dissolve. Add buttermilk and stir until smooth. Pour mixture into ice pop molds. Freeze 4 hours. Makes 8 ice pops.

Watermelon Lemonade Color: pale red

2 packed cups finely diced ripe watermelon 6-ounces frozen lemonade concentrate 3 tablespoons superfine sugar pinch of salt

Place ingredients in bowl of food processor and process until very smooth. Pour mixture into ice pop molds. Freeze 3 to 4 hours.  Makes 8 ice pops.

Honeydew Kiwi Color:  jade green with little black seeds

2 packed cups finely diced ripe honeydew 2 medium kiwi, peeled and diced 1/2 cup corn syrup 2 tablespoons lime juice

Place ingredients in bowl of food processor and process until very smooth.  Pour mixture into ice pop molds.  Freeze 3 to 4 hours.  Makes 8 ice pops.

Fudgy Ice Pops Color: chocolate-y brown

8 ounces vanilla yogurt ½ cup corn syrup 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, melted 3 tablespoons cocoa powder ½ cup water

Place all ingredients in bowl of food processor and process until very smooth.  Pour mixture into ice pop molds. Freeze 4 hours.  Makes 8 ice pops.

Cranberry “Tea-sicle” Color: clear dark ruby

2 Red Zinger tea bags 3 tablespoons sugar 6 ounces frozen cranberry concentrate optional: 1-2 tablespoons red wine

Boil 1-1/2 cups water and put in bowl.  Add tea bags and let steep 5 minutes.  Remove tea bags.  Stir in sugar to dissolve.  Add cranberry concentrate and wine.  Stir.  Pour mixture into ice pop molds.  Freeze 4 hours.  Makes 8 ice pops.

Grilled Fruit and Watermelon Burgers

There is no way that "a watermelon burger" wouldn't grab the attention of, well, almost anyone. That is exactly what happened with the story in the New York Times magazine section this past Sunday (July 10, 2011.) Written by Mark Bittman, it pushed the envelope of what to grill that might tantalize anyone who didn't eat grilled meat, or raw meat, for that matter. I would definitely venture to try any of his alternative protein-ate ideas -- sweet potato planks, jicama rafts, and cabbage steaks, too, but wished that the watermelon slices were round instead of triangular, you know, somehow, more "burger-like."

In truth, I've been grilling fruit for the past 31 years, when in 1980, the Daily News did a feature story about a roof-top meal I cooked for then-restaurant critic, Arthur Schwartz. I made four different kinds of grilled ribs (pork, beef, lamb, and veal) and paired each with a grilled fruit, including nectarines, pears, pineapple and plums. It was special alone that I took my hibachi on the roof on my apartment -- not too many people were doing that, then. Later that year, when I was consultant to the quirky Manhattan restaurant Caliban's -- famous for its wine list and literary, motorcycling owner Harry Martens -- I ventured to put a slice of sweet, chewy, charred pineapple under a juicy rare duck breast and will never forget the dismay of a New York Times reporter who deemed the idea "dangerous." To this day, I'm not sure why (in fact, the enzyme bromelain in pineapple actually helps digest food and the acidity in the fruit acts as a welcome mat for the fatty duck.) Anyway, times have changed, and clearly watermelon is the new tomato.

As much as I enjoy grilling the unexpected, one of the summer recipes I love most is one that I created for Bon Appetit more than ten years ago. My "Grilled Vegetables Salsa Verde" has you marinating thick slices of potato (unexpected), asparagus, scallion, big beefy mushrooms, zucchini, bell peppers and red onions, in a marinade of salsa verde, extra-virgin olive oil, cumin and cilantro. The vegetables sit in this mixture, absorb the great flavors, then get grilled to perfection. Now, thanks to Mark, I may slip in some jicama, pineapple, and watermelon, too.

Grilled Vegetables “Salsa Verde”

2 cups prepared salsa verde, mild or medium 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 2 teaspoons ground cumin 1 large bunch cilantro 3 large Yukon gold potatoes 4 medium zucchini, about 6 ounces each 4 medium red onions 2 red and 2 yellow large bell peppers 8 fat asparagus or scallions 3 large portabello mushrooms

Put salsa verde, olive oil, cumin and ½ packed cup chopped cilantro in bowl of food processor. Process until thoroughly blended.  Wash and dry vegetables. Scrub potatoes and slice lengthwise into 1/4-inch thick slices. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise and then crosswise. Cut onions in half through the equator. Cut peppers lengthwise into sixths and remove seeds. Trim ends of asparagus or scallions. Quarter mushrooms. Place all vegetables in a large bowl and cover with marinade. Let marinate a minimum of 2 hours. Light the barbecue. When hot, place vegetables on grill and cook on both sides until tender. This will take about 15 to 20 minutes. Turn often. Drizzle some of the remaining marinade over top. Garnish with coarsely chopped cilantro.  Serves 8

Tastes of the Week

From July 4 to July 10th, 2011 At the home of David Rosengarten, the food expert's expert, we were treated, on Saturday night, to a regal dinner based on the foods of Greece.  Extraordinary from end to end -- three kinds of feta from different regions of Greece, crisp-tender baby artichokes, a dozen mezedes, lamb-stuffed peppers and homemade spanakopita, demitasse cups of the artichoke-poaching broth, yogurt marinated chicken on pita with 16-hour dried tomatoes (so amazingly intense and sweet), more yogurt, indigenous honey and almond cake for dessert.  Twelve different wines, including a horizontal tasting of an indigenous wine/grape "Assyrtiko" from the island of Santorini.  David said this wine is at the forefront of a big trend. The wines (from different producers in Greece) are dry, minerally, big, complex.  One tasted like a dry malvasia, said my husband. The guest to my left, Don Bryant from the extraordinary Bryant Vineyards in California, said he liked #3.  (I'll ask David which that was and will let you know.) I decided any man who makes $1000 wine (per bottle) and has a waiting list!, probably has a good palate and I finished my glass of #3.

Retro and deliciously old-fashioned Italian "family food" at Cavallino Nero in Mays Landing, New Jersey.  Great angel hair pasta with freshly steamed clams, garlic and parsley, and good veal francese.  Even more retro was the price of a large glass of Chianti for $6.00 a pop.  Nice cannoli and a very sympatico waiter.

Fabulous strawberry pie from the Garrison Market in Garrison, New York.  Say hi to the pastry chef, Eric, if you go...and you should. It tasted super-saturated with strawberry flavor yet with the bright acidity that comes from rhubarb but alas it had no rhubarb in it! The other pies, peach and apple, looked great as well.  Ask for a piece with your morning coffee, otherwise buy a whole pie.

Great homemade zucchini bread from Aunt Anne in Margate, New Jersey.  "Zip code baking" for sure as the zucchini came from an  organic garden just two block away.  It was moist and spicy-sweet from nutmeg and cinnamon.  Delicious with yogurt and bananas for breakfast.

The BEST knockwurst from the local supermarket in Cold Spring, New York.  Griddled until the outside was crisp and a bit leathery -- slathered with Polish mustard.

Great summer corn vigorously rubbed with a fistful of fresh basil leaves, sweet butter, and coarse salt.

Gigantic fresh raspberries tossed with tiny ice cream-filled profiteroles, dusted with powdered sugar, at the home of friends in Garrison.

A summer peach, gently warmed by the sun on the window sill.

An ice-cold glass of New York City tap water.

The Brilliance of George Lang

When I was 19 years old, and a student at Tufts University, I got a phone call from my mother who told me about a fascinating man she’d heard on the radio that day. He was Hungarian (as was my mother), cultured and worldly, who knew much about food and dining, and had an interesting job. "He is a restaurant consultant!" she exclaimed,  "Maybe that's something for you to think about.  He has his own company and creates restaurants all over the world.  And he loves a good dobos torte!" Although at that time I was consumed by my passion for food and restaurants, had already been a bartender at 16 (I was tall for my age), had waitressed at a Viennese pastry shop in Harvard Square, and worked in the kitchens at The Harvest restaurant, I knew nothing about this fascinating career choice.  I was on track, at that time, to become a psychologist (with a double major in psychology and education.)  But as life would have it, I became a restaurant consultant, and also the companion to Jenifer Harvey, the day that George Lang fell in love with her, when he took us on a tour of the Culinary Institute of America, many years ago. On the way back to the city,  I rode in the front seat with Mr. Ryan, the chauffeur, while George and Jennifer talked shop in the back.   What a time it was!  A time of innocence, and confidences. George was one of the most interesting men I would ever know. Brilliant, urbane, cultured, a story-teller, clever, I believed he felt his role in daily life was to amuse and ignite the imagination of others. You never left scratching your head with his worldly references, instead you wanted to scratch his.  He was, for all his might, adorable.  A brilliant musician whose best friend was the cellist Janos Starker, I ran out to buy an album of Starker's, and tried to learn what I could. I was also a cellist and longed to have that connection to George. George's knowledge of food, wine, history, culture, music, the arts, the art of dining, the art of cooking, was legendary (and very well expressed in William Grimes' tribute to George in yesterday's New York Times), but for me he represented, for awhile, the soul of a generation of Hungarians who were lucky enough to flee during the Holocaust (while sadly much of his family, and mine, and thousands of others did not.) I grew up with George's encyclopedic cookbook in my mother's kitchen. It was the benchmark for tastes and flavors my mother had remembered, but more importantly, it was the conduit to a past I would never know. We thought of George every time we ate a bowl of cabbage and noodles, went out to Mrs. Herbst in search of cabbage strudel, or ventured to Cafe des Artistes for a special celebration.  It was one of my parents' favorite places.  I loved going just to eat the hard-boiled eggs at the  bar. It was "so George." In my own small way, I was a bit of a disciple. Whatever George did, I wanted to eat thereof.

I loved his restaurant "Hungaria" in midtown with its whimsical "salami tree." I was ecstatic to celebrate my 40th birthday at the ultra-glamorous Gundel in Budapest on New Year's Eve, eat the food of the women at Bagolyvar next door, and try to find the cafe in the opera house that George had a hand in. Instead we wound up eating, unwittingly, with the cast in their garb, in the employee cafeteria! Once, George asked me a question to which he had forgotten the answer.  I said, "Alkermes, George." That's the answer." (He wanted to be reminded of the red bitter aperitif used in Italy to moisten cake.) It was George who taught me about the wonderful, and esoteric, cheese from Switzerland called "tete de moines" (the monk's head which needed a special apparatus for shaving off shards that looked like fans...or butterflies.)

I learned from George to be curious, open, and take chances. He was always supportive. He came to the opening of The Cafe I created at Lord & Taylor in the early 1980's and told me to read the work of Helen Corbitt (the woman who created the famous Zodiac dining room in Neiman Marcus in Dallas.) He came to Lavin's -- one of the city's culinary hot spots in those days -- to sample the menu I created. He brought James Beard with him to have lunch with me there.  He loved the "Carpaccio Gold" and the new spin I put on familiar dishes.  He also loved that we had an all-women kitchen, I believe, one of the city's first. We drank Bulls Blood together (Egri Bikaver -- one of Hungary's most famous wines) and much later sampled some of the wonderful wines he was producing from his vineyards in Hungary.  And one day, George called and asked me to come work with him. It was the same week I began to work with Joe Baum, George's dear colleague. George said that's where I should stay.

George Lang emanated brilliance.  Whimsy.  A life of the mind and of the senses.  He even invented a few of his own.

I Dream of Cooking with Ferran

Several weeks ago, I went to the premiere of a movie (that is soon to open at the Film Forum) called El Bulli: Cooking in Progress, about the life and times of cooking in the kitchen at El Bulli in northern Spain (in the Catalan province of Girona). El Bulli, and its maestro, Ferran Adrià, have been awarded the best restaurant in the world status five times (by the S. Pellegrino "World's 50 Best Restaurants" award) and as the 2010 "Chef of the Decade," respectively. After seeing the movie, remarkable in some ways as it was (sometimes repetitive in others), I decided that Adrià and I had nothing in common -- that his brilliance as an innovator in the orbit of molecular cuisine was truly part of his psyche and soul. It was a world that I dare not enter. That style of food, for me, sorely missed the swoon factor.  Never did it make me hunger.  Just curious.

Other chefs have also ventured there and have made big names for themselves -- Wylie Dufresne, Grant Achatz, and most spectacularly, Nathan Myhrvold (you must read this amazing article about him, written by the brilliant writer Jerry Adler -- in a recent issue of Smithsonian magazine.)  But an article in the New York Times Magazine two days ago, about the "real Ferran Adrià," in fact, did make me swoon, as did the simple recipes he shared.  According to Mark Bittman, the writer of the story, Ferran's "own preference (for food) lies in the realm of extremely simple fare." And it was surprising (if not heartening) to learn that Ferran's upcoming cookbook explores the realm of "cuisine simple" and "cuisine traditionelle" -- styles he warmly embraces and cooks for his staff. Ferran seems to love authenticity as much as the next guy, wavering between dishes that are radically simple (steamed mussels with garlic, parsley, flour!, and paprika) to others that have only three ingredients!  Those include the dishes of his favorite restaurants in the town of Roses (the next town over from El Bulli), that specialize in nothing more than "impeccable local shellfish, olive oil, (salt), and occasionally lemon. And like me, "he's in love with the transformation you can force on ingredients to make them change shape and form." I want to believe this reference was about simplicity and not the avant-garde cooking for which he has become known.

How I would love to go to Ferran's new "laboratorio" and create three-ingredient recipes side-by-side.  Or merely explore the realm of radical simplicity together. How could you not love a guy who grills bread, grates chocolate on top of it, then drizzles it with olive oil and salt?  Now that's my kind of cooking.

Bread With Chocolate and Olive Oil (From Ferran Adrià)

Time: 15 minutes

6 thick slices country-style bread (about 10 ounces total)

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate (preferably 60 percent cocoa), coarsely grated. (A Microplane is not essential, but it helps.)

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon sea salt.

1. Heat the oven to 325. Put the bread on a baking sheet and bake until golden brown on both sides, 5 to 7 minutes total. Spoon the chocolate over the toast in a thin, even layer. Drizzle the toast with the oil and sprinkle with the salt. Serve.

Yield: 6 servings.

Tastes of the Week

June 27 through July 3,2011 Lovely meals at abckitchen and Hell's Kitchen(44th and 10th) -- Mon. and Tues. respectively.

Great charcuterie from the Brooklyn Larder (especially the funky chorizo) at the book party of Alex Prud'homme (grand-nephew of Julia Child). Alex, who wrote the sensational book about the love affair of Julia and Paul Child named "My Life in France," just wrote a very important tome called "The Ripple Effect" -- about the global importance of water.  Beginning now, he advises us (and the world) to be mindful of what is to become our most valuable resource.

At a lovely picnic dinner, overlooking the Hudson River, across from West Point, our hosts Peter and Bill (along with friends Diana and Bryan), served a beautiful chicken salad with lettuces from the Cold Spring Farmer's Market, a lovely brown rice salad, and a fresh corn salad.  But it was dessert that made me swoon. A bowl of enormous raspberries mixed with tiny cream puffs filled with ice cream and showered with powdered sugar.  It was elegant as all get-out.

The 3rd of July brought a simple summer lunch -- after all, we are borrowing a friend's house in Garrison, NY and brought up a limited number of ingredients. Our makeshift meal included summer tomatoes and cucumbers, enlivened with a lemony vinaigrette with fresh thyme (and thyme flowers), served with dense grilled bread (actually they were slices of delicious square wholewheat rolls from Key Food!), thickly spread with a combo of boursin cheese and fresh goat cheese. Grilled chicken with za'atar on a bed of arugula, sun-dried tomatoes, oil-cured olives and steamed wax beans. Dessert?  The plumpest, moistest, Medjool dates (the size of a linebacker's thumb) brought home just the other day by my husband from his trip to Abu Dhabi.  With it, shards of very good Parmigiano-Reggiano. Not bad at all for a rained-out parade day.  The combination of the dates and parm was truly outstanding and a radically fabulous way to end a meal.

Tonight we are going to our friends' house, also in Garrison, who are making one of their favorite recipes -- which happens to be mine -- but I'm dying to try their version. It's a three-ingredient pot roast made with pounds of red onions and dry vermouth.  Can't wait.  Thank you to Diana Carulli and Bryan Dunlap.

And Happy July 4th to all.

Super Tender Lamb R-r-r-riblets

Last weekend in the New York Times Sunday magazine (June 26, 2011), was a nice food story, written by Sam Sifton, featuring glazed lamb ribs. Quite accurately, Sam observes that, heretofore, lamb ribs were rarely offered on restaurant menus and hardly ever in the supermarket. Yet, now, in 2011, restaurants such as DBGB, Casa Mono and Recette are serving them -- slow-cooked, grilled, deep-fried, confit, strewn with exotic spices, Moroccan lemon pickles, glazed, or cooled with a variety of yogurt sauces (including an intriguing sounding one -- smoked yogurt -- from Recette).

Enter Little Meals:  A Great New Way to Eat & Cook, published in 1993, where one of the first recipes for lamb ribs was ever published.  I always loved them and made arrangements with butchers, when possible, to prepare them for me.  Lamb ribs come from the breast plate of the animal and can be simply separated rib by rib.  They are very fatty, but at the same time, they are moist and succulent and very forgiving if you overcook them or even undercook them! They are everything one loves about ribs to begin with, only with a bit of funk and mystery.

My "slow-barbecued" riblets have a pungent sweet-and-sour glaze that turns an inexpensive cut of meat into the ultimate finger food.  Serve with tiny baked sweet potatoes for a very interesting combination and garnish with some mustard cress. Orange-Ginger Lamb Ribs (adapted from Little Meals) Have your butcher cut between the bones of the ribs to make individual ribs.  Dated 1993.  In 2011, I add a splash of Sriracha sauce to the marinade.

1 cup orange juice 1/3 cup hoisin sauce 3 tablespoons honey 1/4 cup soy sauce 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 4 large cloves garlic, finely minced 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh ginger 3 pounds lamb ribs

Combine orange juice, hoisin sauce, honey, soy sauce, mustard, garlic and ginger and stir well.  Pour over the ribs. Cover and marinate several hours or overnight in the refrigerator.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Remove ribs from the marinade and transfer marinade to a saucepan.  Place ribs on a broiler pan fitted with a rack. Cover tightly with foil and bake 45 minutes.   Bring marinade to a boil and cook 10 minutes until syrupy.  Remove foil and bake 45 minutes longer, basting the ribs frequently with the marinade (using a pastry brush.)  Serve garnished with cress, wedges of oranges, and remaining marinade.  Serves 4

Drink your favorite beer or a big, fruity tempranillo or syrah. Que syrah, syrah, as they say. Enjoy!

Tastes of the Week

June 19 to June 26, 2011 - Last Sunday, we sat in the enclosed patio of Edi & the Wolf, a youthful Austrian restaurant on Avenue C.   Definitely not the kind of food found in most New York restaurants, it was a pleasure to have the Alsatian flatbread (really great), layered with speck (smoked prosciutto) and horseradish; landjager -- a cured dried Austrian sausage, served with terrific homemade pickles; liptauer & herb cervais -- a farmer's cheese spread perfumed with paprika and pumpkinseed oil; homemade spatzle topped with hen of the woods mushrooms, fava beans and asapargus; the requisite "wiener schnitzel" and the incongruous, but fabulous, white tuna with avocado, cucumber, radish & citrus vinaigrette. I will go back to try the palatschinken -- to see if they are as good as my mother's (she was Hungarian.)  The executive chefs are Eduard "Edi" Frauneder and Wolfgang "the Wolf" Ban. They also own a Michelin-starred restaurant in midtown called "Seäsonal Restaurant & Weinbar."  Edi & the Wolf was inspired by "Heuriger" -- the casual, neighborhood wine taverns popular in Austria. Austria is also home to one of my favorite white wines -- Grüner Veltliner. See you there. The front room is rustic and really nice. 102 Avenue C, NY, 212-598-1040

- The coolest bathroom I've been in recently was at Doughnut Plant (no kidding) on West 23rd Street. It is a tiny mirrored-paneled room with a disco ball.

- Some of the best snacks to be had with a glass of wine are at the lobby bar of the Pierre Hotel. Small chunks of good Parmigiano-Reggiano, great olives, and potato chips made especially for them. Ditto the petits fours that I had at a reception there. Really excellent.

My tastes this week also include the fabulous rare books department (or corner) of the top floor at Barney's. One wonderful book that I wished I could afford -- a cookbook by Christian Dior -- for $1200+ -- loosely translated as "hand-sewn" food. It had a stamped metal cover and it fit into a hard clear plastic sleeve. Wonderful sounding recipes, too.

And a delicious play that sadly closed today after several months in New York. The star, a great friend and fabulous actor, Mike Burstyn, -- starred in "The Adventures of Hershele Ostropolyer." In Yiddish, with English and Russian subtitles.  Produced by the National Yiddish Theatre "Folksbiene." Don't miss it if it comes to town again.

Cleaning out the Fridge

For the last four days I have been involved in a "secret project"-- one that has required lots and lots of cooking and food photography. Sixty-two photos to be exact! My days have begun at 5:45 a.m. and have lasted up to 16 hours, at which time, the dishes would be washed (we have no dishwasher!), the shopping lists made for the next day's shoot, and a final sip taken from a big glass of red wine. My house and kitchen, turned into a "studio" with simple lighting, an array of white plates, a cornucopia of fresh ingredients, and a very credible photographer whose work has graced the pages of magazines, books and food products for decades. Part performance art, part circus, it required the best of spirits and the steady hands of an assistant, and at certain times two! -- both of whom work as personal chefs. The rhythm to get so much done in a day was at times cool jazz and at other times a symphonic movement which could have been titled Heroica! (Beethoven). If the Marx Brothers had a theme song, that, too, might describe the mood, as we spliced and diced and chopped, steamed, broiled and sauteed, churned ice cream, and sipped and slurped the strongest iced coffee you can imagine. As a frame of reference, in advertising, getting three shots done a day is good work; in publishing a book, seven or eight shots is considered fabulous. We were pushing 16, if you do the math. The reward? Beautiful images and a refrigerator so full that it was getting warm. My fridge 'runneth over! Up again at 5:45 a.m. this morning to sort out the wheat from the chaff, and to re-jigger odds and ends into dinner. That is, dinner for a week! Ground meat was turned into a meat sauce (I had lots of fresh tomatoes, basil and red onion), my gratin dauphinoise was re-layered with thin slices of roast chicken and asparagus; a multitude of vegetables from the farmer's market were steamed and tossed with fresh fettuccine as a kind of room-temperature salad for lunch today; leftover poached pears, raspberries, fresh orange segments, roasted grapes and slivers of caramelized pineapple turned into a healthy dessert for tonight's meal.

But nothing topped breakfast this morning -- a slice of my husband's dense homemade rye bread spread with leftover scallion butter (used for a creamy corn soup) and sprinkled with salt. I encourage you to visit your fridge and to visit a website called "expendible edibles" for inspiration. You may want to fry the carrot tops lurking in the vegetable drawer and scatter them atop a nice carrot-ginger soup. It's time again to make lemonade out of lemons or better yet, make refreshing agua fresca from leftover watermelon, honeydew or cantaloupe. Recipe below (for carrot tops, too!)

Fried Carrot Tops

1/4 cup lacy green carrot tops 3 tablespoons olive oil

Wash the carrot tops and dry thoroughly. Heat the oil in a small skillet until hot. Carefully add the carrot tops and fry for 30 seconds. or until crispy and still bright green. Transfer to paper towels. Sprinkle very lightly with salt. Stays crispy for several hours.

Agua Fresca (adapted from Eat Fresh Food: Awesome Recipes for Teen Chefs) This doesn't require much sugar; just let the fresh fruit flavors shine through.

1/2 large ripe cantaloupe or honeydew (or leftover pieces) 1/4 cup sugar slices of lemon or lime

Remove any seeds from melon. Cut into large pieces and put in a blender with the sugar, 1 cup of water and a pinch of salt. Process on high until very smooth. You will have 3 cups of liquid. Put it in a pitcher and add 3 cups of cold water. Cover and refrigerate until cold. Pour over ice and garnish with lemon or lime. Add more sugar (dissolved in hot water), if needed. Garnish with pieces of melon, if you wish. Serves 4

Remembering Pesto

The first time I had pesto was in 1978 in Florence, Italy.  I was studying with cooking teacher Giuliano Bugialli, whose book "The Fine Art of Italian Cooking" (1977), informed my personal cooking style forever. My outlook on seasonality and simplicity was born that summer -- the summer of '78 as I remember it -- when I was chef to New York Mayor Ed Koch and lived at Gracie Mansion with Hizzoner.  It was the soft breeze that came through the windowed kitchen door on Guiliano's terrace that transfixed me silently and totally.  Overlooking an elegant side street in Florence, the perfume of basil wafted into the part of my brain that would, from then on, trigger memories of my collective trips to that town -- a "living museum" as I called it then. I was 24 and although I had traveled to Italy, France, Norway and other ports of call, it was the collision of food and culture, art and history made edible, that enamored me. I remember loving the protocol of an Italian meal, how boiled things were served with boiled things, and fried foods with other fried foods.  That you never changed the order of a meal, and that sitting down to eat was a cultural institution as important as almost any other.  I was struck with the orderliness and logic of pairing certain pasta shapes with particular sauces, and how differently fresh pasta was treated from dried pasta.  I loved learning that good canned tomatoes were the sine qua non of the Italian pantry and that one opted for lusty dried oregano instead of fresh.

But this morning I'm remembering pesto -- because the smell of fresh basil is wafting through my kitchen window as a morning offering from my window box.  I also look forward to walking the Union Square market this morning (after all, it's Wednesday) and thinking of that special time in my culinary journey.  I will remember drying freshly-made pasta over a broom handle that teetered upon two facing chairs, I will remember the slices of simply-fried eggplant splashed with vinegar and dotted with chopped garlic and that dreamy basil, I will remember the roast duck stuffed with pancetta, sage and juniper -- that is equally nice, I might add, made with basil.  And of course, there was pasta al pesto whenever you chose.  Moving into my own world of radical simplicity, this week I will slice fresh peaches, splash them with peach schnapps and stir in a bit of julienned basil; I will make scrubbed toast -- and grill thick slices of peasant bread, rub them with a cut clove of garlic, and a fistful of basil leaves that I will scrape along the nubby texture.  A drizzle of olive oil, coarse salt, and presto! -- the herbal equivalent of the tomato-scrubbed bread one would find in Barcelona. And I will do the same with ears of simply boiled corn, rub it with basil until perfumed and slightly green.  A little melted butter and...

The first restaurant that made pesto famous was a chic spot in Greenwich village owned and run by the wonderful Alfredo Viazzi.  Some of you may remember.

Buy some basil.  Create some memories of your own.

Tastes of the Week

Welcome to a new feature on my blog.  Every weekend I'll be re-capping the special things I ate, drank, or cooked the previous week. Here's the first installment -- posted Sunday, June 20th.  Please feel free to share your experiences.  I am always interested!  Let me know about any wonderful wine-and-food pairing discoveries, great things you ate, wonderful new recipes you cooked, or any new ingredients you've tried.  And I'm always on the lookout for wonderful three-ingredient recipe ideas and radically simple ones, too. For the week of June 13, 2011:

A fabulous dessert at Barbounia called kanafeh -- made of warm shredded phyllo, ricotta cheese, rose-water syrup, pistachios & honey with anise ice cream.

A glass of tocai friulano at Sfoglia (great with their crispy roast chicken under a brick).

A big plate of sauteed broccoli rabe (with a good pizza) at Zero Otto Nove (new location on West 21 st.).

Roast pig with bacon marmalade (fabulous!) made with beets & apples at ABC Kitchen.

Smoked corn on the cob with herb butter at the newly-opened Soco on Myrtle Ave. in Brooklyn.

A ragout of oysters and mushrooms (in a creamy green crab reduction) from Hundred Acres at a party sponsored by Edible Manhattan.

The spicy tofu ssam from BaoHaus at the premiere of Ferran Adrià's new movie/documentary.

What to Buy at the Farmer's Market

One of life's greatest pleasures, anywhere in the world, is to go to a local farmer's market. My life straddles two of them -- the bustling Union Square market on Wednesday morning and the slightly more intimate market at Grand Army Plaza in Park Slope, Brooklyn on Saturday. At this time of the year, it is as though someone flipped the switch as the smells, energy and variety of nature's bounty deepens and expands. The color of "fresh" seems to pulsate and I tenderly look for what was not there the week before.  The semaphores of the season alert me as to what to cook for dinner. I like the idea of being a seasonalist -- and fondly remember the excitement generated around the idea of cuisine du marché (cooking from the market) first popularized by Paul Bocuse in 1976 with his book "La Cuisine du Marché. But several years earlier, the American cooking teacher Perla Meyers, wrote a book we all loved (even before most of us had farmer's markets in our own zip codes!) called "The Seasonal Kitchen" in 1973!

So... this coming week, consider fleshy purple scallions (a wonderful garnish or lovely to sauté with peas), fresh peas!, petit ripe strawberries (small compared to what you get in the supermarket), fresh chamomile! (I infuse it in vodka), nasturtium flowers and leaves (superb in any salad), six different colors of slender carrots, crisp asparagus, and from Windfall Farms (my favorite place), flowering pea shoots (with a tiny purple flower) that I chop up and throw in consommé (Chinese style) or lightly sauté with garlic as a bed for roasted halibut. There are radishes for spreading with sweet butter and roasting and serving with one of the local nutty, sharp cheeses or creamier goat cheeses. I slipped the peas from several pounds of fresh peas today. It was quite meditative. I thought about the lecture I went to several weeks ago at the World Science Festival in New York about the "brain and the articulate hand." This is what I thought about, pod by pod.

Do consider making my Seared Scallops on Sweet Pea Puree this weekend -- and make it with fresh peas. It comes from Radically Simple and it is. Or try my Campanelle with Caramelized Onions, Peas & Mint. There's lots of mint at the market, too! End with a basket full of berries topped with sweetened crème fraiche and snippets of lemon verbena. Campanelle with Caramelized Onions, Peas & Mint This is an exuberant way to dress up any short pasta.  Thai fish sauce adds a does of umami...and intrigue.  Use fresh peas!

4 large yellow onions, about 1-1/2 pounds 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil 12 ounces uncooked campanelle or penne rigati 1 cup shelled fresh peas 3 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar 1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce 1 cup coarsely chopped fresh mint 1/3 cup freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus a 2-ounce piece

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Cut the onions in half through the roots.  Place cut side down on a board. Thinly slice lengthwise (not into half-circles.) Heat the oil in a very large skillet.  Add the onions and cook over high heat, stirring, until dark brown, about 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, cook the pasta in boiling water for 5 minutes.  Add the peas and cook 7 minutes longer.  Drain well, saving 1/2 cup cooking liquid.  Add the vinegar and fish sauce to the onions and cook 2 minutes.  Add the drained pasta and peas, reserved cooking water, mint and grated cheese.  Cook 2 minutes until hot.  Add salt and pepper.  Serve in warm bowl, use a vegetable peeler to shave shards of cheese on top.  Serves 4 to 6

Two Movies That Made Me Hungry

Midnight in Paris and Passione.  French and Italian.  The first, a delicious confection. The latter, a lusty stew. The first, written, produced and directed by Woody Allen is charming and uproariously clever, a look-see into Paris in the 20's, where the Fitzgeralds and Picasso and Salvador Dali mingle with the protagonist (no doubt, Mr. Allen) who is vested in 2009 but rooted in his fantasies. The more you know about Paris during that time, the more you will enjoy it, as much of the pleasure comes from the anticipation of the characters and events.  The latter, written, produced and directed by John Turturro was a musical soul-catcher, depicting life in Naples today built note by note, and dance step by dance step, into a Neapolitan version of Rent in which the protagonist experiences life in the moment through a historical lens.  The main character here is the music of Naples, narrated by Mr. Turturro, who shows both his intellect and insight, and an extraordinary ability to...dance! Yet since we are talking about two of the world's most notable food cities, one could not help find the references, though there were few.  In Midnight in Paris, Maxim's was portrayed as Paris's socio-gastronomic apex, whereas in Passione, Taverna Dell'Arte, the restaurant of one of the leading characters, Don Alfonzo, was in shadow, a mere suggestion of the dining culture in Naples.  The B-roll in each city provided but a glimpse of the culinary clichés we love:  outdoor cafes in Paris and covered outdoor markets in Naples.

I went to see Midnight in Paris with my husband.  It was one of the few dates we've had without our 15 year old daughter.  We, in turn, went to see Passione with our daughter, and with the man who knows more about life, food, and the culture of Naples than anyone -- maestro Arthur Schwartz and his partner, the scholarly Bob Harned. What a joy to dance in our seats together.

If there are two food books that exemplify these movies, they would be Dorie Greenspan's wonderful new, and award-winning book, Cooking Around My French Table, and Arthur's encyclopedic, Naples at Table.  Read them both, see the movies, prepare a meal, buy the Passione soundtrack (available soon), and invite me to dinner.