Turning Dishes Into Soup

 Can a favorite dish enjoyed as a snack or a summer favorite be turned into a hearty winter soup? Surprisingly yes. Hummus, bean salad and pasta pesto can be transformed form forkfuls to spoonfuls. It 's an easy change and perfect for the weather right now.

Regular contributor Melissa Clark created these dishes and wrote about them in yesterday's New York Times Wednesday Food section. All are great on their own. Hummus makes and excellent lunch or snack while the other two are usually summer barbecue favorites.Ms Clakrs inspiraration,. for using these were favorite dishes with big flavors. These are not usual soup ingredients(well, may be the pesto is) but have great potential to be made into them. Ms Clark takes the pesto which can be homemade or s tore bought has pasta and turkey in it,.There is also garlic in it for pungency. Like regular soups the base can either be vegetable or chicken stock. Orzo or macaroni CNA be used a long with five ounces of baby spinach. Ground turkey is used for heartiness. Lemon gives it brightness and a summery sunny taste while the addition of ricotta gives it a creaminess.

Three bean salad , the perfect summer dish is now a delicious soup for a frigid day. Yes there are beans.Ms. Clark uses white, chickpeas or kidney ones and green beans.It give a more veggie flavor thanks to an onion chopped up into it along with chopped celery , carrot  and tomato paste. Again the stock CNA be veggie or chicken (stick with veggie this time Coriander and ground pepper give it a spikiness that's perfect for a cold day soup. The hummus soup is a fun one, combining the same ingredients as the dip with three to four cups of veggie or chicken stock (for a truer hummus flavor go with the vegetable stock).Unlike the dip Ms Clark uses a teaspoon of whole cumin seeds along with cilantro or dill. A large pinch of crushed red pepper gives it the heat to make it perfect for a chilly mid winter day.  Home chefs can add pan fired chickpeas for crunch on top as well as extra tahini to drizzle in.Lemon is added for zing and the dish can be served with , hot toasted pita chips.

These dishes are perfect as for full of goodness. They're even better as a good spoonful or a frosty day. Try them for a different spin on winter soups.

A Sparkly Bite Of Shortbread

 One of the best holiday cookies is a square or round of shortbread.Yet this recipe and other recipes need care and thought for you to create the perfect sweet.Once done the end result is a take on the classic Scottish cookie with some new zings added. This creates a fun holiday bite that can be made all year round. 

Regular contributor and pro baker Genevieve Ko gave the shortbread recipe and good advice in a keeper article in yesterday's New York Times Wednesday Food section. She gives a holiday shortbread recipe .not only rich with butter but orange zest to give it a bright tarty flavor. The icing has lemon in it as opposed to the usual cloyingly sweet flavor.. Chef Ko decorates her cookies with pale green and pale lavender icing however red and green can be used for the season. Both can be easily made however it does pay to prep and bake properly to ensure a perfectly formed, well baked cookie and silky icing. The very first and most important step is gathering a tools. If there's no stand mixer to blend the ingredients into a manageable dough then use a hand mixer. It may be even be better since women have been hand mixing shortbread for centuries and have always produced the perfect cookie.A wine or glass bottle can sub n for a rolling pin if this isn't available. No cookie cutters? Since into squares. Reusable plastic bags make great icing bags for creating designs on the shortbread.

Chef Ko also  offers other good gems for advice. She has advice for the three major ingredients.Butter for the cookies should always be left out to soften it. However too soft butter can give the cookies a greasy feel and it can spread too thin and bubble on top.The butter is ready when a finger is pressed into the surface and there 's an indentation.Leave the sticks out at room temperature.. What about the sugars used? White granulated sugar not only provides sweetness but also provides air pockets in the butter when the two are beaten together. The powdered sugar gives them a melt in your mouth crumble. Only a small amount of powdered sugar is used in Chef's Ko's recipe to maintain structure for decorating. Then there's the seasoning.Salt needs to be added, whether in the butter or granules does heavy lofting as does the vanilla. As for the orange zest, only grate the outermost layer of peel to avoid any bitterness from the pith.There are also other tips such as don;t over work the dough, bake it as long or short as liked for a golden orbrown top. She also recommends making the icing as thick as possible to ensure it doesn't;t drip off the shortbread's surface as well as how not t make a mess. Gradually tint the icing using only gel dyes.

The perfect shortbread can be had.It's just a question of using the right ingredients correctly. These ensure the perfect cookies, buttery and perfect in the mouth

Boutique Bottles

 Is water just water or are there variations - yes variations - that are slightly above just everyday H20?Surprisingly yes, water isn;t just water, mined from common springs. There's a whole new breed of the bottled stuff that's actually making waves.

Regular contributor Kim Severson wrote about this in yesterday's New York Times Wednesday Food  section. It used to be that Perrier was the designer water of choice but not any more. There are more boutique ones as were tasted at the ninth  annual Fine water Taste and design show recently in Atlanta, Georgia. water tasting is surprisingly like wine tasting. It's tasted, swished around the mouth and then spat out. Like coffee and beer ,water is experiencing a third wave of popularity , much like coffee and wine with Gen Zers.They've be primed in the fruity Le Croix waters and now want to level up.It's also gaining traction with the wellness crowd who have grown increasing skeptical of just plain tap water along with purified water in plastic bottles. H20 connaiseurs now can try waters from melted snow that's been filtered through Peruvian rock and deep sea water that has been pumped up eighty miles from the Korean coast( you do wonder about salinity there). There is also water gathered from nets from a miisty Tasmanian forest as well as a Texas brand laced with lithium called Crazy water.

Most would ask - what's wrong with just a decent from the tap glass of ice water.There are a lot , especially Generation Z would would turn their noses up at it.people want to elevate water just from the hydration and turn into into an experience similar to wine or alcohol.Influencers continue to plug these waters.This is nothing new. Back in 2001 Manhattan's Ritz-Carlton introduced a water sommelier, a person who knows water like a wine sommelier Publicists began using phrases like luxury hydration options without irony. However America was last in discovering spring water.It started in the 1800's when many visited the update New York spa town of Saratoga Springs. Springs there offered naturally carbonated waters that touted health benefits. throughout much of the Nineteenth Century.Now there are more than four thousand waters to choose from, some are a few dollars, some - otherwise known as jewelry waters cost thirty dollars a bottle. The water people buy are divided into two categories purified and natural. Purified is nothing more than tap water that's been filtered  and s tripped of minerals. and impurities while natural comes directly. from the earth.

Water is being transformed.It's not just that drink from the tap. It's elevated with minerals and pure flavor.Is it worth a sip? Yes.

Honoring Marcella

 Marcella Hazan changed the way Americans thought of Italian cooking. She opened American's eyes to sophistication and subtleness of  Northern Italian cuisine with her cookbook.Now there';s a new documentary out about her that;s enchanting a new generation of chefs.

Regular contributar and restaurant critic Pete Wells, wrote about Ms Hazan , her influence and her documentary in yesterday's New York Times Wednesday Food section.Mr Wells saw Marcella back in Aprim where it was down at the Smithsonian Institute where some of her cooking implements are. .On display outside the theater  was here square cornered lasagna pan, her garganelli comb used to make the traditional lines in garganelli pasta.  her linen apron painted with grapevines and her risotto spoon. (Julia Child who was influenced  by her has her entire kitchen reconstructed in the museum's basement) > So many people were influenced by her work. She introduced Americans to a rethought Italian cuisine, one that explored different regions in both the North and south of the republic , and showed home chefs how to use the ingredients these regions were famous for. Before her, most Americans  lived on the cuisine that people from Calabria , Campania and Sicily .Most fled the brutal and feudal tenant farms  bringing with them recipes that relied heavily on sauces and pastas/Some immigrants were tradespeople bringing their businesses of selling olive oil and sausages to America.

Yet there was another cuisine - the  more varied cuisine of Northern and Central Italy. .Both Marcella and her husband were from Emilia Romagna The Hazans were Sephardic Jews with a thriving fun industry when they left Italy  - not because of poverty but because of rising Fascism.Ms. Hazan herself had two degrees in biology from the University of Padua and the University of Bologna. She taught herself how to cook in order to feed her energetic and hungry husband. She used the flavors and ingredients she was familiar with. As Americans embraced ultra sophisticated  Italian films , cars and fashion so did they embraced ultra sophisticated food. She told home chefs to cook vegetables in cold water for half an hour to remove grit. They should be cooked until tender but not mushy. She introduced Americans to balsamic vinegar, a move she later regretted because everyone from chefs to home chefs overused it.Foods didn't;t have to be fried in olive oil. She recommended the Northern Italian way of using butter with the American invention vegetable oil for a lighter taste. She showed a country what Italian food  had always been - art.

Marcella Hazan may be gone but her influence lives on . Restaurants and home kitchens have her to thank for bringing in the subtle sophistication of true Italian cooking. That is a legacy  that should always be treasured.

Sweet Homemade Easter Treats

 More than any other holiday Easter is the  holiday for all sorts of sweets.Not only does this include chocolate bunnies and eggs but homemade treats too. These are wonderful; after a savory meal of ham and asparagus.

New contributor and author of the newsletter Kitchen Projects, Nicola Lamb, give sus two classic Easter treats in today's New York Times Wednesday Food section one treat is more of a candy and it comes from Britain.These are called nest cakes although there's nothing cakey about them. They're the first thing British chefs and kids learn to make and they're also a favorite here in the US.It;s just melt chill portion them out in cupcake papers and then chill.It;s really a buttery treat because the recipe has five tablespoons of butter in it. Almost two cups of chocolate chips are used in it - although some American recipes also add in a quarter cup of peanut butter and/or marshmallow fluff.  Also white chocolate or milk chocolate can be used instead of dark for variety.Four cups of plain cornflakes are used . It's not a sin , though, to sub in Rice Krispies or CHinese fried noodles. Using a cookie or ice cream scoop, place the mixture in a muffin tin lined  with cupcake fullers. Chill until the chocolate is set although not too hard. Fill with Cadbury or robin;'s eggs, M& M's or Whoppers.

The second recipe which could also grace any shower dessert table comes from Sweden,Princesstarta or princess cake. This was first made for Swedish princesses Margaretha, Marta and Astrid in 1948 by Jenny Akerstron, a home economist teacher who also wrote a cookbook. It was originally called grintarta or green cake thanks to the lightly tinted marzipan icing. The royal association is still strong.The country sold out of them in 2012 when Princess Estelle was born.The cake itself is a dome of three layers of sp onge cake along with a cream and jam filling. This may be daunting for beginner bakers , especially the assembling and placing the marzipan on top. Yet it can be done. Home balers will need a springform or an eight inch round cake pan.It is a typical sponge cake made with three eggs and r=two an half tablespoons of vegetable oil added for a smooth ,spongy texture. The custard is a rich cream that has yolks and even butter added. There is also the marscapone cream added that combines teh cheese with heavy cream. There is the recipe for marzipan but a store bought one can be used if it;s tolled out. for the cake. Save a small bit for th pink rose on top.

Easter is the time for sweet goodies. Make something simple as the chocolate nests or something more involved as the Princess cake. either treat is a guaranteed show stopper.

Drinks Your Way

 Gone are the days of ord er ing a plain soda ,coffee or tea. Now drinks are c customized with a shot of this and a dash of that. Is customizing drinks the wave of the future? Absolutely.

Regular contributor Priya Krishna wrote about this phenomenon in today"s Wednesday New York Times Food section! Give Sonic and Starbucks f9r this.They were thefirstto co e up w8thcustomized drinks to suit customers` tastes. In fact many of Sonics more popular drink flavors started out as requests.Its the American need for individuality and energy that drives people to want to have a meld of flavors coupled with a boost of power.At CosMc, McDonald's new off shoot cafe customers can order all sort-of beverages31They are big om tossing in v erything from sprinkles and whipped cream to boba or tapioca pearls.There arestraight coffees and teas for those who aren t into this craze.Starbucks also sees that one in every three drinks gets modified.The three most popular are a shot of espresso, a pump of any flavored syrup and a cap of cold brew foam.Now independent coffee shops are also following through

According to Nic Modi a cohead of consumer research at RBC  Capitol Markets in Toronto Americans risk diversification have grown to vary widely.People love add ins in their beverages. However individual choices are not cheap.Ana Mills in Tallahassee Florida has so many extras in her coffee that the final product costs close to ten dollars at her local Starbucks. Her coffee is like a cake with its add ins of vanilla bean powder, vanilla syrup a lining of caramel syrup and cinnamon cold foam. Every month 200 dollars are gone because of desire.For some customized brews are an addiction.Adriana Loza of San Antonio visits her local Dutch Brothers Coffee for two mixed brews and one energy drink every day.She needs her cookie butter lattes for morning her Poppin Boba Fire Lizard drink for the afternoons and her Iced Caramel Pumpkin Brulee Breve for night.Without them she cannot cope with small kids or Texas heat, 

Is coffee just coffee, plain and dark and simple. Yes. However others c wan to add and add to this perfect on its own drink.Is this a trend. Yes.

AN irish Bread For Sunday

With corned beef and cabbage being this star of this Sunday's St paddy's day, it hard to forget another Gaelic staple - good fresh from the oven bread. Try baking a loaf to go with the corned beef or even just to have with butter and jam latter on.

New contributor and famed Hudson Valley chef Clare de Boer wrote about the famed brown bread fromBallymaloe Cookery School  in Cork in Wednesday';s New York Times Food section. This is the perfect bread that should accompany corned beef(and also be part of Monday's corned beef sandwiches). It is a simple bread  that Chef de Boer first had when she visited the school, enjoying it thickly slathered with butter and covered with tiny prawms from nearby Ballycotton Bay,Darina Allen the school's co-founder says its an easy mix, perfect for novice bread makers.It's also a good recipe for those who fear yeast. It's just micing it with water and treacle syrup, letting ti foam and then rise. Whole wheat brown flour is added.There's a quick rise and ten baking. It's origins are not Irish but English having been created during the Second world War by  nutritionist Doris Grant to make easy use of rations.it was less fluffy than sandwich bread but less cakey than Irish soda bread.it resembles Danish rugbroad but without its;s ourness and denseness.

Students who have attended the school now bake it for their shops and eateries that are located all over the world.Lily Starbuck a former student ,sells it at her cafe at the west end on Fisher's Island where the Long island Sounds meets the Atlantic Ocean.She pairs hers with butter and Camambaert and plans on having classes on it. Again it's a simple bake.The one thing to keep in mind is that make sure the yeasts foam when the molasses and water are added to it.If it doesn't;t then you have dead yeast and have to start over with a fresh packet. If you like a crunchy crust then sprinkle anything from poppy to sesame seeds on top. The flour is whole wheat, preferably stone ground.Use Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur for this. There;s also a teaspoon of kosher salt  (Chef de Boer recommends Diamond Crystal) and a tablespoon of molasses or if you can get it treacle.It;'s a very small amount of yeast, really  - only two and a half tablespoons.It;s just mixing the yeast with the molasses and warm water for five minutes until the liquid develops a creamy froth.Add the flour,Pour it into a greased pan lined with parcnhemt  and then bake twenty minutes at 400 degrees Farenehit,.after twenty minutes  carefully take the loaf outr of the pan and bake for another ten minutes..It should be done when you tap the bottom and it sounds hollow.

This ballymaloe brown bread is the perfect accompaniment to Sunday's corned beef and cabbage. It's also a great bread to make for a weekend .Try it and enjoy it's home baked sweetness and goodness.

A Fancy Take On Fish

 One of the most glorious dishes anyone could eat is trout almondine. It's a delicate melange of fish , slivered almionds and butter.Once the dish to have atr fancy restaurants it can easily be replicated at home.

Regular contributor Melissa Clark wrote about this amazingly retro fancy dish in her A Good Appetite column in yesterday's New York Times Food section.She puts her spin on this offshoot of sole meuniere. This was another fancy dish, that made Julia Child fall in lovewith French cuisine.It's just a simple lemon butter sauce but it quikly covered such veggies as cucumbers , radishes and beets to even grapes. It's no wonder that the great gastronome book, La Rousse Gastronomique considered these gauche 'declaring that this kind of ornament is quite useless and not at all keeping with the recipe. Yet the fish version can be varied. Ms. Clark roasts the fish instead of sauteing them. This lets you skip the dusting the filets in flour . roasting also is more forgiving. As for the fish, you could use trout for the tradtional route. Try cod or tilapia if you're into them. Flounder and halibut are also good choices along with snapper catifish haddock and grouper.she also adds zest .It makes the flavor brighter and amps up the citrus flavor.

It starts with pan roasting the filets  after seasoning them with just salt and pepper. Cut a tablespoon of butter into small pieces and place on top of each fish>Roast for eleven minutes in a 450 degree Farenheit oven. Keep in mind that thin filets cook faster than thicker ones. while the fish roasts , melt six tablespoons fo butter over a medium heat.Cook, swirling th e pan until the foam subsides and the butter turns nut brown. Add the almonds and turn off the heat. The nuts will brown right away.Toss them in the butter until they turn golden brown about two minutes. Turn the heat back on low. It's time to squeeze in the lemon juice and add the finely grated zest. Add a tabelspoon of minced chives , saving some for plating later. Pour the sauce over the filets and serve. You can add more chives along with t he lemon and the zest if you want a tarter flavor. What to serve with a dish this simply ruch? Ms. Clark recommends roasted or boiled potatoes  next to a mound of steamed broccoli or green beans. Their simplicity  will work well with the nutty sauce.

This is the dish to try. It's rich  and fancy but without any fuss. It's a great way to enjoy any white fish , especially during Lent.

Dragonfruit Drama

 Dragon fruit or pitaya is a beauty of a fruit.A bright fuschia rind protects the black speckled creamy flesh. Yet as with all beauties it comes with drama. There's a war going on , leaving farmers with an excess and financial problems.

 Regular contributor Christina Morales wrote about the dragonfruit war between Floridian and Ecuadorian farmers in yesterday's New York Times Food section.dragon fruit is becoming popular, especially as a flavorer for drinks. Taco Bell uses it in their iced teas and Starbucks combines it with lemonade or mango juice in their refreshers. This would equate tremendous demands and top sales to those farmers in South Florida. Yet they were slapped in the face when Ecuadorian famers glutted the market with it. They extended their season which would be going into the Southern Hemisphere fall just as the June crops were coming into being. This overlap has been a major blow to the Americans whose budgets have been tightened by inflation and high labor costs.Dragon fruit grows from June to November, with the fruits grown at the end of the season being nourished by artifical sunlight along with lots of water, fertilizer and pruning.

The US has always had competition regarding the pitaya. It is grown in Vietnam and Peru besides Ecuador. Yet it's the Ecuadorans that are giving the farmers the most worry. In recent year the South Americans have provided a reliable supply in recent years, especially during the pandemic when the Florida farmers had to deal with labor shortages.It also has more appeal because it's larger than the Floridian ones. It's popularity has increased in the last twenty years thanks to it being nutrient dense according to Jonathan Crane , the associate director of the Tropical Research and Education Center at the UNiversity of Florida. The fruit also has a nice flavor. Think a not so sweet pear which makes it idea for all sorts of recipes from cold teas and refreshers to sorbets and even salads.The problem is that it's not as popular as other fruits which would create demand for it. Many farmers are now selling it directly, trying to make up for this excess.They  also had to deal with drought which ruined a good mumber of plants as well.

The dragonfruit wars are on hold now thanks to Hurricane Ian. Hopefully the fruit will gain in popularity and both American and South American farmers can benefit. It's a delicious tasty  fruit worth the drama

Chinese Ribs Homestyle

One of the standouts in Chinese cooking is a rack of ribs or cha sui.There's nothing like a succulent gleaming plate of them for a delicious dinner. The only problem is that they 're a specialty usually found at a Chinese restaurant  - until now.  Home chefs can recreate this dish with simple ingredients for the same flavor.

Julia Moskin is the one tho thank for this. Her article and accompanying recipe appeared in the New York Times Food section yesterday. Chinese ribs are part of a way of cooking meat called  siu mei or fork burned meat in Cantonese, and is a specialty of the city, Guangzhou. It is where  the first wave of Chinese immigrants came from, bringing the recipe with them/Its' origins come people wanting this oven roasted cut in a time when Chinese kitchens did not have ovens. They were made in shops by experts,bringing the recipe here to the States where they were one of the first take outs. For Ms. Moskin, it is nostalgia and passion combined. The taste is a combination of salty and sweet, tender but not falling off the bone. The exterior has to be crusted with a sticky exterior. Think candied meat. Cantonese ribs can be replicated in an American kitchen but there may be some hiccups. One is the use of ketchup which may make purists blanch. The ribs' usual red color comes from a creamy funky bean paste called nan ru. This is tofu that has been brined and fermented with rice. A deep red strain of mold has been added and this brings unami, the savory taste that makes plain foods pop in taste.

Ketchup can be used for this. It has unami in its' saltiness, and in its' cooked concentrated tomato flavor. This American standard for fast foods doesn't seem proper to use on Chinese ribs however, as Ms, Moskin points out that's wrong.The condiment  started out in Asia as a fish sauce called ke-jap. It went through a variety of incarnations , with ingredients such as oysters and plums. Yet the tomato version is perfect for the ribs.it has a definite stickiness and caramelizes when cooked.It's mixed with garlic, scallions and hoisin sauce. Rice wine is added but home chefs can also use vodka or any clear spirit..The strong alcohol enables the other flavors to penetrate the meat. As for the meat itself, use baby back or St Louis style ribs. The ribs also need a steam bath to get that tender texture along with a succulence The baths are made by placing baking racks  - those used for cooling off baked goods - in foil lined pans. Hot water is poured into them while the ribs are placed on the racks. The baths are them removed and the ribs are returned to a 450 degree F oven or grill to  roast for twenty to thirty minutes. This will give them a crispy, chewy crust, Ms Moskin serves the ribs with smashed cucumbers. and rice.

Rib lovers will love this recipe. It's easy to recreate  these Cantonese ribs for a tasty summer treat. All it takes is a dash of ketchup and a steam bath to get these delicious ribs.

The Most Perfect Pop

What's movie night without popcorn, especially popcorn that's been made on a stove top?There's nothing like it, with the fluffy kernels buttered and salted to perfection.Now it can be made even better - if that's at all possible.

Melissa Clark tackled this in her A Good Appetite column in yesterday's New York Times Wednesday Food section, She had been making stove top corn the way everyone has for decades, cook them in oil and then coat them in melted butter and salt. That changed when she had Jessica Koslow's recipe.Ms. Koslow is the owner and chef of the trendy Los Angeles eatery, Sqirl, She has a knack for taking the familiar and turning it into the extraordinary. Her toast is what put her on the map. Slices of brioche are toasted until burnt then  slathered with creamy ricotta and served in a puddle of homemade jam. Her tweaks are not for the faint of heart home chef - or family popcorn popper .She uses two to three times the amount of oil for cooking the kernels. Think half a cup of oil for one third of a cup of popcorn kernels.That much oil gives the corn a richness and the fluffy whites a sturdy extra crunchiness, what Chef Koslow calls "potato chip sturdiness"/Her way of seasoning is also different. Toss the kernels in dry ones before cooking. That way the fluffy whites aren't sogged down by the  seasonings .

What kind of popcorn and what kind of oil should be used? Ms. Clark doesn't give suggestions on the first. Some food blogs recommend Amish Country which you can buy on Amazon. An easier buy is Orville Redenbacher .from your local grocery store. As for the oil, Chef Koslow recommends grapeseed for its' high smoke point and clean flavor, but you can use another other oil such as sunflower, safflower, canola and corn. Ghee can also be used.Ms. Clark pops hers in a mixture of oil and butter for a buttery taste without the sogginess. She has also combined oils with low smoke point fats such as duck(!) and bacon (!).If you want flavored corn, then stick with dried seasonings such as ground spices, seeds, chiles, nutritional yeast,seasoned salts and dehydrated herbs. Stay away from anything with a high moisture content such as Parmesan cheese lemon zest and fresh herbs.They'll turn the popped kernels into mush. The recipes included are a spicy Pimenton or smoked paprika, a vegan cheesy one that has nutritional yeast filling in for the real thing, and one that's combines cane sugar with turmeric for a unique take on kettle corn. Any of the three is the perfect snack for movie night or or even as an appetizer at a barbecue.


A good movie deserves good popcorn. Pop them this new way with more oil for the ultimate snack experience. Just remember to make a lot. This flavorful new corn will be more of a hit than the movie.

A Few Simple Tweaks

Vegetables are good . They are  chock full of nutrition and low in calories, yet many people avoid them. They complain that the flavor is too bland or they're not prepared in an appetizing way. The solution? Add a few tweaks here and there.

That's basically what Dave Tanis did and wrote about in today's New York Times Food section. His A City Kitchen Column is devoted to making those tough to swallow veggies zesty and fun.Think dirt candy. He targets cauliflower and broccoli, Cauliflower is a versatile veggie. The hot trend right now is ricing it, which makes it exciting to eat.It's also delicious as a soup and heavenly  breaded and fried. Mr. Tanis has many suggestions,  a few of the celebrating Sicily' love of it. The Sicilians bake it  under a topping of soft sheep's milk cheese and olives.Mr. Tanis perks it up with a dash of anchovy, garlic and hot pepper. Mozzarella and pecorino cheese  stands in for the original choice. He also subs in romanesco broccoli, a bright chartreuse spiky kind of cauliflower, but the recipe can be used for any kind of cauliflower. He also gives a pan roasted recipe that has the florets roasted with such herbs as parsley and rosemary, zested up with garlic and red pepper flakes. It's easy to create and would be great accompanying any roast. Mr. Tanis suggest serving it  with a lemon wedge.

Broccoli also gets some spiking up too.It is good on it's own or with a squirt of lemon or melted butter or margarine.As he states, the fresher it is, the better the taste.He also recommends getting the organic kind, right now coming in from California.Look for the smaller and multi-stemmed ones. The
way the stalks are cut can also influence the taste. Don't chop large,puffy florets. These will end up overcooked. Aim for longer, thinner spears. Mr. Tanis usually butter steams  which is essentially simmering them in a butter water bath. This will yield firm but tender stalks. .It is a great way to cook them because the broccoli soaks up all that savory cooking liquid in just five minutes.It can be jazzed up even more with a hearty sprinkling of toasted bread crumbs that have been spiked with red pepper
flakes. . It's topped off with shaved Parmesan cheese. Mr Tanis suggests interchanging these recipes between the broccoli, cauliflower and its' fancier cousin the romanesco broccoli.

Cauliflower and broccoli are good on their own but sometimes need some spiking up. Try them these ways, jazzed up with bread crumbs or oven roasted for a new spin. This will liven up the ordinary, turning them into something extraordinary.

Green Season

Now that summer is more or less officially here, it's time to take advantage of the produce of the season. Both Dave Tanis and Melissa Clark have done just this. Their respective columns City Kitchen and A Good Appetite in yesterday's New York Times Dining section reflect the produce now being sold at farm stands and farmer's markets throughout the country.

Dave Tanis celebrates the season with green gnocchi. The famed Northern Italian dumplings are usually a winter dish served with tomato sauce . However he mixes them up with a green pea sauce. Made with fresh spring peas sage, leeks along with garlic and Pecorino cheese,It's basically a sage butter sauce, with the sweetness of the peas and sharpness of the leeks. He also includes the recipe for homemade gnocchi which are easily made with Yukon Gold potatoes. These have some oomph to them thanks to Mr , Tanis adding nutmeg and garlic to them.

Of course he can also try the gnocchi with a garlicky salsa verde (which probably is often served in Northern Italy) that Melissa Clark made for her A Good Appetite column, Right now is green garlic season and she writes about it.Unlike regular garlic, they look more like leeks and sold in bunches. It can be used at any stage. The  stalks can be made like scallions and are good in soups dips and dressings The more mature cloves are great in anything from sauces to studding roasts. It works well in the fresh and verdant tasting salsa verde which Ms Clark uses as a sauce for seared pork chops. This can also be used for chicken, beef, fish or even a crusty toasted Italian or French bread.

This is the season for fresh green produce. These recipes prove it with fresh green peas and green garlic. Try these recipes or make up your own with these good greens of the season