This is the perfect thing for lunch (and it would make a great side dish for grilled chicken or steak): beans, cherry tomatoes, herbs, smoked cheese and a couldn’t-be-easier garlicky lemon olive oil dressing. Get the recipe over at writes4food.com!
In my kitchen, ingredients often give rise to recipes instead of the other way around. Recently, I had a bunch of leftover carrot juice from another dish. I had some garden carrots in the “rot drawer.” Carrot juice + carrots became Double Carrot Risotto. It was a hit! With its seasonal flavor and beautiful orange color, it’s the perfect recipe for this time of year. Get the recipe on writes4food.com!
Working on the theory that food that grows together tastes good together — and on a corollary theory that Feta cheese makes pretty much any summer salad that much better — I hacked together this recipe for Summer Melon and Golden Tomato Salad (did I mention Feta?). It’s so simple it’s stupid. Plus, honey-lime vinaigrette. You’ve got all the ingredients on hand or at your neighborhood farm stand. Get the recipe on writes4food.com!
I made up this recipe after we had a similar salad at a delightful little bar/cafe in Lucca, Tuscany. Couscous is the ideal base for any kind of salad—and this one has a lovely range of flavors and textures: crisp, sweet apple, salty Feta, briny olive, crunchy almonds. It’s kinda perfect, actually. Get the recipe for Couscous Salad with Apple and Feta over on writes4food.com!
I’m sort of a junkie for gazpacho — that most refreshing (and no cook!) of summer soups. This Quick Blender Gazpacho recipe is my go-to for the season: bright, flavorful, perfect for lunch on a hot day.
Who doesn’t love grilled cheese and tomato soup? It’s, like, the best lunch ever. And it makes a great easy supper. But—blech!—canned tomato soup. Nope, you need this Quick Tomato Soup recipe: really great, good for you and almost (almost!) as easy as opening up that can. Get the recipe on writes4food.com.
Traveling in Italy recently, we saw a whole range of prepared salads on antipasta bars and at little food shops. Salads made with couscous and roasted vegetables, or white rice and chopped veggies, or farro with cheese and seasonal vegetables (my personal favorite). I’m sharing on writes4food.com a recipe for tabbouleh salad, a Middle Eastern composition of grain, herbs and chopped vegetables that’s in the same vein. No-cook, refreshing, the perfect centerpiece of an easy summer supper. Get the recipe on writes4food.com!
Rob and I are just back from 10 glorious, all-to-brief days in Italy. Already, the trip has made a lasting impression on how we eat and live day to day. Here are a few journal notes … and some mouthwatering photos!
They’re here! Garlic scapes! What’s a garlic scape, you ask? It’s the cute curlicue that sprouts from the center stalk of garlic as it grows. Gardeners and farmers know to clip off the scape — it’s delicious! — and removing it sends the plant’s full energy toward the underground bulb. Here’s a primer on what to do with the garlic scapes you find at farmers’ markets now.
