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 Chocolate & Zucchini
Clotilde Dusoulier
  
Alain Passard's Garden
Few things provide as concentrated a dose of happiness as a daytrip to the countryside. This is when the contrast between clamor and quiet, between exhaust fumes and morning mist, is the clearest. When every detail feels like a gift (a swing set! a donkey! fresh mud!), and when you know you had better fill your lungs and eyes and ears now, while you can, because it will all have vanished come nightfall (and don't lose that slipper again please).
Washington Post
Food & Dining
The Tomato Issue
Passionate Cook
Johanna Wagner
Salzburg Restaurant: Carpe Diem
Call them terrines that start with a "v", if you must. Pretty much anything from salads and desserts to a full main course can be served in a small glass - probably because they get away with serving you dire little amounts of food and charge you the same for one glass as your local Chinese would for a three-course meal. But cute as these glasses may be, there's always a lot of washing up to do, so it's not surprising that someone had a Eureka moment and decided to work on a container that you could eat: cones - also in a savoury incarnation, of course.
Vinography
Alder Yarrow
Winemakers, Watch out for Wasps!
The problem here will be immediately apparent to anyone who's ever been around a winery crushpad in mid-harvest. For those who haven't seen such an operation let me paint a picture: huge bins of grapes being dumped into crusher-destemmers or into tanks, and above all the crushed fruit, a lot of sweaty, exhausted winery workers, and inevitably some swarming, dive-bombing yellow jackets, wasps, and other creatures who are out for a free lunch.
Simply Recipes
Elise Bauer
Plum Galette
We've got plums coming out the wazoo at the moment. Every time I mention a potential plum recipe my mother's eyes light up with what appears to be frantic joy; she can't give them away fast enough and she's tired of making plum freezer jam (20 pints and counting). Unfortunately, the plums required for this recipe hardly put a dent in her inventory; little more than a pound is needed. But this rustic plum tart (also called a galette) is bright and delicious, and a great way to put some extra plums to work.
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Splendid Table
American Public Media
Fred Plotkin's Italy
We're off to Italy this week with Italian food and culture authority Fred Plotkin. He takes us to the luscious and evocative region of Marche, an area little known to Americans where the charm rivals Tuscany but you aren't likely to run into your neighbor. The recipe for Scampi al Prosciutto is from Fred's book, Italy for the Gourmet Traveler.
Cooks Illustrated
Current Issue
In This Issue
La Tartine Gourmande
Béatrice Peltre
A Tart with a Twist
So yes, even if you have heard me say this before, for this one, I can only encourage you to try. You never know. Perhaps you too will become as addicted as I am. Not only they are delicious, but with the use of olive oil or almond oil instead of butter, honey instead of sugar, they also make for a much healthier way to prepare a tart. What can I say? With a family member owning un magasin d'alimentation biologique (an organic store), I have maintained this simple motto: we like food which tastes good, looks good and which is also healthy.
David Lebovitz
David Lebovitz
Respect Your Elderberries
Even if you're a cheese whiz and you think you know Brie de Meaux, you may not know its Dr. Jekyll side—Brie Noir. Instead of being smooth and creamy, it's dry, crumbly...and very rank-tasting. It's like eating a mouthful of b.o. One tiny nibble and one can feel every cell in their body seizing up in revolt. When offered a taste I politely chew and chew and chew, then swallow. Yuck. Even the fly off to the right in the photo didn't want any. When the flies won't eat it...well, you can draw your own conclusions. But flies will land on and eat anything. And I mean anything. So if they're even staying away, you know it's a tough sell.
Traveler's Lunchbox
Melissa Kronenthal
Dog Days, Fruit Nights
August, to me, unfolds like a 45 record played at LP speed (why does this analogy make me feel old?). The same tune is playing, but instead of bouncing along with its usual upbeat tempo it drags its feet, barely able to muster the energy to hit the middle notes, the voices hoarse and lethargic. This pretty well sums up what I feel like in the moment; energy, creativity and stamina are all at their yearly nadir. Whatever the reason, though, these dog days are brutal on my appetite, and most of them pass in a haze of subsistence eating; a piece of cheese here, a hastily-assembled sandwich there.
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Cooking with Amy
Amy Sherman
Smoke Gets in Your Food: Recipe
"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is supposed to be romantic, but it just makes me hungry. It's completely primal. With all due respect to raw food adherents, smoke has been appealing every since we discovered that the combination of fire plus food equals delicious. The smell of smoky bacon or barbecue has been known on occasion to make even committed vegetarians weak. Sadly, I have nowhere to put a grill let alone a smoker.
Tea & Cookies
Tea Austin
I Promised You A Caprese
Back in June, on that day when life felt overwhelming and painful, I planted some tomato plants. It was an act of hope, the best I could muster at a time when the earth felt like it was shifting under my feet and I might never regain my balance. All summer long, I've watered and tended. I've taken my frustrations out in digging sessions with the pitchfork (a surprisingly good workout, kathartic to boot), and been delighted to watch these tender green things thrive and grow. And now, there are tomatoes.
New York Times
Dining and Wine
In Pursuit of Farm Fresh Flavor
My church is a farm. Give me a few chickens, a long row of carrots and the smell of dirt, and I'll find the open heart and inner peace others might seek from a prayer book or a pew. The connection between what I put in my body, the land around me and the miracle of things that grow makes me feel as if I'm part of something bigger than myself. But before you dismiss me as some sort of patchouli-scented wacko, allow me to share my hedonistic bottom line...
The Pour
Eric Asimov - New York Times
Clear Creek Eaux de Vie
So how does the fruit get in the bottle? Easy. Or maybe not so easy. It grows in there. Each spring, when the tiny pears just begin to form on the branches of trees, the branches are slipped into the necks of the bottles, which are then hung on the trees as the fruit grows inside. It is, Clear Creek says, extremely difficult.
101 Cookbooks
Heidi Swanson
Five Minute Tomato Sauce Recipe
Now, I realize many of you have romantic notions of what a good tomato sauce should be. And I realize it is going to be a tough sell on my part to get you to make a break with some of those hearty, meaty, long-simmering sauces. But it's summertime, the perfect time of year to lighten things up, and I'm going to encourage you to give this tomato sauce recipe a shot. You wouldn't wear a wool coat to the beach, right? That's what heavy spaghetti and tomato sauces in warm weather feel like to me. This sauce is a relatively pure expression of tomatoes accented with a bit of edge from crushed red peppers, a hint of garlic, and my secret ingredient - a touch of lemon zest which brings its citrus aroma and a bit of surprise to the party.
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