Pesto

Adapted from Make It Easy in Your Kitchen by Laurie Burrows Grad

I have to admit it. I'm not in love with pesto, although I know it's Peggy's favorite pasta sauce. Maybe it's the way most Americans use it. In Italy it's not just plopped on a pile of pasta. Instead, it lazily coats pasta and green beans and potatoes, which sort-of meld together. But that combination doesn't do it for me either. Summer is coming and with it tons of beautiful basil, and the temptation to make pesto, which sounds so good and smells so good, sneaks back every time. I feel like I should like it. Having said all this, there are some things I like to do with pesto. I like to stir a little into soup, especially Marcella's minestrone served at room temperature in the summer; I like to stir a little into some pasta sauces; I like to stir a little into rice pilaf. In other words, it's a nice condiment to have hanging around to use sparingly. That's why I have a recipe for it. So here it is.

By the way, the recipe says it can be frozen, but I once read Paula Wolfert's recipe in Mediterranean Cooking and seem to remember she recommends freezing it before adding the cheese so I can't really help you out on this. I also seem to remember that Paula Wolfert puts heavy cream in her pesto (I might be wrong about this so don't arrest me), which seems like cheating - kind of like putting heavy cream in spaghetti carbonara or aoili. It generally makes it better, but if the authentic recipe police find out, they come and take you away.

1 cup tightly packed fresh basil leaves, stems removed, washed and dried
½ cup best quality extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese or a combination of Parmesan and Romano if you prefer the sharpness of the Pecorino Romano
2 tablespoons pine nuts
3 small cloves garlic, peeled
1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley
½ teaspoon salt or to taste (remember the cheese is salty)
¼ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper (don't ask me why white, but what the hey - I have to use it sometimes since I keep it in a grinder on my counter)

Place all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and process, turning machine on and off until well blended and smooth.

Place whatever you're not using right away in a container with a thin, thin, thin layer of olive oil covering the pesto, and refrigerate until ready to use. However, if you know you're going to freeze it, don't put in the cheese until you are ready to use it.

Oven Fries

Adapted from Joie de Vivre by Robert Arbor and Katherine Whiteside

Serves 4

Since this book seems to be staying in my head, I'm going to pass another recipe from it along to you. The author credits his cousin Nicole for this recipe, and I think you'll like it a lot. I do recommend that you check this book out for yourself. It's very pretty, and so far all the recipes I've tried from it really work, and there are a lot more I still want to try.

These potatoes are a great substitute for French fries (although the French don't call them that).

This is totally unrelated to this recipe, but Ann Patchett (Ann Patchett who wrote Bel Canto, a wonderful book) wrote this piece on Gourmet magazine's blog about why it's better to eat at home. I couldn't agree more so check it out to see her seven good reasons.

10 garlic cloves, 5 mashed and 5 whole
¾ cup olive oil
Salt and pepper
Rosemary
6 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and kept in water to preserve color (Obviously, if you're going to cook them immediately, don't put them in water. Whatever you do, pat them dry before you put them in the olive oil mixture.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut the peeled potatoes in half lengthwise, and make 3 to 4 wedges from each half. Mix the garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary in a bowl. Put the potatoes in the bowl and toss to coat with the olive oil mixture. Arrange the potato wedges on a sheet pan, one by one so that the rounded part is on the pan, and cook in the oven until tender and brown, about 30 to 35 minutes.

Immediate Gratification Jam

Adapted from Joie de Vivre by Robert Arbor and Katherine Whiteside

This is a happy book by a Frenchman who owns a few darling cafés, Le Gamin, in New York City. In it he describes Simple French Style for Everyday Living. It's wonderful to dream about this idyllic way to live. If you're reading this post, you obviously like - or love - to cook, so you've probably incorporated at least some of his ideas into your life already. If you get this book, and I encourage you to do so, you will find a few more.

Now that spring has finally sprung, and the sky is clear, and the air is fresh (even in NYC), and the trees are blooming at last, we don't have long to wait for bursting-with-flavor fresh summer fruits and vegetables to be available at farm stands everywhere.

This is a lovely simple recipe to have up your sleeve as strawberries and raspberries and blueberries appear, glistening temptingly in their little baskets. This jam is not preserved in airtight jars with wax seals. It's completely fresh, and you only make enough to last about a week because it keeps well in the refrigerator for that long. (And this is a perfect time to use the French jelly jars that we all have in our cupboards with those red plastic tops that sit in the drawer because we use the jars for drinking.) It is delicious on toasted French bread that has been buttered as lightly or liberally as your taste and waist allow. The crunch and the butter and the sweet fruit is a delirious combination that you should enjoy while you can. Then next winter you will dream about it longingly again and making it will become a summer tradition.
Strawberries, raspberries or blueberries*
Aproximately 1 to 2 cups sugar, depending on how much fruit you use

If the strawberries are large, cut them into four pieces; if small, cut into two pieces. The blueberries and raspberries do not need to be cut. Put the fruit in a bowl and toss with sugar until all the fruit is coated with sugar. Put the fruit in a saucepan. Add water to halfway up the fruit in the pan. Bring to a boil uncovered. Lower heat to a simmer immediately, stirring occasionally.

When the fruit has turned liquid, taste and add more sugar if it's not sweet enough. Once the extra sugar melts into the fruit, the jam is ready. It still looks runny but will firm up enough after it has been refrigerated.

*My favorite store-bought jam is a Swedish preserve, Queens Blend by Hafi, which I get at Ikea. It's made from red raspberries (remember, there are black raspberries) and wild blueberries and is as delicious a combination as I can imagine. So mix the fruits mentioned above at your whim.