Tasty Recipes from Recipe Wizards

This recipe, from Amy Goldman’s “The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Table: Recipes, Portraits, and History of the World’s Most Beautiful Fruit,” is reprinted with permission from Bloomsbury USA.

Cherry tomato focaccia

Cherry tomatoes are always in season at the supermarket, so why not capitalize on the bounty with a pizza? In this recipe, the tomatoes get supporting help from spinach and walnuts.

We’re taking an express route by using bagged spinach, and we’re letting the chopped walnuts provide the protein (with crunch to boot). Because the herb blend will deliver zippy flavor, we’re using a low-fat cheese to reduce the calories and fat.

Our first instinct was to use an Italian herb blend – which would be fine. Instead, we second-guessed ourselves and took a French route with herbes de Provence, that delightful mixture that includes dried lavender. This seasoning mix is sold in the spice aisle of many supermarkets, but it’s not hard to make a blend yourself (see recipe).

And let this be a lesson: Swapping out herb mixtures creates distinctive flavors in any number of dishes.

TIPS

If you have time, use an unbaked pizza crust and follow its directions (they’re sold in specialty stores and sometimes even at pizzerias), or use your own homemade version.

If you have good Parmesan on hand, shave some on top of the less expensive mozzarella for added punch.

For a little bite, mix in some chopped arugula or a complementary herb, such as basil or rosemary.

BEVERAGE SUGGESTION

Italian reds, such as Chianti or sangiovese, will team well with this pizza. We think milk does too.

HOMEMADE HERBES DE PROVENCE

Combine 1 teaspoon each dried rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, sage and/or marjoram with 1/4 teaspoon dried lavender (which you’ll find in spice shops and some supermarkets). Store, tightly covered, in cool, dark place.

OREGANO ROSEMARY CHERRY TOMATO-WALNUT PIZZA

Prep: 15 minutes Cook: 10 minutes Makes: 4 servings

1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil

1 (12-inch) unseasoned prebaked pizza crust

2 cups (about half of a 5-ounce bag) baby spinach

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1 1/2 teaspoons herbes de Provence

1/2 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 package (8 ounces) low-fat shredded mozzarella or Italian cheese blend

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees or according to crust directions. Brush the oil on the pizza crust.

2. Scatter the spinach on the crust, then distribute the halved tomatoes over. Sprinkle the nuts over the pizza. Season with the dried herb mix, salt and pepper to taste. Top with the shredded cheese. Bake according to crust directions, 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven; let cool 5 minutes before slicing.

NUTRITION INFORMATION

Per serving: 667 calories, 51 percent of calories from fat, 39 g fat, 8 g saturated fat, 30 mg cholesterol, 51 g carbohydrates, 34 g protein, 997 mg sodium, 5 g fiber

Summer tomato bins are crowded with cute, little grape tomatoes, the plums, the beefsteaks-so crowded you might forget the appeal of cherry tomatoes. They make a perfect one-bite wonder when stuffed with a savory filling (many ready-made at the supermarket), then served up with cocktails as a premeal nibble. Here’s a five-step plan and five easy fillings:

1. CUT a small slice off each stem end of large, firm cherry tomatoes. (Save trimmings for soups or stews.)

2. SCOOP out seeds and ribs carefully; do not break the skin. (We tried a variety of implements: sharp knife, spoon with serrated tip, kitchen scissors – all worked fine.)

3. DRAIN, after lightly salting insides, cut end down, on paper towels. (Refrigerate until ready to fill.)

4. MIX UP fillings. “The Silver Palate Cookbook” suggests, among other things, a salmon mousse and taramasalata. You may buy them or make them from scratch. You’ll need about 3/4 to 1 cup of filling for every 24 tomatoes.

5. FILL using a spoon with a narrow tip, a pastry bag with a tube tip or a resealable sandwich bag (spoon in a smooth filling, snip a bit off a corner of the bag, then squeeze to fill). Refrigerate, covered, until serving. Garnish with herbs or chopped nuts.

Try these fillings:

Hummus: Make a favorite recipe or purchase prepared vegetable hummus; garnish with a small pimento slice.

Guacamole: Mash ripe avocado pulp with lemon juice, a smidge of grated onion and a touch of hot pepper sauce; garnish with cilantro.

Olives: Prepare a favorite recipe or purchase prepared tapenade; garnish with chopped parsley.

Chicken liver pate: Soften slightly at room temperature a prepared pate; garnish with chopped pistachios.

BGT: Blend softened cream cheese with a teaspoon of mayonnaise, finely minced cooked bacon and finely minced green onion.

Each season, the newest cookbook titles reveal the hottest trend in cooking, and this year it’s all about barbecuing. Here’s a look at what’s new this spring.

Who wouldn’t be impressed with a book that arrives in an oversize matchbox with matches on the cover? “Barbecue” by Thomas Feller (Hamlyn, $24.99) gives no indication as to who Feller is or where he comes from, other than a listing that says the book was first published in France in 2008 under the title “Barbecue” by Hachette Livre. The photographs are so tempting, it really doesn’t matter about Feller’s background. Eighty recipes range from marinated rib of beef to marshmallow and strawberry kebabs. There also are Mediterranean barbecues that feature souvlaki, squid and cherry tomato kebabs with pastis, with sides of Lebanese tabbouleh and bean tsatsiki with mint. For the vegetarian barbecue, Feller shows how to make potatoes baked in the embers with cottage cheese, and grilled eggplant with pesto.

-The most comprehensive grilling book to debut this spring is “Weber’s Way to Grill” by Jamie Purviance (Weber, $24.95). This step-by-step guide is not about absolute right or wrong when it comes to issues like gas versus charcoal, direct versus indirect heat or grilling with the lid on or off. It’s about paying attention to details as basic and significant as salt.

Purviance gives detailed instructions for checking doneness of meat, what to do when foods stick or flare-ups happen, and how to get great results with a smoker.

-Two Kansas City pitmasters have teamed to put all their expertise into “America’s Best BBQ 100 Recipes from America’s Best Smokehouses, Pits, Shacks, Rib Joints, Roadhouses, and Restaurants” (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $19.99). Ardie Davis is founder of the American Royal International BBQ Sauce, Rub and Baste Contest. He’s also known as Remus Powers, Ph.B. Paul Kirk is the operator of Baron’s School of Pitmasters and has won 475 cooking and barbecue awards.

This book is about the people who make the barbecue. Food tastes better when you know the people and stories behind the recipe, the authors say.

-”Serious Barbecue” by Adam Perry Lang (Hyperion, $35) isn’t for the hurried cook who simply wants to make a meal. Lang owns Daisy May’s BBQ U.S.A. in New York City and is the meat maestro at Carnevino in Las Vegas, and his book reflects his obsession with great meat. Lang shows how to make crisp and unctuous pork belly as well as Asian pork meatball skewers.

-”Fred Thompson’s Grillin’ With Gas” (Taunton Press, $19.95) says it’s OK to use gas over “real” fire. Most people cannot taste the difference, says Thompson, best known for his book “Barbecue Nation.”

-The BBQ Queens Karen Adler and Judith Fertig have written nine cookbooks that focus on barbecue and grilling. Their newest is “300 Big & Bold Barbecue & Grilling Recipes” (Robert Rose, $24.95) and it’s filled with ideas for making sauces, salsas, vinaigrettes and marinades, along with grilled clams, scallops and sea bass.

-The staff at Cook’s Country magazine visited barbecue shacks all over the country searching for the best barbecued beef, steaks and chicken. Then they tested and perfected those recipes for the back-yard cook. The editors of “Best Grilling Recipes” (America’s Test Kitchen, $29.95) say that grilling and barbecuing might seem easy, but it goes a lot better when you know the basics.

-Kansas City pitmaster Ardie Davis also has two small books that give expert tips on smoking and grilling. “25 Essentials: Techniques for Smoking” and “25 Essentials: Techniques for Grilling” (The Harvard Common Press, $12.99 each) are handy little books that would make ideal gifts for Father’s Day. In the grilling book, Davis shows how to plank-grill, fire roast, and grill in the fireplace. The smoking book is about smoke-baking, high-heat and paper-bag smoking, and smoke roasting.

-”Great Year-Round Grilling in the Southeast” by Ellen Brown (Lyons Press, $19.95) takes a look at the grilling styles in the Southern and Gulf Coast states. Brown, founding food editor of USA Today, lives in Providence, R.I., and is the author of nine cookbooks, including $3 Meals. The recipes in her grilling book reflect the ethnic heritages that are blended with those of the original settlers in the Southeast. This book is for the cook who is looking for more upscale, rather than down-home, recipes.

Here are recipes from the latest round of barbecue cookbooks.

Paper-bag smoking is a favorite way to smoke pork butt. Place a partially smoked pork butt in a paper grocery bag and finish cooking by slow-smoking it. The paper absorbs some of the grease and keeps the meat from drying out. This is not a recipe for the gas grill.

BUTT IN A BAG

3 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

5-pound bone-in pork shoulder

2 cups wood chips, soaked in water and drained

Barbecue sauce of your choice, optional

Mix pepper and salt together, and rub it on all surfaces of pork. Set meat aside while you build the fire.

Fill charcoal chimney with briquets, set chimney on the bottom grill grate, and light, or prepare a fire in your smoker. Oil grill grate.

When coals are ready, dump them into the bottom of grill, and spread them evenly across half. Scatter wood chips on hot coals. Place butt on indirect-heat side of the grill across from the coals. Increase temperature to 350 degrees by opening bottom vents on grill. When smoke starts to rise, close grill lid. Place a candy thermometer in lid vent. Smoke 30 to 45 minutes to get the bark started.

Reduce temperature by closing the vents until you’re at 225 to 250 degrees. Smoke the pork 4 hours. Place the meat in a brown paper grocery bag large enough to hold it, fold ends over to close it, and return it to the same place in the smoker, opposite the fire. Add more briquets if necessary, and close lid. Continue smoking for 2 to 4 more hours or until tender. Check for tenderness by pulling a piece of meat off and tasting it. The mark of a shoulder done to perfection is when you can remove the blade bone by pulling it out with your hand.

When the shoulder is done, set it aside in a pan to rest for 30 minutes, then move it to cutting board. Serve it Southern-style pulled (stringy portions torn off by hand), Kansas City-style thick sliced, or chopped. Some barbecuers like to mix in a little tangy barbecue sauce as they’re chopping, especially if the pork is still a little fatty. Transfer to a platter and serve.

From “25 Essentials: Techniques for Smoking” by Ardie A. Davis

SALMON GRILLED ON ONE SIDE ONLY

4 tablespoons soy sauce

3/4 cup olive oil

6 slices salmon fillet with skin, about 5 ounces each

Freshly ground black pepper

Mix soy sauce and oil in a dish and marinate salmon in it for 1 hour, turning frequently.

Light barbecue, place grill grate to heat over flames, and when you have nice hot embers, lay salmon on grill, skin side down. Cook 10 to 12 minutes, seasoning with pepper, and serve immediately. Makes 6 servings.

From “Barbecue” by Thomas Feller

TUBE STEAKS WITH PICKLED ONIONS

1 small white or yellow onion

1 small red onion

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup distilled white vinegar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons celery seed

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

8 all-beef hot dogs, about 1/4 pound each

8 hot dog buns

Yellow mustard

Ketchup

Trim off ends of onions. Cut each onion in half lengthwise. With a very sharp knife, cut onions into paper-thin slices and place in a shallow, non-reactive dish, such as a glass pie plate. In a medium bowl, combine vinegars, sugar, salt, celery seed and red pepper flakes. Whisk thoroughly to dissolve sugar and salt. Pour vinegar mixture over onions and stir to coat them evenly. Set aside at room temperature for about 3 hours, stirring onions occasionally. Drain onions and set aside.

Using a sharp knife, cut a few shallow slashes in each hot dog. Prepare the grill for direct cooking over medium heat. Brush cooking grates clean. Grill hot dogs over direct medium heat, with the lid closed as much as possible, until lightly marked on the outside and hot all the way to the center, 5 to 7 minutes, turning occasionally.

Place hot dogs in buns. Squeeze your condiment of choice alongside each hot dog and top with pickled onions. Serve warm. Makes 8 servings.

From “Weber’s Way to Grill” by Jamie Purviance