I invented this salad a few years ago on a freezing January in Boston when I was desperately trying to think of something vibrant and fresh to serve at a friend's baby shower. Something to offset the usual selection of doughy, starchy finger sandwiches and cookies. I remember feeling rather discouraged by the limited selection of mid-winter produce. Finally I picked up some firm, deeply magenta heads of radicchio, a few shiny ruby grapefruits and, on a whim, a chunk of pecorino pepato and a bag of walnuts. I wasn’t really sure where I was going with all this but it just felt right. (You're probably saying “grapefruit with cheese?!” but I swear, it’s delicious.)

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When my husband finally realized he was gluten-intolerant (after many years of horrible heartburn and at-times-comical flatulence), I had to abandon many of my special-occasion desserts. Of course there are great alternative flours from Bob's Red Mill (his all-purpose is a mix of garbanzo, fava, tapioca and sorghum) but it was also interesting to pursue baking without any flour at all. This particular cake recipe is based on ground almonds. It would also come in handy for Passover as it uses no leavening. I'm not really sure where it originated. Martha has a version with a schmancy topping. The New Yorker once featured Claudia Roden's. Of course I like mine quite a bit, even though I can't bear to use the word that best describes it:
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It is thought that the quince—and not the apple—is actually the fruit being referred to in the Song of Solomon; the one that caused Atalanta to pause in her fateful race; perhaps even the fruit of paradise. Today, in this country, the quince is not widely known, and is available primarily at specialty or farmers markets. It ripens in September and October but can often be found through December. The quince's gorgeous perfume, sweet and floral, belies its astringent taste and hard texture, which is sometimes covered with a sparse, velvety fur. But roasted, baked or stewed and always sweetened, quince takes on a rich, rosy color and a deliciously complex flavor, like an apple or pear but with hints of guava and pineapple. Most often seen as a paste to accompany Manchego cheese or in jams and jellies, Alice Waters offers this simple poaching recipe.
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I was in the city this week (I'm taking a novel-writing workshop at the New School that meets on Monday evenings) and couldn't resist these gorgeously purple, dusky and enticingly fragrant Concord grapes I came across at the farmers market. Plus I had seen Meredith Kurtzman's recipe for sorbet in New York magazine and was dying to try it. I tweaked it a little bit because I'm always looking for good ways to justify the $30 tin of fennel pollen I bought at the Demon (aka Dean & Deluca). It was SO GOOD—mouthpuckeringly tart and yet just sweet enough, full of the grapiest grape flavor ever (like Welch's on acid), and with that essential counterpoint of salt. WOW. Not to mention all the wonderful antioxidants. You simply have to make this whenever you can get your hands on some beautiful, organic Concords.
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My apologies for the wordplay. I simply can't resist. The talented farmers up the road from us at River Brook Farm in Cochecton grow a few grapes and I was lucky enough to get my hands on some. These green beauties had the most amazing smell! I don't know which variety they are but they were bursting with fruity flavor, sweet and tart and juicy. I was beside myself trying to come up with a way of using them and I finally decided to make a syrupy juice that could be diluted with water. Of course, we ate quite a few of them as a snack and now that I've been clued in to the nutritional benefits of the seeds, I have taken to chewing them (not that bad) or simply swallowing them whole (less bother).
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I get a little overheated when I start proselytizing about green juice. (Sorry about the blurry photo, I'm still trying to figure all this out/coerce G into shooting for me.) I owe my conversion to Sally Kravich, an amazing nutritionist who practices in both L.A. and New York. Her book, "Vibrant Living" has set a lot of people on the path to radiant health. (It was my great friend and longtime hairstylist, Sarah Mills, who turned me on to Sally but she's a whole other story.) Among other things, Sally uses iridology to help with her assessment of your health, and it freaks me out every time. How can she look at my pupil and know that my neck hurts??
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Do you think it's borderline Stepford to offer a house cocktail when you’re entertaining? It's actually easier on the host because you can make it ahead of time and then you're not playing bartender. Plus it gives your guests an option beyond their usual white wine or beer or whatever. I invented this one for our July 4th party and it was quite a hit. (Especially with me. After downing several, I did my Edie Beale imitation, singing God Bless America a la Ethel Merman and waving a lit sparkler around the yard!) It's a bit like a jacked-up Pimm's cup. I dubbed this drink “Smashing Summer” because of the muddling required and for obvious reasons beyond that, and I think the ingredients add up to a coolly refreshing high-summer cocktail.
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The first time I had a Pavlova was long ago at JoJo, Jean Georges Vongerichten’s jewel box of a restaurant in an Upper East Side townhouse. That might even have been the original source for his now-classic (and copied into ubiquity) molten chocolate cake. But it was the Pavolva in all its crunchy creaminess that captured my heart. This ethereal meringue dessert was allegedly created as a tribute to the ballerina Anna Pavlova on her 1926 tour to New Zealand and in fact it’s wonderfully light—and relatively low in calories. Balthazar does a nice one with mixed berries. A Pavlova is fancy enough to impress guests and quite easy to whip up. The version below, from Gourmet magazine, is served with lemon curd.
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