The Most Versatile Summer Salad

LONDON — When you hear “summer salad,” I bet the first thing that comes to mind isn’t a bunch of vegetables cooked within an inch of their lives and left to hang out so their juices meld and their flavors turn hearty and complex. These kinds of techniques are usually left to robust meaty stews or…

In SoHo, Fresh Fruits and the Tarts They Inspire

For Daniel Soares, a fourth-generation Balducci, the idea of a produce pop-up takes his family connection full circle. “My great-great grandfather, Louis Balducci, started with a pushcart,” said Mr. Soares, whose family has run Balducci’s food markets for generations in New York. “This pop-up is today’s equivalent.” Mr. Soares’s six-week project is named for his…

Would You Pay $495 for a Salad Bowl?

At nearly $500 for the salad bowl, you’d think Alice Waters would handpick and rinse the lettuces for you herself. But no, she only inspired the new bowl for the Permanent Collection online shop. It’s a beautiful piece, fairly shallow and 13 1/4 inches across, with an alluring natural pattern. Ms. Waters selected redwood for…

An American Tale

The author of “Heirloom Kitchen” is an Italian-American who attended culinary school and wanted to record her immigrant mother’s recipes. The project led her to explore the cooking of other immigrant women. In this attractive volume, she has recorded the cooking and the experiences, both daunting and gratifying, of 37 of them from 30 different…

This Gin Speaks Portuguese

McQueen and the Violet Fog may not have been developed for the Aviation, a gin cocktail that is made with violet liqueur, but its name, and the whisper of lavender, in this new gin from Brazil makes it a fine choice. The small batch spirit is made in copper pot stills with a raft of…

A Focaccia That Behaves Like a Pizza

I have traveled to certain destinations just for one dish. Recco, on the Italian coast about 10 miles south of Genoa, is the place for a type of double-crust cheese pizza called focaccia di Recco. Within unyeasted pastry as thin as Sardinian pane carasau is molten stracchino cheese. The focaccia is baked in a special…