Add cassava to that wardrobe of tortillas. A new line, Coyotas, is an alternative to flour tortillas. It uses gluten-free organic cassava flour and organic coconut oil with only water and salt. The result behaves like flour tortillas, holds up well with fillings and comes in three sizes: small for tacos, medium for larger tacos and quesadillas, and large for burritos and other wraps. The company, based in San Diego, was started by Janet Flores Pavlovich, a native of Hermosillo in Sonora, in Northern Mexico, where the flour tortilla reigns. She learned to make them in her hometown and while she was at it, innovated by using cassava flour. And in one of those felicitous culinary accidents like the Toll House cookie, wound up with a gluten-free product. There are 12 in a pack of small, eight of medium and six of large; three packs for $37.50.
Coyotas cassava tortillas, eatcoyotas.com.
A Gift Basket for Caper Obsessives
I’m not sure I would have given my mother a gift basket of herbs and capers from the volcanic Sicilian island of Pantelleria for Mother’s Day. But for me? Any time. John A. Savittieri, a furniture designer from Maplewood, N.J., was exploring his family’s roots on the island when he became hooked on capers, the savory buds of the capparis spinosa flower that thrive there. Fast forward a year or so, he’s now importing them, tiny or piccoli ones, packed in Trapani sea salt (rinse it off), along with larger caper berries, fragrant dried herbs and the salt, all starting at $4.50. The gift basket, $132.50, comes with a ceramic caper-keeper box shaped like the dammuso houses of the island.
A&J Savittieri Prodotti di Pantelleria capers, eatcapers.com.
A Twist on a Neapolitan Easter Specialty
A new take on Pastiera di Grano, a Neapolitan Easter specialty that legend says was created by a nun, can grace your holiday table this year. Kara Blitz, the new pastry chef at Lincoln Ristorante in Lincoln Center, makes a lovely version, more delicate than some, incorporating tiny wheat berries in the orange-scented custard filling made with buffalo ricotta, mascarpone and orange confit. Tradition has it that the nun wanted to capture the orange fragrance from the convent gardens in her tart. Ms. Blitz bakes hers in a rectangle with a lattice top, enough to serve eight to 10. It’s available, pre-ordered online, for pickup this week through Easter Sunday at the restaurant, $42.
142 West 65th Street, lincolnristorante.com.
