Cookthink

Classic Tomato Soup With A Goat Cheese Swirl

What gives old-fashioned tomato soup its comfort-food super-status is its perfect sweet-acid balance. Chervil adds a delicate celery-like flavor that complements the tomatoes. Read more about this recipe in The Santa Monica Farmers' Market Cookbook.

Maple-Glazed Pears With Pecans

Here's a simple glazing technique that can turn just about any fruit and nut into an elegant dessert. The combination of maple syrup, butter, and pecans is just . . . right. The same glaze would work well on the pecans alone, too.

Cucumber, Carrot And Radish Salad With Green Goddess Dressing

Our version of Green Goddess Dressing is a variant of the original Green Goddess dressing, which was created in San Francisco in the early 1920s. It's a perfectly creamy compliment to these crunchy vegetables.

Spelt And Spring Vegetable Salad

Spelt is an ancient form of wheat that was favored by the Romans. In her The Provence Cookbook, Patricia Wells praises its rich, nutty flavor. This salad is adapted from her Spelt Salad With Peppers, Shallots And Parsley; we added more vegetables to capture spring, along with a splash of olive oil and lemon juice.

Pita Bread

The key to good pita is not overworking the dough, leaving plenty of time for rising, and getting your oven nice and hot. A pizza stone is required for this recipe, as are lots of clean kitchen towels. Read more about this recipe at Cook&Eat.

Cherry Clafoutis

To pit cherries, make an incision along one side of the cherry and slip your fingernail under the pit to pull it out. The cherry will come back together, as if whole. This recipe is part of the Barbara Kafka Dessert Anthology.

Cherry And Nectarine Clafoutis

Traditionally, clafoutis is a cherries-only dessert, but if you have stone fruit to use up, this is a great, easy way to do it. Clafoutis purists don't bother pitting the cherries. The stone is said to impart extra almond-ish flavor.

Chilled Cantaloupe Soup With Chives And Prosciutto

If you like, replace the lime juice with sweet wine in this simple, elegant starter. You can read more about this recipe on the Cookthink blog.

Watermelon Basil Agua Fresca

Meaning "fresh water" in Spanish, agua fresca is a water-based drink infused with fruit. I love basil and watermelon together. The basil-infused simple syrup gave a herbal note to the drink that really cut the sweetness and made it extra refreshing. Read more about this recipe at Coconut & Lime.

Watermelon Gazpacho With Jicama

This simple, no-cook, make-ahead summer soup is the perfect starter for your July 4th barbecue. Refreshing and cool, with a touch of heat, it’s just the thing to warm up the taste buds for whatever’s on the grill. This recipe comes from FoodieTots, and was the featured recipe for Root Source: Watermelon.

Rice With Tomatillo Salsa

If you're not making this for six to eight people, you'll have plenty of rice left to use later in the week as a base for simply cooked fish or as filling for a burrito. This recipe is part of Andrew Schloss' Sunday Dinners.

Roasted Waxy Potatoes

This may be our favorite way to cook potatoes. High heat makes them crisp and golden on the outside and pillowy on the inside. Toss them with butter or melted duck fat instead of olive oil for more indulgence. To brighten them up at the end, drizzle them with a little Champagne vinegar.