The Family Cook Book

This recipe was born out of availability, not the seasonal variety, the ‘it’s in the fridge and the date code is running out’ kind. Since making it I have discovered via overheard whispers that this is not everyone’s cup of salad, but what the hell? I like it, so here it is. April’s recipe from ‘A girl and her pig’  This is my Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon salad. The two main ingredients—carrot and avocado—might not seem compatible or connected, but your first bite will convince you otherwise. The carrots are roasted with cumin and paired with orange, both classic pairings for the vegetable. The citrus goes great with cilantro, and both are a fine match for avocado. Before you know it, you have this fresh, vibrant salad. I love the carrots roasted to the same creamy softness of avocado. The contrast comes not from the texture but from the fact that one's warm from the oven and the other's cool from the fridge. Sorry if I got your hopes up, but despite the salad's nickname, the

Yet another recipe from the excellent NYT food app, this one by  Martha Rose Shulman  I think toasting the Freekeh first makes a significant difference to the taste and texture of the Freekeh which can be a bit chewy for some tastes. This is great as part of a mezzE of different salads with some grilled chicken or fish alongside for the carnivores amongst us. The recipe There is a lot to love about freekeh, an earthy grain that I’d like to see catch on in more kitchens. It cooks up in about 25 minutes, and it’s light, like coarse bulgur, which it resembles, except that the color is darker and greener. But freekeh has a more complex flavor than bulgur. What stands out is its smokiness, a result of the production process, in which durum wheat — the type used for many pastas — is harvested while still green and soft, and carefully roasted in the husk over open fires. The wheat is beaten to remove the chaff, and in the Middle East it is sold whole or cracked. The cracked version is what yo

  I found this very simple recipe from Martha Rose Shulman on the NYT app but there are versions of it everywhere. It is one of those, quick to bung together, hearty but good for you, recipes that you can put together at the drop of a hat. You certainly could use any tomato sauce that you had sitting in the fridge or freezer and if you don’t have orecchiette then any of the short pasta that hold sauce well like fusilli or penne would work. I added a Spanish onion to the sauce and used a mix of cavolo Nero and English kale. The recipe This is true to the Apulian tradition of serving chopped greens with orecchiette, those little ear-shaped pasta, though the greens might be different in Apulia and the combination doesn’t always include a tomato sauce. Since I’ve always got tomato sauce in my freezer, it’s an easy dish to throw together. This winter version is made with canned tomatoes. INGREDIENTS 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 Spanish onion finely chopped P