When plans to escape the city fell through on a sunny Saturday, my friends and I did what any backyard-deficient New Yorker would do and headed to Central Park. Packed in our bags were the essential staples of a summer afternoon—a frisbee; a baseball and gloves; salads of the egg, fruit, and potato variety—and the bible of the season, Suzanne Brown’s Summer: A User’s Guide, a book packed with tips for making the most of a warm afternoon.

Like Ms. Brown, I am madly in love with summer—the smell of Coppertone is enough to get my heart racing—so in honor of the first day of the season, I bring you one of her tips for living life to the fullest in the upcoming months:

How to Play Beach Volleyball

Scout out a quiet place away from the water and sunbathers, then draw lines in the sand that measure approximately 30 feet wide by 60 feet long.

The serving player must hit the ball over the net and inside the court lines within three attempts. If the server fails to successfully place the ball within three serves, the opposing team gains control.

Players rotate positions clockwise whenever their team gains control of the ball (Thus, each team has a new server at that time.)

Once the ball is hit over the net to the opposing team, a player cannot contact the   ball twice in a row unless the first touch is off a block at the net. A player cannot grab the ball, allow it to come to rest in his hand, or touch the net. If he does so, he forfeits the ball to the opposing team.

A point is earned when the serving team wins a rally, or an ace is served.

The first team to reach 15 points wins. A match is played in sets of three or five games.

* * *

This summer (which officially starts TODAY!), before you head off to your beach bungalow, pack a picnic for the park, or spend a day in the shade, pick up Summer: A User’s Guide and make the best of this short and sweet season.

When I was a stressed-out, overworked high school student, my dad would regularly drag me out of bed at 5:30 a.m. so that I could finish my homework. I would sit on the couch as he cooked, rubbing my eyes, waking up to the smell of breakfast tacos and coffee. Even now, when I make any kind of eggs, I think of my dad, who taught me how to make them. So what better way to repay him this Father’s Day than to return the breakfast favor?

Here’s a short breakfast-in-bed menu from Bob Sloan’s Dad’s Own Cookbook, so you can surprise him with your gratitude in breakfast form. (If your dad is like mine, though, you may be rising very early on Father’s Day!) Though this cookbook is made for dads, it’s filled with delicious, but simple, recipes. Let the tasty items below inspire you (or use the book as a prop on your breakfast-in-bed tray, hint hint), and serve them alongside some buttery croissants or biscuits.

Slow Scrambled Eggs with Smoked Salmon, Sour Cream & Caviar

With its elegant presentation and delectable flavors, this breakfast begs for champagne.

Ingredients (serves two)

4 slices homestyle white bread
4 eggs
1/4 pound smoked salmon, finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons sour cream, at room temperature
2 ounces black caviar
Fresh fruit slices or whole berries

Equipment

Double boiler
Medium bowl
4-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter (optional)
Whisk

1. With a cookie cutter or a paring knife, cut and remove a heart shape from the center of each slice of bread. Discard the hearts or reserve for another purpose. Place the remaining bread in the center of two plates.

2. Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl. Stir in the smoked salmon.

3. Put 2 inches of water in the bottom of a double boiler. Put the butter in the top and set the double boiler on medium heat. When the butter is melted, swirl it around to coat the pan, then add the eggs. Stir continuously with the whisk until the eggs are just about congealed, about 2 1/2 minutes.

4. Remove the eggs from the heat and stir in the sour cream. Spoon a quarter of the eggs into each of the hearts. Top with the caviar and garnish the edge of the plates with alternating slices of fresh fruit or whole berries. Serve immediately.

Note: Fresh black caviar, such as osetra or sevruga, is usually available at specialty food shops. If you can’t find fresh caviar, you may substitute the pasteurized or pressed caviar that is sold in supermarkets, although it is not comparable in taste. Beware that the distinctive fishy taste of caviar is not to everyone’s liking. If desired, substitute a pinch of chopped fresh chives or parsley.

Café au Lait

With this special breakfast, serve a cup of café au lait. Brew the coffee as usual, only slightly stronger, and add a pinch of cinnamon to the grounds. At the same time, warm some milk in a small saucepan. Pour equal amounts of coffee and milk into each cup just before serving.

It’s true that the bruschetta I whipped up to take to a friend’s barbecue look fabulous—thanks to the recipe for Jan’s Bruschetta in Anne Byrn’s What Can I Bring? Cookbook. (Humility has never been my strong suit.) But, seriously, can we just forget about the food for a second and check out my hair? I mean, it’s not very often that the Coiffure Gods smile with such magnanimity upon a mere mortal. Just look at that mane! Every strand is in place! It’s softly shining in the late-afternoon sun that’s streaming through the window! For this one brief moment in time, my hair was, I believe, worthy of an Annie Leibovitz portrait. (Annie, are you reading this?)

For the record, the bruschetta were consumed quicker than I could pile the topping onto the toasts. (But, really—let’s talk about the hair! Here it is from another angle, next to my hunky friend Andrew.)

P.S. If, after reading this far, you still care more about the bruschetta than my follicular supremacy, check out Jan’s Bruschetta in the What Can I Bring? Cookbook.

Welcome to another installment of Inside the Author’s Studio, where we give you a peek into the minds and studios of your favorite Workman authors.

In honor of summer’s bounty, we’re celebrating with a visit to the (alfresco) studio of Myra Goodman. She’s the founder of Earthbound Farm–the country’s largest producer of organic produce and other products–and author of The Earthbound Cook and Food to Live By. Here, we ask her a few questions, speed round style.

Recent book you loved/learned from
Cutting for Stone. Amazing!

Favorite bookstore
I was at Powell’s in Portland on my book tour last month. Amazing stores, even one specializing in home and gardens, with the largest selection of cookbooks I’ve ever seen, and great gifts.

Hidden talent
Knitting ambidextrously

Bookmark, dog-ear, or virtuality?
Dog-ear paperback novels. Post-It notes for cookbooks.

Book you are most ashamed never to have read
Atlas Shrugged, especially because everyone is talking about the movie now…

Most frequent form of writerly procrastination
Getting stuck on email.

Favorite childhood book
The Secret Garden

Alternate ambition (i.e. If you weren’t a writer/Earthbound Farm founder, you’d be…)
A nutritionist or dietician who works with teenagers.

Your perfect meal
A summer harvest feast of fresh picked corn with melted butter; ripe heirloom tomatoes with buffalo mozzarella and basil with great olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt over a baby arugula salad; a bit of perfectly grilled steak and a warm stone fruit crisp with vanilla ice cream…

Big dream
To live in a healthy, thriving world free of toxic chemicals.

Super power of choice
To travel through time.

What summer crop are you looking forward to this month?
Peaches

What 3 fresh ingredients is your refrigerator never without?
Salad, fruit, and ricotta cheese.

What Workman book would you like to receive as compensation for your involvement?
Whatever my editor Suzanne Rafer recommends for me! (You’ve got it, Myra! There’s a copy of the utterly compelling, eco-conscious World Without Fish headed your way!)

—————————

Myra Goodman is the do-Gooder behind The Earthbound Cook and Food to Live By.

Ah, summer!

We celebrate its arrival this Memorial Day weekend, when the grills of America are lit with unbridled glee. From sea to shining sea, grillmasters and barbecue aficionados will offer up the standard fare: hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs, maybe Texas-style brisket if they’re feeling adventurous.

But for the maestro who wants to knock the socks off of family and friends, there’s a mind-boggling dessert that will confound, amaze, and impress them—and make their taste buds sing. It’s as American as apple pie—and often served with it, as a matter of fact. But here it gets the live-fire treatment. I’m talking about grilled ice cream.

Yes, ice cream. But isn’t that an inherent contradiction? you ask. Isn’t putting a frozen dessert over hot coals a bit like mixing oil and water? Perhaps, but in the ambitious, able hands of America’s master griller, Steven Raichlen, grilled ice cream becomes not only doable, but delectable, too! Read on for the how-to.

Grilled Ice Cream
from Planet Barbecue! by Steven Raichlen

The Scoop

Where: Azerbaijan (the easternmost of the Caucasus Mountain republics, bordered by Armenia, Russia, Iran, and the Caspian Sea)

What: Coconut-crusted ice cream balls grilled shish kebab-style over blistering hot charcoal

How: Direct grilling on a grateless grill

Just the facts: Because of the delicate nature of the ice cream and coconut coating, you’ll need to grill these kebabs on a grateless grill; suspend the skewer between two bricks positioned at opposite sides of the grill. You can use any flavor of ice cream for this recipe—Chef Mehman favors vanilla. Stateside, I’m partial to Häagen-Dazs’ crème brûlée; its burnt-sugar flavor reinforces the taste of the flame-charred coconut.

The Method

The strangest thing I’ve ever grilled? It’s a question I’m asked often. So is Azerbaijan’s most famous grill master and TV chef, Mehman Huseynov, and the hyperkinetic chef has a ready answer: ice cream. Yes, ice cream. Skewered on a slender ribbon of steel, crusted with beaten egg and shredded coconut, and seared over the fire. The secret to grilling ice cream is to dip the frozen balls in egg and coconut several times before grilling. The hot fire cooks these ingredients into a hermetic crust, which seals in the melting ice cream. It’s essential to work quickly and over a very hot fire to sear the exterior before the ice cream has a chance to melt.

Makes 8 to 12 balls; serves 4

1½ pints of your favorite ice cream

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups grated or shredded dried coconut in a shallow bowl

You’ll also need
Flat metal skewers, at least 12 inches long

Advance preparation
4 to 6 hours for refreezing the ice cream

1. Using a large ice cream scoop, scoop the ice cream into 2-inch balls. Place them in a baking dish and return them to the freezer to freeze the balls solid, 1 to 2 hours.

2. Place the eggs and vanilla in a shallow bowl and beat with a fork. Dip each ice cream ball in beaten egg, turning it with forks to coat it all over, then in the coconut, turning it with forks to coat it on all sides. Return each ball to the egg to coat it again, then coat it in the coconut again. Return the balls to the baking dish and freeze them again until solid.

3. When the coconut-covered ice cream balls are frozen solid, skewer them on flat metal skewers and freeze them again.

4. Set up the grill for grateless grilling, following the instructions below and preheat the grill to as hot as it will go. Arrange 2 bricks on the grate at opposite sides of the grill.

5. Place the kebabs on the grill, resting the ends of the skewers on the bricks. Grill the ice cream balls until the coconut is browned on all sides, 1 to 2 minutes per side, 4 minutes in all. Work quickly; the idea is to sear the coconut without melting the ice cream. Slide the ice cream balls off the skewers into bowls or onto plates and serve at once.

Note: Grateless grilling

In many parts of the world, from Turkey to Japan to India, grills do not have grates and the food is cooked suspended directly over the fire. The method is particularly good for grilling skewered ground meat kebabs, tofu, and glazed foods that would otherwise stick to the grate. The easiest way to do grateless grilling on an American-style grill, either charcoal or gas, is to place two flat bricks, paving stones, or pieces of metal pipe on the grate, one at the front and one at the back. Position them just far enough apart so that the ends of the skewers will rest comfortably on them as supports. The food will be suspended over the grate and will be fully exposed to the heat.

For more sizzling recipes, check out Planet Barbecue!

This coming week will be my first Passover without my mother, so excuse me if I’m a bit farklempt. She left us this past September at age 93, and for the first time I am making her famous chicken soup without her.

For many years her soup was her province, a closely guarded secret. If Seder was at our house, she would simply appear with her 16-quart pot, and no one was the wiser. How does she do it?, we’d all exclaim between slurps. Such flavor, such comfort. No one could beat it.

In later years, as her hands became shakier and her memory a bit slower, we worked together, and finally the many secrets of this celestial brew were revealed.

Yes, yes, I know what you’re thinking: YOUR mother’s soup is the best. Sorry. No, it’s not. My mother’s is the best on so many levels, and here’s why. She put the whole produce market into that soup!

How she would laugh when she would see chicken soup recipes from famous cookbook authors calling for two carrots and a stalk of celery. My mother used two POUNDS of carrots in that soup.

Most chicken soup recipes instruct you to add water to cover. No, no, no, said my mother. Two-thirds is plenty. The vegetables cook down and will be covered soon enough, because what you are looking for is that deep, dark, richly flavorful brew. Resist the temptation to add a cup of water to get another cup of soup, she advised.

Even if you’re not Jewish, you must use kosher chickens. The jury is still out on why they taste so much better. Is it the method of killing? The freshness? The salting? The blessing? Who knows, but there really is a difference. (Note: Kosher chickens are salted, so watch that shaker!)

Pack it in! Use as much chicken and vegetables as you can pack into your pot, or conversely, use as little water as possible, to produce the most intense flavor.

You must use fresh dill, and lots of it.

After cooking, reserve the carrots to be sliced into the soup later. Then squeeze the remaining vegetables well through a strainer for extra flavor. Purists will say, “But the best soup must be clear.” I say, give me a choice between clarity and flavor, and I’ll take flavor any day!

Lillian “Honey” Bart’s Famous Chicken Soup
While her exact ingredients would vary as the mood hits her, here is my mom’s recipe from a typical day.

2 chickens (3 1/2 to 4 pounds each) with giblets (no liver), quartered
2 pounds carrots (yes, 2 pounds, not 2 carrots)
2 large onions, cut in half
5 large ribs celery, cut in half
2 large parsnips
1 small sweet potato (6 ounces), cut in half
1 turnip (6 ounces), cut in half
1 rutabaga (6 ounces), cut in half
1 small celery root, cut in half (optional)
1/2 large green bell pepper, stemmed and seeded
1/2 large yellow pepper, stemmed and seeded
2 bunches dill, coarsely chopped (about 1½ cups)
1/2 bunch curly-leaf parsley (about ¼ cup)
3 cloves garlic
Kosher (coarse) salt and black pepper to taste
Chopped dill, for serving (optional)

Makes about 3 quarts

1. Place the chicken in a 12- to 16-quart stockpot and add water to barely cover. Bring just to the boiling point. Then reduce the heat to a simmer and skim off the foam that rises to the top. Add all the remaining ingredients (except the optional chopped dill) and only enough water to come within about two thirds of the height of the vegetables in the pot. (Most recipes will tell you to add water to cover. Do not do this! You want elixir of the gods or weak tea? As the soup cooks, the vegetables will sink and will be covered soon enough. Eight to 10 cups of water total is plenty for this highly flavorful brew.) Simmer, covered, until the chicken is cooked through, about 1 1/2 hours.

2. Remove the chicken and about half the carrots from the pot, and set them aside.

3. Strain the soup through a fine-mesh strainer into another pot or container, pressing on the vegetables to extract all the flavor. Scrape the underside of the strainer with a rubber spatula and add the pulp to the soup. Discard the fibrous vegetable membranes that remain in the strainer. If you’re fussy about clarity (and we’re not), you can strain it again through a fine tea strainer, but there goes some of the flavor. Cover the soup and refrigerate overnight.

4. When you are ready to serve the soup, scoop the congealed fat off the surface and discard it. Reheat, adding more dill if desired (and we do). Slice the reserved carrots and add them to the soup. Serve the soup with matzoh balls and mandlen (soup nuts) for Passover and lukshen (thin noodles) after the holiday.

–Judy Bart Kancigor

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Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family and the recently released Workman Short The Perfect Passover Cookbook: Family-Tested Recipes for Matzoh Ball Soup, Kugel, Haroset, and More, Plus 25 Desserts. A freelance food writer and columnist for the Orange County Register, Judy started Cooking Jewish as a family project. To find out more, go to http://cookingjewish.com.

It may be overcast here in New York, but we’re still feeling optimistic about those sure-to-come days of sunshine and warm weather. In honor of the season, we asked prolific gardener and accomplished cook Barbara Damrosch, author of The Garden Primer, to answer a few questions about how to reap the fruits (literally) of the spring harvest. Read on for her answers (they’re just below the photo of the charming New England kitchen where Barbara crafts meals that often start with her homegrown produce!).

Has spring sprung in Maine—or is your garden still under a blanket of snow?

Still a blanket, but there are some holes in it. Winter hangs on very late on the coast of Maine, because the ocean takes so long to warm up. Temperatures are still in the 30s, and it’s April! But some of my favorite signs of spring have appeared: the killdeer that build their perfect four-egg nests in our fields, the pussy willows, and, of course, mud. Living, breathing mud.

What fruits and vegetables are in season now? Which is your favorite?

Since we grow partly in greenhouses at Four Season Farm, there is quite a bit in season now. We’ve been harvesting spinach since fall in unheated greenhouses, joined in early March by baby leaf salad mix, head lettuce, arugula, radishes, tatsoi, Chinese broccoli, pac choi and scallions. My favorite is the pac choi, picked when the heads are only about 8 inches long. They’re deliciously mild and tender, the tops bright green and the white stems crisp and succulent.

How do you plan to prepare them?

I use them cooked in stir-fries and raw in salads, but my favorite thing is to slice them and serve them raw underneath fresh seafood. Tuesday night they were topped with lemony salmon. Tonight it’s going to be tiny Maine shrimp seared in garlic butter, and round red radishes sliced very thin.

What fruit or vegetable are you most looking forward to harvesting come summer?

I’d have to name three. Heirloom tomatoes such as Brandywine and Striped German. Charentais melons, perfumed and sweet. And raspberries, eaten by the handful right in the row. And a fourth: garden peas eaten the same way.

Any quick advice for gardeners looking to prep their tracts for the spring?

The most important thing is to keep from handling the soil until it has dried out. It should feel like a squeezed-out sponge, not a dripping one. Otherwise, you’ll do great damage to the soil’s structure. That’s why it’s best to dig or till in any soil amendments in fall. If you have done that, you could poke in early peas while it’s still a bit moist. Otherwise wait a while to dig in that all-important compost, even if it means missing out on some early crops. If it’s an unusually long, wet spring, use boards to walk on in the garden, and apply the compost on the soil surface, on each side of the row. It will work its way in later as you weed and cultivate.

Complete this sentence: When I’m not gardening or cooking, I can most often be found…

At the computer, writing books for Workman and my weekly column “A Cook’s Garden” in The Washington Post.

Wouldn’t you know it, that holiday everyone loves to hate is coming up: Valentine’s Day. But instead of moping around, sending flirtatious texts to your would-be Romeo, or wallowing in a vat of chocolate, we have an alternative activity for you. A Valentine’s Day cookie swap! It can be lovey-dovey or grumpy; to accompany the cookies, you can serve bittersweet souffles, decadent chocolate layer cake, or solely raw vegetables and protein bars. But please do yourselves a favor and make these Mini Hazelnut Linzer Hearts, no matter what the sentiment! (Unless you have a nut allergy, that is.)

Mini Hazelnut Linzer Hearts

Makes: 36 small sandwich cookies

Bake time: 10 to 12 minutes

Linzer sandwiches are so rich that large cookies often go half-eaten. But bite-size Linzer hearts give you all the Viennese-style decadence of a big cookie with half the guilt (which–let’s be honest–means you can eat more of them!). These cookies are made with two sizes of cookie cutters–a larger heart to cut out the cookies and a smaller one to create the window; you can find them at Williams-Sonoma or N.Y. Cake & Baking Distributor (where the small ones are sold in a set of aspic cutters).

1 cup skinned hazelnuts*
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for working the dough
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

1. Place the hazelnuts and 1/3 cup of the sugar in a food processor and pulse 8 to 10 times until very finely ground (the mixture should resemble very coarse sand).

2. Place the butter and the remaining 1/3 cup of the sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat together with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Add the flour, salt, and the hazelnut mixture and mix on low speed until the dough comes together in a ball.

3. Divide the dough into three parts and, on a lightly floured surface with lightly floured hands, press it into three 1/2-inch-thick disks. Wrap the disks in plastic and refrigerate them for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days. (At this point, the dough may be wrapped in a double layer of plastic and then a layer of heavy-duty foil and frozen for up to 1 month. Defrost it in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours or overnight before proceeding with step 4.)

4. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper.

5. Remove one of the dough disks from the refrigerator and knead it 4 or 5 times on a lightly floured work surface to soften it. With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out the dough to a thickness of a scant 1/4 inch. Use a 1 1/2-inch heart-shaped cutter to cut out as many hearts as you can. Place the hearts on the prepared baking sheets and use a smaller heart-shaped cutter to cut a peek-a-boo center into half of the cookies. Alternatively, use a skewer to poke holes in half of the cookies. (These holes should be in rows, about 1/4-inch apart from each other.)

6. Bake the cookies until they are lightly golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Slide the parchment sheets with the cookies onto wire racks and let the cookies cool completely.

7. Roll, cut, and bake the remaining disks of dough (and any scraps), using fresh parchment paper, as directed.

8. To assemble the cookies, use a small offset spatula to spread about 1/4 teaspoon of jam on each of the un-poked hearts; spread the jam to within 1/8 inch of the edge. Lightly sift some confectioners’ sugar over the poked hearts and place each on top of the jam-covered hearts.

*Use this technique to skin the hazelnuts: Place the hazelnuts in a saucepan and cover them with water to a depth of 1 inch. Add a tablespoon of baking soda and bring to a boil for 3 minutes. Strain the nuts under cold running water, rubbing them between your palms. The skins will completely dissolve. Pat the hazelnuts dry before using them.

Mini Hazelnut Linzer Hearts will keep, layered between parchment paper, in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

-Liz, editorial assistant, who does in fact have a nut allergy, but wishes she could eat these anyway, because they are so beautiful. Oh yeah, there they are on the cover of the book!

When looking for a mouthwatering and crowd-pleasing recipe for Super Bowl Sunday, we know who to ask–Steven Raichlen’s crew. We asked Steven’s friend and fearless winter griller Nancy Loseke to share some of her most memorable Super Bowl dishes and recipes in anticipation of this weekend’s game.

If you are hosting a party this Sunday celebrating that unique fusion of football and food known as the Super Bowl, there’s someone I’d like to introduce you to: my friend, Steven Raichlen—grillmaster extraordinaire, author, and the host of “Primal Grill” on PBS.

Steven’s encyclopedic knowledge of the world’s grilling traditions is unparalleled. His iconic Barbecue Bible series of books (over 4 million copies sold) has been translated into 15 languages.

For years, Steven’s been a constant—albeit a virtual one—at my Super Bowl parties, deftly guiding my menu choices, refining my grilling techniques, and ensuring my guests have a great experience regardless of who wins the game…or the betting pool. (Am not sure why, but I have never been able to convince him to travel in early February from toasty Miami, Florida, to snowy northern Ohio.)

People are still talking about the party in 2006—Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Seattle Seahawks—that featured Steven’s fabulous Smoky Mac ‘n’ Cheese and several iterations of ribs. (At the time, Steven and I were furiously testing recipes for Raichlen on Ribs, which was released by Workman Publishing that spring.) Pulled pork reigned in 2009.

Last year—Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New Orleans Saints—Steven’s Cajun Wings stole the show.

What a privilege it’s been to have him and his extraordinary expertise on my “team” come Super Bowl Sunday. And now, for less than half what you’d pay for a beer at Cowboys Stadium February 6, you can recruit Steven, too: Download Raichlen’s TAILGATING: 31 Righteous Recipes for On-the-Go Grilling (Workman, 2011) on your Kindle, Nook, iPad, or even a computer armed with e-book reading capability.

In this convenient e-book, Steven has consolidated his favorite tailgating tips and recipes. He astutely recommends, for example, building your game day menu around “a large hunk of meat that serves lots of people but needs relatively little tending”. His Bratwurst “Hot Tub” will make Packers fans smile. Steelers fans will love Steven’s riff on “The Great American Hamburger”.

And not even the staunchest gridiron partisans will turn down Smoked Chicken Quesadillas with Cilantro and Pepper Jack Cheese (recipe below). Poppers. Wings. Dagwoods. All there, from appetizers to desserts.

The clock’s ticking…the party’s this weekend. Be on the winning team. Download Raichlen’s TAILGATING: 31 Righteous Recipes for On-the-Go Grilling today from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Smoked Chicken Quesadillas with Cilantro and Pepper Jack Cheese
Makes 4 quesadillas, can be multiplied as needed

Method: Direct grilling
Cooking time: 2 to 6 minutes
Advance preparation: You can assemble the quesadillas up to 30 minutes ahead, but you don’t need to. The whole point of a quesadilla is its speed and spontaneity.

Quesadillas are often described as Mexican grilled cheese sandwiches, but the truth is that most Mexicans cook quesadillas by deep-frying or pan-frying them. So leave the grilling to us. Like so much in our food culture, we Americans not only embrace the specialties of our neighbors and immigrants, we make them our own. These quesadillas explode with barbecue flavor—from the smoked chicken, from the pepper Jack cheese, and of course, from charring the quesadillas on the grill. The pico de gallo salsa is optional.

4 large (8 to 10 inches) flour tortillas
1 cup shredded smoked chicken
2 cups shredded cheese (I like a half-and-half mixture of pepper Jack cheese and sharp cheddar)
½ cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
2 scallions, both white and green parts, trimmed and finely chopped
2 fresh or pickled jalapeño peppers, thinly sliced crosswise
2 tablespoons (¼ stick) butter (either salted or unsalted is OK), melted
Pico de Gallo (optional, recipe follows)

1. Place a tortilla on a work surface. Sprinkle one half of the tortilla with a quarter of the chicken, cheese, cilantro, scallions, and jalapeños. Fold the other half of the tortilla over the top to make a half-moon shaped quesadilla. Assemble the remaining quesadillas the same way. Lightly brush both sides of each quesadilla with the butter, turning them carefully. The quesadillas can be prepared to this stage up to 30 minutes ahead.
2. Set up the grill for direct grilling and preheat it to medium-high.
3. When ready to cook, brush and oil the grill grate well. Arrange the quesadillas on the hot grate and grill them until the bottoms are golden brown, 1 to 3 minutes. Using a spatula, turn the quesadillas and grill the second side until the cheese is melted, 1 to 3 minutes. Keep an eye on the quesadillas—they burn easily. Serve the quesadillas at once, with the pico de gallo on the side, if desired.

Pico de Gallo
Literally translated as rooster beak, pico de gallo is the most basic Mexican salsa, found in one version or other from Sonora to Chiapas. Perhaps the salsa takes its name from its pugnacious bite. Because there’s no cooking, this salsa lives or dies by the quality of the raw materials—for example tomatoes so luscious and ripe, they go splat if they fall off the worktable.

Makes about 1½ cups

1 large or 2 medium-size luscious, red ripe tomatoes, diced
½ medium-size Vidalia or other sweet onion, finely diced
1 to 3 jalapeño peppers, seeded and finely diced (for a hotter salsa, leave the seeds in)
½ cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, or more to taste

Combine the tomato(es), onion, jalapeño(s), cilantro, and lime juice in a mixing bowl and gently stir to mix. Taste for seasoning, adding more lime juice as necessary. You can chop the ingredients ahead of time but the salsa tastes best mixed within 15 minutes of serving. The salsa will be quite moist.



Whether it’s a dietary choice or due to allergies, more and more people are going gluten-free. Here are some tips for keeping gluten-free dishes completely uncontaminated by gluten, even in a standard gluten-using kitchen.

For more about gluten, check out Friday’s post, All About Gluten. For gluten-free baking recipes, look in Anne Byrn’s new book The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free

• Always wash pans and utensils well with soap and hot water. Place pans and utensils that come into contact with wheat gluten in the dishwasher.
• Decrumb drawers that hold baking utensils so as not to cross-contaminate them.
• Or, set up a separate drawer or pantry for your gluten-free utensils.
• Set aside a separate cutting board for baking gluten-free.
• Have a separate sifter, spatulas, wooden spoons (older cracked spoons can hold flour in the cracks), and beaters for the electric mixer for gluten-free baking.
• Cover baking sheets with aluminum foil before making cookies.