Spring is here and my herb garden has expanded. My husband went a bit overboard and selected some varieties I wouldn’t have thought of. Besides the stalwarts of basil, parsley, oregano and rosemary, chives and sage, which were saved in the cold frame over winter, I now have dill (for homemade refrigerator pickles), chamomile (for making tea) and lemon-flavored varieties such as lemongrass, lemon verbena, lemon balm, lemon thyme plus flat and curly leaf parsley. This should make for a flavorful summer.
 
About a week ago my local ShopRite had Atlantic cod fish on special. I found a delightful recipe on The New York Times cooking app, Cod Baked with Prosciutto, by Nigella Lawson, using just a handful of ingredients. Besides the cod and prosciutto, you’ll need butter, salt and pepper. After reading the cooking notes of other cooks, I used some fresh thyme from my garden.

Recently in Lidia Bastianich’s Facebook feed, a promotional video was posted for her show, “Lidia’s Kitchen.” Lidia was demonstrating the recipe Cavatappi and Asparagus with Spinach Pesto. What timing, I had extra baby spinach in my refrigerator and only needed a handful of ingredients.
 
Besides the pasta (corkscrew shape), you’ll need fresh shelled and unsalted pistachios, fresh garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, freshly ground black pepper, a bunch of asparagus and Pecorino Romano cheese. The item I had difficulty finding was unsalted pistachios. You can find small bags of roasted and salted, but nothing unsalted. My local ShopRite’s bulk section had unsalted pistachios.  One third of a pound was the approximate equivalent to a half cup of shelled nuts. 

My late father-in-law’s birthday is the 26th of this month and my husband said, “He was a man of simple tastes.” In observance of his birthday, my husband asked me to make his father’s favorite meal which was meatloaf, mashed potatoes and Le Sueur peas. For dessert, my father-in-law loved lemon meringue pie.


Now my late mother-in-law, Nancy, was not a fancy cook, neither were most mothers of her generation. My mother-in-law also had a three-pot limit in preparing a meal. Her meatloaf consisted of ground beef and a handful of ingredients such as some chopped onion, salt, pepper and 4 ounces of tomato sauce. The balance of the tomato sauce went on top of the meatloaf along with 2-3 slices of bacon. The meatloaf was cooked in a 400° oven for approximately one hour, or until the internal temperature reached 160°. 

In these waning days of summer, I am using the best the season has to offer in my cooking. For guests the other evening, I prepared Basil Pesto Cream Cheese Filled Cherry Tomatoes...yum! Week 15 CSA box from Dreyer Farms had ingredients in which to make pizzas:  Antonio’s Mozzarella, The Breadsmith Pizza Dough, plum tomatoes, arugula and corn. I did my take on two pizzas that Medusa’s of Asbury Park makes. One with prosciutto, nectarine, goat cheese, mozzarella, arugula and a drizzle of Villa Grimelli’s White Balsamic Glaze. The other pizza was topped with sweet corn, sliced plum tomatoes, mozzarella, goat cheese and basil. I had forgotten to pick up a small container of ricotta cheese, however, the tang of the goat cheese played well against the sweetness of both the corn and tomato. ​