The Perfect Pantry®

Recipe for no-cook blueberry apple soup

One day a few weeks ago, I returned home to find a folded piece of paper stuck inside my screen door. It took but a moment to figure out who had left it, as Debbie and I were talking earlier about a blueberry soup recipe she wanted me to try. The recipe, from Yankee magazine, came with notes suggesting some changes, and when Bob handed me a couple of cups of gorgeous blueberries from his garden, I knew the time had come. I went far afield of the original version in creating this no-cook blueberry apple soup, substituting a small amount of agave nectar for the sugar, and eliminating the sour cream, but I kept the cinnamon-coriander spice combination because it warms up the tart blueberries. If you prefer an absolutely seedless soup, pass the mixture through a food mill. A scoop of lime sherbet would send this straight to dessert heaven.

Arugula, berries and goat cheese salad with poppy seed dressing recipe

It takes a village to make a salad. Well, it takes my village to make this salad: raspberries and blueberries from Bob and Charlotte, goat cheese from Christine (a cheesemaker-in-training), baby arugula from a farmstand up the road, all brought together by a simple poppy seed dressing from ingredients I always have in the pantry. One taste of this salad, and you'll want to move to my town and meet my friends, or at least get their addresses so you can collect the ingredients. Poppy seed dressings often contain onion (this one doesn't) and mustard (this one doesn't), and a little bit of sugar (this one does). I make mine just slightly sweet, a perfect counterpoint that doesn't overwhelm the bite of the arugula. Dark leafy greens and antioxidant-rich blueberries pack a powerful nutritional wallop -- a nice bonus in something that tastes so good.

Recipe for grilled maple-chipotle pineapple rings

When I was in grade school, I commandeered a shelf in our refrigerator for a science experiment involving pineapple and... something else, I can't remember what. The something made the pineapple bubble and ooze up over its dish, and as I recall, that meant the experiment was a success. My mother forgave me, eventually, after making me scrub the inside of the fridge, and for many years I stayed clear of pineapple, but now I love it. (Do you know how to choose a ripe pineapple? First, smell. It should have a strong pineapple aroma. Second, gently tug on one of the inner leaves. It should pull out easily. Third, the fruit should feel heavy for its size.) We're grilling pretty much everything these days, so I glazed ripe pineapple rings with a simple maple-chipotle sauce, and tossed them on my panini press. Sweetness made even sweeter. A scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt would be the perfect topper.

Recipe for cantaloupe and yogurt soup with ginger, lime and mint

 

Once upon a time, I bought a honeydew so overripe that, when I cut into it, I discovered more juice and less solid flesh than I'd ever seen in a melon before. The juice tasted like nectar, and I couldn't bear to consign the fruit to the compost pile. It more than made up in flavor what it had lost in texture, so I thought, "Why not soup?" That first bowl, a revelation, led to many others and, eventually, to this cantaloupe and yogurt soup with ginger, lime and spearmint from my garden. If your garden gives you basil, toss a few leaves into the soup, too. Use your favorite melon, or whatever looks best at the market: casaba, crenshaw, canary, orange or yellow or green. Serve it cold, on the hottest days, for breakfast or dessert.