The Perfect Pantry®

Recipe for gluten-free mango and raspberry crisp with almond topping

The arrival of Spring triggers in me an instant, visceral aversion to Spring cleaning. I don't know why -- perhaps a lifelong rebellion at being told what to do, and when to do it. This year, though, I've been cleaning out cupboards, storage boxes and shelves nonstop since March. Tucked away in a forgotten file, a cache of recipes cut out of newspapers and magazines years ago contained more than a few recipes I still wanted to try. One of those little scraps of paper inspired this mango and raspberry crisp. I had a nectarine that was perfectly ripe, so I combined it with the mango; I think any stone fruit (apricots? plums?) would be delicious. The almond topping, a last-minute inspiration, made these little crisps crunchy and gluten-free.

Recipe for pan pizza for one (or two)

A couple of weeks ago, my cheesemaker friend Christine arrived with a log of her glorious chevre, and also an early experiment with a beeswax-rind goat gouda that was out of this world. Every bit as ethereal, the fresh, yeasty pizza dough her husband made for us (thank you, Ross) begged to be played with, right then and there. We divided the dough into six equal pan pizza portions -- each one just the right size for one or two people -- and cooked them one at a time in a small nonstick frying pan on the stove top. It was the perfect way to indulge our individual topping fantasies, combining homemade cheeses with produce from the farmstand and herbs from my garden, and a great idea for family pizza night or a pizza party. Create a toppings bar, with a selection of cheeses, vegetables, fruits and herbs, and let everyone decorate the pizzas of their dreams.

Tomato paste (Recipe: my own meat sauce)

First published in September 2006, this updated pantry ingredient post features new photos, links, and a few tweaks to the recipe. Please enjoy some fun facts about cooking with tomato paste, and the recipe for my "house special" meat sauce. In Rhode Island, we call it gravy, and we make it all year round.

My mother, like many "let's have TV dinners" cooks in the 1960s, made spaghetti sauce with Spatini, which I think was mostly a packet of salt mixed with a few flavor enhancers.

I don't blame her. After all, it was the Age of Convenience Foods, and my mother worked and didn't have a lot of time to cook. Her mother never cooked pasta, or made sauce, either, so my mother really didn't have a role model.

My own spaghetti role model was Patty, my freshman-year Italian-American roommate, who taught me to make her grandmother's sauce with canned tomatoes, onions, peppers, oregano and tomato paste. It was the perfect college meal; pasta was cheap, and the ingredients for sauce were cheap, too. And it was so easy to make the real thing.

Bye bye, Spatini.

Maple cinnamon matzoh brei recipe

Did you know that you can buy matzoh in the supermarket all year round, not just at Passover, and not just in the giant-size packages they sell during the holiday season? (If you don't know what matzoh looks like, here's a photo; it's a type of flatbread or large cracker.) In our house, we tend to buy the same plain kosher-for-Passover matzoh year after year, and to make the same matzoh brei recipe (my dad's classic) year after year. And we only make it during the holidays; I don't know why. I'm tired of the same old same old, and as proof, I offer this maple cinnamon matzoh brei (pronounced MAT-zah BRY), which is very much like a frittata or a really substantial quiche. Instead of the somewhat bland classic version that relies on salt for flavor, this sweet matzoh brei kicks off your day with cinnamon, maple syrup, and a bit of vanilla. I tested it on a group of friends a few weeks ago. There were no leftovers.