The Perfect Pantry®

Recipe for slow cooker Basque tuna with potatoes and peppers

When something is meant to be, it's meant to be. After hearing about the Montague Book Mill, a used-book haven for readers in a converted 19th century mill in the beautiful central Massachusetts hills, my husband Ted and I immediately planned a road trip. The book store was all we hoped it would be: well-stocked with books both esoteric and practical, formerly-stuffed chairs for leisurely perusing placed in every corner, and an adjacent café with coffee and sandwiches for sustenance. We each snagged a few treasures. One of mine, Slow Cooker Comfort Food, offered this recipe for Basque tuna with potatoes and peppers, which I adapted somewhat from the original. I had everything on hand, including chunks of tuna in the freezer, some teeny potatoes from Trader Joe's, and bits of garden tomatoes that needed to be used right away. The garlicky aroma of the tomato sauce in the slow cooker teased us all afternoon, and the fish, marinated in the famous smoky-hot Espelette pepper, tasted like a warm summer day in France.

Recipe for Italian turkey meatballs with sun-dried tomato and basil

When you hear "Italian meatballs", do you picture spaghetti and meatballs in red sauce? Of course. I do, too. These Italian turkey meatballs, flecked with sun-dried tomato and basil and garlic and oregano, are not those meatballs. I love how they display the colors of the Italian flag. This is a great way to use any basil you froze from your garden, or the less-than-vibrant basil you might find at the supermarket. Serve them in a wrap, over pasta or rice, or atop a diet-friendly garden salad.

Recipe for Greek lentil soup with red pepper and feta

To everything, there is a season. Everything except lentils, which are timeless. Depending on what you have on hand, and what you find at the farmers' market, you can pair lentils with acorn squash, or tomatoes, or mint, or fresh green peas. Or you can make this Greek lentil soup with red pepper and feta using ingredients you probably keep in your pantry all year round. Lemon, feta and thyme (or oregano), the classic Greek seasonings, all play off the earthy lentils; you can omit the cheese and substitute homemade mushroom broth for the chicken stock to make this vegan. Lentil soup freezes beautifully, so make a big pot on the weekend, and portion it out for lunches or worknight dinners. Serve with a hunk of crusty bread and a light green salad on the side.

Recipe for two-tomato bread salad with roasted garlic dressing

To squeeze, or not to squeeze: that is the question. Panzanella, the famously frugal Tuscan bread salad, dates as far back as the 1500s, and I'd be surprised if any two Tuscans have made it exactly the same way since then. Everyone agrees on the basics: panzanella must contain bread, preferably slightly stale; and it must contain tomatoes, preferably perfectly ripe; and it must be bound together with some type of vinaigrette dressing. Beyond the basics, each salad maker creates at will, using other harvest ingredients (cucumber, onion, olives) and whatever else is at hand. Some cooks like to soak the bread briefly in water to rejuvenate it, and then squeeze the water out. I prefer to let the bread soak up the vinaigrette, and retain just a little bit of its crouton-like crunch. In this two-tomato bread salad, I combine ripe red tomatoes with my own slow-roasted tomatoes, which have been packed with their cooking olive oil, redolent with garlic and thyme. The oil and tomato juices, along with roasted garlic, add depth to the vinaigrette, which flavors the bread. Thank you, Tuscany.