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Virgin Territory: Exploring the World of Olive Oil

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THE FOUR SEASONS OF PASTA - Nancy Harmon Jenkins and Sara Jenkins

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Nancy Harmon Jenkins: Writer, Speaker, Traveler, Story Teller

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A Warm Ragù for Cold Winter Nights

The other day at my favorite local butcher, Bleecker & Greer in Rockport, Maine https://www.mainemeat.com, I spotted a freezer tray full of chunks of oxtail and immediately grabbed it to add to my own freezer collection of odd pieces of meat. Oxtail is one of those once disparaged poverty cuts ...
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Pear Tarte Tatin

You could order a special tarte tatin pan for this splendid tart, but I use, as I have for years, a 10-inch black iron skillet that’s about 2 inches deep. A similarly sized skillet, maybe an enameled iron skillet (Creuset, for instance) would also do, but whatever you use, it ...
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Time for dead man’s bones

Some people claim Halloween is their favorite holiday. Not me! I respect its origins in Samhain, the Celtic celebration of harvest’s end and remembering those who died in the previous year, but its modern incarnation as a chance for kids of all ages to run a little wild and beg ...
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Tuscan Harvest

During the golden days of autumn, when the vendemmia, the grape harvest, is in full swing, Tuscan country bakers take advantage of the abundance of wine grapes to make schiacciata coll’uva, an old-fashioned treat that’s sometimes called ‘ciaccia coll’uva. It’s best made with the small, tartly sweet, dark purple grapes ...
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Extra-Virgins: Tasting the Best

Rolando Beramendi of Manicaretti imports visited us in Maine recently and brought with him five Italian extra-virgins--one Tuscan and four southern ones. These were intended as candidates for a structured tasting I have been hoping to do in October in Sicily. Right now, however, it looks as though that Sicily ...
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Apple Time

Farmer Victoria’s surprise gift this week of a dozen small green early apples, of unknown variety but rigorously organic and unsprayed, led me to the first apple crisp of the season. I follow an old recipe from Craig Claiborne’s original New York Times Cookbook, first published in 1961. When I ...
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A Very Young Traveler

By the time I was four years old, I was allowed to cross the street, our street, by myself. My mother taught me to stand at the edge, where the sidewalk, such as it was, broke into the street, and to look in both directions, right and then left. And ...
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Fond farewell to asparagus

Asparagus Risotto Because the asparagus season is past but the flavors linger on, I wrote this paean to one of my favorite vegetables and one of my favorite ways of cooking: Risotto. With a totally undeserved reputation for being difficult and tiresome to cook--all that standing and stirring over a ...
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Asparagus Season

My father, may he rest in peace, was a champion Yankee gardener, as proud of his vegetable garden as he was of the flowerbeds that surrounded his bayside home. He did almost all the garden work himself as long as he was able--preparing beds and cold frames, planting, transplanting, weeding, ...
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Best Banana Bread (with Toasted Nuts & Olive Oil)

I have made banana bread at least a dozen times since the pandemic began. Somehow there always seem to be just-before-rotten bananas in the fruit bowl. I take ‘em out, turn ‘em into banana bread, buy more, and watch as they slowly darken and it’s time to get out the ...
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Spicy Ginger Cookies for a Rainy Day

Back in the old days there came a time late in January when the weather might warm, the sun come out, the temperature rise, and there would be a brief period we called a January thaw before winter settled in again to stay for the duration. It felt like a ...
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Maine Lobster Stew

Lobster stew, in all its simplicity, is a total celebration, a glamor dish reserved for Christmas Eve or for special guests arriving from away who want their first taste of Maine lobster to be as elegant and restorative as possible. It really doesn’t deserve a recipe, just a list of ...
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Virgin Territory: Exploring the World of Olive Oil

Order Now at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound

"This is the definitive book on olive oil, and one that should change the way you shop.”

-- Amanda Hesser, co-founder of Food52.com and author of The Essential New York Times Cookbook

"Virgin Territory is smart, fun to read, and relevant--thank you Nancy, once again, for such good work.”

-- Deborah Madison, author of Vegetable Literacy and The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

“Nancy Harmon Jenkins is the leading American authority on olive oil. No doubt about it."

-- Arthur Schwartz, author of Naples At Table and The Southern Italian Table

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You can order “The Four Seasons of Pasta” at the following stores:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound

What Chef Alice Waters said about our book: “Every time Nancy writes a book it is an inspiration, because she goes into each subject with such enthusiasm and depth. And Sara is a wonderfully talented and intuitive chef. It is no surprise, then, Nancy and Sara have together created a beautifully approachable book that captures the vibrancy, traditions and remarkable versatility of pasta.” Chef Alice Waters