EdHart.me
Some recipes don’t need a long list of ingredients. They simply need the right ones. When my Cherokee Purple tomatoes reach peak ripeness in the garden, they’re sweet, juicy, and rich with a depth of flavor that grocery store tomatoes rarely match. Pair them with creamy burrata, fragrant basil, good olive oil, and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt, and you’ve created a dish that celebrates summer in its purest form.
There are some meals that remind me why fresh herbs are worth growing. In the middle of summer, when the dill has reached its feathery peak and the parsley is overflowing the edges of the raised bed, this salmon recipe becomes an easy favorite.
Every once in a while I stumble across a dish that makes me wonder, “Why isn’t everyone making this?” Socca was one of those discoveries.
After a leisurely Italian-inspired dinner with good conversation, a glass of wine still lingering on the table, and the remains of pasta dishes slowly disappearing, tiramisu feels like the only appropriate finale. It’s elegant without being fussy, rich without being heavy, and somehow manages to feel both indulgent and impossibly light at the same time.
Orgeat is one of those classic cocktail ingredients that many people have tasted without ever quite knowing what it is, yet it plays a surprisingly important role in shaping the flavor and texture of a drink.
There’s something about roasted red beets that feels grounding this time of year: earthy, slightly sweet, and deeply satisfying. Paired with creamy goat cheese, toasted pecans, and crisp halved little gem lettuce heads, this salad strikes the perfect balance between rustic and refined.
If you’re ever in the neighborhood of Commander’s Palace in the Garden District, you can almost follow your nose to the front door by the aroma of bread pudding which wafts across the neighborhood. I always picture a looney tunes character, closing their eyes, nose to the air, flapping their hands and floating along the scent trail to the source. I always think of that when I make this recipe and my kitchen smells of cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla.
I ran across this amazing stonefruit salad in the July 2025 issue of Food & Wine, which used plums for the salad, but I’ve made it now many times with plums, plumcots, and peaches and it’s amazing.
So what’s a “semifreddo” anyway? It actually means “half-cold” and it’s basically a frozen mousse that originated in Italy. And it’s amazingly delicious, especially on a hot summer Alabama day. This recipe comes from the February 2023 issue of Food & Wine magazine.
