Cathy Barrow

Cathy Barrow · NYT Cooking

The scent of blueberry pie bubbling away in the oven is comforting and familiar, especially in high summer, when pie baking can become a daily event. But just imagine that summery smell, and taste, in deepest winter. This pie filling, which uses cornstarch as a thickener, has a shelf life of about nine months, so the best of summer can be yours in the winter, too.

Cathy Barrow · NYT Cooking

Cathy Barrow · NYT Cooking

This homemade liqueur is the perfect addition to many a beachy cocktail, served in frosty glasses and sipped on a porch at sunset. The margarita, the Cosmopolitan and the ever-dangerous Lemon Drop are all made more refreshing by its bright citrus flavor. Given all the types of citrus available, and the simplicity of this recipe, it’s worth experimenting. The recipe here provides the essentials (ratios and techniques) with permission to make the infusion your own.

Cathy Barrow · NYT Cooking

Cathy Barrow · NYT Cooking

Making giardiniera (pronounced jar-deen-YAIR-uh and Italian for “from the garden”) is a tradition in many Italian American households, but it does not require the work you might expect of a long-handed-down custom. This is preserving with no lids to seal; it takes only an hour or so of preparation and two or three days of waiting, and keeps in the refrigerator for weeks. In many ways, what follows is more technique than recipe, with flexibility to suit your mood or tastes. If you love carrots, add more. Or introduce zucchini, eggplant, onions or green beans. If you want it extra-spicy, add more serranos, red pepper flakes or even a bird’s-eye chile. Chop the vegetables uniformly so that the brine will work its magic evenly: mincing makes a great relish for a hot dog, while larger pieces are better for a side dish.

Cathy Barrow · NYT Cooking

Cathy Barrow · NYT Cooking

Preserved summer tomatoes are a sort of pantry insurance policy: you'll have captured a bright tomato flavor to add to your cooking for the remainder of the year. Use these crushed tomatoes as you would the canned kind you buy at the store, in jambalaya (Pierre Franey's shrimp jambalaya recipe is a good start), tomato soup (this unusual version incorporates fresh goat cheese) or pasta sauce (like this spaghetti sauce, Kim Severson's family recipe). You’ll need four or five quart-sized jars (32 ounces each) or eight or 10 pint-sized ones (16 ounces each); when the time comes to use the purée, simply open a jar and use the purée as you would the store-bought stuff.

Cathy Barrow · NYT Cooking

Cathy Barrow · NYT Cooking

Preserving a glut of tomatoes at the end of summer is a smart (though messy) move for cooks who want those bright flavors in the depths of January. Roasting the tomatoes before puréeing them adds depth and a subtle smoky flavor — a welcome addition to soups and sauces. Use any kind of tomatoes you like, as long as they are ripe; Brandywines and what are often called Rutgers varieties (Reds, Jersey Reds and Ramapos) work well, as do paste or Roma tomatoes. You’ll need four pint-sized jars (16 ounces each) for purée storage.

Cathy Barrow · NYT Cooking

A little work in prime tomato season will help carry bright summer flavors into the cold of January, giving you a base for pasta sauces, gumbo, enchiladas, shakshuka, bouillabaisse — a world of possibility. It’s an afternoon of chopping, puréeing, simmering and canning, the heat of the day reminding you that the cooler nights, spicy pasta all’arrabbiatas and warming chana masalas are just around the corner. You’ll need three quart-sized jars (32 ounces each) or six pint-sized ones (16 ounces each).

Cathy Barrow · NYT Cooking

This berry-tella is spectacular on a biscuit or a piece of toast, or warmed over ice cream, but a good portion will likely be consumed right from the jar while standing in front of the refrigerator.

Cathy Barrow · NYT Cooking

Cathy Barrow · NYT Cooking

Chutneys are often made with unripe or dried fruit; they can include vinegar, sugar and spices. This recipe, with ripe fruit, offers a two-toned flavor: sweet and tropical offset by sultry spices and the heat of chilies. It’s welcome in a grilled-cheese sandwich, stirred into mayonnaise or yogurt for a quick dip or spread, or alongside any curry or daal. There are thousands of varieties of mangoes, but two are predominant. The Tommy Atkin is green, blushed with rose, and as large as a softball. The champagne mango, the size of a large peach, is pale gold, with a floral flavor. I prefer the champagne, which tends to be less fibrous and has an impossibly lovely scent, but any mango is a boon. The fruit is full of such promise.

Cathy Barrow · NYT Cooking

Strawberry turns out to be one of the more difficult jams to make. It’s often runny. But if you just add a kiwi, packed with natural pectin, it will make any jam gel. Kiwi’s flavor is subtle, slightly tart and not at all intrusive. I add mint to the mix to bump up the candy-sweet flavor of the berries. Your jam will hold together beautifully, tasting of strawberries and sunshine and nothing more.

Cathy Barrow · NYT Cooking

Here is a delicious introduction to the business of canning, which can seem daunting but is made much easier by the right equipment and a good recipe. You’ll combine strawberries, rhubarb vanilla and sugar over heat and then follow standard canning instructions, laid out in the recipe’s instructions. It all leads up to summer sweetness in a jar that you’ve made yourself. And don’t worry: if your preserves are on the runny side, just call them syrup. No one will mind. Cathy Barrow

Cathy Barrow · NYT Cooking

With a little knife work and a slow simmer, the pineapple sauce is ready in no time at all. While it shines in a banana split, turning a sundae from typical to tropical, you’ll find many other ways to use it: between the layers of a classic yellow cake, added to yogurt or cottage cheese, or combined with spicy mustard and chopped scallions for a sensational baked chicken.

Cathy Barrow · NYT Cooking