This recipe from the Williams-Sonoma Test Kitchen was so breathtaking, we traipsed through three different farmers markets to hunt down the beautiful heirloom carrots (and finally found them at Trader Joe’s).

The recipe gave us an excuse to purchase sumac, a slightly tart and fruity spice popular in North African and Middle Eastern cooking. We’d never worked with it, and we like lemony tartness. (More ways to use it are below.)
 
 
RECIPE: SPICED ROASTED CARROTS

Ingredients For 4-6 Servings

Who could refuse to eat their vegetables? Photo courtesy Williams-Sonoma.

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 425°F (220°C).

2. STIR together the sumac, cumin, coriander, red pepper flakes and salt in a small bowl.

3. TOSS the carrots with the olive oil in a large bowl. Sprinkle the spice blend on top of the carrots and toss until the spices are evenly distributed.

4. HEAT a frying pan over medium heat until warm. Add the carrots and toss two or three times. Transfer to the oven and roast until the carrots are just tender, 25 to 30 minutes.

5. TRANSFER to a serving dish and finish with a sprinkle of sea salt. Serve immediately.
 

Find more terrific recipes at Blog.Williams-Sonoma.com.

Sumac, a popular spice in the Middle East. Photo courtesy The Silk Road Spice Merchant.

Sumac comprises some 35 species of flowering plants that grow in subtropical and temperate regions throughout the world. If you were a Boy Scout or Girl Scout, you likely learned to spot one of the varieties, the poison sumac shrub, in the woods. (Like poison ivy and poison oak, skin contact generates a nasty rash.)

The fruits of the bush form in dense clusters of what we might call little round red berries—like holly berries—but are actually drupes. The dried drupes of some species are ground to produce a tangy, crimson spice; the word “sumac” comes from the old Syriac Aramaic summaq, meaning red.

The spice is also a component of the popular spice blend, za’atar.

In Middle Eastern cuisine, sumac is used to add a lemony taste to meats and salads. It is used to garnish meze like hummus, and rice.

You can find sumac online or at Middle Eastern markets. If you can’t get hold of any, add some lemon juice. Its tart flavor is an alternative to the tart-sour sumac profile.

Melon and prosciutto (Parma ham) are a classic Italian first course. Chef Ethan Stowell takes a big step beyond, combining the two ingredients into delicious summer soup.

It’s a savory rather than a sweet soup; so if you bring home a cantaloupe that’s disappointing in its lack of sweetness, make soup!
RECIPE: CANTALOUPE SOUP WITH PROSCIUTTO DI PARMA

Ingredients For 4 Servings

Preparation

1. HEAT 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the fennel and onion; cook without browning, about 5 to 7 minutes until transparent.

2. ADD half of the cantaloupe; cook about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until the cantaloupe is cooked through.

3. TRANSFER the mixture into a food processor. Add remaining cantaloupe and, with processor running, slowly add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Process until the mixture is completely smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Season to taste with lemon juice and salt.

4. POUR the soup into four shallow soup bowls (yield: 3 cups). Top each with prosciutto, chives and pepper.

VARIATION: We tried crisping/frizzling the prosciutto in a hot pan. While prosciutto connoisseurs would call this sacrilege, we liked it.

Prosciutto is the Italian word for ham. The term prosciutto is almost always used for a dry-cured ham that is usually sliced thinly and served uncooked; this style is called prosciutto crudo in Italian and is distinguished from cooked ham, prosciutto cotto.

The word derives from the Latin pro (before) and exsuctus (past participle of exsugere “to suck out”), and refers to the sucking out of the moisture in the ham by the mountain winds, which whipped through the sheds where the hams were hanging. The modern Italian verb prosciugare means “to dry thoroughly.”

The finest prosciuttos are PDO-protected: Prosciutto di Parma (Parma ham) is made only in the Parma* region of Italy. It is considered a “sweet” ham, cured only with salt but not too salty, and aged for 400 days. Most prosciutto is pressed by a machine to achieve the flat shape.
 
*Prosciutto San Daniele, which is also PDO-protected, is made in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region of Italy.

Check out the different types of ham.

Basic egg salad combines chopped hard-boiled eggs and mayonnaise with finely chopped celery and onion, seasoned with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice (or some pickle juice), salt and pepper.

Some people then build a sandwich by adding lettuce and tomato, even strips of bacon. But today’s tip is what to add to the egg salad itself. They turn egg salad from ordinary to memorable.

It doesn’t have to be a sandwich. Scoop your egg salad atop greens, into a crisp bell pepper, a stuffed tomato, a bacon bowl, even into potato skins. Make canapés with a base of apple, cucumber or potato or.
 
Kitchen tip: When preparing hard boiled eggs, add a teaspoon of baking soda or vinegar the pot of water. This will help when removing the shell & have a perfectly peeled egg. Here’s more on how to make hard-boiled eggs.
 
25+ FAVORITE ADDITIONS TO EGG SALAD

Find more delicious recipes at TheEggFarm.com.

Forget the supermarket white or whole wheat bread for a day, and try:

 
BINDERS

Plain supermarket mayonnaise is so 20th century. Blend proportions of any of the following, to taste:

 
VEGETABLES: BEYOND ICEBERG LETTUCE

 
This should keep you busy until the next National Egg Day! If you have anything to add to the list, let us know.

 
*Durkee’s Famous Sauce is a tangy salad and sandwich spread that combines mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar and seasonings. Mom used it in cole slaw, deviled eggs, potato salad and on sandwiches. Patented in 1857, Durkee says it was served in the Lincoln White House! It is still sold online and at some Wal-Marts and other retailers. We haven’t tried this recipe, but it claims to be a Durkee’s Famous Sauce clone. Here’s another version.

Today is National Rocky Road Day. The original Rocky Road was an ice cream flavor invented in 1929 by William Dryer. He chose the name to describe the bumpy appearance of ice cream packed with chocolate, marshmallows and walnuts. Since the Great Depression began in October of that year, it was also a tongue-and-cheek reference.

Pastry chef and cookbook author Emily Luchetti has taken Dryer’s original flavor profile and added her own twist, to make Rocky Road Truffles, developed for the California Walnut Board.

Chocolate ganache surrounds walnuts and marshmallows, with a light dusting of cocoa powder. The truffles melt in your mouth.

Make them for a family treat or for a special occasion like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or Valentine’s Day. The truffles can be made a week in advance. The better quality the chocolate, the tastier the truffles. (We used a Valrhona chocolate bar.)
 
RECIPE: ROCKY ROAD TRUFFLES

Ingredients For 30 One-Inch Truffles

Here, the rocky road is welcome. Photo courtesy California Walnut Board.

 
Preparation

1. WARM the cream in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until hot and bubbling around the edges, about 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add the chocolate. Swirl the pan lightly so the chocolate is covered by the cream. Cover and let sit 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth.

2. WHISK occasionally until the mixture is at room temperature. Then stir in the marshmallows, walnuts and milk chocolate chips. Spread the chocolate cream in a 9-inch pan or pie plate. Refrigerate until hard, at least 1 hour.

3. PLACE a heaping teaspoon for each truffle in a single layer on a pan. Refrigerate until hard.

4. PUT the cocoa powder on a plate or in a small bowl. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. One at a time, place the chocolate balls in the cocoa powder. Dust your palms with cocoa powder and lightly roll the truffles between your palms until round. (The cocoa powder keeps them from sticking to your hands.) Finally, roll the round truffles in the the cocoa powder. (If at any point the chocolate gets too warm and the truffles become difficult to roll, refrigerate the chocolate for 30 minutes until it firms up.)

5. REFRIGERATE until ready to serve. For gifting, you can wrap the truffles up in tissue paper and tie the bundle with a ribbon.
  

Just in time for summer cook-outs and picnics, we were sent samples of the large and small Evo Oil Sprayers.

They’re different from misters: The spray is less fine and wider. The company claims that the spray nozzle is no-clog (a complaint with the finer-spray misters); so far, that’s been true for us.

Today’s tip is: If you’re not yet using a mister/sprayer in the kitchen and for grilling, now’s the time to try one:

 
Available in two sizes, 8 ounces and 18 ounces, Evo is an option for people who aren’t happy with their current oil sprayers/misters. (We gave up on misters after trying to unclog two different brands.)

The large bottle ($19.99) comes with changeable silicone neck tags that identify five different kinds of oil plus balsamic vinegar (although you’d think that the color of the latter would be a dead giveaway). A funnel (provided) twists on to the bottle for easy filling.

The Evo sprayers are made of high-quality plastic and are top-rack dishwasher safe; the sprayers are easily hand-washed in soapy water. Both components are BPA-, DEHP- and latex-free.

The sleek ergonomic design is by Michael Graves Design Group, the architectural firm that has designed a variety of housewares including the iconic Alessi Michael Graves Kettle with Bird Whistle.

Get your sprayers on Amazon.com, for yourself and for house gifts.