Book excerpt: Acclaimed food writer Nancy Jenkins, teams up with her master chef daughter Sara with a unique around-the-seasons cookbook devoted to simple, everyday pasta recipes There are few ingredients in a cook’s pantry that beat out pasta—for tastiness, for ease of preparation, for versatility, and for sheer delight. It’s irresistible to all and perfect for every occasion. In The Four Seasons of Pasta, Sara Jenkins and Nancy Harmon Jenkins celebrate the Italian native that has become a beloved American staple. Jenkins and her mom draw on their own background in Italy, where they’ve lived, cooked, studied, and worked in Rome and Florence, and on a Tuscan olive farm for many years. Today, Sara is a highly accomplished chef and owner of Porsena and Porchetta, two restaurants in New York’s East Village while Nancy is a nationally known food journalist and authority on the Mediterranean diet, with a number of prominent cookbooks to her credit (including The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook and Flavors of Tuscany). The Four Seasons of Pasta brings together more than 120 recipes focused on seasonal ingredients from supermarkets and farmstands across America, from the gamey meat ragus, chestnuts, and brilliant pumpkins in autumn to summer’s explosion of tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers. Nancy and Sara introduce readers to quick-and-easy weeknight dishes as well as more ambitious affairs while four-color photography brings the recipes vividly to life. Along the way, the two cooks delve into how to cook, sauce, and present pasta, how to make it by hand, and pasta’s significant place in a healthy modern diet. The Four Seasons of Pasta is an invaluable tool for home cooks seeking to enjoy the quintessential food that’s in their pantry all year-round.