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By Root 916 0

of Fiore di Cervia, the fine salt from the balmy Adriatic flats south of Ravenna, and marvel as the tart-sweet play of tomato and pasta asserts itself. Ennobled by the salt’s fruity warmth, the sauce is freed of its ties to the herbs that first defined it. Eyes open, head borne aloft, your margherita is as beautiful in body as in spirit.

2 small handfuls sel gris

12 ounces small pasta, such as farfalle or conchiglie

2 large ripe tomatoes (about 8 ounces each)

1 clove garlic, minced

½ cup chopped fresh basil leaves

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 two-finger pinches Fiore di Cervia salt

Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to taste (optional)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add the sel gris and stir to dissolve. Add the pasta, stir to separate the noodles, and allow the water to return to a boil. Reduce the heat so that the water boils gently and boil until the noodles are barely tender, about 10 minutes.

While the pasta is cooking, remove the stem scar from the tomatoes with a small knife. Cut the tomatoes into thin slices, the slices into strips, and the strips into a fine dice. Combine the tomatoes and garlic in a pasta serving bowl.

When the pasta is done, drain it and shake off most of the water. Don’t worry if it is still a little wet. Toss the pasta with the tomatoes, basil, and oil. Serve, then finish with the remaining salt over the top and toss. Top with freshly grated cheese, if desired.

BLANCHED SPRING PEAS WITH SAFFRON CRÈME FRAÎCHE AND CYPRUS FLAKE SALT

SERVES 4

Peas are so perfect on their own, it’s a wonder it ever occurred to anyone to cook them in the first place. But fortunately someone did. A trillion peas later, after endless refinements on the art of making a pea more perfect than a pea, the French Laundry created its cold pea soup, a spring rain cloud of viridian sugars skimming a truffled forest. But before Thomas Keller could make his soup, we had to grow up watching Julia Child chiding us about making the blanching water incredibly hot, and salting it, and treating the pea with the utmost love and care. It was Julia Child who rescued cooked peas from the ignominy of creamed cafeteria concoctions, restored their preciousness, and gave them back to us like so many incandescent pearls rolled from the fair hand of nature. A drop of saffron cream shot through with a taut bolt of salt cradles and charges this blanched pea with its own electricity.

1 pinch saffron threads

2 teaspoons vermouth

¼ cup crème fraîche

1 small handful sel gris

1 pound hulled fresh spring peas or frozen green garden peas, thawed

4 two-finger pinches Cyprus flake salt

Bring a quart of water to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat.

Meanwhile, crumble the saffron into the vermouth in a small bowl and set aside until the vermouth turns golden, about 5 minutes. Mix in the crème fraîche.

Add the sel gris to the boiling water. When the water returns to a boil, stir in the peas and boil for about 3 minutes, until the peas are bright green and tender. Drain thoroughly.

Serve the peas dolloped with the saffron crème fraiche and seasoned with a pinch of Cyprus Silver per serving.

BAKING

Of all smells, bread; of all tastes, salt —George Herbert

The structure of baked goods is built on gluten, the protein in wheat doughs. Gluten is strengthened by salt as positively charged sodium ions and negatively charged chloride ions attach themselves to the charged portions of wheat proteins, keeping those charged parts from repelling one another, thus encouraging the protein strands to come closer together and bond more thoroughly.

Though some traditional breads are made without salt (see Unsalted Bread with Unsalted Butter and Salt), most bread recipes call for salt (usually in a quantity of about 2 percent of flour weight) to improve the flavor of bread as well as its texture and rise. Unrefined salts that contain calcium and magnesium have been shown to improve the strength of gluten better than salts that are almost pure sodium chloride. In sourdough breads, unrefined