Thanks to everyone who entered the drawing for “The Muffin Tin Cookbook,” by Brette Sember with Melinda Boyd. The winner is Carrie Brown. I’ll pop it in the mail today.

If you are not Carrie Brown, you are eligible to enter the drawing for "Fine Cooking Italian: 200 Recipes for Authentic Italian Food" from Fine Cooking magazine.
Everything Fine Cooking does is awesome, but by no means simple. The recipes are all Saturday-afternoon challenges, at least for me. I love them, though, because the writers take a great deal of care detailing every step. For this reason, I had to peruse most of the book for a short recipe to share in this space. Italian food lovers will get years’ worth of experimentation from this tome.
To enter, send an e-mail to jennie.geisler@timesnews.com. Include your NAME, MAILING ADDRESS and the NAME OF THE BOOK you want. This information will not be stored or shared.

For those of you just here for the food:
SPAGHETTI WITH ARUGULA, TOMATO & RICOTTA SALATA
1 pound dried spaghetti
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons dried oregano
3 beefsteak tomatoes, cut into 8 to 10 wedges each
6 ounces arugula, about 7 cups loosely packed, washed and tough stems removed
5 ounces grated ricotta salata, see Jennie’s note
1. Cook the spaghetti in plenty of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain well, but don’t rinse.
2. While it’s still hot, put the pasta in a large bowl and toss it with oil, salt and pepper to taste, oregano and tomatoes.
3. Gently toss in the arugula. Divide among bowls, top with the grated ricotta salata.
Serve immediately.
– “Fine Cooking Italian”
Jennie’s note: Ricotta salata is ricotta that’s been pressed, salted and dried. Instead you can use feta, chevre, or queso fresco.

One of my favorite food magazines is Fine Cooking. Many of the recipes are over my head, but I find a lot that are right up my alley. I just perused my April/May edition and, as always, found two great ideas. Well, there are probably more, but I stopped when I hit two before I got carried away.
The first is Asparagus Pesto, which looks like it would be fabulous on sandwiches.
The second is so simple, they wrote it in a paragraph, with no amounts. But you can probably figure it out.
Chicken Soup with Avocado and Cilantro
Bring chicken broth to a boil and season with salt. Add shredded, cooked chicken and heat through.
Divide diced avocado, coarsely chopped fresh cilantro and minced jalapenos in bowls. Add broth and chicken to each and squeeze in a bit of lime juice.
Is it dinner time yet?