Country Weekend Entertaining: Seasonal recipes from loaves and fishes and the Bridgehampton Inn

Anna Pump grew up on a farm in Germany, near the Danish border, surrounded by a bounty of fresh vegetables, fruits, home-baked bread, and hand-churned butter. After moving to the U.S. in the 1980s, Pump established Loaves and Fishes, a catering and take-out shop in the seaside yet rural part of Long Island, New York, known as The Hamptons. She then opened a bed-and-breakfast called The Bridgehampton Inn in 1994.

Pump's cooking relies on excellent fresh ingredients in season, so her 175 recipes are grouped as Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter. Grilled Chicken Salad, succulent from breasts marinated with soy, sesame oil, and white wine; Potato and Corn Salad with unexpected fresh herbs; and Spinach Salad with Sliced Peaches are typical Spring/Summer dishes Pump offers. Reflecting Scandinavian influences in her cooking, dessert might bring the luxury of fresh currants and raspberries transformed into Red Grits with Cream. (Once made with barley meal, hence its name, corn or potato starch is now used to thicken this ruby jewel of a dish.)

Fridays, year round, Pump bakes a huge ham glazed with marmalade, apple cider, and mustard. Guests enjoy slices of it with their eggs at breakfast and in sandwiches later in the day. You may prefer it for dinner, accompanied by Pump's cauliflower, mashed and roasted with garlic and olive oil. Complete the meal with a Macadamia Nut Tart, cranberries studding its pecan pie-rich filling. Sixteen color photos and short poems and quotes praising the good life punctuate this book with charming thoughts. --Dana Jacobi