The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Frozen spuds, summer fare, regional cooking, minty mojito mix

By Elizabeth Lee

Frozen spuds in a roast-off

Ore-Ida's latest is a line of frozen roasted potatoes that offer more flexibility as side dishes than the potato giant's French fries. The russet potato wedges are available in several flavors, including Original, with a hint of garlic; and Garlic & Parmesan. Tasters tried the Original, with salt and pepper flavoring, and the Garlic & Parmesan, and gave a slight edge to the latter.

Although pleasant enough, they're high in sodium — just 3 ounces eat up nearly a quarter of a day's allotment — and get about half their calories from fat, including trans fats, an unhealthy ingredient that many food manufacturers are racing to remove from products. We're not sure why Ore-Ida chose to include it in a new product.

Alexia makes a tastier, nutritionally superior potato wedge that relies on healthier oils and gets just 30 percent of its calories from fat. It's much lower in sodium, too. The only downside to the frozen Alexia Oven Fries and Oven Reds, in flavors that include Olive Oil and Parmesan & Roasted Garlic, is finding them. They're nowhere near as ubiquitous as Ore-Ida.

Check in natural foods sections of supermarkets or in stores such as Harry's Farmers Market or Whole Foods Markets. Suggested retail for a 20-ounce bag of Ore-Ida Roasted is $2.79. At Kroger and Wal-Mart.

Summer fare in spotlight

Food & Wine ($4.50) presents dozens of recipes to take advantage of the season's best produce in its August issue, including the cover, a peach tatin that relies on frozen puff pastry to put dessert on the table in less than an hour. Columnist Lettie Teague tastes 60 bottles of pinot grigio, the most popular imported wine in America, and finds that about a third of those don't deserve the "innocuous" and "uninteresting" labels so frequently applied to the light-bodied, mass-produced wine.

A bracing taste of Down East

Frozen spuds, summer fare, regional cooking, minty mojito mix True regional cookbooks are getting tougher to find, with the usual sources filled with sound-alike Chinese chicken salads and broccoli-and-cheese casseroles. That's why "Recipes From a Very Small Island" (Hyperion, $25.95) comes across like a bracing blast from the Maine coast.

Written by Linda Greenlaw, the swordfish boat captain portrayed in "The Perfect Storm" and author of "The Lobster Chronicles," and her mother, Martha Greenlaw, the cookbook is rich with regional ingredients and feisty Down East asides. Linda's recollection of what her mother said when a childhood friend made the mistake of asking what was for dinner: "You'll find out when you are asked to sit down, and I guarantee it will be better than anything that's ever been served at your house."

Luscious color photographs of the likes of grilled salmon with blueberry corn salsa and of lobstering and island scenes will appeal to cooks and armchair travelers. You'll find classic New England recipes such as Indian pudding, as well as dozens calling for the crab, lobsters and blueberries found near the Greenlaws' home on tiny Isle au Haut.

Minty, memorable mojito mix

The refreshing mint flavors in Stirrings' Simple Mojito concentrate earn it a spot on the summer drink list. When mixed with club soda, it's light and fizzy enough to enjoy on even the hottest day. The mixers are all natural, which means higher-quality ingredients like cane sugar and lime juice rather than corn syrup and artificial flavors. You can taste the difference. A quart, which makes 16 drinks, is $9.99 at Harry's Farmers Markets. Also at Whole Foods Markets.

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