A delicious argument for roasting strawberries – juices from the roasting berries combine with maple syrup, port adds a surprise hint of booziness, and the balsamic delivers a dark bass note.

Take a peek above to get a sense of what the sampler is going to include. I’m including the recipe for Black Sesame Otsu in this post, down below. For those of you who liked the otsu recipe I included in my last book, I did this new version with a twist. I still use soba noodles and tofu, but everything gets slathered in a thinned-out, salty-sweet black sesame paste, and then topped with lots of sliced green onions.

As a side note, the black sesame paste is pretty great on all sorts of other things as well – salads, spinach, roasted potatoes, green beans. Go to town with it.

Huge thanks to each of you who’ve pre-ordered the new book. I mean it, I feel fortunate to be able to work on projects like this. Ten Speed made a real effort to keep the price point reasonable, so the book is accessible to many. It is $13 onAmazon, and there are a list of alternate retailers on this page as well.