Fresh

Fresh herbs may have caught consumers' fancy, but just a few varieties make up the bulk of all supermarket purchases. By far, the most popular fresh herb is basil."

Fox is bold. ABC is going for laughs. NBC and CBS are playing it safe.That was the consensus of a sampling of media buyers who assembled last week in New York to hear the networks pitch their new shows for the fall TV season."

* Item: Prego 2 1/2 -Pound Family Entrees* What you get: 5 servings* Cost: About $6* Preparation time: 31 minutes in microwave, 80 to 85 minutes in conventional oven* Review: These family-size entrees are a lifesaver. If you're too tired to cook or don't have time to prepare something from scratch, you can put these on the table without worrying that you're giving appetites short shrift. We tried the Fettuccine Florentine With Chicken. The spinach and mushrooms were fresh, the chicken was tender and the whole dish tasted homemade.

Item: Mama Mary's Homestyle Pancakes What you get: 6 pancakes Cost: About $3.25 Nutritional content: Buttermilk -- 180 calories, 4 grams fat, 0.5 gram saturated fat, 470 milligrams sodium, 28 grams carbohydrate, 9 grams sugars Preparation time: 30 seconds in microwave Review: Six salad-plate-sized pancakes that cost about 50 cents apiece seem like a bargain to me on busy school mornings. Of course, with a 4-year-old, I can stretch the pancakes to last for nearly six breakfasts. But even if this container of pancakes lasted for just one meal, I'd be pleased.

It's been years since I've grown my own tomatoes, focusing instead on flowers and herbs. But Ted thought he'd like home-grown tomatoes, and you know how it is when you're courting.Borrowing my dad's tomato-growing secrets, I planted Better Boys that quickly shot up past my head and are now dangling fruit from the lilac bush overhead. Then, as you well know, our cool, rainy summer produced tons of green fruit that just refused to turn red. Until two weeks ago.Now we're wallowing in freshly picked, melt-in-your mouth beauties that turn everyday meals into gourmet affairs.

THERE WAS A time when I agreed with George Bush. That was when he said broccoli didn't taste good. That was the vintage-edition Bush, the elder George. I bet he was commenting on broccoli that had some age on it. I say this because I have since learned that there is a major difference between the flavor of broccoli that is fresh from the field and the stuff that tastes as if it were picked back during the Kennedy administration. Fresh broccoli is tender, supple and packed with juice and flavor.

There's something exotic about fresh apricots, especially when you find them on grocery shelves in the middle of January. Those showing up on produce counters now are from South America; they'll be available until the U.S.-grown crop starts appearing in April.Wherever they come from, there's a lot to be said for apricots, nutrition-wise. They're low in calories (51 per 3 fresh) and have little or no fat, sodium or cholesterol, but they're high in potassium and especially rich in carotene, the plant form of vitamin A.Here's a recipe for fresh apricots guaranteed to put a little sweetness and light into a midwinter meal.

After almost two decades of evangelizing about fresh seasonal food, Perla Meyers shows no hint of wilting.Ms. Meyers is one of the few cooking teachers who can spend more than 30 minutes discussing something as elementary as simple soup without losing the audience's attention. She proved it at a recent demonstration at a Williams-Sonoma store in Chicago, where her contagious enthusiasm kept a group of shoppers captive. They savored every drop of her creamy mushroom soup and many stayed to ask questions and to ponder the pearls dished up with the potage:*"Do your shopping first and then decide what to cook with the ingredients.

Americans give short shrift to their vegetables. But we ar getting better, says food writer Jeannette Ferrary.The growing popularity of green markets and countryside farm stands has inspired supermarket managers to spiff up their produce sections, as well. Now we find such out-of-the-ordinary items as sunchokes, jicama and persimmons a regular part of the fruit and vegetable scene.But though these foodstuffs may be on the shelves, a lot of people still don't recognize them on sight, much less know what to do with them.

'A Fresh of Breath Air'When: Wednesdays through Saturdays and Sunday, May 5, at 8 p.m.; matinees May 12 and 19 at 3 p.m. Through May 19.Where: Theatre Project, 45 W. Preston St.Tickets: $10-$16.Call: 752-8558.** 1/2 "A Fresh of Breath Air," the title of Dale Stein's one-woman show at the Theatre Project, apparently is intended to emphasize the freshness angle.And Ms. Stein's bouyant acting does have freshness to it, particularly as she moves nimbly in and out of five characters -- a goofy French restaurant proprietress, an uptight lady architect, an aging actress, a sleazy male lounge singer and a former druggie with an artificial brain.