DIGEST: Boston Globe Food Section

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Boston Globe – August 8, 2007

Cheesemakers in paradise

By Devra First, Globe Staff

This is the opening reception of the American Cheese Society's annual conference -- its 24th, held last week at the Sheraton in Burlington -- a chance for artisan cheesemakers, retailers, distributors, restaurateurs, and enthusiasts to network, taste, and learn more about the object of their obsession.

Recipe:

* Warm goat cheese salad

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Some say beer beats wine in this pairs competition

By Ann Cortissoz, Globe Staff

It is a centuries-old tradition among many epicures that wine is the best drink to match with cheddar or chevre. Oliver, however, the head brewer at Brooklyn Brewery in New York and author of "The Brewmaster's Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer With Real Food," believes that cheese can find a more complementary partner. He thinks beer should cut in.

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Picnic: a movable feast

By Linda A. Odum, Globe Correspondent

Picnics need little planning, so they make the best impromptu meals. If you picnic all the time -- and everyone yearns to be outside on a sunny day -- you probably know instinctively how to get organized on a moment's notice. Otherwise, get your checklist handy.

Recipes:

* Mediterranean chicken and orzo salad

* Spicy gazpacho

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A dessert classic gets dressed up for dinner

By Tracey Ceurvels, Globe Correspondent

Sliced into halves or triangles at picnics, barbecues, or on any sultry day, watermelon is a perfect thirst-quenching snack. It's such a staple on the summer table that chefs have decided to dress it up and send it into the dining room when customers least expect it -- far from dessert.

Recipe:

* Watermelon steak

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Pretty and portable, verrines offer layers of satisfaction

By Béatrice Peltre, Globe Correspondent

Most Americans know what a parfait is, but take that same idea and make the layers avocado salad, crabmeat, and pink grapefruit, and you get an entirely new dish called a verrine (pronounced vair-EEN) from the French word for glass (verre).

Recipe:

* Crab and avocado verrine

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A nutty trio makes some tasty cookies

Recipe:

* Buttery almond crisps

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Boston Globe – August 15, 2007

You want a ham with that oil change?

Pull into a Southern gas station, drive away with a country staple

By John Burgess, Globe Staff

Though I have Carolina roots and have certainly eaten my share of country ham, I've never thought to buy one. "We used to buy them in gas stations," offered my friend. And yes, now I recalled this oddity.

Recipes:

* Biscuits

* Fried country ham with redeye gravy

* Old-fashioned grits

* Minty apple slaw

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For this nature lover, the time is ripe for something wild

By Jonathan Levitt, Globe Correspondent

It's one of the hottest days of the summer. Forager Russ Cohen, bearded and burly, licking sweet dewberry juice from his fingers, is sweating through his polo shirt and baseball cap. The ripe berries look and taste like the best blackberries you've ever had, and are just one of more than 150 edible wild species growing in Massachusetts. Cohen knows -- and has eaten -- all of them.

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Tex-Mex specialty

It's easy enough in August to fill dinner plates with zucchini, corn, peppers, tomatoes, and grilled fish. What's harder -- if you really want to eat locally this summer -- is making a dish whose ingredients are distinctly not native to New England.

Recipe:

* Turkey enchiladas

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Getting a taste of diplomacy in the kitchen

By Rachel Travers, Globe Correspondent

Francois Gauthier, the French consul general in Boston, knows well how food can foster relations.

That's in part why he nominated Jacqueline Cattani, the chef who runs the kitchen at his home in Cambridge, for the Merite Agricole, France's oldest civil award.

Recipe:

* Gougeres

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A chewy, gooey adventure in time travel

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

Turn off your iPod before you step into The Goldenrod. You're going back in time and you may as well immerse yourself. In this old-fashioned candy shop and soda fountain, where the aromas are incredibly inviting, everything -- ice cream, salt water taffy, fudge, chocolate bark, caramel corn, and nut brittles -- is made on the premises.

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A chef's vision becomes a tiny treasure of a restaurant

By Jonathan Levitt, Globe Correspondent

The six-month-old Bresca is really tiny. The whole place -- including the kitchen and privies -- would probably fit nicely inside your first apartment. This time of year, the kitchen is hotter than a closed car in the sun. That doesn't stop chef and owner Krista Kern from rolling out handmade pasta "kerchiefs" with brown butter and pine nuts; finely shaving Brussels sprouts to serve with pecorino cheese and toasted walnuts; and making a light rice pudding to garnish with perfectly ripe peaches.

Recipe:

* Pasta kerchiefs with brown butter, prosciutto, and an egg

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Boston Globe – August 26, 2007

They've gone native

Chefs share their approaches to putting local on the menu

By Jonathan Levitt, Globe Correspondent

But the conversation about how to make use of such ingredients continues. We talked to four local chefs with very different businesses and asked them about their approach to eating locally.

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Keeping Georgia off your mind

By Diana Burrell, Globe Correspondent

A prospective buyer inquires where Nicewicz gets his peaches. "They're from our farm in Bolton!" he exclaims, flicking his thumb toward a bold hand-drawn Nicewicz Family Farm sign stuck on the red van behind him.

Recipe:

* Mrs. Neil's peach pie

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Two lobster pounds are better than one

By Omar Sacirbey, Globe Correspondent

Inside either place diners will find giant tanks crawling with lobster, hot steamer pots, and mounds of fried fresh clams, scallops, shrimp, and haddock. The sun-baked faithful stand in line, pick their lobsters, and listen for the loudspeakers to crackle with their orders before settling down at picnic tables in the airy dining areas -- each seats about 350 -- to enjoy the day's catch.

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He's passing on the art of pickling

By Alison Arnett, Globe Correspondent

On a recent afternoon here, David Liddle, wholesale floral sales representative by day, pickler by evening, checks the heat under a pot. Pickling liquid is bubbling away in another saucepan, the kitchen is steamy, and Liddle is hot.

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A French delicacy goes from sweet to savory

By Béatrice Peltre, Globe Correspondent

In France, clafoutis is comfort food, a dessert that fills me with vivid memories of the cooking of my mother and grandmother in rural Lorraine. Traditionally made with cherries embedded in an airy, moist custard, clafoutis has evolved into a dish of many variations.

Recipe:

* Zucchini, corn, and goat cheese clafoutis

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Boston Globe – September 5, 2007

Spreading the love

PB&J is a sandwich for almost everyone - from brown-bagging kids to sophisticated chefs

By Jonathan Levitt, Globe Correspondent

It's back-to-school time, and for those feeling nostalgic for childhood, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the kids' menu at Flour Bakery + Cafe might hit the spot. It's the classic version - seeded raspberry jam and smooth peanut butter slathered on spongy, fresh-baked white bread, then cut in half and served on a napkin in a woven basket.

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One man's search for PB&J perfection

By Michael Saunders, Globe Staff

I've made countless thousands of PB&Js over the past 40 years, most for myself and many for my five children, and I still believe a well-made PB&J is a great mix of salty, sweet, and tart flavors, and just the right smooth and sticky contrast, the textures playing off each other like jazz soloists.

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Four generations keep a family tradition

By Lisa Zwirn, Globe Correspondent

A few years ago, Sharon Winn took on the role of Rosh Hashana cook from her mother. "It's important to me that my children see how religion is a part of our lives," she says. "And the holidays are a wonderful opportunity to get together with family and be part of something that all Jews do."

Recipes:

* Luchen kugel

* Beef goulash with carrots and potatoes

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At the bar, driving home the benefits of moderation

By Erica Noonan, Globe Staff

He said bartenders and food servers, often young, part-time workers, have to make split-second decisions on whom to serve and whether an ID looks legit. The choice they make to pour a drink - or cut someone off - can have far-reaching consequences.

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Back to her roots, with plenty of peppers

By Jane Dornbusch, Globe Correspondent

If your garden or local farmers' market is overflowing with a seasonal excess of peppers, Miren Etcheverry has a simple solution: Go Basque. The cuisine of the Basque region of southwest France and northern Spain is perfect for this time of year; in the Basque chicken dish Etcheverry prepares frequently, peppers predominate and tomatoes come a close second.

Recipe:

* Chicken Basquaise

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Green and yellow beans

Bush beans and pole beans - differentiated by whether they grow as low bushes or tall stalks - are friendly to both gardeners and cooks.

Recipe:

* String beans with tomatoes and olive oil

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When fish goes swimming in beer

By Jim Romanoff, Associated Press

Fish is an excellent source of healthy omega-3 fatty acids, but it's easy to dilute what good you get from it by deep-frying it or cooking it in pools of butter.

Recipe:

* Beer-braised tilapia with mushrooms and tomatoes

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Boston Globe – September 19, 2007

A day of eating dangerously

By Devra First, Globe Staff

Parker Bowles is the author of a new book, "The Year of Eating Dangerously," which cheekily chronicles his adventures consuming everything from ant egg salad to hot sauce so scorching it should be illegal. The book offers more than "he ate what?" sensationalism; it also prods our culinary preconceptions, asking why "one man's insect is another man's garni," as Parker Bowles writes.

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Recipe for a fun kids party: chefs, exotic food, and cooking lessons

By Kate M. Jackson, Globe Correspondent

Her parents invited Chefs at Play to come to their house here to teach a lesson to budding cooks. A venture started earlier this year by Katie Norton, a manager at the Catered Affair in Hingham, and Peter Ingargiola, a former chef at the Bristol Lounge at the Four Seasons, Chefs at Play goes on the road to private homes to host cooking parties.

Recipes:

* Macadamia nut chicken

* Mango ketchup

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Savoring the slow-cooked cuisine of southern Italy

By T. Susan Chang, Globe Correspondent

This is the taste of the Mezzogiorno, the subject of Nancy Harmon Jenkins's thorough new book, "Cucina del Sole." , who divides her time between Camden, Maine, and Tuscany, presents slow food at its best, built up in layers of flavor out of a minimum of ingredients.

Recipes:

* Ciambutella

* Braised squid and potatoes

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A peck of peppers

Some like to pick green peppers off pizzas and pull them out of salads. They seem so much less exciting than the red, yellow, or orange ones. And there are so few recipes that use the green peppers as the primary ingredient.

Recipe:

* Green peppers with toasted almonds and golden raisins

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Boston Globe – September 26, 2007

Behind every great cookbook

Editor Judith Jones has a knack for turning cooks into best-selling authors

By Sheryl Julian, Globe Staff

The old notion that luck is nothing without skill might have been conceived with Judith Jones in mind. She was 27 and working for a publisher in Paris when she discovered Anne Frank's diary in a rejection pile and insisted her editor say yes. Several years later, as an editor in New York, she took a chance on another manuscript that was starting to collect rejection letters. That one was from a group of unknown women who turned out to be Julia Child and two French colleagues.

Recipes:

* Martha's paprikash

* Dumplings for chicken paprikash

* Evan's lamb curry

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This couple just smiles, and says 'goat cheese'

By Diana Burrell, Globe Correspondent

Major life changes usually have predictable catalysts: a job offer, a divorce, a windfall, or a health crisis. Less likely is something as mundane as a plate of goat cheese, but that's what was responsible for four Alpine dairy goats, a rambling 106-year-old farmhouse in rural Maine, a baby girl, a book, and everything else that's happened to Margaret Hathaway and Karl Schatz in the last few years.

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Famous wardrobe malfunction gave him great exposure

By Jonathan Levitt, Globe Correspondent

This week, Adam Roberts, 28, the self-styled kitchen novice behind the popular blog amateurgourmet.com, is food website hopping on a virtual book tour to promote "The Amateur Gourmet: How to Shop, Chop, and Table-Hop Like A Pro (Almost)."

Recipe:

* Greek salad

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Before the harvest

It's a sad day when the weather is too cool for native tomatoes to flourish. No other fruits - not the ones from Jersey or Florida or Mexico - have the same taste as the red orbs from your own backyard or neighboring farm stand. Industrious cooks try to stretch the season by freezing whole peeled tomatoes in containers or zipper bags.

Recipe:

* Tomato soup

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Boston Globe – October 3, 2007

No rules, no limits

By Devra First, Globe Staff

On 'Iron Chef,' Masaharu Morimoto is known for cooking outside the box. His new book encourages you to do the same.

Recipes:

* Tofu and spicy pork sauce with crispy fried rice

* Caramelized sweet potatoes

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During Ramadan, a meal to fast on

By Omar Sacirbey, Globe Correspondent

Aljabri enjoys preparing suhur, a special pre-dawn breakfast consumed by many Muslims who are observing the Islamic month of Ramadan, when their faith prescribes that they fast during daylight hours. The ninth month on the Muslim lunar calendar, Ramadan takes place this year between Sept. 13 and Oct. 12, and occurs about 10 days earlier every year.

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Spilling the beans about a special crop

By Alison Arnett, Globe Correspondent

Out of their brown pods, these heirloom varieties, grown here on Moraine Farm, are tiny paintings. There are calypso beans, each half black, half white with a black dot in the white; maroon and white speckled Jacob's cattle beans; white bumblebee beans marked with a brownish red shape that resembles a bee with folded wings; mottled Appaloosa; and brilliantly red Scarlett Beauty. It's as if an artist specializing in miniatures carefully painted each oval.

Recipe:

* Black bean soup with cumin and tomatoes

* Brown and white rice with black beans

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Big Papi is a hit behind the grill

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

David Ortiz is smiling. The sun is shining, the grill is hot, and so is his team, which the night before had clinched its first American League East division championship in 12 years. Around him are friends, family, a few lucky fans, and all his favorite foods.

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Making treats fit for a King, or Spot, or Fido

By Carolyn R. Maibor, Globe Correspondent

It all started with a pug named Vince. "We would buy him all these fancy schmancy treats that looked like cannolis and things, and he wanted nothing to do with any of them because most of them don't have a lot of flavor," explains Lisa Makrinikolas, owner of My Dog Ate It Catering company. "They look great to the people, but when you put it down for the dog, the dog doesn't care what it looks like."

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The family that bakes together...

By Jane Dornbusch, Globe Correspondent

For Megan McQuivey, "staff of life" is more than just a turn of phrase. The whole-wheat bread she bakes for her family of eight - husband James and their six children - connects her to the past and future generations of her family, and to her Utah upbringing.

Recipe:

* Honey wheat-germ whole-wheat bread

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Boston Globe – October 10, 2007

Do try this at home

Some trial and error yields quality pizza, pad Thai, chicken nuggets, and beef chow fun. Skip the takeout

By Jonathan Levitt, Globe Correspondent

Good cooking is certainly alchemy, but it's hardly magic. You need plenty of time for trial and error, people to eat the errors, and a heavy dose of determination. But that's about all you need. In the end, my ideal pizza took eight ingredients, store-bought dough, and a pizza stone. Few cooks - even people who tackle more complicated meals all the time - make iconic restaurant dishes.

Recipes:

* Pad Thai

* Thin crust pizza

* Chicken nuggets

* Beef chow fun

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She caters to needs of veggie eaters

By Lisa Zwirn, Globe Correspondent

A few years ago, Andrea Mason and a vegetarian friend attended a wedding and found that there were hardly any meatless dishes there. "She ended up eating spinach pies all night," says Mason. That prompted a shift in focus for her catering company, Dinner is Served. "There was a need for someone who could offer vegetarians and vegans good-quality, nourishing foods."

Recipe:

* Carrot pate

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Selecting fruit is key to getting a fresh tart

Recipes:

* Pork chops with apple cider

* Apple galette

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A night in hog heaven with the Bacon Club

By Darry Madden, Globe Correspondent

The cake is one of only two non-bacon edibles at this, the fourth Bacon Club meeting and pot luck. The idea of this loosely organized group was born over a few beers among friends about a year ago. They dreamily envisioned an event where only bacon dishes were served.

Recipe:

* Almond-stuffed dates wrapped in bacon

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Everyday sandwiches of Venezuela flow at Orinoco

By Jonathan Levitt, Globe Correspondent

Arepas are unleavened corn flour flatbreads from the northern Andes in South America. At the tiny, 1 1/2-year-old Venezuelan restaurant in the South End, they're slapped together by hand and come out looking like pale yellow English muffins branded with deep, dark grill marks.

Recipe:

* Arepas

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Homemade scones add a warm note to breakfast table

Orange-scented cranberry and pecan scones

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Boston Globe – October 17, 2007

Bueno Queso matches cheeses, wine, and beer with those who love them

By Devra First, Globe Staff

One Sunday afternoon a month, Middlesex is transformed into a gathering place for people obsessed with food - particularly cheese, wine, and beer. They're led by the passionate and good-humored trio of Robert Aguilera, general manager and head import cheese buyer at Formaggio Kitchen; Julie Cappellano, general manager and wine buyer at South End Formaggio; and Derek Whitaker, sales rep for wine wholesaler Atlantic Importing (and Cappellano's husband).

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Couples can have a night out and a cooking lesson at culinary school

By Darry Madden, Globe Correspondent

The evening was labor-intensive for Kirill Boyarin. It involved peeling about 70 cloves of garlic. But he toiled away under the watchful eyes of his wife, Marina, and their cooking instructor, Hong Xue.

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Home chef raises the (chocolate) bar

By Lisa Zwirn, Globe Correspondent

Who will be the next American idol? That's up in the air. But the "chocolate idol" has been announced, and she won for luscious Earl Grey brownies.

Recipe:

* Earl Grey brownies

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In these Spanish recipes, imagination is a key ingredient

T. Susan Chang reviews "1080 Recipes."

Recipe:

* Pasta with bell peppers and ham

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For a pig roast, they ditch spit and adopt box

By Lisa Zwirn, Globe Correspondent

Then Wasik heard a radio segment in which grilling expert Chris Schlesinger, owner of East Coast Grill & Raw Bar, described a special box that cuts the cooking time for a whole pig to about four hours, or roughly one-third of the traditional open-fire roasting time.

Recipes:

* Baked beans

* Big blue slaw

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Boston Globe – October 24, 2007

Shell we?

Oyster bars cater to the tastes of mollusk-mad Bostonians

By John Burgess, Globe Staff

If you want to learn more, then you need to find an oyster bar - that is, heaps of oysters in sight, and a bar at which you sit and, ideally, watch your shellfish being shucked.

For more information:

* OYSTER PRICES: What you're shucking out for

* Oyster author Rowan Jacobsen: It's all about the taste

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A Mideast classic goes with the grain

By Huda Ahmed, Globe Correspondent

No one knows when al biryani became part of the Iraqi table, or whether the dish came from India or Iran. But none of that seems to matter. Iraqis consider it one of their national symbols.

Recipe:

* Al biryani

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French toast with a soufflelike flair

This French toast is designed to be prepped the night before. When it's time to cook, remove the dish from the fridge, put it in a warm oven, and in less than a half-hour, you have your treat, puffed in the pan, lightly sweetened, and topped with a warm apple compote (which you also put together the night before).

Recipe:

* Baked French toast

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A sweet treat is a taste of Argentina

In Argentina, the alfajor is a sort of national cookie. The cookies are found piled high in the gilt cases of Buenos Aires cafés, wrapped to go in plastic at the checkout counters of diners, tucked into lunchboxes. For Argentines, the alfajor has the essential, homemade comfort that the chocolate-chip cookie does for Americans.

Recipe:

* http://www.boston.com/ae/food/articles/2007/10/24/alfajores] Alfajors

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Boston Globe – October 31, 2007

Plonkapalooza

By Stephen Meuse, Globe Correspondent

Their names may never grace the entrance of a grand estate, be seen on anyone's Top 100 list, or send chills up the spine of an ace sommelier, but in this world of overrated pleasures, simple, inexpensive wines with the power to please enjoy a celebrity status all their own.

For more information:

* The complete list tasted by the professionals

* Our wine-tasting experts offer their favorites

* These are picks from the young sommeliers

* Some of these sommeliers' wines are older than they are

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Everyone can use a fresh start

By Darry Madden, Globe Correspondent

Upstairs at the Charles Hotel, just opposite the sleek dinner spot Rialto, Henrietta's Table welcomes guests with an almost cartoon-like sense of start-the-morning-right: thick stacks of pancakes; bright glasses of orange juice; crisp home fries.

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On the street where you live

By Genevieve Rajewski, Globe Correspondent

A short walk from Nadine Nelson's home is a small farm where tuft-headed hens cluck contentedly and grape vines twine the latticework in the late autumn sun. "Look as these! They're just perfect," says Nelson, stooping to pluck a handful of ripe red, yellow, and orange heirloom tomatoes.

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Thanks to father's influence, this poet is well versed in cooking

By Jane Dornbusch, Globe Correspondent

As perhaps befits a man who learned to cook from an Army mess sergeant, Cambridge poet Charles Coe feels no fear in the kitchen. "I can do Italian, Mexican, French," he says nonchalantly, then, "I do a killer cassoulet. I love making cioppino. I make a vegan corn chowder and a high-carb mac and cheese."

Recipe:

* Spicy chicken stew