DIGEST: Boston Globe Food Section

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December 3, 2003

Back to the good times: This year's events are more modest, but restaurants revel in the party mood

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

When the economy hits companies – and individuals – holiday parties can be the first thing cut from the budget. But for Boston area restaurants, the Christmas party season is looking good.

After two years of drought, restaurant owners are especially anxious that this season be festive -- and fully booked. So far, the news from the field is encouraging. Julia Anderson, director of sales at Locke-Ober, says initial inquiries about party bookings started in July, and by now the restaurant's many private rooms are more than 80 percent booked for December.

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Just what the maestro ordered: Keith Lockhart's favorite ice cream is in the mail

"A lot of musicians are very passionate about food," says Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart. "Music and food are both great sensual pleasures, and they tend to go hand in hand."

His freezer contains his favorite ice cream, shipped from Ohio to Massachusetts, so you can only imagine what’s in his refrigerator.

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Is that Prada? No, it's chocolate.

By Bridget E. Samburg, Globe Correspondent

The dainty half-ounce bags are inspired by the likes of Prada, Burberry, and Pucci. Almost too cute to eat, Wali's confections are the ultimate gift for women who love all things chocolate and will never have enough handbags.

If you’re thinking chocolate shoes are next, Aliya Wali’s Choco Choco House is already thinking about adding it to the product line.

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Stir a quick sauce in a pot and call it macaroni

Mac and cheese is one of America's great home dishes -- the companies that package it in a box can tell you that. We've tossed cooked pasta with heavy cream and cheese to make an easy version, and the result is good and quite rich, but it doesn't have the stick-to-your-ribs character of regular mac and cheese.

Recipe: Stove-top mac and cheese

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SHORT ORDERS

Delicious darlings

The jewels in the crown of holiday citrus are clementines.

The best come from Spain and North Africa and are available through March, sold in their characteristic 5 pound crates.

A big wad -- of cash

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the bubble-blowing cartoon characterwith an eye patch (there only to make him look distinctive), Bazooka Bubble Gum is offering a $50,000 prize inside one lucky pack.

Almond joy

Called the "queen of almonds," prized Spanish Marcona almonds ($7.95 to $10.99 per pound) have been showing up at specialty markets and are flying out the door.

If you think regular almonds are addictive, you won't know what to do with yourself with these.

The perfect opening

For the first time since the familiar can opener was perfected in 1925, there is a way to open metal tins without the sharp edges nicking and cutting theless sure-fingered. The safety can opener, also known as a "lid lifter," pries the lid off the can from the side.

Pressed on time

Don't try to call ahead to the South End's Miami Cafe for your Cuban sandwich ($5). "If I had made this sandwich when you called at 11, it would be a soggy mess by now," owner Angela Bello sharply reprimanded a customer who arrived an hour after ordering his sandwich.

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Cookies make a chocolate statement

By Lisa Yockelson, Globe Correspondent

The swarthy style of a brownie square or bar, in all their moistness, meets the luxury of a dense chocolate cake in this easy drop cookie, which I have been fine-tuning for some time now.

Recipe: Rich and fudgy chocolate cookies

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December 10, 2003

The high end of the kitchen

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Looks like my friend with a $300 stainless steel toaster isn’t so odd after all.

The young moderns -- affluent couples in their 30s and 40s who bring a designer's eye to everything -- have been outfitting their kitchens with high-style European and American appliances in the last six years or so, designers and architects say. And suddenly that ratty old coffeemaker or the toaster oven your mother gave you or the seldom-used waffle iron from the discount kitchen store doesn't quite cut it.

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Hot-water chocolate gingerbread

This recipe is a reprint from the November 24 issue, which had a problem with pan size.

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Produce by the numbers

Wishing your produce was labeled as conventionally grown, organic or genetically engineered? Wish no more – the labels often are already there.

PLUs consist of four or five digits and cannot be scanned. They allow retailers to track how well individual varieties are selling. But they can also tell consumers how a fruit or vegetable was grown.

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When it comes to Alsatian wine, Trimbach does it their way

By Stephen Meuse, Globe Correspondent

In 1626, King Charles I had yet to sign the Massachusetts Bay Charter. In Europe, Catholics and Protestants were locked in a murderous war. And in Alsace, a narrow strip of land nestled between the Rhine and the Vosges Mountains, Jean Trimbach, a Protestant, was establishing himself in the wine business.

Nearly 400 years later, the House of Trimbach in Ribeauville is one of the world's best known family-owned wineries, making around 100,000 cases of stylistically distinctive white wines from traditional Alsace varietals.

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Real men make sausages: A group of friends uses pork, spices, and old family recipes in a yearly ritual

By Lisa Zwirn, Globe Correspondent

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, while most people are picking at the last of the leftover turkey, Jeff Pizzeri and Mario Castagna gather with their friends and make lots of sausage.

By noon, which is more than six hours after they started the project, the sausage-making crew in the basement of Jeff Pizzeri's home has already gone through several hundred pounds of pork. By the end of the day, the 11 friends, decked out in white aprons and latex gloves, have made over 1,600 links and 50 porkettas, a highly seasoned pork roast.

Recipe: Pork and sausage ragu

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The young and the hungry: Late nights during exams lead to a student feeding frenzy

By David L. Harris, Globe Correspondent

Finals. The ultimate excuse for junk food. Fortunately, kids today have a bit more disposable money and can escape the books at a local pizzeria. I had to get by with chocolate donuts and coffee.

Late-night fuel takes on special importance this time of the year when college students put studying into high gear in the weeks and days before finals. So places like this dimly lit hangout attract crowds of young needing a break from the books. Around college campuses, there are more options than ever, from delivery to takeout to quick and inexpensive late-night dining. Still, while most eateries in this student-driven city close shop at midnight (if not, earlier), T. Anthony's is somewhat of a rarity.

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A gift of ceramics or glass will bowl over your favorite cook

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

If you’re in the market for just the right bowl to be functional as well as beautiful, Andrea Pyenson has some suggestions.

When I moved into my first apartment, my mother went to a flea market and bought me a mustard-colored stoneware bowl with rose and cream stripes. Inside, the glaze is speckled with black. Spaced evenly along the rim are thumbprints, my favorite feature.

For years, it was the only bowl I would use to mix batter. Most of my recipes had come from my mother or grandmother, and the bowl seemed to fit with the food.

I built a collection around that pottery, and there are probably other cooks who would appreciate a beautiful bowl. Make that bowls.

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December 17, 2003

The sweet shapes of Hanukkah

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

Text

Suzi Johnson grew up in Princeton, N.J., with a Hanukkah tradition that included her mother and two sisters. Every year at the start of the eight-day holiday, the four would bake and decorate cookies.

The bakers have changed to include Johnson’s children as well as the children’s friends and their parents. As the kids grow, they take the process a bit more seriously.

As they decorated, the girls concentrated on the detail. "The cookies are much more elaborate and intricate than in past years," noted Epstein. "Now they can spend up to two minutes on one cookie," she said. When they were younger, "they'd rush through one and run off."

To make the same sugar cookie dough the Johnson family uses, check out this recipe

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It was a year of classic comfort

By T. Susan Chang, Globe Correspondent

As in recent years, comfort reigned supreme on the cookbook scene this year. But it took a more traditional turn, highlighting classic techniques and tried-and-true recipes.

Chang goes on to discuss over a dozen cookbooks released this year, including Cooking at Home With the CIA: Essential Techniques and Recipes for Creating Great Food; Good Food No Fuss: 150 Recipes and Ideas for Easy-to-Cook Dishes; The Way We Cook: Recipes From the New American Kitchen; Lost Recipes: Meals to Share With Friends and Family; A Flash in the Pan: Fast, Fabulous Recipes in a Single Skillet; and many more.

Bourbon pecans

Coq au vin

Meatloaf with ketchup sauce topping

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Nun has cheese down to a science

By Jennifer Schuessler, Globe Staff

Mother Noella Marcellino received the 2003 French Food Spirit Award this year.

The award springs out of the year Mother Noella spent in France on a Fulbright grant in the mid-1990s, clocking more than 35,000 kilometers in her quest to document samples of the hundreds of microorganisms that have thrived for centuries in France's cheese caves. These, she argued passionately on a recent drizzly afternoon here, are an endangered natural habitat, threatened by heavy-handed regulation and the spread of industrial cheesemaking. "To us, it may be just an old cheese rind," she says. "But it's also a whole environment."

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Get a leg up on lamb

We agree with French cooks that a perfect Sunday dinner is a leg of lamb bathed in garlic, dusted with fresh rosemary, and roasted with potatoes until the meat is pink and succulent. Lamb leg doesn't take long to cook, but something about the large joint suggests a grander dinner than you might have in mind. That's where leg of lamb steaks come in. Thickly sliced off the center of the leg -- right at the point where the shank half meets the sirloin half -- lamb steaks are oval with a round bone right in the center.

Recipe for Leg of lamb steaks with mint sauce

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Simple spaghetti adds spice to supper

As an Italian-American, I can vouch for this one. This recipe is similar to one of the true comfort meals in my family, one we make when time is short and hunger levels are high.

Spaghetti aglio olio e peperoncino has the austere look of a dish prepared in a dorm room hot pot, but this Italian classic packs a warming combination of garlic and crushed red pepper flakes, items in stock in even the barest of cupboards.

Recipe for Spaghetti with garlic, oil, and crushed peppers

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A cooking class in Thailand offers an education in eating

What happens when a connoisseur of ready-made dinners takes an authentic cooking class in Thailand?

I reached for a chunk of tofu and began dicing it. I did the same with Chinese chives. I chopped away, satisfying myself I was making progress, and she watched as I drew perilously close to my fingers on the other side of the large knife. "Stop!" she commanded, and then gently explained, without making me feel like a complete dolt, the proper way of using a knife -- that is, holding it close to the blade and keeping at least one finger on the side, for control.

Spicy cold noodles with chicken

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Meeting a family through its food

By Lisa Zwirn, Globe Correspondent

In 1996, Judy Bart Kancigor began asking relatives for their recipes in order to be able to pass them along to the next generations. What started as a tribute to her family evolved into "Melting Pot Memories" three years later, a self-published cookbook with 600 recipes.

"People I didn't know began ordering multiple copies," says Kancigor on the phone from her home in Fullerton, Calif. The accidental author has since sold 8,000 books.

Smoked salmon cheesecake

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Variety adds spice to this barbecue

By Diane Daniel, Globe Correspondent

Someday there could be a Q near you. But for now, Scott Howell and his two partners are focusing the growth of their outstanding Q-Shack barbecue joints in the South.

Howell, 40, earned celebrity chef status here with the upscale Nana's, one of the area's foodie favorites. After he bought the building that Nana's is in, he found himself with additional space and decided to go downscale in price and ambience, but certainly not in quality.

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December 24, 2003

The Boston Globe just got last week’s food section online. Better late than never.

Dishes that are easy to prepare can make the holidays brighter

By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent

It may be the centerpiece of the table, but the food is secondary. What we really want for Christmas is a good, easy time, lots of laughs, and, of course, peace on Earth.

Recipes include Potato Gratin with Leeks, Ham, and Gruyere; Sautéed Quail with Sesame, Soy, and Orange; and Orecchiette with Bitter Greens, Golden Raisins, and Pine Nuts.

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This pro's bowl has peppers in it

You could say that the Patriots' season has been one long hot streak, but vice chairman Jonathan Kraft, 39, has a hot streak of his own that goes back to childhood.

He's a jalapeno man. He likes them on eggs, on crackers, or on burgers, pickled or plain.

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Sultan's swings in a new location

By Galen Moore, Globe Correspondent

Huge kettles bubble on back burners. Rows of broad platters are on display, piled with velvety stuffed eggplants and a cascade of golden artichoke fritters.

Ozcan Ozan has moved his popular Sultan's Kitchen, once a Broad Street storefront, to a new, lighter location a block away on State Street. In the 22 years he's been serving his exotic Turkish food in the Broad Street space, which was essentially a cafeteria setting, Ozan expanded three times, always maintaining the self-serve system. Finally he had to leave because the old location was being replaced by a high-rise. When that opens, Ozan will have the option to move back in with a full-service Middle Eastern restaurant.

Recipe for Swooning imam (Imam bayildi).

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December 31, 2003

Auld lang syne in a flash

Pulling together a last-minute cocktail party is simple

By Tony Rosenfeld, Globe Correspondent

You can still plan an impromptu New Year's Eve, but you'll have to work fast. Get out a can opener for chickpeas that will become hummus, cut up boneless chicken to turn into brochettes, toast a few nuts with aromatics.

The requirements for a cocktail party are simple: The food should be small enough to eat daintily and sophisticated enough to match the celebration. And you shouldn't go to undue expense for either the hors d'oeuvres or the drinks. 

Recipes include:

* Chicken brochettes with mint-yogurt sauce

* Hummus with rosemary pita chips

* Roasted nuts with thyme and brown sugar

* Shrimp rolls with spicy peanut sauce

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Time is the essential ingredient for making authentic cassoulet

By Naomi R. Kooker, Globe Correspondent

There are debates about what makes an authentic cassoulet, but two things remain undisputed – it’s a labor of love, and it’s worth the time.

The dish that causes such devotion takes days to prepare (weeks if you're making your own preserved duck or goose, one requirement of a cassoulet). The word cassoulet literally means a dish you prepare and serve in a cassole, a kind of bowl. Most cooks use haricots beans, which are dried white beans; aromatic vegetables such as onion, carrot, and celery; and meats that include lamb, pork, sausage, game, bacon, and duck breast.

Cassoulet recipe

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SHORT ORDERS

Sparr of wonder

The tradition of regional sparkling wine remains strong in France, where local variations are often described as cremant. In Alsace, a rosy aperitif made with pinot noir rivals the pinks of Champagne.

A real catch

Since 1978, Ducktrap River Fish Farm has been smoking salmon over local cherrywood in Belfast on the Maine seacoast. The company's translucent slices of salmon ($10.99 for 8 ounces) are mild in taste and creamy in texture, a result of fruitwood smoke. 

Campfire optional

Winter s'mores are even more fun than their summertime kin. Pop open the Champagne and toast the new year.

Peas offering

Wasabi peas are very crunchy, slightly sweet, salty, and hot, which makes them pretty wonderful in one hand when a glass of something sparkling is in the other. 

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A few precautions make eating beef safer

Although US agricultural officials are downplaying the possibility that any tainted beef was distributed, buyers can follow certain steps if they're worried. First it helps to understand a little about the parts of the animal that can transmit the disease.

Mad cow in animals -- which can result in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans -- can be transmitted by ingesting material from the brain, nervous system, and internal organs of infected animals.

Cuts from the muscle of cows -- steaks such as chuck, sirloin, T-bone, filet mignon, and round; roasts such as eye of the round and rump and pot roasts -- pose little risk, according to agricultural officials. However, ground beef -- unless it is marked as ground from a specific muscle cut -- can include various parts and pieces of the animal. One way to ensure safety is to grind your own hamburger from a muscle cut or have a butcher grind it for you.

Two things got me to start grinding my own beef. One was reading “Fast Food Nation,” the other was seeing them do it on America’s Test Kitchen. Once you’ve tasted freshly ground meat, it’s hard to go back to store bought – even without the mad cow threat.

Hamburgers recipe

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Egg white omelets are fluffy and forgiving

Our friends laugh about our egg white omelets. Tasteless, they say (without tasting them). Then they regale us with stories about perfect buttery omelets and where they were eaten. Cafes in Paris usually enter the conversation at that point. Egg white omelets have no romance about them. They are the furthest thing from French excess and Parisian cafes that you can get. But a child can make one. Egg whites, it turns out -- unlike their whole-egg counterparts -- are very forgiving.

Recipe for Mushroom and onion egg white omelet

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January 7, 2004

Hold the white

People are talking about the latest low-carb diet -- a regimen that cuts colorless foods from the menu -- but what does it really entail?

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

This diet is not as hard as Atkin’s, but you can still bug your waiter for a substitute for the baked potato offered with dinner.

January dawns and Americans hop on the scale and vow to diet. Low carbohydrate regimens -- Atkins, South Beach, and Zone -- may still reign, but the new up-and-comer is the no-white.

Not a published diet with its own guru, no-white is a word-of-mouth phenomenon. A woman across from me at the hairdresser announces that she and her husband are eating no white, that is, eliminating granulated sugar, all-purpose flour, even pasta. The 20-something daughter of a friend, living on her own for the first time, says she and her boyfriend have given up white, in this case sugar, processed foods, and potatoes. A local realtor says she hasn't had white flour or sugar since September. All say they're losing pounds and feeling great.

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An international reputation

In France and India, lentils are a savory staple

By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent

Lentils are burdened by bad associations that belie their potential -- the pot of soup that always seemed to be simmering on your mother's back burner, the vegetarian lentil loaf that invariably showed up at your potluck dinners and ended up in the back of your freezer. But then there are the tiny, slate-colored lentils called du Puy. A popular side dish in French bourgeois cooking, they appear on winter menus when the other flavors on the plate are big, deep, and often rich.

I’ll eat lentils cooked just about any way, but these recipes for Wild Salmon over Lentils and Red Lentils with Cauliflower look particularly good.

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SHORT ORDERS

Chopping broccoli

Think of a bowlful of steamed broccoli florets as a blank canvas. Almost anything dresses it up, as long as the flavors are bold enough to stand up to the strong taste of the little buds. 

A winning wheat

Going whole grain sounds easier than it is. Many whole wheat loaves contain only enough whole wheat flour to tint them a darker color, with the high percentage of white flour practically negating the advantages of complex carbohydrates. And finding a whole wheat loaf that isn't too dry can be difficult. When Pigs Fly, the York, Maine, company that bakes hearty sourdough loaves of Tuscan wheat, six grain, and cinnamon raisin, recently added a 100 percent whole wheat high-fiber bread, which is chewy, almost nutty-tasting, and delicious -- especially toasted. 

The cure for what ails you

During flu season you'll feel better if you sip soup. And you'll feel good about yourself if you eat something healthful. At Betty's Wok & Noodle Diner, one large, secure takeout carton contains noodles in chicken broth, laden with vegetables and spiked with Asian- and Latin American-inspired sauces. 

No sugar on top

Sugar-free desserts are hard to find in restaurants. And delicious sugar-free desserts? Nearly impossible. Those who seek them, whether in the name of dietary restrictions or simply in the annual battle to overcome holiday weight gain, know that the road to the perfect sugar-free sweet is paved with disappointment.

Focus on farming, food

Farmers, educators, and other agriculture experts will participate in a conference on sustainable agriculture and organic food this month and next month. Entitled "The Power of Choice: Restoring the Health of Our Community and Local Economy by the Foods We Choose," the gathering will feature Sally Fallon, author of "Nourishing Traditions," Donald Bixby, author of "Rare Breeds Album of American Livestock," Joan Gussow, author of "This Organic Life," Eliot Coleman, author of "The New Organic Grower," and Joel Salatin, author of "You Can Farm."

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Size of portions, wiser choices as important as number of carbs

By Bev Bennett, Globe Correspondent

Carbohydrate reduction is the current "magic pill" for weight loss. Look on restaurant menus and supermarket shelves and you'll find an array of low-carbohydrate options. But low-carbohydrate plans actually sabotage your weight-loss efforts in several ways, according to nutrition experts.

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January 14, 2004

Testing: 1, 2, 3: Form, function, and fine food come together in the newly built America's Test Kitchen

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

This article is worth checking out for the photos alone. It’s quite a kitchen.

Working with Boston-based William Wilson Associated Architects, Kimball, test kitchen director Erin McMurrer, and other staff members spent three months planning and designing the new kitchens. And even though the space is rather grand -- five or six good-sized home kitchens would fit into it -- Kimball wanted the area outfitted with equipment and appliances that are accessible to everyone. As he explains, "We're trying to cook on what people have at home."

I’m hoping for recipes that will utilize my six wall ovens and 223 linear feet of counter space.

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In the vanguard at a friendly co-op

By JoeAnn Hart, Globe Correspondent

They no longer require members to unload produce and now you shop for what you want instead of getting a bag of food, but the heart of this co-op hasn’t changed since it first began in 1974.

At the beginning, the first members pooled their resources to buy fruits and vegetables directly from the New England Produce Center in Chelsea. Every week they took turns calling in the order and picking it up, dividing the haul in one church basement or another. The original fistful of dollars has grown to $1.44 million in sales a year, with 700 member-owners and a staff of 15. The co-op building, a former boat shed, was bought in 1985 with loans and a tag sale.

Recipe for Maggie’s Stuffed Grape Leaves

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SHORT ORDERS

Sweet on sour

Sunday breakfasts are not always planned events. On wintry weekends, you might roll out of bed with a hankering for pancakes only to discover that the recipe you'd thought about making calls for buttermilk. Our grandmothers kept it on hand, but we're not so inclined. Don't send anyone out in the snow to search for it, though, because Saco Cultured Buttermilk blend makes a fine substitute.

Under its spell

"Yely's Co Feesh P" read the letters on the broken awning. The real name of this Jackson Square store -- which isn't even a place you go for a cup of joe -- is Yely's Coffee Shop. Rotisserie ovens crank out roast chicken, and the aroma wafts three blocks away. Perhaps that's all the marketing this little gem of a place needs.

With fronds like these

Slippery and crunchy, briny and sweet, seaweed salad is not just a side dish, it's an addiction. You can get your fix in saucer-size doses at just about any sushi restaurant -- Oishii in Chestnut Hill offers a crave-worthy version.

Under its spell

This is the time of year when you look for heat anywhere you can find it -- even in the salt shaker. Morton's Hot Salt ($2.99) has a smoky chipotle flavor with a subtle buzz of cayenne. Sprinkle it on your food in place of ordinary table salt and you'll have an easy way to spice up a dish. 

Recipe for Turkey Burgers

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An egg in your shrimp soup warms both bowl and soul

By Sheryl Julian & Julie Riven, Globe Staff

The pot that simmers on our back burners most nights contains chicken and vegetables or just vegetables in a well-flavored chicken-based broth. If supper on these arctic nights is going to consist solely of soup, we figure, the pot should contain plenty of protein. With the same reasoning -- that your bowl should be hot, nourishing, and very filling -- you can simmer a heavenly stock from shrimp shells, left after peeling the firm shellfish. Instead of discarding the shells, simmer them with aromatic vegetables, tomatoes, and a little hot chili paste and the mixture will warm your soul and clear your sinuses. The shellfish and Chinese pea pods cook briefly in the shrimpy liquid, and each is served with a poached egg.

Recipe for Shrimp Broth with Snow Peas and an Egg.

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Join the club of those who love these chewy cookies

I have been on a quest for a good macaroon recipe for as long as I have been baking. Maybe I’ll give this one a try.

LaCount's recipe begins with commercial almond paste, which he uses for speed and ease. For best results, use the paddle attachment on a heavy-duty mixer so the paste, egg whites, and sugar become smooth and sticky. You can make them the professional way -- with a pastry bag and round tip -- or shape them off the end of a teaspoon. A sliced almond pressed on top will make any irregularities disappear.

Recipe for Mini Macaroons

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Fast food moves beyond the burger: Chains look toward health with new items

By David L. Harris, Globe Correspondent

A number of major chains have recently turned to salads, healthier sandwiches, even fruit, and their websites have been reformulated to allow for nutrition and ingredient information. For the most part, fast food establishments are trying to overhaul their image of being a repository for all things unhealthy. It seems to be working. Over the past year, fast food companies reported a 16 percent growth in servings of main dish salads, according to the market research firm NPD Group.

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Beyond the region's fads, a burst of Yucatan flavors

By Patricia Harris and David Lyon, Globe Correspondents

Dietary fads are inescapable, even on vacation. Trendy young Cancuneses (as well as New Age American and European ex-pats) swear by the nutritional benefits of ``chaya.'' Native to the Yucatan peninsula, the plant twines like a bean, grows as rapaciously as kudzu, and tastes rather like a cross between spinach and mint.

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Boston Globe -- January 21, 2004

A recipe for luck: Chinese families dine on foods that will bring good fortune

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

When it comes to the Chinese New Year, preparations start early and food items have a purpose.

By now, the dumplings should be ready to pan fry or slip into boiling water; the chicken bought live in Chinatown has been dressed for roasting; the black moss seaweed is on hand, along with black or shiitake mushrooms. When the Chinese New Year begins tomorrow, ushering in the Year of the Monkey, a holiday season of feasting begins -- with purpose. Although most holidays feature special dishes, Chinese families take it one step further, eating certain foods to bring wealth, happiness, and good fortune.

Pan fried noodle cake with beef recipe adapted from “China Express.”

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Her success has been easy as pie: A bright, little Somerville shop showcases Renee McLeod's specialties

By Clea Simon, Globe Correspondent

Renee McLeod started making pies when she was nine years old and never stopped.

McLeod's Providence childhood (where she got the nickname of Petsi -- pronounced "Pete-sy") may have taught her the basics of crusts and sweet pies. But she's the first in her family to venture into savory pies, like her Brunswick-stew-inspired Southern turkey pie with its okra and sweet potato accents. These toothsome tarts, some sized for a main course, others (like her vegetable and cheese tartlets) for appetizers, set Petsi Pies apart from typical bakeries. The bright little shop has already won a following. Folks drop by for morning coffee and muffins, scones, and croissants, then return on the way home for a ready-made entree or dessert. The shop offers "Pie-O-U" gift certificates as well. Demand has been high enough that she recently expanded her six-day work week.

Chai-spiced apple pie recipe adapted from Petsi Pies.

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A couple's gourmet dreams put on hold: Legislative hurdles delay store opening

By Erica Noonan, Globe Staff

Winchester, Massachusetts is the future home of The Spirited Gourmet -- neighborhood wine and specialty food store – if owners Chris and Elena Benoit can jump over one big hurdle.

Neither suspected that the state approval necessary to sell beer, wine, and liquor would be anything but a rubber stamp. "We thought that because everyone was in support of us -- the Board of Selectmen, Town Meeting, and the Chamber of Commerce -- that we would be able to get a license," Chris Benoit says.

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SHORT ORDERS FOR THE YEAR OF THE MONKEY

'Dim Sum' makes Chinese food kids' stuff

Wondering what to buy that hard-to-please toddler for Chinese New Year? "Yum Yum Dim Sum," a board book by Woods Hole artist and author Amy Wilson Sanger is the fourth in publisher Tricycle Press's "World Snacks" series.

I want my baby bok, baby bok

Baby bok choy is the younger, slightly sweeter, and tenderer version of its grown-up equivalent, which is a type of Chinese loose-leafed cabbage (also called Chinese white cabbage). The oval, dark green leaves on a bunch of baby bok choy should be crisp and blemish-free, and the white stalks will remind you of celery, but without that fibrous, stringy quality. 

Ravioli raves

On a slow weekday afternoon at Mary Chung restaurant, a place many MIT students consider their cafeteria, the waiters gather around a platter of seasoned ground pork at a corner table. Gossiping and dipping their fingers into porcelain bowls of water, they fold the meaty filling into wrappers, making birdlike wontons and neatly crimped "Peking ravioli" (otherwise known as pot stickers).

Wok this way

The invention of the nonstick wok has taken the frustration out of stir-frying. No more scorched oil from thin aluminum pans, no more vegetables drowning in oil so they won't stick.

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Boston Globe, January 28, 2004

Buying fine wines has brought him a lifetime of stories

By Stephen Meuse, Globe Correspondent

In 1953, Robert Haas fell in love with France and made wine buying his life’s work.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Haas's first trip to Europe. His immigrant grandfather had opened the family shop as a Park Avenue grocery at the turn of the 20th century. From the outset, the young Haas was an innovator, establishing a pattern of buying estate-bottled wines directly from the families who made them, rather than from middlemen or brokers, known as negociants.

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A young cook takes his place in a tony hotel kitchen

By Galen Moore, Globe Correspondent

This article describes the high school students who benefit from the Culinary Apprenticeship Program offered by the Anthony Spinazzola Foundation as well as the program itself.

Rosario, 21, was born in the Dominican Republic. His family came here when he was 7. He found his way to this tony hotel four years ago through the Culinary Apprenticeship Program of the Anthony Spinazzola Foundation. Since 1997, the program has been placing Madison Park graduates in 10-week apprenticeships at a handful of Boston's high-end restaurants. (This year, students from Blue Hills Regional Technical School Canton are also eligible.) When the students finish, the program pays tuition for Bunker Hill Community College's culinary program and helps the chefs-to-be with everything from career counseling to selecting clothes for a job interview.

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Fueling a party to watch the big game

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

With the New England Patriots and the Carolina Panthers in the Super Bowl, it can be difficult to decide which regional foods to serve.

If you think that eating regional foods might bring the team luck, make a fish chowder and accompany the bowls with oyster crackers or common crackers. Luckily, North Carolina's specialty -- barbecue -- is nationally loved. Moreton Neal, who writes a food column for the Raleigh (N.C.) Metro magazine, says "barbecue is the big thing," and there is controversy over every detail, right down to the dressing for the accompanying coleslaw. In the western part of her state, she says, it is vinegar-based, while in the east, mayonnaise is preferred.

Jasper White's fish chowder

Braised chicken

Steven Raichlen's beer can chicken

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SHORT ORDERS

Fragrance and finesse at the last minute

One day recently, when the cod in the fish case looked particularly inviting, Sheryl bought a skinless, boneless fillet cut from the neck end (the tail end is thinner and too easy to overcook). She was expecting company, and the fish seemed like a good idea, though she had no plans for how to cook it. It was one of those Saturdays when the best-laid plans went awry and there was no time to prepare much of anything.

Recipe for Cod cooked in its own juices with ginger and tomatoes

Swine of scrimmage

There's no better time to eat pigskin than during a football game. Fried and puffed, pork rinds are the snack food loved by Homer Simpson, George H. W. Bush, and scores of Texans. 

Glass up your act

Europeans have long known the pleasures of drinking wine and beer from stocky, substantial glasses that feel solid in the hand and are less fragile for everyday use than delicate stemware or towering Pilsner glasses. 

Full of Beans

For a superb bowl of chili, head to East Boston, where Boston's Best Beef Burger makes a Midwestern-style bowl thick with tiny morsels of ground beef and no beans ($2.99 a pint). In Harvard Square, the Greenhouse Coffee Shop ladles up a steak-tip chili that just needs a little salt to be top-flight ($3.10 a cup). A vegetarian version of the famous dish ($4.95 a bowl) is offered at Johnny's Luncheonette, in Cambridge and Newton. And in South Boston, Salsa's Mexican Grill serves a spicy cup dotted with yellow potatoes, pinto beans, and whole chipotle peppers ($3.50 a cup).

Pure popping pleasure

Head for the snack aisle of any supermarket and you'll see rows of boxed popcorn to microwave. Most of those commercial brands offer acrunchy way to eat salt, sometimes with the extra bonus of saturated fat and various mysterious additives. 

Leave room for a Bossche Bol

Imagine a homemade eclair in the shape of a softball, filled with real whipped cream and dunked in thick, rich dark chocolate ($2). That's a Bossche Bol. At Banketbakkerij Jan de Groot, rows of the little round guys positively gleam behind glass counters and in display cases in the window along the street.

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Ben's chili and hot dogs have time-tested appeal

By Mara Vorhees, Globe Correspondent

In 1958, Ben and Virginia Ali started Ben’s Chili Bowl.

So began a neighborhood diner that evolved into a D.C. institution. Located in the Shaw district at 12th and U streets NW, Ben's Chili Bowl sits in the heart of what once was "Black Broadway," a strip of clubs and theaters where strains of jazz echoed in the streets. "The Bowl" soon became a favorite -- both for locals and for stars playing the "chitlin' circuit." Everyone from Duke Ellington to Miles Davis to Nat King Cole stopped in.

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New hot chocolates mix taste, tradition

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

Take a sip of the hot chocolate at L. A. Burdick's in Harvard Square and you'll wonder if it isn't simply chocolate that has been melted and poured into an oversized cup.

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[TPO]

Boston Globe – February 4, 2004

Pasta is full of carbs, but that doesn't matter

Tomatoes or cream? Here's your guide

By Debra Samuels, Globe Correspondent

If you’re confused about what shape of pasta to serve with which sauce, Debra Samuels has help. Make sure you check out the pasta guide with photos.

We may not have the choices available in Italy, but gone are the days when only spaghetti, macaroni, and lasagna were available, and when brands in our markets only offered American-made noodles. Now we have popular Italian pastas made by Pastene, De Cecco, Barilla, and Delverde, along with artisanal and regional pastas. Gone, too, is the notion that sauces are made from tomatoes, cream, or pesto. Now there are dozens of mixtures to toss with your noodles.

Recipes:

Spaghetti with garlic and anchovy sauce

Tagliatelle in mushroom cream sauce

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Grab a can opener; then make the sauce

By Julie Riven, Globe Correspondent

Salvatore Sanzo opens cans instead of peeling and seeding fresh tomatoes. This is good advice when time is short – or when summer tomatoes still are months away.

In a small area that is half the size of most American kitchens, Salvatore Sanzo is preparing tomato sauce in his restaurant, Dal Baffo. The counter isn't lined with ripe tomatoes but rather with an assortment of cans taken from an adjacent storeroom. Once he's made the sauce, salsa di pomodoro, Sanzo will toss it with pasta, use it as a topping for pizza, adorn veal cutlets lightly breaded and fried, and stir it into zuppa di crostone -- a fish soup brimming with clams, mussels, and octopus.

Recipes:

Tomato sauce

Zuppa di crostone

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At area restaurants, change is on the menu

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Things are changing so quickly, our favorite restaurant might change in the time it takes you to drive over there.

Reinvention is the model this year, and the gossip mill has been busy keeping track of what's going on. Some restaurant owners are doing the equivalent of gutting their space, renaming it, and redoing the concept and menu.

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SHORT ORDERS

Hot pot

"Don’t worry about the color. It’s not too spicy," announces Seoul Food’s owner, Clara Byun, as she lays down a steaming hot bowl of brilliant red yukae jang.

Hooked on caviar

With its breathtakingly high price tag and prestige, caviar has an intimidating reputation. As a result, too few people have indulged in the delightfully sensual experience of eating it. Salty, rich, and satisfying, caviar is a true pleasure. Now that there has been an increase in production in the United States, caviar is more affordable than ever.

Quick, healthy baby food

For many new parents, making baby food from scratch can seem like a complicated, time-consuming project. The Fresh Start Kit from Fresh Baby ($35) offers a simple system for making a week’s worth of food in less than 30 minutes.

From books to beans

David Strymish has long been known for the cookbooks his company sells at New England Mobile Book Fair in Newton Highlands, via catalog, and online at www.ecookbooks.com. Now the president of Jessica's Biscuit has extended his reach to coffee beans, namely Biscuit Brand Coffees ($7.99 per pound).

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Move over, Cotes du Rhone

Now, with the price of many Cotes du Rhone wines exceeding the magic $10-a-bottle tag, Cotes du Ventoux will become a familiar name for those looking for delicious, well-priced reds. Made from the same Mediterranean blend of grapes as Cotes du Rhone -- primarily grenache, syrah, and cinsault -- the Cotes du Ventoux wines are typically lighter. 

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Low-carb fight swirls around pasta makers

By David L. Harris, Globe Correspondent

Some pasta makers are rushing to meet the low-carb demand, while other are trying to fight back against the low-carb craze.

Fad or not, Atkins and the no-carb movement have become a hot topic at pasta companies, where sales have been stagnating or declining for the past few years.

Although the late Dr. Robert Atkins recommended "controlled carbohydrate" pasta in his bestselling book, he wrote that if dieters want the real thing, they could cook pasta al dente, reducing the absorption rate of carbohydrates into the bloodstream.

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After 30 years of good taste, Maison Robert says au revoir

By Sheryl Julian, Globe Staff

A 30-year era will come to an end next week when French restaurant Maison Robert closes its doors.

For 30 years at Maison Robert, even the most ordinary foods have achieved this kind of status, as waiters stepped into the background and the polished tableware hardly seen outside France was filled with classic French dishes: thick chops from a rack of lamb with rosy rounds of meat, beef and venison beautifully rare, if that's how you wanted them, served with intense, syrupy sauces of stock and wine.

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Boston Globe – February 11, 2004

When love is on the menu

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

When your schedule is rough and you have very little time for a personal life, why not find that special someone at work?

Working together has always been a starting point for romance, and the restaurant industry is full of couples running establishments together, mostly the husband in the kitchen and the wife greeting customers. In the last decade, as more women have trained professionally and begun their own businesses, the dynamic has shifted.

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Food, music are key ingredients in the new show 'Dweezil & Lisa'

By Devra First, Globe Staff

The Food Network searched for ways to appeal to that coveted young demographic, and became a little bit MTV.

The show combines both. Part rockumentary, part cooking program, part travelogue, it follows the hosts as they play in clubs, eat at their favorite restaurants, and learn techniques from professional chefs. Each episode takes them to a different city -- Phoenix, New York, Chicago, their hometown of LA -- and to different food adventures.

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A meal that leaves time for romance: Cook your valentine something that's simple and elegant

By Tony Rosenfeld, Globe Correspondent

Rule out the drama of a tableside flambe or the valor of a three-hour oven braise. Focus instead on simple, warming dishes that will delight anyone with their understated elegance. Even a novice can roast thinly sliced beets and toss them with baby spinach, stir a spicy and aromatic pot of the famous San Francisco cioppino with some of our local catch, and whip up cups of an intense chocolate mousse.

Recipes include:

Spicy New England cioppino

Warm spinach salad and beet chips with goat cheese

Chocolate-espresso mousse

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SHORT ORDERS FOR YOUR VALENTINE

For your little pork chop

Food can be seductive, but not everyone swoons over caviar or foie gras. Some perfectly respectable people would prefer a simple pork chop, which is unsophisticated but when made well is perfectly satisfying. At Monica's, a tiny store with an impressive selection of homemade takeout, meaty chops come pan-roasted with winter pears and sherry wine ($12 a pound).

Doubly sweet treats

Note to the fellas: This is dreadfully unromantic. But go ahead and try Just Born's new line of candies ($8.99 for four 6-ounce boxes) that double as a treat and a valentine card. Goodies you're likely to remember from grade school or the movie theater, such as Hot Tamales, Mike and Ike, and Zours, come in vibrant flip-top packages of four and a spot to write your own words of love. Now that's amore.

Hello, darling

In French, the word cocotte, in addition to meaning "casserole dish," can also be used to mean "darling," which perfectly describes Staub's miniature enameled cast-iron pots, called "Amour" mini cocottes. These lipstick-red gems, 8-ounces each, retain heat beautifully and can go right from the oven to your romantic table, filled with coq au vin, beef stew, or French onion soup for dinner, or scrambled eggs for brunch. 

Chocolatier thinks inside the box

Camelot unraveled when Guinevere took up with Lancelot. War was waged when Helen escaped with her lover to Troy. Some people will do anything for love. On Valentine's Day, all you have to do is show some affection. A box of chocolate usually proves that.

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Flavor pulses through this Indian dish

Sponges for flavors, these red lentils pick up whatever you add to them, so the traditional South Asian tastes of ginger, cumin, and turmeric, for instance, give the pulse enough intensity that you need only water to make a delicious soup.

Recipe for Curried red-lentil soup

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Same grape can yield many unique blends

Europeans in general and the French in particular are adamant that the character of the wine comes from the place where the grapes grow. Hence they name their best wines not after grapes, but after these cherished places, resulting in a confusing system.

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NECCO still gets its heartfelt message across

By Bridget Samburg, Globe Correspondent

Ah, what would Valentine’s Day be without sugary hearts proclaiming "Be Mine," "Be True" and more.

Now the company manufactures 8 billion hearts a year in two different sizes -- or as much as 100,000 pounds a day during peak season, says Zimbalatti. Plants in Revere, Louisiana, and Wisconsin stamp out the sugary candies. Zimbalatti says she gets many requests for a single "Marry Me" heart this time of year. She tries to comply by digging through buckets of hearts to find the message.

[TPO]

Boston Globe – February 18, 2004

Miami serves up a new sizzle: Restaurant explosion gives star status to city's dining scene

By Necee Regis, Globe Correspondent

Necee Regis is based and Boston and Miami, so who better to describe new Miami restaurants to Bostonians?

A culinary tsunami hit Miami over the last six months with the opening of at least a dozen noteworthy restaurants. Suddenly the added breadth and depth of the dining scene has elevated the city to a food lover's destination.

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An efficient renovation

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

Pyenson details the eight-week kitchen renovation of a Somerville kitchen right down to the drawers and plumbing. The only thing missing is the “before” pictures.

When Mark and Stacie Bracken moved into their 104-year-old Somerville house a few years ago, they knew that, for a while, they would have to live with the small, 1950s-style kitchen -- complete with tin cabinets, red Formica counters, a washing machine tucked into a corner next to the oven, a speckled linoleum floor that had clearly seen better days, and no dishwasher. Busy planning their wedding, they didn't have the time to change anything.

Recipe: Shrimp with rum and mint

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Baked beans with brown bread: a venerable tradition that never gets old

By Christine Merlo, Globe Correspondent

Here in New England,

Brookline native Jim Solomon, chef and owner of the Fireplace restaurant, put baked beans and brown bread on the menu as soon as the weather turned chilly last autumn, and the dish has stayed on for both lunch and dinner. Solomon had done some research on Colonial eating habits and "wanted to celebrate the bounty of the region," he says. "Given our proximity to Boston, the marriage of baked beans and brown bread seemed to be a natural."

He starts by slowly roasting a pork butt, then shreds the meat and adds it to bacon and pork stock to flavor the beans. Along with molasses and brown sugar, mustard, ginger, and a kick of cayenne pepper balance the seasonings. The beans are baked in a low oven for the whole afternoon. "I wanted them to be outstanding, so we developed a version redolent of smoky bacon and pulled pork."

Recipes:

* Baked beans

* Brown bread

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Recipes:

* Rise and shine souffles

* Hearty breakfast bake

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A space age take on cooking comes straight from Spain

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Clio chef Kenneth Oringer went to an international conference in Madrid to learn some really new ways to cook.

The Boston chef, whose trip to Barcelona next month brings him to another conference, is intrigued by the contrasts in texture that can be obtained by taking a fresh approach to cooking. When he returned to his own kitchen after visiting Madrid, he called a friend who does chemical research to help him experiment. First Oringer made a mint gelee, then a foam of green tea. He put bits of the gelee into the foam, placed these into a canister, and popped that into an insulated container inside liquid nitrogen. When the container was removed from the nitrogen, with its instantly deep-freezing qualities, the foam had become a beautiful glasslike skin around the still-soft gelee inside.

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SHORT ORDERS

Wine can make winter warmer

There's still the wine to think of. Chances are it won't be local, but it could still be a local favorite -- a case you picked up on closeout, something recommended by the salesman in the little wine shop on the corner. It's robust and satisfying, with some beguiling fruit, a taste of the earth, and a bit of texture to chew on. A well-proportioned, full-flavored red wine is the generous gift of a bygone summer, and one of winter's true consolations.

Ale together now

If you've ever been to a brewer's dinner, you know that pairing the right beer and food results in a celebration of complementary flavors. The staff at Cambridge Brewing Company are consummate matchmakers. 

Queen of hearts

If you're not planning a trip to Florida this winter, you can still eat "millionaire's salad," as hearts of palm are called in the Sunshine State. Although Gold's hearts of palm ($3.29 for a 14-ounce can) are imported from Ecuador, they come from the core of the Sabal palm, which is Florida's state tree. 

The Key to flavor

Key limes aren't much to look at. Compared with the regular, plump green limes that you usually see in the produce section, the mottled green and yellow Key limes, the size of ping-pong balls, look like the citrus family's poor cousins. And then you taste them and understand what all the fuss is about.

Cuban surf and turf

Its Spanish name, ropa vieja, translates as "old clothes." No wonder the menu at Chez Henri uses the Spanish. This Cuban version of braised beef is, of course, a peasant dish. A base of peppers, garlic, onions, and tomatoes begins the dish, then tough cuts of beef such as the shank are cooked long and slow, supplemented by cilantro and a finishing squeeze of lime. 

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Flavors of Florida

One way to express Florida’s expanse is geographical: It’s almost 1,000 miles long. Another is by its food, which ranges from oysters in Apalachicola to conch in Key West. Here are many hallmark dishes, some of which are fading from practice into history because the main ingredient is protected by conservation law.

Sure, I might be able to get one of the ingredients described and make a meal that tastes like Florida, but one look at my outside thermometer and I’d rather take the geographical experience.

[TPO]

Boston Globe – February 25, 2004

Wrap it up, we'll take it

By David L. Harris, Globe Correspondent

David Harris explores the popularity of takeout items like comfort foods and ethnic meals. While I’m happy to occasionally get a delicious home-cooked meal from a takeout restaurant or store, the trend of choosing convenience over health when it comes to dinner concerns me.

How did we go from Mom making meat loaf to everyone buying "Mom's meat loaf"? As more Americans queue up at the takeout counter, researchers are pondering this question. "It's part of the industrialization of our food supply," explains James E. Tillotson, a food policy and international business professor at Tufts University who has been studying the effects of takeout and fast food on the American population. "In [industrialized] countries, fewer and fewer people are involved in food preparation," he says. 

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SHORT ORDERS

Root for these

Parsnips may not be the most popular member of the root family, but they have their place in the kitchen. Similar to carrots in texture and shape, parsnips have a sweet and earthy flavor that adds character to any soup or stew. 

Mardi animals

Mardi Gras is over, so if you didn't get your hands on any beads, you'll have to wait until next year. "At midnight on Tuesday" in New Orleans, says John Silberman, chef and owner of Magnolia's in Cambridge, "they come through with loudspeakers, saying `Go home.' " At Magnolia's, however, the party goes on: Silberman's Mardi Gras festival menu is being served until mid-March.

Something to chew on

If you are looking for a fruity bite, hawthorn berry chews -- which taste like fruit leather with a slight Asian flair -- are in many Chinatown shops. Although the hawthorn berry is not well known in this country, the flavor is familiar. The berries taste like cherries and apples rolled up together. 

Watch what you eat

If you've been looking for the perfect medieval meal and movie for your next Middle Ages feast, pour yourself a goblet of mead and check out "Movie Menus." You'll learn to make meat pies adapted from a 14th-century recipe and serve dinner on pieces of dried bread instead of plates, and you'll have a list of classic period films to choose from, such as "Ivanhoe," "The Lion in Winter," or "Braveheart." In 10 themed chapters, movie buff Francine Segan pairs recipes with movie quotes, food and film trivia, and unusual cooking tips (an original recipe from the 15th century, when clocks were rare, says to boil the eggplant for no longer than it takes to say the "Our Father" twice). 

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Like they make it in Milan

It's exciting to eat a famous dish in the city in which it was invented. On a recent visit to Milan, Julie saw veal Milanese at every restaurant and trattoria she stopped into. Made with a bone-in veal chop pounded lightly at the edges, it was brushed with beaten egg, dipped into bread crumbs, and sautéed in ample butter.

* Recipe for Chicken cutlet Milanese

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Funny, it doesn't look like health food

By David Schoetz, Globe Correspondent

I have eaten at O'Natural's, and I found the food to be fast, affordable and delicious.

The owners of three burgeoning fast food alternatives think that quality is too often cooked off on the supersized assembly lines. O'Natural's in Acton, the Financial District's Andale!, and b.good in the South End are all clamoring to satisfy fitness-conscious consumers by using fresher ingredients, more labor-intensive cooking methods, and amiable atmospheres.

At these eateries, where customers buy food and then find a seat, a hormone-free roast turkey sandwich might arrive on chewy whole-wheat bread. Taste, quality, and convenience have merged to satisfy the diner in a rush.

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Eating with friends

When Joanne Weir cooks, we listen. The host of public television’s "Weir Cooking in the Wine Country" and author of several cookbooks, including the new "Weir Cooking in the City" (Simon & Schuster), Weir makes the most appealing Mediterranean-style food. 

* Recipe for Fiery peppered feta with pita

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Barley wine has strong appeal

By Ann Cortissoz, Globe Staff

So what is it about barley wines that has so many beer lovers giddy as schoolgirls? They are rich, voluptuous, complex beers that will open up as they sit in a glass, and they're smooth, warming, and very easy to drink. The alcohol content is between 8 and 12 percent by volume.

[TPO]

Boston Globe – March 3, 2004

The lush life, plus a restaurant

New condo projects add eateries, with room service, as an owner perk

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Condo owners already get to let someone else take care of the mowing, the shoveling, and other maintenance outside of their condo. Now some condo owners may get to let someone else take care of an inside duty – cooking.

In the newest wave of gilded urban life, an independent restaurant on the premises of luxury condominiums is de rigueur, as essential to the perks as a doorman or a covered parking garage. The right kind of restaurant, says Ronald M. Druker, developer of the South End's Atelier 505, will "add a certain level of vitality" to the premises and "set a tone for the lifestyle of the building." That lifestyle is costing condominium owners between $600,000 and $2.75 million.

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Throw her a lemon creme brulee

After seeing the movie Adaptations, it’s hard to think of Susan Orlean as anything except Meryl Streep. But her obsession with orchids has been replaced by an obsession with food; in this case, lemon creme brulee.

Now her passion is the lemon creme brulee at blu in the Ladder District. "It should have a different name," she says. The custard rests on a coconut cake, covered with tiny, intensely lemony cookies. "We had dinner and split dessert, and we flipped out," she says. "I secretly wanted the whole thing to myself."

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Mmmmm, beer

Nobody looks forward to opening a beer with more vocal enthusiasm than Homer Simpson. So it seems fitting that you can buy a bottle opener that not only sports Homer's likeness on the red plastic handle but also features his voice. 

Frozen asset

For years, ice cream lovers watching their waistlines have been able to quiet their cravings with frozen yogurt. But ice cream's healthier alternative could never quite match the creamy consistency that makes connoisseurs swoon. Until Sweet Scoops.

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Slow and steady wins the raves

By Lisa Zwirn, Globe Correspondent

Slow cookers provide one very simple pleasure in life – allowing you to walk through the door after a long day and smell a meal that’s hot and ready to eat.

What you do is fill the pot with short ribs, say, chopped onion, crushed garlic, liquid such as red wine, and a handful of fresh herbs. Set the time and temperature and grab your skis. Or go to work. Or go to sleep. Dinner cooks while you're out.

Recipes:

* Beef short ribs braised in red wine

* Mediterranean vegetable stew

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Three sides and many flavors

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

Jewish bakeries start loading their cases with the three-cornered pastries known as hamantaschen this time of year. These mark the festival of Purim, which starts at sundown on Saturday. Hamantaschen can be soft and yeasty, like sweet, filled triangular pillows, or they can be made like shortbread or sugar cookies, folded into triangles with poppy seed or fruit fillings peeking through.

Recipes for Hamantaschen

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Chilaquiles are comfort food, Mexican style

By Christine Merlo, Globe Correspondent

Chef/owner Leo Romero of Casa Romero relives childhood memories every time he prepares this dish at his Back Bay restaurant.

"Some of my fondest culinary memories growing up in Mexico City were of preparing chilaquiles for breakfast," Romero says. " The redolent fragrance of the tortillas and onions frying in a skillet, followed by the hissing sound of grated fresh tomato being added to the pan still delights me to this day."

Recipe for Chilaquiles

[TPO]

Boston Globe – March 10, 2004

The corner on Latin flavor

By Galen Moore, Globe Correspondent

Jamaica Plain's Hyde Square offers Latin-American cuisine at every corner.

Baskets of steaming tacos -- soft corn tortillas wrapped tightly around savory stewed meats -- emerge from the kitchen, and the intoxicating smell of mole sauce fills the air. Sitting amid a clutter of beer signs and gaudily colored sombreros hung on the walls, it's not hard to imagine you are in a cinder-block shack somewhere in Mexico.

Recipe for Picadillo

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It may be organic, but it isn't maple syrup

By Peggy Grodinsky, Globe Correspondent

Maple syrup maker Elliott Morse questions the new “organic” labels on syrup since maple syrup is a natural and organic product. Pancake syrup, on the other hand, might be organic—but it’s not the same thing. When flavor matters, be sure to read labels.

The products are made from bona fide ingredients that add up to something you might pour over pancakes. They're somewhat higher in real maple syrup than standard-issue supermarket syrup, and they're priced lower than Vermont's pure nectar. Sorrell Ridge Organic Syrup (the label reads "100% Real MAPLE flavor") and Shady Maple Farms Certified Organic Pancake Syrup ("A Natural Choice") are made from all organic ingredients and, as such, are available in natural foods markets across the country. The companies making them hope to profit from consumers' growing appetite for anything organic.

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SHORT ORDERS

Out of their shell

Snow’s and Bar Harbor chopped clams will never replace our beloved fresh bivalves. But the nights when we long for linguine with clam sauce are often the same nights when there’s no time to deal with a big bag of sandy clams.

Get all the dirt

After this winter’s record cold, the prospect of planting anything in the ground may seem a long way off. Nevertheless, gardening season will be here soon. A good way to get started is at Concord farmer Steve Verrill’s class “Gardening 101: Planning Your Vegetable Garden.”

Don’t have a cow

If lamb chops are what you’re hankering for, head to Back Bay’s Cafe Jaffa, where they are prepared simply and superbly.

Plum crazy

Lotte Ume (plum) gum, which comes in a pink package decorated with delicate blooms, firs right in with the aesthetic. At first chew, it’s deliciously complex—is it sweet? sour? salty?—and intense.

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At Dave's, they've fine-tuned the art of fresh pasta

By Denise Dube, Globe Correspondent

Text

At Dave's Fresh Pasta, making noodles is a daily ritual. Home cooks and restaurant chefs who want fresh pasta without the nuisance of preparing the dough from scratch come to Jick for fettuccine, spaghetti, or angel hair. They can watch as Jick cuts the fresh pasta, then bags and weighs it. Sheets of lasagna are available, as are cheese-filled ravioli. If you want your pasta flavored with spinach, you can watch the green leaves worked into the dough. "They come in, they pick a flavor," says Jick, "and we do it there as they wait."

Recipes for Linguine with cherry tomatoes and herbs

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Part grated, part mashed, boxty is potato perfection

Of all the potato pancakes that are possible to make -- one type is a lacy, crisp pancake made with grated raw potatoes; another is a substantial, crusty cake made with mashed potatoes -- few beat boxty, which are Irish in origin. They're made from grated raw potatoes mixed together with mashed potatoes, with egg to lighten them and flour to bind them. In "The Oxford Companion to Food," the late Alan Davidson explains that the name boxty comes from "bacus," which means "griddle" in Gaelic.

Recipe for Boxty

[TPO]

Boston Globe – March 17, 2004

Weighing the low-carb craze

Products with fewer carbohydrates may not taste as good, but that isn't stopping shoppers

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

You might have to give up pasta, but Atkins dieters can now try low-carb versions of their favorite snack foods.

But while manufacturers aim to satisfy the demand, Kapner, Bachman, and other customers give the low-carb versions decidedly mixed marks. "I certainly would eat more pasta and . . . bread if there were really good substitutes for them that are diet-friendly," says Brian Kern, 30, of Brookline, who is on the South Beach Diet. "There are passable substitutes that are still somewhat high in carbs, but they're not super satisfying, and they're not super diet-friendly."

Check out their product comparisons here.

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Is a calorie just a calorie?

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Many of us were raised on a meat and potatoes diet, making it hard to give up the “potatoes” side of the equation.

Consumers spent the last two decades checking food labels for fat content and supporting a low-fat, no-fat industry. Now that the industry has decided to respond to a different culprit, questions arise: What exactly is being done to a loaf of bread or a glass of milk to lower the grams of carbohydrates -- and is it good for you?

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For new cafe, keeping it simple has great appeal

By Anneliese Doyle, Globe Correspondent

The opening of Sherman Cafe faced many delays, but the wait may have been worth it.

Among the couple's other worries was the idea, says Dryer, that "people think of Union Square as a place where nothing happens." They did not want to be perceived as just another hipster coffee shop.

Their concerns are over. White china plates, chic Japanese iron teapots, a storefront where the sun pours in, and some fine food characterize Sherman Cafe, which opened in January.

Recipe for Sherman Cafe's egg salad sandwich

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SHORT ORDERS

When life gives you lemons, eat lemon curd

Lemon curd is a traditional Englishspread, like a thick jam, with a fruity and tart flavor and the most lively yellow color. It's a heavenly topping for toast, breakfast breads, orpound cake. Stonewall Kitchen's Fresh Lemon Curd ($8.50 to $8.99 for an 11.5 ounce jar), made in Maine, is a velvety custard of sugar, egg yolks, butter, and lemons. 

Soda bread stands alone

An Irish breakfast doesn't have to containblack pudding. The rustic sausage made from blood and grains is a breakfast favorite on the Emerald Isle, but so are warm slices of soda bread. Baked in Quincy, Hurley's Boston Soda Breads are round, well-risen loaves (about $4.99 each), each baked in its own cast-iron skillet. 

Garlic rocks

The food available at the Middle East Restaurant and Night Club in Cambridge’s Central Square is perfectly adequate for a pre- or post-rock show tuck-in... But no matter which up-and-coming garage rock band happens to be gracing the stage, the whipped garlic at the Middle East and ZuZu are worth a detour.

Spring cleaning

Recipe Bites, a new recipe organizing system, is a place to file and catalog your treasured formulas. This sturdy binder hold 50 transparent sheet protectors (160 recipes of different sizes will fit).

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It's come a long way from Riunite

Banfi is an Italian-American success story. Founded in 1919 by John Mariani Sr. as a wine importing company, Banfi made a fortune importing Riunite, the leading imported wine in the United States every year from 1974 until 2000. (Riunite still remains one of the top five imported brands.) Now run by Mariani's children and grandchildren, Banfi invested the profits from Riunite in Tuscany and revitalized Brunello di Montalcino, one of Italy's most prestigious wines.

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Fast life with menu

Text

During a six-month foray into vegetarianism, I exchanged my copy of Julia Child's "The Way to Cook" for Mollie Katzen's "The Moosewood Cookbook." The vegetarian diet didn't last, but the book remained a staple.

For anyone who's dabbled in meatlessness or embraced it altogether, Katzen is a familiar figure. Since 1977, the best-selling author has influenced the eating habits of generations.

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When it comes to bread, brown is beautiful

By Keri Fisher, Globe Correspondent

Brown soda bread offers an easy and tasty way to bring a taste of Ireland to the table.

A deceptively simple combination of white and wheat flours, baking soda, buttermilk, and salt, brown bread was originally cooked in an iron pot over an open fire. Now it's sometimes made in a cast-iron skillet, but more typically on a baking sheet. Seeds and dried fruit can be added -- caraway seeds and currants are particularly popular; other recipes include citrus peel and nuts.

Recipe for brown soda bread

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Brewers take a page from the Guinness book

By Ann Cortissoz, Globe Staff

Though these beers generally have some combination of smoky, roasted, coffee, and chocolate flavors, there are many variations on the theme, from low-alcohol, dry (or Irish) stouts to sweet stouts such as oatmeal stout to complex, high-alcohol stouts such as imperial stouts. While Redbones serves a lot of Guinness, Bol says, "big imperial stouts like Victory Storm King are the most popular with our customers."

Recipe for Irish stout cake

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Boston Globe – March 24, 2004

Need Passover dinner? Pick up the phone

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

Preparing multicourse holiday meals is difficult when time is short. But if you are in the Rockland area, you can have a traditional meal with no more effort than driving to the caterer and reheating the meal.

Caterers such as Provender Kosher Catering in Rockland have stepped in with almost-home-cooked Passover meals that require little more than picking up the food and reheating it.

Where to get your Passover meal

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Tea and company at Harvard's Apthorp House

By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent

Friday afternoon is tea time at Harvard's Apthorp House, and Jessica Zdeb is a big part of it.

In the Apthorp kitchen, senior Jessica Zdeb pipes chocolate frosting around the edges of a layer cake. Students bustle from stovetop to counter to sandwich-laden tray, shouting questions and commands. They expect about 200 guests. The "domestic goddess," as her peers call Zdeb, 22, has been working the teas since she was a sophomore, overseeing the event for the past two years. "I've never been to a tea as a spectator," she says, looking up from a pile of cookies she's decorating.

Jessica Zdeb’s recipe for Apple cake

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Cooking up culture

Adopting children from other countries can expand families' culinary horizons

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

When you have children, your life changes. When you adopt a child from another country, your evening meals may change as well as you try to include your newest family member’s culture at the dinner table.

As the number of international adoptions by US citizens continues rising -- up to more than 20,000 a year in 2002 -- many new parents find themselves looking for ways to keep children exposed to their native cultures. For some, the route is music or dance or language. For others, the strongest connection takes the form of a matchstick of ginger, a lump of masa dough, a steaming pot of lentils and curry.

Vegetarian potstickers

Ginger chicken

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Squared away

Tableware is taking shape

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

We think of chefs dreaming up flavors and experimenting with unusual ingredients and seasonings. But rarely do we think of them mulling over how to match a plate to the food going on it.

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A tostada inspiration on a California road

In Napa Valley recently, Sheryl had the quintessential tostada at Mustards Grill along St. Helena Highway, a bustling roadside restaurant where tourists go to recover from wine tastings. A large and very crisp corn tortilla had been spread with spicy black beans, strips of grilled mahi mahi, and then a heap of something that resembled a slaw with lettuce and strips of red bell peppers. At home, we thought, the dish would be cumbersome, so we pared it down, substituting broiled swordfish for mahi mahi on the grill, a hot oven tocrisp the tortillas instead of a shallow bath of oil, and canned black beans with canned chipotles rather than the long-simmered legumes and fresh chilies.

Recipe for Tostadas with swordfish and spicy black beans

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SHORT ORDERS

At the boiling point

A little German kitchen gadget by Kuchenprofi, called "eipicker" (egg pricker), is guaranteed to prevent your eggs from cracking while they boil. Many tricks of the trade are passed around by home cooks, and one is pricking the rounded end of an egg with a needle to get perfect hard-cooked gems. Now this classy little stainless steel canister ($10) does the job for you.

Chicken salad for the soul

Lunch in downtown Boston is typically an affair of gut-busting sandwiches, pizza, or soggy vegetable wraps, so it's nice to find a simple alternative once in a while. Tucked down a narrow waterfront side street, Bean & Leaf Cafe, owned by Christina and Jeff Leone for the last two years, serves up three kinds of chicken salad sandwiches ($5.95): one with curry and red grapes, one with tarragon, and one with ripe, bright-green avocado. 

A doughnut by any other name...

In "Arnie the Doughnut" (Henry Holt, $16.95), Laurie Keller tells the story of this chocolate-glazed, rainbow-sprinkled hero. The enchantingly illustrated tale affords the reader a rare glimpse of the world from a doughnut's point of view. 

A gourmet ketchup revolution

Why is it that there are dozens of different mustards to choose from, but when it comes to ketchup, Heinz and Hunt's seem to have a lock on the market? This burning question sent Jim Wigon to the Boston Public Library a few years ago in search of ketchup recipes. He settled on one from the 1880s, substituted maple syrup for sugar, and World's Best Ketchup was born ($2.99 for 10 ounces, $1.59 for 4 ounces).

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The joy of baking

Gluten-free peanut butter cookies

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The Boston Globe – March 31, 2004

Baking for Passover with 30 dozen eggs

A great-grandmother spends this week making feathery light cakes for her family, two at a time

By Julie Riven, Globe Correspondent

Anna Sudman bakes all year long, but Passover is when her regular baking turns into a marathon.

Over the next few days, Anna Sudman, 84, will be baking more spongecakes than most cooks prepare in a lifetime. Using six tube pans, and making the cakes two at a time, Sudman will have made up to 45 cakes in her small oven by the end of Passover.

Anna Sudman's Passover spongecake

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Grape surplus sparks entrepreneurial spirit

By Stephen Meuse, Globe Correspondent

Two dollar wine is one result of the current grape surplus here, brought on in part by frantic planting in the early- and mid-'90s. Prices of grapes are so depressed that some growers aren't making enough money to pay property taxes. But not everyone is singing the wine glut blues. At the Napa Wine Company, business is brisk. A new breed of wine entrepreneurs is taking advantage of state-of-the-art facilities and manpower to craft upscale products from surplus fruit with a pedigree -- some from top California estates. 

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SHORT ORDERS

Bread of confection

The first day it's great spread with horseradish while you eat gefilte fish. The second day you might enjoy it with peanut butter and jelly. By the third day of Passover, matzo has gotten old. This is where Matzo Munchies ($3.49 for a 4-ounce bag) come in.

The secret is out

Since 1933 Chateau patrons have coveted Mary Nocera's secret recipe for the sauce that smothered her pasta, covered her pizza, and accented the calamari. The only way to enjoy the thick tomato sauce was by ordering from the restaurant's menu. A few months ago Nocera's grandsons made a deal with the Pastene Companies Ltd. of Canton, a family-owned business that has imported Italian foods since 1848.

Taking the cake

A Passover confection this incredibly good from a flip-top metal container? Leave it to the French to bake dreamy little flourless cakes in individual tins, which are vacuum sealed for freshness. 

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New kitchen gadgets make cooking more convenient -- and colorful

By Bev Bennett, Globe Correspondent

Bennett reviews some of the kitchen gadgets shown at the annual trade-only Home & Housewares Show, including silicone bakeware, Toastabags, Garlic Twist, and more.

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The gefilte fish tradition continues

By Lisa Zwirn, Globe Correspondent

Few foods are as emblematic of tradition and, you could say, culinary evolution, as gefilte fish. The fact that the little ground fish balls (or ovals) are still served at Passover and other Jewish holidays -- even though so few cooks make them from scratch anymore -- is a testament to the strength of the tradition. Today, many families who once ate homemade gefilte fish now rely on the bottled versions so widely available.

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Recipe for Passover fish loaf

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Delicious desserts can still be kosher

Check out a few family favorites for Passover desserts, as well as recipes for Almond raspberry torte and Pineapple-carrot bake.

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Holiday offers a break from carbs

By Bev Bennett, Globe Correspondent

Some see Passover as the perfect hospital for Atkins dieters, but others see it as a good chance to eat a bit healthier.

The holiday can be a healthful break from poor habits, too. "Passover gives you a chance to think and plan what you're eating, just like healthful eating requires a little planning," says Braunstein. That might include adding more fruits and vegetables.

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Preparing for the ultimate bake-off

By Galen Moore, Globe Correspondent

Baking is an art of meticulous effort, exact proportion, and deft timing. One tiny miscue, and hours of preparation can go up in a puff of steam.

No one knows that better than Sandra Burns, Brian Meunier, and Michael Rhoads. Recently the three Boston-area bakers gathered at Clear Flour Bakery, where Meunier is the production manager, to practice for the March 20 finals that determine the members of the US team for the 2005 Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie in Paris.

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Drink a toast to fine kosher wines

The explosion in the choice of kosher wine has been phenomenal. In only two decades the near monopoly of Mogen David and Manischevitz has been replaced by a vast selection. 

This Glass Notes column also reviews a few kosher wine selections, ranging in price fro $9 to $75 a bottle.

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The Boston Globe – April 7, 2004

Everyone at the table

Savor the warmth of Sunday dinner with the family

By Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven

Julian and Riven remind us that “comfort foods” is about more than just the meal.

There's a reason that old-fashioned children's books tell stories about going to Grandma's house. This is what many people did every Sunday. Waking up early, going to church, and then collecting as a family over midday dinner was so automatic that no one thought of what they might be doing instead. And for many people, the experience was powerful. You could smell what was for dinner even before you rang the doorbell: aromas of meat roasting, potatoes baking, and fruit pies cooling.

Recipes:

* Cheese pennies

* Eggs mayonnaise

* Gratin of potatoes

* Leg of lamb with mustard coating

* Lemon squares

* Potato crisps

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SHORT ORDERS

A very good egg

Here's an egg that you won't want to hide this Easter. Catherine's Chocolates, a family run business in Great Barrington, still dips each of its chocolates by hand, using recipes that date back generations.

They look good enough to collect, but better to eat

"No one hand decorates eggs anymore," says Nur Kilic, owner of Brookline's Serenade Chocolatier. Each of their handmade Easter chocolates is unique, varying from egg-size chocolates for nibbling ($2 to $15), to medium-sized bunnies and eggs ($15 to $65).

Keep your cool and clean your fridge with helpful hints

It's National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Week: Do you know where your leftovers are? 

Bun appetit

On Easter morning, who wouldn't be delighted by the sight of a chocolate bunny with his or her name written on it? At Indulge! in Newton Highlands, owner Linda Gulman, a former art major, has a way with melted chocolate in squeeze bottles.

Casablanca brings food to the Fore

Eating at Fore Street is one of the treats in Portland, Maine. But the trip's not always possible. On April 14, Fore Street chef and owner Sam Hayward will bring Maine to Cambridge for a dinner at Harvard Square's Casablanca restaurant. 

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At Ole, staff has the green light to make guacamole

By Lise Stern, Globe Correspondent

Guacamole doesn’t get any fresher than at Ole Mexican Grill in Cambridge.

A waiter wheels a tiled wooden cart next to the table. Cobalt glass bowls hold chopped onions, jalapeno peppers, cilantro, and tomatoes. The centerpiece is a large molcajete (pronounced molka-hettay), an oversized Mexican mortar and pestle carved from dark basalt. Torres, a native of Mexico, says, "Almost every single Mexican home has one of these to make guacamole, salsa." The restaurant buys their molcajetes, priced from $26 to $95, from the Cambridge shop Nomad. After grinding the seasonings from the bowls with coarse salt, the waiter halves two ripe Hass avocados, scoops the flesh into the molcajete and mixes it with lime juice and chopped tomatoes. The guacamole in the molcajete is set on the table with tortilla chips.

Includes recipe for Guacamole adapted from Ole Mexican Grill.

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Silicone pans bring space-age baking to town

By Camela Zarcone, Globe Correspondent

Zarcone talks about the pros and cons of silicone baking pans, and puts them to the test with recipes such as Glazed lemon poppy-seed breads and Bran muffins .

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Cabernet sauvignon is a classic match for lamb

By Michael Apstein, Globe Staff

Mature red Bordeaux have always been a classic match for roast lamb. These Cru Classe wines -- from the Medoc subregion, where cabernet sauvignon reigns -- include Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Chateau Lynch Bages, and Chateau Lagrange. 

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Oyster bar brings out the favor of New Orleans

By Clea Simon, Globe Correspondent

Simon is a regular visitor to New Orleans, and in this article shares some of her favorite aspects of the area.

For a first taste of New Orleans, though, there is nothing like a basic oyster bar. Acme's original French Quarter restaurant (one of four Acme Oyster Houses now spread across Louisiana and Florida) looks more like a bar than restaurant, actually, and some would say the spacious Felix's (across the street) or nearby Casamento's are better places to enjoy the local bounty. Arguing about such choices, however, is akin to discussing politics or religion: These are personal choices that are better left untouched. Those of us who find ourselves pulling up chairs to the red-checkered tablecloths or, better yet, to the high oyster bar, have no reason to complain.

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Boston Globe – April 21, 2004

Rooting for old-fashioned flavors

AJ Stephans's ginger beers and cream sodas are sweetened by nostalgia

By Galen Moore, Globe Correspondent

Believe it or not, there was a time when soda was made without high fructose corn syrup. At Empire Bottling Works, the soda is made with cane sugar.

Old-time sodas such as ginger beer have always been popular among New Englanders who remember drinking it as children, says Stephans's owner, Jeff Rose. Vacationers to Jamaica and the Bahamas discovered the drink "dark and stormy" -- rum mixed with ginger beer -- and returned home with a hankering to make it. So the zippy ginger soda is enjoying a resurgence. 

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Filling her plate with the '50s

Writer finds that homemade meals didn't disappear

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Many of us have images of 1950s women taking advantage of TV dinners and other convenience foods. But Laura Shapiro’s research says otherwise.

There was obviously more going on than can be perceived through the haze of nostalgia, Shapiro decided. What emerged is "Something From the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America" (Viking 2004). Instead of a treatise on "funny food," Shapiro concentrated on a little-discussed dynamic: While food industry giants such as General Mills repeatedly declared that nobody cooked anymore -- and food editors reiterated the message -- women put hot meals on the table every night and baked from scratch.

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SHORT ORDERS

Soaking it in

The TowL is 100 percent viscose, a natural substance made from wood pulp, manufactured by Pacific Dry Goods of California. It is the offspring of the thin, lithe paper towel and the absorbent, reusable sponge -- prettier and more durable than either parent. 

Crackers fit for a king

Besides pickled herring and groaning smorgasbords, the Swedes haven't exported many culinary specialties. That is, until an unassuming cracker, named after a Swedish king, arrived here. Wasa Crispbread ($2.69 for an 8-ounce package), made in Sweden since 1919, comes in drab-sounding varieties such as multigrain and fiber rye. 

Love me tendrill

Among the long-awaited edible odes to spring are fiddlehead ferns and asparagus. But pea tendrils say it all; with their delicate viney stems and tiny leaves, they capture the sweetness of fresh peas along with the earthiness of farm land. The South End's Pho Republique offers a plateful of pea tendrils ($10), served in a lovely tangle of white miso, garlic, soy sauce, and fresh ginger. 

Brew it yourself (soda that is)

From the supermarket salad bar to pick-your-own fruit fields, do-it-yourself foods are everywhere you turn. Numerous restaurants allow you to assemble your own meal and watch as the cook grills it. Fewer options await the aspiring home soft-drink brewer, but there is a place to do it: Barleycorn's in Natick. It's like a hands-on factory tour where you call the flavor shots. 

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On the hunt for a classic cacciatore

By Christine Merlo, Globe Correspondent

At his restaurant Sweet Basil here, chef and owner David Becker has been serving chicken cacciatore -- one of the most famous Italian-American dishes -- since taking over four years ago. Although he changes his menu twice a year, this popular entree has become a fixture.

Recipe for Chicken cacciatore

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Tenderloin mercies

Pork tenderloins are tasty enough for company but quick enough for a weeknight meal with the family.

Pork tenderloins are the best-kept secrets in the supermarket meat case. They are slender -- no more than 2 inches at the thickest part -- and very lean. You can buy them as part of a bone-in loin, which when cut into chops has the nugget of tenderloin on one side of the little T-bone. But tenderloins on their own are the quick cook's smart answer to an elegant, low-fat meal.

Recipe for Pork tenderloins with Asian slaw wrapped in lettuce

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These brothers are true beer advocates

By Ann Cortissoz, Globe Staff

Todd Alstrom and his brother Jason fell in love with beer in England, and now devote a lot of time to a website they run without ads or fees and even held their first beer festival last year.

They persisted and turned their passion into the website beeradvocate.com, where you can find listings of Beer Advocate-sponsored beer dinners, beer and cheese tastings, pub crawls, and festivals; tips on drinking etiquette; a calendar of events around the world; brew reviews by the Alstroms and other Beer Advocates -- people who have signed up to the website -- and forums where Beer Advocates can "beermail" one another about topics such as how to make a Baltic porter, meeting up with someone who's going to Munich's spring beer festival, or finding a beer tasting in St. Louis. You could say it's a sort of Friendster or craigslist for beer geeks.

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Drawing the line in the kitchen

By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent

Some people bake, some people make dinner, but most cooks have a specialty that they want to stay with.

Cooking is a curious activity; there are few other tasks that are both hobby and necessity. There are those for whom cooking is limited to making family suppers. Others are happy to spend an afternoon experimenting with complex recipes and unfamiliar ingredients. Culinary aspirations aside, everyone draws a line at what they won't try to cook at home.

Recipe for Cassoulet quickly

Recipe for Curried chicken in coconut milk

[TPO]

Boston Globe – April 28, 2004

Polenta: mush with attitude

Polenta is more than cornmeal porridge. It's the side dish of choice for many chefs

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Restaurants all over Boston have replaced mashed potatoes in many of their dishes.

Now comes another Italian star: polenta, cornmeal mush with attitude, the new favorite supporting actor. At La Morra, Josh Ziskin's new restaurant in Brookline Village, crispy polenta is the base for game hens garnished with pea tendrils. Polenta studded with pancetta and mozzarella holds up roast chicken at Circolo in Manchester. It provides a creamy pillow under beef short ribs at the North End's Terramia. Locally foraged mushrooms flavor polenta with duck breast at Il Capriccio in Waltham.

Recipes:

* Microwave polenta

* Crispy polenta

* Polenta concia

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He's created an environment for sushi

By Timothy Q. Cebula, Globe Correspondent

Michael Marcus, owner of the Japanese restaurant, Bizen, spent years training as a sushi chef. According to his customers, his hard work certainly certainly has paid off.

In the leading role, behind Bizen's center stage -- a marble sushi bar -- Marcus wields a carbon-steel knife through glistening slabs of tuna, salmon, and red snapper. Swift and certain, he rolls green wasabi balls and molds moist rice in his palms. A waitress in a blazing red kimono approaches, and Marcus speaks to her in fluent Japanese, which he learned while living in Japan some years ago.

Recipe for Charcoal-grilled Chilean sea bass

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SHORT ORDERS

No beefs

At Christopher's Restaurant in Cambridge's Porter Square, however, veggie burgers ($8.95) are on the menu about every two weeks. Made up of all wholesome ingredients -- oats, grilled vegetables, and fresh herbs among them -- the burgers are mixed and shaped fresh by hand.

Read it and eat

If you've ever wondered what the tropical fruit durian looks like (a hedgehog), wanted to know how to tell if asparagus is fresh (squeeze a bunch and see if it squeaks), or been curious about a better way to crack into a coconut (bake it first), the "Field Guide to Produce" ($14.95), by Aliza Green, may be the perfect addition to your culinary bookshelf. 

Farm fresh

Splurging on dessert ought to be good for you, like a pudding made with all natural ingredients by a New England family farm where the cows are the stars. Echo Farm in Hinsdale, N.H., produces creamy, not-too-sweet puddings with an honest dairy flavor.

Spicy sausage, sweet crepe

Walk into Mr. Crepe, a quirky cafe just outside Somerville's Davis Square, and you might meet a scruffy Tufts student who is supposed to wait on you but is busy scarfing down his own dinner. He's eating one of the juicy "supercrepes" filled with merguez, a spicy Algerian lamb sausage; roasted red peppers; caramelized onions; spinach; basil; and melting herbed feta.

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AROUND TOWN

Just desserts

If you’re in the Boston area next week, indulge in a sweet treat while contributing to the Eva Brownman Breast Cancer Fund and breast cancer research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

From Monday to May 9, more than 95 area restaurants will participate in the fourth Boston Bakes for Breast Cancer.

Sake sample

Sake's popularity is soaring, and sushi master Toru Oga is showcasing fine sakes and his newest spring dishes Monday at Oga's in Natick.

Winning combinations

In its storied rivalry with Boston, New York has long claimed an edge in two important areas of civic life. Those would be, of course, baseball and pizza. But now the Red Sox hold a 6-to-1 record against the Yankees and a small local pizzeria called Crazy Dough's has taken the prize at the 2004 International Pizza Expo, having beaten Goodfellas Brick-Oven Pizza, a two-time New York winner.

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Redeeming a wine of ill repute

By Stephen Meuse, Globe Correspondent

Somewhere in this country's chaotic wine market, there must be a lost and found. In it reside grape varieties, vineyards -- even whole regions -- that have fallen into disrepute and managed to stage spectacular comebacks. Chianti, Beaujolais, and sherry can all boast of being among viticulture's redeemed.

Soave and superior

Reviews of eight Soave wines.

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Local chefs get cookbook honors

Last week, at a meeting in Baltimore, the International Association of Culinary Professionals announced its cookbook awards. Among the recipients were local restaurateurs Gordon Hamersley and Didi Emmons. Hamersley won in the chef category for his "Bistro Cooking at Home" (Broadway Books), written with Joanne McAllister Smart, and Emmons in the health category for "Entertaining for a Veggie Planet" (Houghton Mifflin).

[TPO]

Boston Globe – May 5, 2004

A treat for mom: no fussing at the dinner table

If children ate everything on their plates, dinner would be a joy

By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent

Looks like what some moms really want for Mother’s Day is a child who will their dinner without complaining, even if it is for just that one night.

For mothers of young children, dinnertime is often not the best moment in the day. When you factor in the number of kids who won't eat anything but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (no crusts, please) for weeks on end, parents' late work schedules, and everyone's fatigue, the dinner hour seems doomed. Who wants to negotiate every bite a child takes?

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SHORT ORDER FOR MOM

Elegance is in the bag

There are old jokes about building a better mousetrap, but the fact that Peter Hewitt of Concord has designed a better tea bag is no joke. His tea bags do not need to be dropped out of sight inelegantly after use.

Give Mom hugs and quiches

Mother's day brunch is a nice idea, but knowing you, you'll forget until Saturday, when the only place you can get a reservation is some joint in Faneuil Hall, where the bloody marys are watery and the chairs are sticky -- in other words, the sort of place Mom really dislikes. Why not just invite her over for a glass of Champagne, a fruit salad, and some quiche?

Treats for Mom fresh from the oven

Let Mom sleep in this Sunday, and awake to a house that smells invitingly of homemade scones. Surprise her in bed with warm and fragrant triangles bursting with blueberries and tasting of a hint of sour cream. But who has time to buy everything you need? Thanks to King Arthur Flour's mixes, you don't need much.

Liquid luxe

We know, we know: You always give your mom soap for Mother's Day. But now isn't the time to change that, because she should have some Caldrea lavender-pine hand soap liquid by her sink. The scent is gentle and soothing (according to the company, lavender is "a natural relaxant, air freshener, insecticide, and tonic"), the lather thick and moisturizing, and the pump bottle satisfyingly hefty.

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Guest chefs help Sage celebrate

Anthony Susi is celebrating his five-year anniversary of taking over as owner of the reataurant Sage.

To celebrate his half-decade, Susi has invited a different chef into his kitchen for five nights during the month of May. Among them are Pigalle's Marc Orfaly (May 11); Victor LaPlaca of Olives in New York (May 13), who cooked with Susi at Olives in Charlestown; Ana Sortun of Oleana (May 18); and L's Pino Maffeo (May 20).

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Campaign keeps the heart in mind

The Boston Heart Party, concerned with health issues in the region such as high cholesterol and blood pressure, have asked local restaurants to participate in a heart-healthy campaign.

So this spring the group asked about 100 restaurants in the Boston area to put at least one dish on their menus that would be good for the heart.

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Restaurants add a little flavor to their restroom doors

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

It used to be so simple. The signs on men's rooms said "men" or "gentlemen"; the ones on women's rooms said "women," or maybe "ladies." Many still do. But recently the people who conceive the signs are getting more creative. Sometimes all you can do is stare and wonder. At Via Matta in Boston, if you walk down the expansive staircase, past the large kitchen, to the restrooms, you have to pause in the hallway for a few seconds to figure out which of the two diamond-patterned letters is which. The problem is, the W and the M look identical, except that one is upside down. You don't need a glass of wine to become hopelessly confused.

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Through the looking glass

33 Restaurant & Lounge has a fun restroom behind its confusing doors.

Inside, the fun really begins. A glass wall by the men's room door is filled with 3-inch PVC pipes that are cut to two-inch depths. The pipes are stacked in such a way that it is easy to peer through their openings into the women's room.

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Crazy name, tasty cookie

Snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies, as long as the recipe contains lots and lots of butter.

A snickerdoodle is a simple sugar cookie coated in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar and baked until its top crackles. The cookie was christened alongside some of the early sweet treats -- cookies such as brambles and jumbles -- for no other reason than pure whimsy. 

Recipe for Snickerdoodles

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Recipes for:

* Lemon and basil chicken

* Garlicky shrimp with hot peppers

* Marinated chicken kebabs

* Danno's Szechuan shaboom stir-fry

* Orange-ginger beef and broccoli

[TPO]

Boston Globe – May 12, 2004

The little markets that can

Being friendly, calling customers by name, and having great locations make these grocery stores competitive

Independent markets in the Boston area are becoming more things to more people.

Miracle Whip sits two shelves below a bottle of aged balsamic vinegar that is 10 times the price. Truffle oil is right above Pam spray, simple queso mexicano is almost adjacent to black peppercorn pecorino, and, in the takeout section, rice and beans are offered along with flank steak and grilled asparagus. "We feel like we need to be just what most stores don't like to be -- and that's all things to all people," said David Erickson, the market's cheese and specialties buyer.

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The chateau is in their garage

By Stephen Meuse, Globe Correspondent

Home-brewed beer has been around a while, and now homemade wine is infiltrating suburban homes.

Each spring, a small group of mostly amateur winemakers gathers here in the home of Anne and Roger Webb to pull the corks on wines they've made themselves from grapes grown on the Webbs' property, bottled by hand in tiny amounts. "Mis en bouteille dans notre garage" ("bottled in our garage"), says one label, playing on the French phrase used to denote estate bottled wines (in that case, "mis en bouteille au chateau").

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SHORT ORDERS

In a league of its own

Summer is here at last. Well, maybe not yet -- but baseball season certainly is. And when you go to some games, New England hot dogs will be there. This season, Kayem Deli Hot Dogs ($1.50 to $2 for the regular 2-ounce size; $2.50 to $2.75 for 3.2-ounce jumbos), which are made in Chelsea, are featured exclusively in five minor-league or independent-league baseball stadiums in the area. 

Do you year for ferns?

If you've never tried the edible ferns known as fiddleheads, which grow wild in northern New England from late April until June, now is your chance. W. S. Wells and Sons, a fourth generation family-owned company in Wilton, Maine -- northwest of Augusta -- has been harvesting these tender, bright green beauties since the early 1960s.

Playing with a full plate

Portraits of jazz greats and gaudy graffiti lettering pop out from a brick wall next to Mississippi’s Restaurant, where breakfast and lunch are served cafeteria-style under high, exposed oak beams in a former 19th century brewery building. 

No spoon required

Time was, a tablespoon could be relied upon to do its job. But really, why do something by hand when you can purchase a sleek, chrome-plated gadget to do it for you?

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Which brother's food will you order?

Brotherly competition will be played out on the plate when the Kinkeads -- Robert and David -- open their restaurant Sibling Rivalry in the Atelier 505 building on the South End's Tremont Street. The 150-seat restaurant will have a dining counter and a small patio. Robert Kinkead says it will feature dueling menus. "One side of the menu will be David's, the other side will have my recipes," he says. Diners will be offered, for example, David's tomato soup and Robert's tomato salad.

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Consumers say 'oui' to Quebec's cheeses

By Leigh Belanger and Galen Moore, Globe Correspondents

Farmer Alastair MacKenzie does more than raise sheep at his Quebec farm—he also coaxes milk out of them as the first step in making his popular cheeses.

Jourdenais says that Quebecers' "genes with the French" go a long way toward explaining the success of his shop. In recent decades, travel to Europe has become popular, and the average Quebecer's palate has broadened. "People aren't just cooking steaks on the grill anymore," he says. "They come in with a recipe and a list of ingredients, and they try to match the cheese with their menu." When his customers began requesting cheese they had sampled in France, Jourdenais was able to meet their demand.

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Book revels in the raw

This brief review of the raw food cookbook "Tartares & Carpaccios” includes a recipe for Cucumber and mint carpaccio, adapted from the cookbook.

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Portland chef recognized as best in the Northeast

Portland’s Fore Street restaurant chef and co-owner Sam Hayward won the best chef of the Northeast award Monday at the 14th annual James Beard Foundation Awards inNewYork City. Hayward, who opened his restaurant in 1997, specializes in local produce, meat, and fish cooked over live fire.

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Boston Globe – May 19, 2004

Cauliflower wears the crown

Low in carbs, the pureed vegetable has become a star

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

For Atkins and South Beach dieters, cauliflower is acting as a stand-in for mashed potatoes.

Paul Booras, chef and owner of the Salt Box in Ipswich, says he's glad to substitute cauliflower for Atkins or South Beach dieters. Requests for Atkins-style main courses have been going up, and he estimates that 25 percent of meals going out of his kitchen are low-carb. Diners specifically ask "for that stuff that is kind of like mashed potatoes," he says.

Recipe for Cauliflower soup

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Asparagus spears signal spring

By Jonathan Levitt, Globe Correspondent

For the next six weeks, cooks will prepare feasts of asparagus. Hadley's crop is known all over the state, but nowhere is it celebrated with more enthusiasm than in its hometown. There will be asparagus and bacon sandwiches, of course -- this local favorite is made with toasted white bread and mayonnaise -- asparagus with butter and lemon juice, and asparagus soup. 

Recipes for Boiled asparagus and Asparagus and bacon sandwiches

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Sweet, meaty artichokes take time to prepare

By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent

Passing by the canned artichokes in favor of fresh ones makes more work for the cook, but the work is worth it.

The exotic-looking globes cry for attention in market displays, only to puzzle potential customers. And an artichoke's layers of leaves do seem impenetrable. "A lot of people are afraid to try something they don't know what to do with," says Carol Wyzansky, demonstration coordinator at Bedford's Whole Foods Market. "And when we show people how to steam them and then pull the little leaves through their teeth, they often say, `That's it?' "

Recipe for Braised artichokes, Roman style, Boiled artichokes with lemon butter and Classic hollandaise sauce

Whisk your way to classic hollandaise

By T. Susan Chang, Globe Correspondent

It's hard to imagine a truer marriage of flavors than fresh spring asparagus and a classic hollandaise sauce. A properly made hollandaise is a thing of beauty -- a suggestion of lemon captured in a frothing veil of fine butter, smoothed and stabilized by egg yolk. To match so rich a sauce with the clean, grassy clarity of new spring asparagus was surely a stroke of genius.

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SHORT ORDERS

Swilling Schilling

It seems the folks at Watch City Brewing are big Red Sox fans. In addition to all the cutouts of baseballs hanging down from above the Waltham brewpub's bar, here's another tip-off: Brewer Aaron Mateychuk has made a beer to celebrate the addition of ace Curt Schilling to the Sox pitching rotation. It's called 38 Schilling Export Ale.

Bean town

The arrival of fresh haricots verts at the market means one thing -- summer is well on its way. These thin green beans, also known as French green beans, are picked young so their pods are tender and much daintier than the regular variety. Haricots verts (about $4.95 a pound) cook very quickly, and they're best a little underdone and crunchy, ideal for a warm night.

You'll bite

It's May again -- time to get out the canoe, fishing pole, and transistor radio for a long afternoon of fishing and baseball. Unfortunately, both fish and Red Sox being unpredictable creatures, these pastimes can be disappointing. Unlucky fishermen need not go hungry. Catfish at Redbones Barbecue are skinned and boned and fried crisp on the outside. Inside, the fillets are meaty and juicy. 

Baked, good

A muffin for breakfast, pepperoni pizza and a brownie for lunch, strawberry shortcake for a snack, smoked chicken and red pepper pizza and cheesecake for dinner -- all for a total of 14 net carbs (and each item is less than 300 calories). Sounds like a carbohydrate counter's fantasy. This reality is Wakefield's Be-Lite Bakery, started by friends who share dietary restrictions and a weekly dinner.

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In Tuscany, grape expectations for syrah

Tuscany, home to Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino, is the world's leading location for the sangiovese grape, which comprises the backbone of those famous wines. Cabernet and merlot from this area have also gained recognition because they are frequently included in the blend of the so-called Super Tuscan wines. So when the owner of a Tuscan winery decides to plant mostly syrah, you start to wonder. 

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At TJ's, vegans can get a slice of the pie

The restaurant's loyal patrons have joined the newer ones in tasting the meatless meatballs that garnish the pasta, eggplant subs, and pizza and calzones. For those not willing to take that final leap to dairy freedom, there is a choice of cow's milk or soy cheese. To complete the meal, diners can indulge in homemade baklava and carrot cake, both dairy- and egg-free. According to Moutaouakkil, the most popular item on the new menu is meatless chicken, which comes in original, tangy barbecue, or spicy buffalo style.

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Wholesome meals are a big part of the game

Good nutrition is a key player in baseball season

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Corresponde

Little League is great for kids, but tough on the parents who are at games at precisely the time dinner should be cooking.

Scenes like these are familiar to thousands of families this time of year. But Janice Newell Bissex and Liz Weiss, authors of "The Moms' Guide to Meal Makeovers," maintain that it is possible to keep your family well fed during baseball season. All it takes is a well-stocked pantry and a repertoire of fast, easy dishes.

Recipes for Cowboy breakfast wraps

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Why not graduate to something easy

A graduation celebration is one of those logistical nightmares that could be worry-free if you were willing to throw money at the problem and hire a caterer. Do-it-yourself types might find themselves sitting on a lawn all afternoon, misty-eyed, watching a sea of mortarboards pass by, then panicking hours after the recessional at the thought of hosting a party. Accomplishing this feat is tricky, but possible. 

Recipe for Turkey Nicoise

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Boston Globe – May 26, 2004

Slow and steady fills the place

It took time, but chef Marc Orfaly's restaurant, Pigalle, is now really cooking - and people are taking notice

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

It took a few years, but Marc Orfaly’s restaurant finally is getting recognition.

It was a tough beginning, but Orfaly can smile now. "We've stuck to our guns," he says. Slowly, Pigalle has gained in prestige and notice, and finally the little bistro in a quiet block on South Charles Street seems secure. "We kind of feel we've improved," says the chef, in another disarmingly frank statement.

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When grilling, think beyond Schlitz

By Ann Cortissoz, Globe Staff

Brewmaster and author Garrett Oliver pairs some favorite summer grilled foods with beer.

But beer isn't just a cool, refreshing beverage to enjoy with your meal. It can also be used as a flavoring in a dish. Oliver suggests that a full-bodied wheat beer, brewed with wheat grain and special yeast that gives it a clovey spiciness and citrusy flavor, would make a tasty marinade for firm-fleshed swordfish or tuna.

Chipotle BBQ sauce

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SHORT ORDERS

One pizza, over easy

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

Cambridge 1 in Harvard Square makes grilling pizza look as easy as, well, pie. Their delectably thin, crispy numbers with light toppings go from countertop to plate in about five minutes flat.

Special summer specialties

It is the staple food of our most solemn celebrations of nationhood. And yet we let it languish in deli cases or smother it in mayonnaise. Will anyone stand up and give potato salad its rightful voice? Thankfully, a deli counter in Brookline is holding the torch. 

Light at the end of the grill

The days get longer until June 21, but that doesn't mean that even the fastest griller can manage to get all those steaks done before the sun goes down. Those with badly lit patios might strap on a headlamp like the Tikka Plus from Petzl ($32.95), whose brightest setting will flood that Weber with enough light to help you tell medium from medium-rare.

A little spice in your life

These single-tablespoon packets are roughly the size of a sealed tea bag, and they're perfect for cooks who want to grill without using spices out of long-forgotten, dusty bottles. 

A corny idea

When it comes to grilling corn, there are two camps: those who leave the shucks on, protecting the kernels from the fire, and those who strip the cobs bare, smear them with butter and seasoning, and let the smoke and heat work their magic.

For the grater good

Those rasplike graters pioneered by Microplane have transformed the chore in many a kitchen, but why haven't we seen one in our favorite design -- the box grater? Enter Cuisipro, which has taken the design to its logical next step. 

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National Hunger Awareness Day helps those in need

With so much attention focused lately on our overfed nation, it's easy to forget that there are Americans who don't get enough to eat. For millions, many of them children and the elderly, hunger is more regular and persistent than the kind experienced when you're cutting Whopper buns from your diet. On June 3, National Hunger Awareness Day will aim to remind us of this fact.

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There ought to be a slaw

By Keri Fisher, Globe Correspondent

While Memorial Day may conjure up images of cute red, white and blue potato salad as well as a variety of trendy slaws, Fisher reminds us that traditional also can be tasty.

Luckily, homemade versions are easy to prepare and miles above the supermarket stuff. The sweet tang of coleslaw is the result of a happy marriage between tangy buttermilk, sour cream, a splash of vinegar, and ordinary table sugar. With only a few other ingredients -- mainly cabbage and carrots, both of which can easily be shredded in the food processor -- coleslaw can be prepared in less time than it would take to wait your turn at the supermarket deli counter. 

Coleslaw for a crowd

Potato salad for a crowd

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Strawberry rhubarb crisp

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Basic pizza dough