DIGEST: Boston Globe Food Section

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Boston Globe – June 2, 2004

Berry nirvana

Berry nirvana is in full swing, and the dessert Pavlova, a fluffy creation of meringue, will make you feel like you're floating on a cloud

By Debra Samuels, Globe Correspondent

One of Glynn's restaurants, Suze Wine Bar in London, has Pavlova on the dessert menu. That dazzling version of the meringue is topped with liqueur-flavored whipped cream and an array of fruits that include strawberries, mango, and raspberries. Your fork breaks through the outer layer of the meringue into a marshmallowlike center; cream and fruit perfectly complement the light, sweet crust.

Recipe for Pavlova with berries

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Or enjoy the juicy red fruit straight from the field

By T. Susan Chang, Globe Correspondent

There’s no strawberry like a New England strawberry, and Chang reminds people that the taste is worth the wait.

Of course, by now, most of us have broken down and bought a quart or two of well-traveled strawberries from California or Central America. They look fine -- that is, until you get to the chilly white core, which has no taste.

Recipes for Strawberry crush and Double lemon custard cake

If you’re in the area, check out the list of pick-your-own strawberry farms in Massachusetts.

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SHORT ORDERS

Inside-out Oreos

It seems silly to mess with the perfection that is Oreo, but Nabisco just couldn't help itself. The new Golden Uh-Oh! Oreos (they goofed -- how clever!) are reversed: golden vanilla wafers on the outside and chocolate cream inside.

Wholly cannoli

Dessert in the North End usually means cannoli at Mike's Pastry because so few restaurants offer something sweet at the end of the meal. Villa Francesca is one of the exceptions. This establishment has been making its own cannoli for 28 years. 

Grill with Gourmet

Grilling know-how will be offered along with plenty of great food at a Gourmet magazine event on June 12 at the Back Eddy restaurant in Westport in the southeastern part of the state. John "Doc" Willoughby, executive editor of Gourmet and a grilling cookbook author, will give demonstrations along with Back Eddy chef Aaron DeRego.

Stainless steel soap

Do you love garlic but hate getting the smell on your hands? This German stainless steel soap "bar," made by Blomus ($12), will eliminate that or any other odors. 

He's making dinner

"I wouldn't call myself a chef," demurs Roberto Salas. And yet each day this Mexican-born cook prepares takeout dinners according to his own whim for the deli case at Darwin's Ltd., a coffee shop in Harvard Square.

Guinness books

In the mood for a deep-fried pickle but don't know where to find one? Flip open the second edition of "Your Guide to the Irish Pubs of Boston" and there you have it: The Overdraught on Cambridge Street in Cambridge serves them. The guide, put out by Green Line Publishing in Medford, which also has booklets of the Irish pubs in New York and Paris, offers plentyof great tidbits.

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Chicken Elizabeth is fit for a queen

When the Cordon Bleu was asked to make a lunch for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (the celebration was held 51 years ago today), the school took their chicken mayonnaise and embellished it a little. For the occasion, they mixed the mayonnaise with a concentrated spoonful of tomato juice, apricot jam, and curry powder. The curry essence sounds odd, we know, but it makes a peach-colored mayonnaise that is both sweet and aromatic, and splendid in a salad with chicken.

The Globe’s own Sheryl Julian learned how to make this dish at the Cordon Bleu, and then worked with Julie Riven to make the recipe easier.

Recipe for Chicken Elizabeth

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Restaurants cover the spread

By Lise Stern, Globe Correspondent

The restaurant trend of serving olive oil with bread seems to have fallen out of favor

Now the oil is gone and the partner for bread in many restaurants is a subtly complex little spread made with dried beans or vegetables, herbs, and sometimes a hint of heat.

Recipe for Stellina's potato-basil spread

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Boston Globe – June 9, 2004

Engineering a minuscule treat

How one ice-cream-loving MIT graduate student invented the perfect cool dessert

By Jill Santopietro, Globe Correspondent

If you find yourself in Cambridge wanting something sweet for dessert after a big meal, try Toscanini Ice Cream's micro-sundae.

On a typical visit, he would help himself to a 2-inch paper espresso cup filled with ice cream, smothered in hot fudge, and topped with a tiny hood of whipped cream.

And so the "micro-sundae," as Brown called it, was born.

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Her cheese stands alone

At the Mozzarella House in Everett, Maria Cubellis makes it fresh and pure, to order

By Galen Moore, Globe Correspondent

Maria Cubellis of Everett makes fresh mozzarella for people who appreciate it as much as she does.

Her small creamery, where she has been making mozzarella by hand since 1989, when she started the business with her now-retired husband, makes cheese only to order. Give her 24 hours' notice and she takes milk, salt, and rennet and forms the smooth Italian balls. The only tools, she says, are "cold water and my hands."

Recipes:

* Veal scaloppine with mozzarella

* Mozzarella-tomato French bread pizza

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Brush with greatness

This year the new Sili (sounds like "silly," but it's actually shorthand for silicone) barbeque brush ($19.99 and $15) comes to the rescue. The sleek 15-inch or 7 1/2-inch brushed stainless steel handle will keep limbs cool and the ball-tipped silicone bristles will not shed or melt at temperatures up to 500 degrees.

Ay caramba!

The Salvadoran pupusa and the Mexican taco are probably the most perfect takeout foods ever to be wrapped in paper and passed over a counter. In East Boston, where immigrants from both countries have settled, it is rare to see a restaurant offer one but not the other.

On Newbury Street, Croma's is the height of fashion

Croma, a very stylish offshoot of a Manchester, England, pizza and pasta restaurant, has just opened, promising an alternative to waiting in a long line snaking down from Ciao Bella. 

Tart citrus sodas wash away sticky summer thirst

San Pellegrino's citrus-flavored sodas are set apart from other soft drinks by one important quality: High-fructose corn syrup is actually the third ingredient listed on the label, rather than the second.

Reading, writing, and recipes

Get a taste of education with "Foods We Like to Share" ($12). The cookbook is created by the staff and students of the King Open School in Cambridge, and they teach you how to make everything from mushroom-and-pea curry to chicken with black beans to sushi.

Celebrating a community's health

The 35th anniversary of the South End Community Health Center will be celebrated tomorrow evening with a cocktail reception at the center. 

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For picnics, toss together some sushi

By Debra Samuels, Globe Correspondent

According to Samuels, chirashi-zushi is picnic-perfect sushi.

Begin with the cool rice mixed with a little vinegar and sugar, and add crisp and highly aromatic vegetables and fish. Sweetly seasoned shiitake mushrooms along with briny shrimp, for instance, will offer both earthy and sea tastes. Toss the rice "salad" with pea pods, green peas, and cucumbers, and you have the important elements of the Japanese table: color, texture, and flavor.

Recipes:

* Seasoned shiitake mushrooms

* Chirashi-zushi

* Sushi rice

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Intriguing flavors meld in this Iranian quiche

By Charissa Melnik, Globe Correspondent

This is the staple midday snack for Persians. Tinted green from all its herbs, a traditional kuku combines eggs, crushed walnuts, and dried currants (called zereshk). The greens are typically parsley, cilantro, spinach, and scallions. Once they're mixed with beaten eggs and turmeric and poured into a skillet, the batter cooks into a golden-brown pancake.

Recipe:

* Kuku

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Boston Globe – June 16, 2004

At Friendly's, there's a big job for little appetites

By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent

Friendly’s has gotten friendly with a bunch of kids between the ages of 8 and 12 in order to improve their children’s menu.

The tweens are part of Friendly's Fab 50, a national marketing plan to "get into the minds of kids," says Pete Bell, senior director of brand marketing for the chain. Each participant was chosen on the strength of a submitted essay as well as scheduling flexibility. Friendly's wanted to make sure that the Fab 50 could commit to their yearlong jobs as "brand ambassadors," says Bell. At this event, they're taste-testing five items that marketing executives hope to include on a new kids' menu.

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A soft spot for these crustaceans

By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent

The shell crabs of Chesapeake Bay at their peak season right now.

The flesh of a soft-shell crab is sweet and tender beneath a protective layer of papery skin. "The beauty of this crab is the crispy-juicy contrast," says Chris Parsons, chef and owner of Catch, a seafood restaurant here. And because the crab is intact, filled with meat, guts, and seawater, he says, "you get this really rustic crab flavor."

Recipe:

* Sauteed soft-shell crabs with lemon and capers

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Rhubarb moves past pie

Rhubarb moves from dessert into a relish that can accompany a variety of main dishes.

That means adding salt and pepper, along with vinegar, to a pot of sweetened rhubarb. With a sauteed red onion, a handful of golden raisins, and a splash of both balsamic and wine vinegars, the rhubarb simmers quickly into a relish that is striking not just for its flavor but for its alluring pink color.

Recipe:

* Swordfish with sweet-and-sour rhubarb relish

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The claws that refresh

Alive and Kicking doesn’t offer lobster rolls at the retail business and sandwich stand.

Lobster rolls are not on the menu here. Mastrangelo doesn't consider hot dog rolls worthy of his filling. The lobster sandwich ($8.99) is made with mostly lobster, not much mayonnaise, and two slices of toasted scali bread from an Italian bakery in East Cambridge. 

Man with a pan

Traditional heavy skillets and newer nonstick pans have at last come together as one. Calphalon One, that is. It's the ultimate marriage of the good heating abilities of aluminum and the magic of an advanced-release polymer infusion (in short, it's nonstick).

Hot stuff

Get Dad excited about the kitchen with Vic Firth's Pump and Grind pepper mill ($19.99 to $21.99). The stainless-steel mill looks like a piece of a drill press -- very manly, that is. And pepper goes on steak, which goes on the grill, which might be something Dad is already interested in.

Agriculture and armchairs

The infrequently visited intersection of cuisine and furniture design will meet for one night on June 23 at Cambridge's Design Within Reach, when the store hosts "An Evening With Lands Sake and Campo De Fiori" from 7 to 9 p.m

Now you're cooking

Nobody likes to mess with a bunch of different dishes for microwaving, cooking on the stovetop, baking in the oven, and serving. With this good looking and durable 9 1/2-inch-by-3 1/2-inch terra cotta bowl from De Silva ($12.99), nobody has to. 

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Chef gives small town fresh flavor

A friend saw the ad. "Small country restaurant looking for a chef to do a French theme with potential for a charcuterie," remembers Ehlenfeldt, who was sous chef of Hamersley's Bistro in the South End at the time and perfectly content. He called "just for fun." Now Ehlenfeldt and his wife of three years, Cynthia, 43, are chef and general manager, respectively, of L. A. Burdick. They've been there for almost 10 weeks.

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Berkshires pizza place was made to order

The allure of New England towns can bring in talented people who make their own pasta and pizza.

Neither Tenuta nor his partner in this venture, Billy Boudreau, expected to put down roots in this tiny Berkshire village with a two-block downtown and no traffic light. Tenuta explains how he happened to come here: He was hired by the nearby Hancock Shaker Village, which "needed someone to smoke a pig." And he stayed, bringing his wife and their 2-year-old daughter, and inviting Boudreau to join him. 

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This take on Italian is 'something new for Burlington'

Burlington, Vermont offers a lot of residents and tourists. Now they can add a serious chef to their list of features.

Kevin Cleary had no trouble translating his menu -- traditional Italian food made with local ingredients -- to his new home state. He uses Vermont sources extensively: honey from Montpelier and produce from a tiny Burlington farm. He gets fish deliveries six days a week and still makes everything in-house, even the bread, with a minimal staff. Kathi Cleary is the manager, sommelier, and hostess.

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For these inn managers, the Vineyard means work

Martha’s Vineyard attracts many vacationers, but the people who cater to them rarely get time away from their work.

Just the sight would relax even the most frenzied traveler. But Gannon -- who with his wife, Michelle, took over the management of the Winnetu Inn & Resort and its restaurant, now called Lure -- doesn't seem relaxed.

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Now a culinary director, he still lives in the kitchen

Outside, gardeners toil over the precisely kept flower beds against a backdrop of fishing boats dotted along the ocean. After years in big-city restaurants -- Locke-Ober and the former Maison Robert in Boston and the former Ernie's in San Francisco -- Robert has moved into a new chapter as the inn's culinary director. 

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There's no slow season, but life on the Cape is good

Now that the Cape tourist season stretches into late autumn and there's a growing year-round population on the Upper Cape, there's not much of a slow season.

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Writer's journey is quite palatable

By Stephen Meuse, Globe Correspondent

Meuse reviews The Accidental Connoisseur: An Irreverent Journey Through the Wine World, By Lawrence Osborne.

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The Boston Globe – June 23, 2004

Don't super size me

Fast-food chains now offer an array of alternatives for health-conscious consumers looking to avoid burgers and fries

By Galen Moore and Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondents

Whether you’re watching carbs or fat grams, fast foods restaurants are trying to give you options.

In introducing healthy options, Mickey D's is not alone. The Subway chain now has meal-sized salads on the menu, as does Burger King. Not to be left out, KFC is offering a version of the Colonel's Secret Recipe that is roasted, not fried.

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The king of Italian

By Anneliese Doyle, Globe Correspondent

Sessa's Italian Specialties in Somerville offers a variety of items from Italy, including its owner.

At Sessa's, salamis and waxed cheeses hang from the ceiling, endless bags of pasta are piled onto the shelves according to shape, spices come by the bagful, and giant jars of Nutella are crammed in. Stacked boxes and products are jumbled around the shop, filling every corner. Even though some customers may not see what they're looking for, they just know it's got to be here -- somewhere.

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The queen of casual

By T. Susan Chang, Globe Correspondent

Betty Rosbottom of Amherst has published "Big Book of Backyard Cooking."

Betty Rosbottom is flying about her kitchen, as busy as a hummingbird in a rose garden, preparing golden saffron rice, chicken cut into "scallops" and grilled, and a French tart heaped with fresh vegetables and goat cheese. Gleaming pots hang above her six-burner Viking range top, and a wall of cookbooks and the obligatory Sub-Zero refrigerator fill the room. Despite all this daunting professional equipment, the meal Rosbottom is preparing is simple and appealing.

Recipes:

* Easy saffron rice

* Butter-rich savory pie dough

* Chicken `scallops' with tomatoes, olives, and feta

* Provencal vegetable tart

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Worth bringing home

Bacon seems to be making a comeback, though, at least if you go by the dizzying array of specialty bacons, including thick-cut, handtrimmed, uncured, and double-smoked. 

Have lobster, will travel

Legal Sea Foods’ lobster bake to go ($29.95) is a large amount of steaming fresh shellfish in a takeout container. There are no potatoes or corn, but the price includes a bucket of steamed mussels and littlenecks and a big foil bag. 

Berries in a bottle

You don’t have to wait to go to a soda or ice cream shop for a raspberry lime rickey if you have a bottle of Toschi’s Raspberry Syrup ($5.79 for 19 ounces). 

They make the cut

For anyone who has ever tried to use a pair of dull desk scissors for cooking tasks, here is something that was actually made for kitchen duty. Wusthof Grand Prix shears ($29.99), each hand-forged in Germany, are to the home cook what a chainsaw is to the lumberjack.

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A faster route to barbecue

If you’d like your barbecued brisket sooner rather than later, check out these suggestions for the braise-and-grill method, including a recipe.

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Chefs will be cooking in shorts

The seventh annual Chefs in Shorts event will be held on Friday, June 25 in Eastport Park next to the Seaport Hotel.

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Rich and delicious, mackerel is a real catch

With their sleek, tapered bodies, velvety smooth iridescent skin, and wavy black stripes, mackerel are among the most beautiful fish in the sea. They are also, along with salmon, trout, and tuna, particularly high in heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Because of its oil, mackerel is not only grilled but also smoked. Ducktrap River Fish Farm of Belfast, Maine, smokes mackerel year round, and it's become a popular brunch item, served with smoked salmon and other delicacies.

Recipes:

* Sweet-and-sour mackerel

* Grilled mackerel

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The Boston Globe – June 30, 2004

Finding the value of pie

By Richard Dyer, Globe Staff

Most people enjoy a privileged relationship to pie that they don't have to cake. This is why Petsi Pies here has acquired such a large and devoted clientele since opening last November. The shop is small, but proprietor and cook Renee McLeod turns out 100 sweet and savory pies most days -- and there usually aren't any left by closing time. 

Recipe for Petsi's blueberry pie

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Have a hoppy Fourth

By Ann Cortissoz, Globe Staff

Toast the revolutionary spirit (as well as the fireworks, overtures, and confused convention delegates) with a beer style that was created in Britain but that independent-minded American brewers have made distinctly their own: India pale ale.

Be sure to check out the sidebar which includes descriptions of Tremont IPA, Smuttynose IPA, Stone IPA, Hop Ottin', 90 Minute IPA, and Bear Republic Racer 5.

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SHORT ORDERS FOR THE FOURTH

Spreading the red alert

Cherry. Red. The words go hand-in-hand, but not often so fittingly -- or so delectably. This bright and fiery color is not the paint job on your new convertible, but that of actual Maine jam, whole cherries suspended in a shockingly red mixture. With or without the white and the blue, Stonewall Kitchen Sour Cherry jam ($5.29 to $7.99 for a 13-ounce jar) will hold its own on the Fourth.

A sparkling white summer treat

Independence Day is approaching, but the vanilla ice cream soda at Johnny's Luncheonette ($4.50) isn't something you'll want to do alone. You need a pal with whom to bask in this nostalgic glow.

True blue

Not just any dish willdo for serving suitably patriotic Fourth of July goodies. Check out the Bormioli Rocco cobaltblue glass bowls ($4.99 each) at Target. These elegant dishes aremade of Duralex, which claims to be break-resistant.

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Recipe for Oven-steamed salmon with cucumber 'scales,' peas, and herb mayonnaise

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The Boston Globe – July 7, 2004

Making a living one slice at a time

Fresh ingredients and attention to customers turn independent pizza parlors into local favorites

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

When Wendy Saver and David Rockwood plotted a restaurant opening in the mid-'90s, they wanted to guarantee success. "We'd both been in the restaurant business," says Rockwood, "and there were way too many restaurants competing for the same dollar."

They decided on pizza. "It's a given," he says. "People will eat pizza."

Check out the sidebar for popular pizza places in the Boston area as well as pizza sales statistics.

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Can you bake a cherry pie? If not, try clafoutis

By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent

A dish from the Limousin region of south-central France, clafoutis is believed to have been made there since the late 1800s. It's made with common ingredients and a simple, pancakelike batter. (Outside cherry season, substitute prunes, currants, apples, or pears.) Defined in "Larousse Gastronomique" as "a homely preparation," clafoutis is a moist cake of eggs, milk, flour, and sugar. Traditionally, French cooks add the cherries whole, as the pits are thought to contribute flavor.

Recipe for Clafoutis

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SHORT ORDERS

Seafood Samba

The Brazilian-born Gomes came here 21 years ago. Moqueca, he says, is a dish that differs from region to region in Brazil, but it is always cooked in these handmade pots. Gomes's stew ($9.95) is an aromatic mix of olive oil, whitefish, tomato, onion, annato, and cilantro.

It’s a snap

They are only a couple of inches long, but they pack a ton of crunchy, bright green sweetness in one or two bites. Fresh sugar snap peas (about $4 a pound) are entirely edible and if there are any left by the time you get home from the market, they're a welcome addition to any salad. 

Packing a punch

The slick new Anthem, down the street from the FleetCenter, takes the traditional lemon juice and sugar-water concept a step further with what it calls the restaurant's "ade of the day." Concocted daily from fresh fruit, Anthem's take on this nonalcoholic drink is a long way from the lemonade on your freezer shelf. The restaurant poaches raspberries in a simple sugar-and-water syrup, then squeezes limes or pineapples and other fruits to make cool glasses of pineapple-limeade, kiwi-orangeade, white grape-raspberryade, and more, based on the whim of the chef.

Cool as a cucumber

Pickles are a humble condiment, to be sure, but one that exerts a sway over the human mind. Friends argue heatedly over kosher dills versus half-sours, and office workers make long lunchtime treks to get the right kind of pickle on the side of their sandwich. A good pickle is as crisp as a potato chip and as juicy as a fresh October apple. In Brooklyn, N.Y., the Ba-Tampte pickle company has been around for four generations.

At Belle Pente winery, it's all about flavor

It's always a delight to run across a winery you've never heard of that makes a luscious wine and sells it at a reasonable price. It's even better when it makes several wines, including a chardonnay that is neither overoaked nor overpriced and a range of pinot noirs, none of which require a second mortgage.

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This pie is more than just a bowl of cherries

By Christine Merlo, Globe Correspondent

Nancy McCarthy, owner of Country Desserts, makes pies from scratch.

After she makes and chills pie pastry, McCarthy begins by pitting fresh cherries. In February, or when fresh cherries are not available, she uses unsweetened frozen berries. Either way, the cherries are mixed with sugar, flour, cherry or cranberry juice, cinnamon, almond extract, and lemon juice, which the baker heats until the liquid becomes thick and syrupy. After she cools it, she pours the filling into pastry brushed with beaten egg white. The egg prevents the filling from seeping into the bottom crust and making it soggy.

Recipes:

* Cherry pie filling

* Double pie crust

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New fruit, cocoa are food-show hits

By Keri Fisher, Globe Correspondent

With 294,000 square feet of chocolate, olive oil, and thousands of other specialty food items, this year's Fancy Food Show was the largest in its 50-year history. Sponsored by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, the show exhibited products of more than 2,300 companies, from the truly innovative (a new hybrid fruit called mango-nectarine, with mangoes' flavor and texture but without the thick skin or flat pit) to the simply bizarre ("Just Add Lettuce" Greek salad mix).

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Pesto is perfect in just about every way

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

Cambridge School of Culinary Arts instructor Rosario Del Nero knows pesto.

In the traditional pasta alla Genovese, trenette, ribbon-shaped egg pasta, is cooked with potatoes and green beans. The pasta and vegetables are drained and tossed with pesto. "The microclimate in Liguria is very generous to herbs and flowers," says Del Nero, "and basil is one of the herbs that do very well."

Recipe:

* Pesto alla Genovese

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The Black Sheep Bistro offers French flavors in Vermont

By Diane E. Foulds, Globe Correspondent

Since it was French, we had big expectations for the Black Sheep Bistro, and we weren't disappointed. Though the evening was warm, we bypassed the sidewalk seating for a table inside. The curry-colored walls, dark woodwork, and low lighting made us feel as if we had happened on a neighborhood place somewhere on the outskirts of Paris.

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The Boston Globe – July 14, 2004

Raising the bar

A return to the tradition of do-it-yourself cocktails makes home entertaining classy -- and easy

By Christopher Muther, Globe Staff

Randolph residents PJ Macom and her husband Eric are trying to revive cocktail parties as well as cocktails in general.

"The way that I see it, having a home bar is a lost art," says 32-year-old Eric Macom. "Up until the late 1960s, it was standard. Now when people drink at home, they have a Bud Lite. But I just enjoy the whole concept around having mixed drinks and mixed cocktails. It just has a certain amount of class to it. My wife and I are really into traditional, old-style living."

Recipes:

* Brown sugar margarita

* Cosmopolitan

* Tech-tini

* Telotus martini

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A picnic everyone can enjoy

By Lisa Zwirn, Globe Correspondent

It’s tough to have celiac disease, but even tougher when you are a kid and most of the foods you love have gluten in them. Fortunately, once a year at the picnic sponsored by the Celiac Support Group at Children's Hospital Boston kids can enjoy themselves without checking labels.

Also known as celiac sprue or gluten-sensitive enteropathy, the disease is an autoimmune disorder in which the body's response to ingesting gluten causes damage to the lining of the small intestine. The protein gluten is found in many grains, so wheat, rye, and barley are off limits. But in a modern supermarket, gluten is an ingredient in many commercially made foods, including salad dressing, soup, even ice cream. Those who have celiac disease or are allergic to gluten are susceptible to a host of gastrointestinal symptoms, bone disease, and other problems if they eat forbidden foods. So the Celiac Support Group at Children's Hospital Boston, sponsors of the picnic, has made sure that all the food is gluten-free.

Recipes:

* Gluten-free pepper crackers

* Gluten-free linzer torte

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SHORT ORDERS

Eggs-it strategy

In parts of France, the thin, eggy pancakes are a fixture of street and family fare. Here, crepes are harder to find. Unless you go to the Little Window in the South End. 

Flavorful packs

Enertia Trail Foods brings outdoor cuisine a step closer to its indoor equivalent, with dehydrated -- better than freeze-dried -- meals ($3.49 each or $62.99 for a sampler case of 20 meals and snacks), that cook in a few minutes flat, most of them right in the heavy-duty plastic pouches they come in.

Giving salad the green light

The abundance of leafy salad vegetables this time of year is enough to make the savvy shopper green with longing. Mizuna ($1.50 a bunch), mesclun (about $7 a pound), arugula ($1.50 a bunch), and bibb lettuce ($1.50 a head) might make anyone buy too much. 

Eat your words

Anyone harboring a secret -- or not so secret -- desire to be a food critic now has somewhere to keep all those dining notes. "Restaurants to Check Out" (Chronicle Books, $10.95) by the Imagineering Company is for those who use the back of the check or the paper placemat to jot down thoughts about a meal and then can never find them.

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Get aboard the new fish trend

By Bridget Samburg, Globe Correspondent

Planking, often done with a rich fish such as salmon, is a system of roasting on a piece of wood so the fish absorbs some of the aromatics from the plank itself. 

Jasper White offers some tips for buying and using planks.

Recipe:

* Cedar-plaked grilled salmon

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The taste of green papaya makes this Thai salad a star

Green papaya is an essential ingredient in a refreshing Thai salad made with a sweet and hot dressing and garnished with shrimp. Although we've added ripe papaya to fruit salads and salsas for years, green papaya is new to our kitchens.

Recipe:

* Patou Thai's green papaya salad with shrimp

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A new spin on the monkfish tale

By Rachel Ellner, Globe Correspondent

It's been made fun of, called bad names, and dumped overboard. Now monkfish is no longer overshadowed by cod or haddock and is gaining well-deserved recognition. It's no longer "poor man's lobster," especially not for fishermen.

Recipe:

* Monkfish piccata

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Approaches to ice aren't always square

By Jonathan Levitt, Globe Correspondent

For true ice lovers, heart-shaped cubes are just the beginning. There are molds for hexagonal cubes, miniature cubes, cubes in the shape of dolphins or the letters of the alphabet or Scottish terriers. There are "make and shake" ice trays that are filled like water bottles and "ice tubes" that freeze into long cylinders.

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The Boston Globe – July 21, 2004

Reaching the freezing point

Chefs find a new focus for fresh ideas: icy desserts made from what's in season

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Oleana has two dessert menus including one that is just for ice cream and other frozen desserts.

At Oleana, Kilpatrick's current menu includes baked Alaska with coconut ice cream and passion fruit caramel, a favorite with diners. Other cold presentations offer an array of tastes -- a raspberry prosecco float with pistachio pot de creme and rose petal jam, a Sicilian almond cremolata with warm chocolate panino. These are not vanilla, strawberry, or chocolate ice creams, certainly, but fanciful takeoffs on the frozen side of the dessert equation. A cherry granita is layered with fromage blanc whipped with a little sugar and cream, and the intensity of deep red, tart frozen cherry slush bounces deliciously off the creamy, not very sweet mounds of yogurtlike cheese.

The sidebar offers help in choosing an ice cream maker for making ice cream at home.

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The caterers are kids

Alex Simon and Will Levitt began their business when they were 13

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

There aren’t many adults that could handle the pressures of catering business. But these talented kids are doing just fine.

For Will Levitt and Alex Simon, co-executive chefs of W&A Caterers, the road from experimental home cooks to budding professionals was not all that long. The two started cooking together about five summers ago, when their families rented a house in France. They were both 9 years old.

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Sumptuous spreads are planned to feed the Democratic parties

By Bridget Samburg, Globe Correspondent

Themes are big at the Democratic National Committee, and they have nothing to do with the issues.

Walsh said Boston 2004 wanted to showcase New England cuisine as well as do up themes to match their settings. Lobster bakes and seafood extravaganzas will be the highlights at the L Street Bathhouse in South Boston and the Samuel Adams Brewery in Jamaica Plain. Many of the other settings are pairing food with a delegation's local cuisine.

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SHORT ORDERS

All shapes and sizes

The shapes of farmstand squashes this summer are so fetching that it's hard not to buy bagfuls. Miniature pattypans, striped green zucchini, and darling round ones that look like green tennis balls (about $1.50 per pound) sit side by side waiting to be sliced for your supper. 

Steady as she goes

Sure, there is no use crying over spilt milk. Still, it is frustrating when a mixing bowl tips over because you're whisking with one hand and adding ingredients with the other and you just can't hold it all steady on a nest made from a kitchen towel. Weep no more. Williams-Sonoma carries non-skid mixing bowls in many cheery shades, including red, mustard, melon, white, and lavender ($24 for three). 

Something for everyone

Before Jason Phu took over the tiny Chinatown shop Bahn Mi Boston in January and renamed it New Saigon Sandwich, almost everything on the menu was sandwiches. Bahn mi, the Vietnamese sub, is still popular here, but Phu has expanded the menu.

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Hold the bun, pass the toppings

Kicky condiments spice up burgers

By Tony Rosenfeld, Globe Correspondent

A hot dog is nothing without a bun, but a juicy burger is terrific on its own. To solve the problem and to dress burgers up a bit, you need a few jazzy toppings. Add grilled balsamic onions, cilantro aioli, or homemade ketchup to your grilled patties and serve them with a bright Asian slaw. The simple hamburger now has a new and refreshing look.

Recipes:

* Asian slaw with soy-peanut dressing

* Avocado and chipotle mash

* Cilantro aioli

* Grilled balsamic onions

* Spicy homemade ketchup

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At Harvest, honey makes baking sweeter

By Lisa Zwirn, Globe Correspondent

In her role as pastry chef of Harvest restaurant and Grill 23 & Bar, Molly Hanson works with many purveyors who deliver butter, chocolate, and sugar, cases of fruits, and gallons of cream. Her personal favorite, though, is the beekeeper who supplies fresh, local honey. The honey man is her father, Mark Hanson.

Recipes:

* Shortcakes with honey butter and peaches

For the shortcakes

For the garnish

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The Boston Globe – July 28, 2004

HOME OF THE BEAN AND THE COD

Home of the Bean and the Cod

Take a quick trip to Chinatown to sample salt and pepper shrimp, or slide into a booth at Durgin-Park for a bowl of traditional Indian pudding topped with vanilla ice cream. Twirl strands of linguine in a seafood pasta in Boston's Italian district, the North End, and then stop for brightly colored cookies at a Hanover Street bakery. Indulge in a lobster feast on the waterfront, or enjoy lobster salad in a hot dog bun, a New England classic.

Clamoring for clams

Jasper White's Summer Shack serves up clams with a crisply fried, almost greaseless crust and tender bellies. Close your eyes and you can imagine the waves lapping the shore, especially since the restaurants, one in Back Bay and the other in Cambridge, feature long, rough-hewn tables, a plethora of nautical gear, and a rough and ready casualness. 

The real deal

The best place to dine on fish is with the fisherman, where you're guaranteed the freshest catch. For a classic New England chowder (not that gooey version with one clam in a sea of potatoes), go to No Name Restaurant.

Heads and tails

The two-bite salt and pepper shrimp at Jumbo Seafood are as addictive as popcorn or peanuts -- crispy and spicy -- and eaten with head and tail intact. 

Fruits of the sea

Lobsters are the success story of culinary evolution, going from a poor family's dinner in Colonial America to an ultra-expensive dish today. When visitors come to the Hub, they want lobster. And, really, what is more beautiful and evocative of the sea than a rosy red lobster served with melted butter and maybe corn on the cob and a little slaw? Anthony's Pier 4, a big place with windows overlooking the harbor, has a lobster pond inside one of the dining rooms that is full of the crustaceans.

Recipe for Fish chowder

My grandmother, Frances Mutrie, always made this chowder on Thursdays to serve Friday. Today my mother still makes it ahead because she thinks the flavors meld overnight in the refrigerator. Add a few shakes of liquid hot sauce, if you like.

Well pressed

The government may have tightened restrictions on travel to Cuba, but there are no limits on visits to Chez Henri, the Cuban-French restaurant outside Harvard Square. 

No quiero Taco Bell

Trust us, you don't want Taco Bell when there's Tacos Lupita, a tiny Salvadoran and Mexican joint outside Porter Square in Somerville that dishes up large portions of tasty food for small portions of money. 

Clamming up

These days it's not easy to locate a great version of the clam chowder for which New England is renowned. An upscale and delicious bowl is at B&G Oysters. There are lots of clam-filled bites in this $10 chowder.

Chicken of the gods

"We don't have burritos," reads a sign on the door of Tu Y Yo. What the Somerville Mexican restaurant does have is food created from family recipes that go back as far as 1908 (shredded pork loin in a Mayan sauce, invented by Maria Nicolasa Ruiz Viuda de Espinosa, according to the menu).

Lobster for less

Life's little things never cease to amaze -- like Charlie's Kitchen's lobster roll. This modest Harvard Square bar invites you for a cool draft and some good cheer. Then your belly moans. You glance at the menu expecting to find nachos and fries, but Charlie's surprises you with its ever-so-unconventional bar delicacy: the lobster roll.

Party cookies

Geoff Auslen, 36, and Drew Koven, 35, began their baking business as Geoff & Drew's Late Night Cookies, in which they delivered fresh, hot, all-natural cookies to your door whenever you called. That wore thin, so the duo are now Geoff & Drew's Incredible Cookies, and they seem to be living by their motto of "Baking People Happy Everyday." 

Tuna with taste

For the record, when John F. Kerry dined at the South End's hip Union Bar & Grille soon after winning the Iowa caucuses in January, he ordered the restaurant's signature dish, the 10K tuna. 

Pops for politicians

While in Boston this week, the Democrats will be snacking on the sugary temptations from Back Bay's Sugar Heaven. Jelly Belly jelly beans ($13.96 a pound) will be in attendance in patriotic red (cherry and red apple), white (coconut), and blue (blueberry cobbler). New England-inspired lollipops ($2.49 each) -- lobsters, seashells, and lighthouses by Melville Candy Co. of Weymouth -- will also be ripe for the licking.

Eat like Edwards

For Democrats curious about the palate of Kerry running mate John Edwards, who hails from barbecue country, a warning: Boston is no mecca for "q," and what good stuff we have tends to be in the style of Memphis or Texas, not North Carolina. For Carolina's delectable marriage of sweet and tart, a trip to East Boston is in order.

By the people, for the people

Heinz recently launched its second "Say Something Ketchuppy" contest, which asks the condiment-loving populace to decide what goes on the bottle's label. 

Ronald Reagan's favorite vegetable

For those Republicans who don't want to dip their freedom fries into Heinz ketchup, a brand so closely associated with the Democratic Party (John Kerry's wife is Teresa Heinz Kerry, as in Heinz ketchup), there's a new conservative condiment on the scene: W Ketchup. 

Officially delicious

Despite its name, Boston cream pie was created at the Parker House hotel in the 19th century as a cake -- a luscious layer cake with a thick custard filling and a dark chocolate glaze. 

Comfort pho

Of all the dishes brought here from other lands, pho, the breakfast soup of Vietnam, is one of the most enthusiastically embraced. It's easy to understand once you sniff the steam rising from a big bowl of pho bo, the beef noodle soup from the north (from $4.79 to $8 for an extra large).

A baked bean revival

It's easy to find cod on Boston menus, but, alas, these days beans are in scarce supply. Too bad, because a well-made dish of baked beans sustained the Pilgrims and Puritans and can do the same for you. At Fireplace, a stylish Brookline restaurant that specializes in American cuisine and cooking over a wood fire, beans are baked for more than five hours with pulled pork, bacon, molasses, and tomato, then served with steamed brown bread. 

Back to basics

With all kinds of boutique places in this ice-cream-loving town, Brigham's vanilla is the best-selling flavor in New England. 

Recipe for Boston brown bread

Dark from raisins and molasses, Boston brown bread was once a very dense loaf, the traditional accompaniment to baked beans. My mother, Pat Merlo, clipped this lighter version of the recipe from the Globe's Confidential Chat more than 30 years ago. 

A lobster update

The baked lobster Savannah at Locke-Ober, the legendary eatery established in the late 1800s, has been a menu staple for at least 70 years. In the hands of chef and co-owner Lydia Shire, the dish, which combines the meat of a 2-pound lobster with mushrooms, peppers, sherry, whiskey, fish stock, cream, and a splash of port, now appeals to all tastes.

Marvelous mush

If you're looking for a taste of old New England, you'll find it in Durgin-Park's warm, sweet, comforting Indian pudding ($3.95). It's not the most picturesque dessert you'll ever see.

Dough to go

Walking into Mike's Pastry in the North End, Boston's Italian district, can be an overwhelming experience -- especially if you've just stuffed yourself with calamari and pollo arrabbiata and are in search of just a little something sweet. 

Making the rounds

Bostonians love their doughnuts the same way they love their neighborhoods and ball clubs: faithfully. Krispy Kreme may have infiltrated the Hub, but it won't eclipse the homemade doughnuts at places like Cafe Mirror, a quirky coffee shop in Brighton Center. 

Drunken spree

Drunken noodles, the yardstick of a Thai restaurant (no, it's not pad Thai), can be very, very bad or very, very good. At Sugar & Spice in Cambridge's Porter Square, the drunken noodles ($7.95) measure up: a golden tangle of chewy, sweet flat rice noodles laced with spicy basil and a bevy of vegetables: broccoli, red bell peppers, baby corn, green beans, carrots, and onions. 

Hip to be square

When you visit the Union Oyster House, Boston's oldest restaurant (established in 1826) and the oldest restaurant in continuous service in the country, you can't help but enjoy a delicious square of its trademark cornbread, which has been on the menu for more than 100 years.

A bundle of joy

For a crispy, lightly fried fish plate, no one does it better than Matt Murphy's. This Irish pub excels at crispy fish and chips, and the fried cod and potatoes ($13.95) fly out of the kitchen. The precious cargo, tied and wrapped in butcher paper and newspaper, lands gently at your place setting.

Rising above red sauce

Boston's North End neighborhood is the place to go for all things Italian, and the focus always seems to be on the edibles. Dozens of restaurants, cafes, markets, and pastry shops line the narrow streets. Just off the main street and away from the crowds is Artu. 

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The Boston Globe – August 4, 2004

A classroom, down on the farm

In this kids' program, field work yields lessons in science, math, and more

By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent

Young farmers at Holly Hill Farm are learning more than how to harvest a carrot.

The meeting is part of Holly Hill Farm's Young Farmers Program, three weeklong summer sessions in which kids entering grades 7 through 9 participate in daily farm tasks at this 140-acre expanse of fields and forest. The program, now in its third year, is one piece of Holly Hill's nonprofit branch, which is developing farm-based educational curricula for local students and teachers.

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Slush fun: Frozen treat is local treasure

Richie's serves up brightly hued classics

By Emily Schwab, Globe Correspondent

Boston is the place to go for slush. And not just the stuff that piles up on the winter roads. A spin-off of the Italian frozen treat granita, slush is colorful, sweet, and refreshing. It's a local phenomenon, and Richie's, which is made here, is the best known in town. Richie's Classic Italian Ice, otherwise known as slush, comes in a pink-striped cup in intense colors and flavors such as lemon, watermelon, cherry, and blue vanilla.

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SHORT ORDERS

Good and greasy

There's something about meat-filled pastries: The way their grease penetrates a brown paper bag, you know they're an illicit treat. And an exotic one -- in this country, we expect pastry to be sweet. At Camie's Bakery, a Haitian place in Cambridge, the beef patties (75 cents each) are a naughty break from expectations. 

Go Gaga for sherbet

Gaga's Original Lemon Sherbetter ($3.99 per pint) is richer and creamier than most sherbets, and its lemon flavor is an irresistible balance between sweet and tart. Technically, the frozen treat falls somewhere between a sherbet and ice cream, says founder Jim King. 

A real earful

Native Indians in North and South America first popped popcorn by throwing dried cobs on hot stones atop a raging fire. Since then, it's been cooked in oil; Jiffy Popped; smothered in butter, caramel, or powdered cheese; and popped in the microwave.

Coffee for the connoisseur

A strong morning brew is not often described like wine -- that is, as velvety, or full-bodied with sparkling acidity. Or tasting of peaches, blackberries, or maple syrup. But these are all descriptions of Terroir coffee, a new line of single-origin beans aimed at pleasing connoisseurs. 

An orange alert in Copley Square

Office workers and park loungers beware. Your noonday reverie may be interrupted today by packs of teens roaming Copley Square. They'll be armed with a message, but it will be a sweet one: slender, tapered, just-harvested carrots. Today, teen participants in the Food Project, a farming and leadership organization in Roxbury and Lincoln, will bestow armloads of the carrots they've grown this summer to parkgoers at Copley. 

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A little flanking action

It's grilling season. Come home from work, light the fire, stoke the coals, and let your friends think you slaved all day over this grilled marinated flank steak. A long, thin, fibrous cut of beef, flank is best when marinated for several hours -- here it sits overnight -- and thinly sliced against the grain.

Recipes:

* Grilled flank steak

* Pan-roasted corn salsa with avocado

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At 83 area restaurants, a week of fine dining for less

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

The Democratic National Convention turned out to have been a mixed bag for Boston restaurants. So they're hoping to make up for that and fill tables during the fourth annual Restaurant Week, Aug. 23 to 27. On those days, 83 restaurants will offer lunch for $20.04 and dinner for $30.04. They include the South End's Icarus, Nine Zero hotel's Spire in downtown Boston, Davio's in Park Square and Cambridge, and UpStairs on the Square in Harvard Square. Some establishments, such as Rialto in Cambridge, Bonfire in the Park Plaza Hotel, and Union Bar and Grille in the South End will offer dinner only.

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As dessert, slump is no slouch

Summer pudding is an old English dish in which layers of berries are mixed with stale bread in a bowl, then weighted and refrigerated for a day until the bread virtually disappears into the berry juices. Turned out and sliced into wedges, the pudding is served with whipped cream. Cooks in this country began baking a similar pudding and changed the name to "slump," "grunt," or "flummery," depending upon where you ate it.

Recipe:

* Blueberry slump

[TPO]

The Boston Globe – August 11, 2004

Yogurt: The culture catches on

It's creamy, satisfying, and healthy, and Americans are finally diving in

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

The yogurt market has grown a lot since it humble beginnings several decades ago.

The most tangible evidence of the explosion is lined up in the supermarket dairy case. Where once a handful of companies sold a few varieties, consumers now face an array of choices that is starting to resemble the European model. Drinks, desserts, and products aimed at babies and kids are driving the growth.

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A tradition flowers with Cambridge's heather ale

By Michael Saunders, Globe Staff

Will Meyers, head brewer at Cambridge Brewing Company, created his own version of a Scottish heather ale four years ago to fulfill his personal interest in ales of old. "It's a hearkening back to a 4,000-year-old tradition," says Meyers, who harvests heather sprigs at Sylvan Nurseries here.

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SHORT ORDERS FOR THE GAMES

Here's the rub

The Olympic Games have at last returned to their homeland. Meanwhile, you have just returned home from work, hungry for dinner. For a quick meal that will win over even the most finicky tableside judges, try the Mt. Olympus Rub, made locally by Nantucket Off-Shore ($5.29-$6 for a 3.2 ounce tin), rubbing it on chicken pieces, lamb, or vegetables before grilling or roasting. 

Greek to you

Sophia's is known for its 18 varieties of olives ($3.79 to $4.99), four from Georgoulopoulos's native Kalamata. They join 20 brands of Greek olive oil in colorful 1-, 3-, and 5-liter tins and bottles ($3.99 to $35). You can even treat yourself to a dense green bar of olive oil soap. Feta cheeses ($2.49 to $6.99) from Greece and Bulgaria have tongue-twister names. You'll find huge tins of anchovies and sardines, paper thin phyllo doughs, thick yogurts, honey, and homemade pastries. 

Work up an appetite

Visit Niko's Restaurant in Brookline and you might meet 3-year-old Irini Koronis, granddaughter of owners Nikos and Irini Kolettis, while you're ordering the appetizer plate ($16.95). If she sees that you're watching, maybe she'll show you her sprints, which she performs in front of the counter at her grandfather's modest restaurant.

Take a dip

Look no further for the ultimate, rather elegant snack to enhance your Olympic-viewing experience. The folks at the Greek Corner serve up a taramasalata appetizer ($4.25) -- literally, fish roe salad -- a typical Greek dip served with pita.

Feta appetizer can be spread into a meal

Petros Markopoulous's grandfather made the feta cheese spread tirokafteri to go with a glass of retsina or ouzo after a day tending 200 sheep on his farm in Olympia. "He would put down a piece of feta on a plate, dress it with olive oil, add grilled peppers, and mash it with a fork," recalls his grandson, chef and owner of Ithaki Mediterranean Cuisine in Ipswich.

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Cooke's Seafood makes a roll to remember

It's hard not to smile when owner Spiro Mitrokostas greets you at the counter of Cooke's Seafood here. An avid Red Sox fan with autographed player photos lining the walls of his roomy establishment, Mitrokostas makes conversation with everybody who passes by, whether they're regulars or new faces.

Recipe for Lobster rolls

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This dish has many layers of flavor

Greece's most popular dish, moussaka, is a time-consuming affair, but what you get is a meal for a crowd. So even though you're likely to be spread out across the kitchen on every counter, you're rewarded with a grand dish. There are eggplant slices to fry, a meat and tomato sauce to simmer, and milk to scald and turn into a smooth white sauce.

Recipe for Moussaka

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A Greek breakfast of champions

If you haven't already heard of Fage Total Greek Yogurt, a deliciously creamy and thick mixture that has been gaining popularity here, you'll soon see the name often enough: The company, which makes the top-selling yogurt in Greece, is the grand sponsor of the Olympics. Fage, made with cow's milk, is one of many unusual varieties of yogurt in the supermarket. 

Recipe for Zucchini-yogurt dip

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The Boston Globe – August 25, 2004

Mission: Delectable

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

When Louis DiBiccari, Ian Grossman and Peter Merrill cook, they don’t do it the easy way.

The ambitious young cooks behind the revolving party they call Iron Chef Louie aren't content to work 60 or 70 hours a week at their regular jobs. Every two weeks or so, they spend a precious day off in a mad dash of controlled chaos inspired by "Iron Chef," the Japanese import to the Food Network that treats the culinary arts as an all-out sporting event.

Like the TV show, this is a race against the clock, but unlike it, there's no competition. The Iron Chef Louie guys all work together, just as they have since they first started hosting these events for friends a year and a half ago in their Brookline apartment.

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Good as gold

Nothing evokes summer's sweetness like the sunny hues of corn and other yellow vegetables

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

In a gustatory sense, summer really begins when the first local corn comes in. Is it the sweet taste that attracts us? Perhaps we are drawn to the color, which promises sunny days and golden evenings.

Chefs, too, love color, finding ways to inject sunshine into their summer menus. Corn, of course, is always a crowd pleaser.

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Fish story

You'll find ceviche on the menus of fancy restaurants all over town, of course. The portions are modest, the presentations beautifully composed. But for anyone who imagines overdosing on the cool, citrus-marinated fish in the heat of summer, these dainty dishes just won't do. Deeper satisfaction is found at Rincon Limeno in East Boston. 

Purple passion

Centuries ago, some Europeans believed eggplant caused insanity, hence the name "mala insana," Latin for "mad apple" (mala insana became the Italian word melanzana and the Greek melitzana). Others believed the strangely shaped vegetable to have aphrodisiac powers and dubbed it the "apple of love." The purple vegetable (about $1 per pound) is best this month and next.

A tasty twist

They curl up in bizarre shapes. What are those green things? They're a spring delicacy in Chinatown: pea shoots, also called pea tendrils ($2 a bunch), which are available in farmers' markets through September, thanks to staggered planting by the Hmong farmers of Lancaster and Dracut.

Batter up

When it comes to shortbread, Mara Duggan (left) has hit a home run. In her Fancypants Bakery in Roslindale, Duggan makes a round, plump baseball cookie (about $3) that has captured the attention of local shops. 

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Dine like a Dukakis

Euterpe Dukakis used vegetable oil to make her cod's roe spread, but Michael Dukakis's cousin Pano Karatassos, a restaurant owner in Atlanta, uses olive oil, which is the Greek way. So does Georgia Rozanitis, co-owner of Christo's Fruit Market in Arlington, who sells jars of tarama (roe). Rozanitis also adds stale bread soaked in water, then squeezed out. The spread is popularly served with cut up vegetables or pita, although "pita is a fairly recent arrival when it comes to Greeks," says Dukakis.

Includes recipe for Taramasalata.

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Blueberry shortcakes

By Jill Santopietro, Globe Correspondent

There are many ways to eat local blueberries, none better than topped with a bouffant of whipped cream and sandwiched in sweet, lemony shortcake. The sauce is made from wild blues, tossed with lemon rind and juice, sugar, and cinnamon, thickened slightly with cornstarch and flour. When it is cool, fold in uncooked berries so the sauce is filled with plump fruits. You can also

Includes recipes for the shortcakes and the blueberry sauce and a recipe for Blueberry Muffins.

[TPO]

Boston Globe – September 1, 2004

Beyond ice cream

Add a layer of cake, a crumbly crust, and voilà! You've got a party

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

By the time September rolls around, the thrill of slurping up an ice cream cone has waned. It's time for a little more sophistication in our ice cream routine. A cookie sandwich, a crumbly crust, or cake can be delightful bonuses with ice cream. And, though an ice cream cake or pie looks like a party, the desserts are quite easy to make.

Recipes:

* Coconut ice cream pie with gingersnap crust

* Coffee Heath Bar ice cream cake with butterscotch sauce

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Queuing up for an icy nirvana

By Sarah M. Hearn, Globe Correspondent

Ask anyone familiar with Kimball Farm about the place and they will mention the apple picking in the fall, the driving range, the quaint country store, the miniature golf course that is like no other. But then they will smile and say that what really draws them is the ice cream: ice cream so good that promises are made never to eat the chain or grocery store version again.

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SHORT ORDERS

You put your sunflower seeds in my chocolate

As if we needed further convincing that chocolate makes almost anything taste better, the Sunflower Food Company has created chocolate-covered sunflower seeds. One handful of Sunny Seed Drops ($3.99 for 3 oz.) and you may never eat an M&M again.

Sausage meets seafood

The Portuguese fishermen who settled along the Southeastern coast of Massachusetts in the 19th century brought along their sausages -- chorizo and linguica -- and introduced new tastes to complement our native seafood. The garlicky cured pork (chorizo is spicy, linguica smokier) is a popular base for seafood stews, says Joe Cerqueira, owner of a trio of Portuguese restaurants in Cambridge.

Japanese comfort food

In the swarm of great food to be found in Coolidge Corner, Takeshima, a Korean-owned Japanese restaurant, is a familiar standby. The 20-year-old place has a nice neighborhood feeling. Waitresses and sushi chefs greet everyone who comes through the door, and J Yoo, the manager, has decorated the walls with his sushi cartoons.

It's a Thai score

Food you boil in a bag generally isn't much to get excited about. But the tasty Spaa Cuisine Thai creations ($3.99 each) from New England Herbal Foods practically had us doing cartwheels. 

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It was love, but now it's gone

By Clea Simon, Globe Correspondent

Text

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Try some new twists on grilled steak

By Tony Rosenfeld, Globe Correspondent

Text

Recipes:

* Southwestern grilled skirt steak with a tomato salsa

* Grilled sirloin tips with orange-soy glaze

* Warm pasta salad with grilled corn and zucchini

[TPO]

Boston Globe – September 8, 2004

Will Boston get a public market?

Other cities revel in theirs while planners here still dream

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

To Christensen and others, a public market would help preserve Massachusetts farmland by encouraging the development of year-round crops, and it could become a gathering place for food lovers, offering inspiration to both home cooks and chefs. "As a cook there's nothing more exciting than seeing all that food," says chef Laura Brennan, owner of Caffe Umbra in the South End, which is hosting one of the dinners. "You feel tired after you spend time in a mall, but after shopping in a food market I never feel tired."

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Making chocolates a rabbi can love

By Clea Simon, Globe Correspondent

Buhr, who stops any conversation to interject something about the chemistry of chocolate, had a full life before launching her business, Renaissance Chocolates. In her tiny kitchen, housed in a nondescript Brighton office building, she's busy folding hazelnut paste into white chocolate to make the traditional chocolate filling known as giandujia. She's working flat out these days.

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SHORT ORDERS

Family heirlooms

We're in tomato heaven, a condition that should last for several more weeks. Though any kind of ripe, native tomato is great, heirlooms -- with their unusual colors and shapes -- can be the talk of your table. Now that word has gotten out about these prize fruits with their old-fashioned tomato taste, many farmers' markets and farm stands sell them

Still Legally summer

September goes quickly into autumn. Seize the brief window of opportunity and run to Legal Sea Foods' Terrace Bar, in front of the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square. The al fresco bar, in its first year, is a stainless-steel horseshoe with a roof overhead and a makeshift kitchen at one end.

Dutch treat

The town of Gouda in the Netherlands may be known for its cheese, but to the Dutch, it is best loved for stroopwafels (also known as siroopwafels). These chewy treats, consisting of a layer of rich caramel or honey syrup sandwiched between two waffle-like thin cookies, have long been Holland's favorite sweet delight.

Sausage that stays the same

There are things besides sausage at Karl's Sausage Kitchen in Saugus, but it's the deli case full of links, made on the premises, that draws shoppers like worshipers to a shrine. "We leave it alone; we make perfect stuff, and people keep coming," says owner Mike Engel, who took the store over from his father, Karl. 

First you grill the corn, then make a chowder

When you grill fresh ears of corn in their husks over hot coals, you never really get the kind of smoky flavor you're expecting. The husks char and the kernels steam inside them, but later, at the table, pulling back the husks to eat the ears makes a big mess. The entire process is cumbersome and leaves you thinking it might have been easier just to boil the corn. Shuck the ears and set the cobs directly on the flame and you have fine-looking corn, lightly charred, smelling almost of popped corn -- in fact, you do hear the occasional pop as the corn roasts on the grill rack. Alas, this method often makes chewy kernels. The heat of the fire seems to take the life out of the succulent corn.

Recipe: Grilled corn chowder

Baby, let's go Dutch

Somewhere between pancakes and popovers lie Dutch babies. They're eaten for breakfast or brunch and ideal for cooks who don't want to stand at the stove flipping pancakes. The babies are baked -- all at once.

Recipe: Dutch babies

FDA has a cow over unauthorized Greek yogurt

Fage Total Greek Yogurt had to stop sales after the US Food and Drug Administration discovered that the company did not have proper certification for interstate sales, according to Antonios Maridakis, general manager of Fage USA. "It has nothing to do with the product," Maridakis said in a phone interview from Athens. "This is not a quality issue."

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Kugel contest celebrates tradition, variation

By Faye Levy, Globe Correspondent

Many Jewish families make kugel for Rosh Hashana, which begins next Wednesday at sundown. Kugel is also popular for the break-the-fast meal at the end of Yom Kippur. Noodle kugel, a pudding usually made with wide egg noodles, is often served on a holiday table as part of a nonmeat meal if the kugel contains dairy products. Recipes for kugel, an Eastern European dish, are often passed down through generations, with home cooks learning to make it from their mothers and grandmothers.

Recipes:

* Prize-winning noodle kugel

* My mother's kugel with mushrooms

[TPO]

Boston Globe – September 15, 2004

At Primo, food goes from the garden to the plate

Restaurant is uniquely connected to the land

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Alison Arnett spoke to Melissa Kelly, owner of Primo in Rockland, Maine.

Here, Kelly brings to life the vision of Alice Waters, the doyenne of back-to-the-land chefs, who changed the food scene forever at Chez Panisse in Berkeley in the 1970's. At Primo, despite Maine's rocky soil and challenging climate, Kelly and her staff manage to raise most of the vegetables and the pork right on the property's 4 acres. Then that bounty is gently transformed by Kelly's creativity.

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An advanced guide to local brewpubs

By Ann Cortissoz, Globe Staff

Ann Cortissoz looks at ten local brewpubs from Anam Cara Publick House to Watch City Brewing Company.

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SHORT ORDERS

Full of beans

Before the season fades into fall, celebrate the last of the summer vegetables with cranberry beans. These red-streaked, cream-colored, kidney-shaped beans come in bright reddish speckled pods (about $2 per pound). 

Beat the wheat

Want a treat but can't have wheat? You can still have delicious cookies. Country Choice makes organic oatmeal raisin cookies (about $3.50 per box or $18 for a six-box case) that are both wheat-free and milk-free.

A neighborhood treasure

And there's the Reef Cafe, where the Monzer family serves Lebanese food you'll remember for the next three days. Food that has you gushing to strangers and inventing errands to run in the neighborhood, just to get your hands on a plate of vegetarian kibby ($7.25).

A matzo maven

The best matzo balls, bar none,are made by Cheryl Rubin of La Bonne Cuisine caterers in North Easton. Alas, it's too late to place an order for the tender rounds made with her skilled hands -- and it's time to make tonight's Rosh Hashana dinner. 

The ABCs of learning to cook

September means back to school, even if you're all grown up. This might be a good time to brush up on kitchen skills, and there are plenty of cooking classes out there to help.

A happy -- and tasty -- anniversary

For 30 years, the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts has been training chefs in its spot near Porter Square. On Sunday the school will open its doors to would-be chefs, professionals, and alumni to watch the school's pastry instructor, Mary Bergin, work her magic or see UpStairs on the Square's executive sous chef Tony Bettencourt cook, among others. 

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Cultivating the Cape's famous oysters

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

Nowhere is the taste and texture of the oyster examined more closely than on Cape Cod, described as the Napa Valley of shellfish by fisheries and aquaculture specialist Bill Walton. Oysters grown in cold, clear water -- as on the Cape or in Canada -- have a sweetness to them, says Walton, who works at the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension. Even within the Cape, conditions, and therefore flavor, vary from bay to bay and grower to grower.

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Shaking up the drink scene in Chinatown

By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent

It's lunchtime at Lu's Sandwich Shop in Chinatown, and the tiny take-out counter is bustling with customers ordering bahn-mi (Vietnamese subs), spring rolls, and pork sausage wrapped in banana leaves. For many, lunch is incomplete without one of the thick shake-like drinks offered at Lu's, an item that is sipped and spooned for either dessert or as a midday snack by many of the regular customers here.

[TPO]

Boston Globe – September 22, 2004

Ready! Set! Assemble that dinner!

Company does the shopping, chopping, cleanup for the families' meal

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

The Massachusetts franchise of a two-year-old Seattle-based company, Dream Dinners is a commissary, open Thursday through Saturday, where you can go to assemble meals from ingredients provided. Customers also receive recipes and access to the equipment necessary to make the dishes on site. After several hours of work, six to 12 meals are ready to freeze until it's time to reheat them.

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The last green of the season

Unripened garden tomatoes can be put to delicious use

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

This time, the tomato harvest is a beautiful shade of green. Unlike the ripe ones, these green tomatoes aren't good raw, which makes the deluge that much more challenging. You can't just throw them into a salad, dry them, or can them. They have to be cooked first.

Recipes:

* Fried green tomatoes

* Green tomato-raspberry jam

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Healthy Plate

At a Brookline school, lunch just got better

By Bev Bennett, Globe Correspondent

Concerned parents Dr. Hope Ricciotti and her husband, Vincent Connelly got a committee together to make changes to the school lunches.

This year, students can anticipate baked -- not fried -- chicken, vegetarian burritos, fresh salads with mixed greens, and lentil-barley soup. Tofu is no longer an exotic food: It's an ingredient in meatballs.

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Around Town: Drinking in Art Deco

Because Prohibition overlapped with the Art Deco era of the 1920s and '30s, many of these libations became as much a part of the Art Deco movement as the Chrysler building or pastel Miami Beach hotels. In conjunction with the exhibition "Art Deco: 1910-1939" at the Museum of Fine Arts, museum restaurant BRAVO is presenting the Cocktail Hour, on Thursdays from 5:30-9 p.m. Customers can listen to live jazz piano while sipping the drinks of the times (or, if preferred, those of a more contemporary era) and may also purchase a ticket for the exhibit. Flapper dresses not required.

Dumpling ID

For dim sum fans, dining can be a delicious mystery. When the cart rolls around, you don't ask; you just point and eat. But if you've ever wondered what exactly is inside that dumpling or those deep-fried whatnots, a set of flashcards from Chronicle Books ($8.95) is here to help. 

Without Reservation: Worth a fry

New Englanders don't know much about fried dill pickles, but they are immensely popular in the South. Now Bostonians have access to this crispy, moist, and piquant treat. Firefly's, in Framingham and Marlborough, has been serving these as an appetizer for a year -- either paired with the traditional fried green tomatoes ($4.99) or on their own ($3.99). 

Good to Go: A trip to the Coast

"Everything." That's what's recommended by the staff at Coast Cafe, a takeout spot in Cambridge where the food is as straightforward as the service. On a recent lunchtime visit, owner Tony Brooks was at the stove (a full five feet from the counter), replenishing his stock of collard greens. Brooks says that a few side dishes -- macaroni and cheese, collards, and sweet potatoes -- are the bestsellers on a menu that includes solid standards such as fried chicken, fish sandwiches, and pork chops.

Around Town: These events fit to a tea

Tonight at 6 p.m., Harvest restaurant in Cambridge will host a five-course dinner where chef Keith Pooler will offer dishes such as salmon poached in chamomile broth. 

Eating with Friends:

Recipes for Pesto moro

We Cook: Pastry and plums: a fleeting pleasure

As soon as the plums arrive in the market, we begin making tortes. These take on various guises each year, from a thin, cakelike bottom to a rich, crisp pastry base.

Recipe for Prune plum torte

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Lemon juice makes a pasta dish to pucker up for

By Jill Santopietro, Globe Correspondent

Lemons are an essential cooking ingredient, next to onions and carrots. But how often do we dismiss them as just another garnish? During the harvest, the lonely lemon often takes a back burner to seasonal produce. Here, lemon shines as the main component in a simple, light pasta with ingredients that are still in season on the first days of fall -- zucchini, summer squash, and mint.

Recipe:

* Pasta with lemon, squashes, and mint

[TPO]

Boston Globe – September 29, 2004

The new gold standard?

Gourmet magazine wants its cookbook to be the go-to guide

By T. Susan Chang, Globe Correspondent

It's not every day that we experience a frontal assault on culinary history. But there is no doubt that the 1,300-page "Gourmet Cookbook" -- priced to fly at a bargain $40 -- is trying to make a statement no one will soon forget. Swathed in its buttercup-yellow dustjacket with an embossed copper metallic title, fat with the promise of easy and luscious dinners, the book arrives in stores this week amid much speculation.

Recipe: Steak Diane

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Foundation cooks up controversy

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Arnett reports on the Boston area reaction to the controversy surrounding the James Beard Foundation.

Early this month, The New York Times reported that the foundation could not account for how thousands of dollars of revenue was spent and was under review by the New York state attorney general's charities bureau. Longtime Beard foundation president Leonard F. Pickell Jr. resigned, and last week he was accused by the newly appointed chairman, George Sape, of misusing funds in undocumented or unjustified expenses.

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Butter, eggs, and vanilla, straight up

By Lisa Yockelson, Globe Correspondent

The lightly sweetened, yeast-raised dough is created in two stages and pressed into free-form ovals. When they're puffy and enlarged, the tops are glazed with a wash of melted butter and more vanilla, then scattered with sparkling sugar, a simple but luxurious finish for yeast breads. The sugar retains its shape, crackle, and luster in a way plain granulated sugar cannot, and its light and festive crunch adds a contrasting texture to the tender interior.

Recipe: Fragrant vanilla flatbreads

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SHORT ORDERS

Baking with beasts

Chocolate jimmies and colored sprinkles won't do it for your kids once they discover the world of tiny animals designed to decorate their cupcakes. Xcel International produces festive toppings, assorted colored baking sprinkles in bright colors and minuscule shapes, packed in little four- and six-compartment jars.

Low carb, high crunch

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you . . . well, you pretty much always do. Especially if it's almonds and pecans mixed with popcorn and coated in caramel glaze. But for those watching their carbohydrates, such a treat is probably off-limits. Now, however, Lincoln Snacks, makers of Poppycock, has created a low-carb version of the snack (about $2.70 for a 5 ounce box).

Good to Go: Get steamed

We've never been much for steam tables. They're too reminiscent of food courts and Old Country Buffets. And we try to ignore the lure of fast food. Somewhere in our brain, heat lamps seem to be linked to steam tables. But something in there shifted when we visited Flames Restaurant in Mattapan. Owner Linval Chambers and his staff serve fine West Indian and American food -- from red-pea soup to barbecued ribs. And the best dishes simmer in steam tables.

The Cortlands are coming

Our annual pick-your-own apples listing will appear next week.

Around Town: A recipe for fighting cancer

The Friends of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have just released a fund-raising cookbook, "Great Chefs Cooking for Great Friends." With a foreward by Clio's Ken Oringer, the book includes recipes from many Boston kitchens.

After Work: Japanese bread crumbs pack a crunch

Think of panko as the superior, five-star cousin to preseasoned, finely ground supermarket crumbs. Panko is not made of rice, as some think, but rather of tiny flakes of bread ground from traditional yeast-risen dough. The most commonly available panko is white, made from the crumb of the loaf.

Recipe: Crispy chicken drumsticks

No brine required

Watermelon rinds, hot peppers, and green tomatoes are all varieties of brine-fermented delicacies known as pickles. Still, the ones made from cucumber reign supreme as the king of cookouts, sandwich shops, and pregnancy cravings. Most cucumber pickles are made from kirbys, also known as pickling cucumbers. These small green vegetables are only 3 to 6 inches long, with thick middles and small, underdeveloped seeds.

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Sabra's Middle Eastern influence is spreading throughout town

By Lisa Zwirn, Globe Correspondent

On these BU menus -- and in cafeterias in colleges and hospitals all over town -- some of the most popular choices are the chickpea spread hummus, the parsley and grain salad tabbouleh, and the smooth, smoky eggplant dip called baba ghanouj. Sabra Foods has been delivering ready-made Middle Eastern specialties for 21 years. Lebanese-born Pierre Saroufim began the company by making what he knew best, using recipes from home.

Edited October 2, 2004 by TPO (log)

[TPO]

Boston Globe – October 6, 2004

Small plates and big tastes

Local restaurants show less is more with inventive little creations

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Entering the world of small takes some explanation. This current darling of the culinary world has been working its way into restaurants slowly. It all began about a decade ago, when Americans embraced tapas, the Spanish snacks sold in bars to encourage patrons to drink more. Today's small plates might borrow tapas ideas, but they also boast tastes and textures from all kinds of cuisines.

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Apples make the season sweeter

By T. Susan Chang, Globe Correspondent

When the apple harvest comes in, it's always a little bittersweet. This may be one of the region's most beautiful seasons, but apples are the last fruit of the growing year. As fall gives way to winter, apple pickers will reach high into the trees, propping ladders on stout branches, gathering peck by heavy peck as if the taste of sweetness itself were about to head for the tropics.

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SHORT ORDERS

A cookbook that's by teens, for teens

The Carle sisters, Megan and Jill, like to cook. They like cheesy snacks and easy-to-prepare main dishes, and it bores them, they say, to even think about making soup stock from scratch. In short, they're the perfect people to write a cookbook for teenagers; in fact, they're teens themselves. They've been whipping things up in the kitchen since they were 3, and now they've whipped up "Teens Cook: How to Cook What You Want to Eat" (Ten Speed Press; $17.95).

Swiss hit

Good old reliable Swiss chard ($1 to $2 a bunch) is delicious on its own but it serves as a fine conveyance for other flavors, as well.

Glass Notes: Glass act

Wine tasting is often criticized for being a subjective, to-each-his-own affair. One reason may be glassware. In the right glass, a so-so wine will show its best; in the wrong one, even a luxe sip may underperform. To level the playing field, many pros prefer to ply their trade with a glass developed by Institut National des Appellations d'Origine, the organization responsible for French wine legislation.

Good to Go: Just plain good

In a neighborhood saturated with good food, how do South End residents decide on their favorite spot? Where you eat, of course, is a mark of who you are.

Around Town: A gathering of family and friends celebrates Julia Child's life

"A Tribute to Julia," to celebrate the life of Julia Child will be held on Oct. 19 from 5 to 7 p.m. Her family and friends will gather for a wine reception and to hear more than a dozen speakers at Boston University.

Joy of Baking: Crispy treat takes the cake

While a crisp, slightly tart Rome apple is one of the many pleasures of a New England fall, it gets exponentially better when sliced and tossed with cinnamon-sugar and baked between two layers of buttery vanilla-scented sour cream batter. This coffee cake is finished with a crunchy and sugary walnut topping.

Recipe: My grandmother's sour-cream apple coffee cake

We Cook: Any way you slice them, apples add flavor to meat dishes

Slip a cut-up apple or two into the beef stew pot and you get a subtle sweetness to the sauce. Add them to a pan of roasted squashes and the apples add just the right juiciness to the orange-fleshed vegetables. Before you roast a chicken, tuck some apple wedges into the cavity of the bird; they are succulent after cooking.

* Recipe: Chicken on a bed of apples and onions

Heading Out: Sean and Nora's celebrates food from every neighborhood

BARRE, Vt. -- If you're looking for Sean and Nora here, you won't find them. But the two Irish immigrants, grandparents of owner John Mayfield, are all over the menu in this homey but upscale restaurant, about seven miles from Montpelier. Located in a 19th century Victorian-style building, in a region best know for its granite industry, Sean and Nora's celebrates regional and ethnic American foods, from Germantown Wiener schnitzel to New Orleans's favorite muffuletta.

Eating with Friends: Eggplant Parmesan

In this modern version of the Italian- American classic, eggplant is baked rather than fried, and plump, ripe tomatoes are chopped and tossed with garlic, basil, and a touch of oil for a fresh, uncooked sauce. Just the right amount of mozzarella melts over the eggplant slices, and a top crust of Parmesan turns beautifully golden.

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Enjoy the fruit of your labors at a pick-your-own orchard

This article lists over 25 orchards where you can pick your own fruit.

Before you leave for picking, call the farm. Some have websites so you can check apple varieties and other activities. You can also call the Massachusetts Department of Food and Agriculture (877-627-7476) or go to http://www.mass.gov/agr/massgrown/apple_pyo.htm.

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* Recipe: Meat Loaf

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* Recipe: Crab cakes with hot-lime aioli

[TPO]

Boston Globe – October 13, 2004

New York: If you eat it there, you'll see it everywhere

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Time Out New York food editor Maile Carpenter says that her staff covered about 2,000 restaurants considered important enough to explore for "Eating & Drinking 2005," the publication's sixth annual guide to New York restaurants.

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A new butcher on the block

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

Butcher John Dewar finally got the place in Wellesley he always wanted.

The meat counter runs nearly the full length of one wall in the 1,700-foot store, and it is filled with selections such as Wagyu beef, a domestic version of Japanese Kobe beef; Kurobuta pork from black Berkshire pigs, which has more marbling than the lean pork so prevalent today; and dry, aged sirloin prepared in Dewar's Boston plant. Dewar, who carries the same Niman Ranch pork the Wellesley Whole Foods Market does, says he is not concerned about competition from the national chain. He feels that hard-to-find specialty items give his store an edge. "We're a little more daring than some other markets."

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Oil comes in all varieties. Which is up to the task?

By Lisa Zwirn, Globe Correspondent

What's different about oils -- aside from the fact that they're pressed from varying plants, seeds, grains, nuts, and beans -- is their flavor, color, texture, and, perhaps most important, their taste. An oil should not overwhelm the dish it is added to. So, too, you should not use some oils in cooking, because their taste is better if you don't heat them.

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SHORT ORDERS

Around Town: Celebrating chocolate

Massachusetts chocoholics hold bragging rights to the fact that the first production in this country was in Dorchester at a factory started by John Hannon and Dr. James Baker. Thus began our nation's obsession with the smooth, rich sweet. Continuing with the tradition, the gastronomy program at Boston University is holding its first chocolate weekend ($75, or $50 for students with ID).

Magnets for the cook who has everything

What to get for the cook who has all the best pans, the sharpest knives, the widest array of spices? Dress-the-chef magnets for the refrigerator, of course. Titled "Cora's Cookin' Now" ($9.99), this set from Erika Oller's "Fashion the Crowd Can Understand" series features a pleasantly plump chef in her undies, along with chef's whites, a dress and apron combo, and a few pastries. Please, dress this poor woman so she can bake again!

First Draft: Beer of the month

With beer halls, oompah bands, and dirndl-clad waitresses wearing Princess Leia hairdos, Munich has cornered the market on Oktoberfest. The 16-day party is over in Germany, but Boston still has the beer: Samuel Adams makes the best-selling Oktoberfest beer in the world, says Sam founder Jim Koch.

Good to Go: Slurp happy

Other than the food, the best thing about visiting Chinatown's Taiwan Cafe is watching everyone eat.

Around Town: Feast to help farmers

Celebrating the harvest can be paired with helping those who grow it at a benefit dinner at Lumiere in West Newton.

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Cookbook for kids is fun, useful

By Meg Colton, Globe Correspondent

Meg Colton, an eighth-grader at Hingham Middle School, reviews "Look and Cook" and found it to be useful for cooking with children. In addition to the recipes below, she also tried pigs in blankets and blueberry muffins.

* Baked macaroni and cheese

* Hot cocoa

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Pumpkin is not just for pie anymore

Pumpkins are such a welcome sign of fall that there is something warm and comforting about walking into a kitchen filled with their aroma. And the firm orange flesh, often pureed for a pie, always goes hand in hand with gingerbread spices.

* My mother's pumpkin chocolate-chip cookies

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* Orange-sesame dressing

* Stir-fried pork and bok choy

[TPO]

Boston Globe – October 20, 2004

First Draft: Not your father's beer: your grandfather's

Pabst Blue Ribbon is winning back a following

By Ann Cortissoz, Globe Staff

At Downtown Wine & Spirits in Davis Square on a recent Friday evening, among the professionals in business suits stopping to pick up a bottle of wine or a microbrew on the way home, you're likely to see a stream of 20-somethings buying six-packs -- even 30-packs -- of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.

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Farmers tell of Fair Trade benefits

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

In Nicaragua, Lopez and his cooperative grow coffee sold under the Fair Trade label, which guarantees family farmers a fair market price for their coffee, cocoa, and bananas and other fruit.

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Sophistication in 60 minutes

Dinner parties can be simple and elegant

By Tony Rosenfeld, Globe Correspondent

It does take some ingenuity to put together a sophisticated meal in an hour. But plan shrewdly and shop cleverly and you can succeed.

This menu begins with a mesclun salad and homemade balsamic dressing, offers salmon with a mustard crust and sauteed spinach for the main course, and finishes with individual spicy apple crisps.

* Mesclun salad with goat cheese and pears

* Sauteed spinach

* Roast salmon with mustard crust

* Spicy apple crisps

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SHORT ORDERS

World Table: Spread peace

It seems like too much to expect from an olive spread -- promoting peace in the Middle East and tasting good -- but somehow, Meditalia manages to pull off both. This line of pesto sauces and tapenades, a product of the New York company PeaceWorks, is produced in Israel using olives from Palestinian villages and sun-dried tomatoes from Turkey. The seven spreads ($3.99 for 6.35 ounces) are bottled in glass jars made in Egypt.

Fall for pears

While we don't dip them in caramel or bob for them in water, sweet, juicy, perfectly ripened pears are still a wonderful fall treat. Bosc pears, with their reddish brown skin and rough speckling, are in season now (about $1.50 per pound).

Monkey business

Cinnamon monkey bread has to be the most addictive yeasty treat ever. Soft, slightly sweet, and gooey, this pull-apart round bread keeps tempting you. Also known as bubble bread, it's made with little balls of dough dipped in melted butter, then layered with cinnamon sugar. Karen's Bakery in Lynnfield, owned by Dottie and Carl Wold Jr., supplies the best around.

Good to Go: You’ll be back

On a warm Saturday afternoon recently, the line at Victor's Deli in Ball Square stretched to the door. When they're not peering at the hot food behind a glass partition, customers banter loudly with one another and with Rosa Moccia, wife of Victor (left) and hostess extraordinaire.

Save some summer heat for winter

Chili peppers are among the easiest vegetables to "put by" for the cold season. And though chilies are dried so they can be kept all winter long, the drying process actually intensifies their flavor.

We Cook: Seared scallops are the ultimate fast food

Scallops are the pearls of the fish counter. The plump white rounds look especially tempting this time of year, when both small bay scallops and the larger sea scallops are harvested off our coasts. Seared in a hot pan with both oil and butter, the round jewels caramelize at the edges and become the ultimate quick dinner.

* Seared scallops with creamy spinach and yellow potatoes

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UpStairs on the Square's muhammara

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World Table: Spring rolls: a fresh approach to appetizers

By Debra Samuels, Globe Correspondent

Through the translucent wrapping on a Vietnamese spring roll, you can see curls of pink shrimp and the deep greens of basil, mint, and cilantro leaves. This healthful version of the deep-fried egg roll has become standard starter fare in Thai and Vietnamese restaurants.

[TPO]

Boston Globe – November 3, 2004

A tale of two cheese lovers: Ryan Hardy makes it on the Vineyard

By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent

The Kentucky-born Hardy, 29, has been here for three years. Fourteen months ago, when he found out that he could buy goat's milk on the Vineyard, he began teaching himself how to make cheese. Today, diners who order the extensive cheese plate are likely to be served their cheeses -- and given an in-depth explanation -- by Hardy himself.

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A tale of two cheese lovers: Matt Rubiner brings it to the Berkshires

By Timothy Q. Cebula, Globe Correspondent

By noon on a busy Saturday, Matt Rubiner estimates he's had to say ''cheese" almost 200 times. He may not smile every time, but rest assured, he's happy.

From behind the central island counter in the bright, high-ceilinged shop, the owner of Rubiner's Cheesemongers and Grocers says, ''There's nothing that satisfies me more than being an arbiter of people's tastes."

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The fine art of making banana cake

Creating a perfect balance between flavor and texture

By Lisa Yockelson, Globe Correspondent

Most fruit-based cakes charm with their flavor and intensity. An apple cake, spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, can taste boldly mellow. Blueberries sweetly dot a butter cake. Gingerbread batter guilelessly allows smacks of ground ginger to penetrate its molasses-centered crumb. Thoroughly succulent banana cake gets its flavor and distinctive texture -- moistness -- from the fruit.

Recipe: Banana cake

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SHORT ORDERS

Without Reservation: You're getting warm

At the Butcher Shop, owner Barbara Lynch's combination of wine bar and retail shop, Reynoso fashions a hearty ragu from Italian sausages; it's spicy with tomatoes, garlic, and hot peppers.

Counterpoint: It’s in the bag

More fascinating than the fresh-faced and smiling retro woman on the front of the Evert-Fresh Green Bags package are the three little photographs next to her. They show you what happens to a carrot that's been stored for 50 days in one of the company's special green produce bags (it's bright and fresh-looking); then in an ordinary polyethylene bag (the carrot is covered with mold); and with no wrapping at all (poor little black carrot has shriveled to a fraction of its size).

World Table: Do you want to know a secret?

Have you ever happened upon a special place and imagined you were the first to find it? And then meted out your knowledge to a privileged few, only to find that the spot's been there for years? Droubi Bakery, a Lebanese market and pita bakery in Roslindale, is one of those places.

Good to Go: Tray cool

The music at Punjabi Dhaba, an Indian restaurant in Inman Square, is the first thing you notice. The Hindi tunes, with their swirling melodies and persistent beat, are loud -- until a customer approaches the counter with an order. Down goes the volume. When you retreat to your seat, the volume goes back up.

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Without Reservation: With citrus and spice, ceviche makes seafood sparkle

This time of year, Chez Henri chef and owner Paul O'Connell turns his cravings for bay scallops into ceviche.

Recipe: Bay scallop ceviche

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First Draft: Is this heaven? No, it's Belgium.

By Ann Cortissoz, Globe Staff

What makes the beer so interesting is partly the sheer variety of brews produced and the number of different ways the Belgians go about making them. They employ a range of techniques, including brewing with indigenous and exotic herbs and spices -- citrus peel and flowers; brewing with fruit; brewing with sugar; fermentation in open tanks; fermentation by wild yeast or bacteria; fermentation and lagering in oak casks; and even blending of aged and fresh beer before bottling to produce traditional Belgian beer styles, according to brewer and beer writer Horst Dornbusch.

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Homemade ramen noodles satisfy

By Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven, Globe Staff

Ramen are fine yellow Chinese noodles served Japanese-style in a big bowl of broth. In Japanese noodle houses, the bowls are often very cheap and so huge they're hard to polish off. You need both a spoon and chopsticks to maneuver the morsels of meat, noodles, and broth, and when you're done, you're practically too full to leave the table. Partly because it's fun to eat, and also because it's so widely available in packaged form, instant ramen has become many children's introduction to cooking. They measure the water themselves, add the ingredients from the various packets, let the soup simmer for a few minutes, and tip the contents into a big bowl.

Recipe: Ramen with chicken

[TPO]

Boston Globe – November 10, 2004

In praise of braising

Molly Stevens has rescued the underappreciated cooking technique with a book that extols its homey, flavorful virtues

By Timothy Q. Cebula, Globe Correspondent

Molly Stevens has her cookbook, “All About Braising: The Art of Uncomplicated Cooking,” published last month.

Now dishes such as braised short ribs are standard fare at high-end restaurants. And home cooks have gained a new appreciation for this quintessential slow technique, prizing its simplicity. At its core, ''All About Braising" is everything you need to know about comfort food. ''Braising is relaxing both for the cook and the people eating it," Stevens says as she reduces liquid in the red Le Creuset pot she used to brown the meat. ''There's nothing fussy or contrived about braised dishes. All you're doing is putting out a big pot of delicious food."

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Barrel to Bottle: It's time for Beaujolais

'Lush' 2003 vintage arrives amid anticipation

By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent

It's almost time. Next week, splashy posters in wine shops all over town will trumpet the arrival of the 2004 Beaujolais nouveau, the young and fruity French wines made from gamay grapes that are drunk the same year they're grown. Georges Duboeuf, the shipper who dominates the Beaujolais trade, is responsible for this yearly onslaught. His nouveau has a reputation for being fruity and fun, but also commercial and ordinary. Plenty of wine drinkers dismissed it -- until 2003.

A very good year for Beaujolais

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SHORT ORDERS

Good to Go: It’s a classic

The Busy Bee Restaurant is a diner with a long counter, turquoise vinyl stools and booths, and a neon sign in the window that invites you to have "a snack or a meal." And although club sandwiches for lunch and Yankee pot roast for dinner are enticing, you can't beat breakfast at a diner. It's fun to shake off the morning fog with hot coffee and a dose of banter with the waiter.

Without Reservation: The hottest pot in town

Is there a cozier meal on a cold night than a pot of warm melted cheese? Thierry Charles of the Wine Cellar, a new fondue restaurant in the Back Bay, doesn't think so.

Always be a gentleman

What can you expect at a dinner party when you sit down to a place setting with three forks, four knives, and three spoons? Aside from the fact that hired help will probably be carting all that fancy flatware away, and you won't have to help wash up afterward? Those utensils mean there's a seafood appetizer coming, a steak course somewhere, and soup. (Don't slurp!) These are among the lessons of ''A Gentleman at the Table" ($14.99), a new guide to table manners by John Bridges and Bryan Curtis.

Eat your wheaties

The terrain is the same, but the taste -- and the nutritional content -- is different. Pepperidge Farm's 100 percent whole wheat English muffins ($2.69 for six) have the requisite nooks and crannies, but they have an earthier flavor than their refined cousins, and a slight extra crunch.

Around Town: Headline

An evening of privately hosted dinners will take place Nov. 20 to benefit the Jewish Community Day School of Watertown.

Cookbook author Joan Nathan will speak in Gloucester on Sunday. Nathan is the author of ''Joan Nathan's Jewish Holiday Cookbook" (Schocken) and hosted the public television show ''Jewish Cooking in America With Joan Nathan."

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World Table: Hot Breads bakery full of the flavor -- and feel -- of India

By Jan Gardner, Globe Staff

Woburn is home to the first Hot Breads bakery in New England, pleasing many Indian immigrants.

Founded in India in 1985 by a former marketing professor, Hot Breads now has more than 100 bakeries, most situated in India and the United Arab Emirates. Other locations include Nepal, Bangladesh, and France (two are in Paris). While the shop caters to Indians, it is a fusion bakery, mixing elements of Indian and French fare and offering American goods as well. Plain and almond French croissants are here, for instance, but you can also buy croissants filled with chicken curry, chicken tikka, or Indian-style goat meat.

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Mimi Sheraton is known for writing but she's motivated by eating

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Arnett mentions that before the interview, Mimi was participating on an eGullet thread.

Her critical eye, honed for years as the restaurant critic for The New York Times, New York magazine, and several national publications, falls squarely on food in ''Eating My Words: An Appetite for Life" (Morrow Cookbooks). Others may use food as a connection to history or to tell stories of their romances. Sheraton unravels her life in this volume, but keeps her eyes on the prize. ''Writing about food gave me just the excuse I needed to eat," she explains. ''It was, after all, my job."

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He records golden era of food

A Q&A with food writer Alan Richman

Food writer Alan Richman, contributor to GQ, Bon Appetit, and Conde Nast Traveler, wasn't always an epicurean. Originally a sports writer, he came from Philadelphia to the Boston Globe for two tenures -- 1977 to 1979 and 1980 to 1984 -- before heading to New York and a life of foie gras and culinary excess. Recently named the dean of food writing for the French Culinary Institute, he has also just released ''Fork It Over: The Intrepid Adventures of a Professional Eater" (HarperCollins).

Edited November 11, 2004 by TPO (log)

[TPO]

Boston Globe – November 17, 2004

One family's new traditions

The Bergs expand on the standard Thanksgiving menu with fresh tastes and year-round favorites

By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent

In their Jamaica Plain kitchen, Jill and Erik Berg put their own stamp on tradition, simmering an unusual and slightly tart cranberry sauce, adding a bright splash of sauteed vegetables to the table, and including a favorite family pasta dish. Those are added to recipes the couple were given by their own mothers.

Recipes:

* Cranberry sauce

* Creamy wild rice soup

* Sweet potato pie

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Glass notes

The best advice for selecting wine for the Thanksgiving table comes from Bob Harkey of Harkey's Fine Wine, a superb shop in Millis. ''Match the wine with the people, not the food," Harkey tells his customers.

Michael Apstein includes suggestions priced from $10 to $75.

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Lemony classic for a fortunate event

By Jennifer Wolcott, Globe Correspondent

Success at lemon meringue pie starts with a good recipe and a careful hand. Nashoba Brook Bakery's Frances Grandinetti has both. The pastry chef has been making this classic American pie since she first wrapped herself in an apron. Her meringue topping boasts what she calls a ''basic Betty Crocker swirl," the lemon filling is generous, and the homemade crust is flaky and buttery.

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Holiday tables can sport sprouts

Finding Cinderellas among the vegetables usually offered on the Thanksgiving table might sound unlikely. But Brussels sprouts, late autumn perennials, can burst out of their drab reputations and gleam.

Recipe:

* Lemon meringue pie

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Adaptation of Indian cornmeal pudding really fills the bill

Indian pudding is a classic, though not often served anymore. The first settlers made this pudding with the Indian cornmeal that they found here. The basic formula combines hot milk, cornmeal, and molasses, which is baked for two hours. This produces a wonderfully thick concoction that may take some getting used to.

Recipe:

* Oatmeal Indian pudding

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Colors that will bring tears to your eyes

Make room on the groaning board for mini red and yellow onions to join the little pearly whites. Pure whites are now being mixed with a gorgeous garnet and the glow of amber, which look like jewels in a box. The multicolored onions come in net bags ($1.99 to $2.99 for 10 ounces) and make a great side dish with a sweet-and-sour coating.

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It's quantity and quality

We do make apple pies in the fall, but the number of guests at the holiday table often means two pies, or more speci.cally, rolling out four pastry rounds on a frantic cooking day. Along with all the other things to make, that seems too ambitious. So we took the same number of apples we would use for two domed pies and combined them in one baking dish.

Recipe:

* Deep dish apple pie

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Additional recipes:

* Cranberry-orange sweet potatoes

* Gratineed potatoes

* Perfectly creamed spinach

[TPO]

Boston Globe – November 24, 2004

The day after Thanksgiving...

Second-Day Feast

Leftover dishes so good you might want to buy another turkey.

By Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven

If you didn’t end up with leftover turkey this year, try making a second turkey or cooking turkey cutlets or ground turkey.

Cutlets, in our opinion, were brought to the marketplace by a culinary genius. These thin slices of turkey breast cook in minutes, and you can do everything with them that you might do with expensive veal scallopine - for much less money.

Includes recipes for Mulligatawny, Curried Turkey Cutlets, Turkey Cabbage Soup and Turkey Meat Loaf.

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Recipes:

* Turkey sandwiches with chipolte spread and avocado

* Turkey soup with roasted vegetables and orzo

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The cook may be tired, but the fridge is bulging

By Tony Rosenfeld, Globe Correspondent

One of the most exciting days on the culinary calendar is this Friday. The fatigued cook opens the refrigerator the day after Thanksgiving and is greeted by shelves bulging with leftovers. Faced with all those containers of cooked food -- and the possibilities therein -- the industrious home chef has to find inspiration beyond the traditional reworkings.

Recipe:

* Potato-crusted turkey pot pie

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Scones are a welcome wake-up call

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

Every overstuffed diner around the Thanksgiving table vows afterward to forego food for several days. Don't believe them, of course. By the time morning dawns, everyone in the household has forgotten how full they were the day before. They want breakfast -- and more sweet carbs are just fine.

Recipe:

* Dropped buttermilk-currant scones

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On Wine: French connection lifts Chilean wine

By Michael Apstein, Globe Correspondent

Over 100 years later, in the late-20th century, another emigration of Bordeaux wine talent has reinvigorated the Chilean wine industry. The French connection, both originally and now, explains the appealing style of so many Chilean wines made from cabernet sauvignon, a principle grape variety of Bordeaux.

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Oh, behave!

What kind of guest, or host, are you?

By Joseph Kahn, Globe Staff

On Thanksgiving we plan the menu and set the table, or pack up the car and the pumpkin pies, as friends and family gather to celebrate. What’s the bare minimum a guest should contribute? What might the discerning host be expected to provide, and what qualifies as over the top? Etiquette mavens agree on a few basics.

Kahn includes a chart of guest contributions, from “minimum” to “overboard.”

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Takeout turkey filling a need

By Estes Thompson, Associated Press

More and more customers are buying complete Thanksgiving meals to take home, according to retailers and food-trend observers. Nearly every grocery store with a deli now offers the meals, which consumers can order in advance and pick up on Thanksgiving eve.

[TPO]

Boston Globe – December 1, 2004

Putting flavor back into pork

More and more farmers are stepping up to the plate by raising free-range pigs that deliver better taste

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Arnett reports from Iowa, where she visited with a few free-range pig farmers.

Pork with flavor is making a comeback. Pushed by restaurant chefs who for years complained that even the high-grade pork they bought had to be brined in a salt-water solution to make it palatable and moist, and by consumers who remembered the full, meaty flavor and almost creamy texture of pork chops at family suppers, a new ideal is emerging.

Recipe:

* Pork chops with garlic-cream pan sauce

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Berkshire breed prized for richness of flavor

By Timothy Q. Cebula, Globe Correspondent

"In breeding circles, Berkshire pork is known as 'Berkshire gold,' " explains farmer Phil Leahey, crushing a pumpkin with his foot and tossing it into the pen for the black boar to devour. "The breeders realize it's an exceptional product, and it fits the niche market for quality pork." Prized for its richness and depth of flavor, Berkshire pork is widely considered to be the Kobe beef of the pork world. A study conducted by the National Pork Producers Council in September concluded that Berkshire pigs top all other breeds in such categories as meat marbling, moisture, and tenderness.

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Savor the difference

We did an informal pork tasting recently. On the plate were slices of both natural and commercially-raised pork cooked the same way. One tester looked at the choices, pointed to the commercial pork, and announced, "I'm not even going to try that piece. You can tell just by looking at it that it's too dry." She was right, and other eaters thought the same. The naturally raised pork was pink and tender with an intensely meaty flavor; the other pork sat on the plates almost untouched. It looked much paler than the natural pork, it was indeed dry, and it tasted like cardboard.

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Rules of safety

Thanks to better breeding techniques, Trichinella is now rarely found in supermarket pork, and you no longer have to cook pork until the color is bleached out and all the flavor is gone.

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Some confectional wisdom for chocolate lovers

Three books offer sweet updates, new delights

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

The thing about chocolate is that some people can't get enough of the stuff. And it turns out that the food once vilified as causing everything from acne to migraines (experts say it does neither) can legitimately claim several health benefits. Three tomes have been added to the chocolate literature, offering new twists on classics and some novel creations.

Recipes:

* Peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate ganache

* Pistachio brownies

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SHORT ORDERS

Super treats

How edible is "The Incredibles"? It's no idle question for Kellogg's. The Disney/Pixar animated feature has been this fall's box-office champ. Hoping its success will carry over to the kitchen, Kellogg's is marketing three tie-ins: "The Incredibles" cereal (left), Pop-Tarts, and fruit snacks.

Hot and cold

When you've got the sniffles and your head is stopped up, you only want a box of tissues, bed, and lots of sleep. Eventually, of course, you need nourishment, or more specifically, chicken soup. If you can't drag yourself out of the house to get a bird and put it in a pot, a brother-and-sister team in Woburn can send you soup overnight. Betsy Maselek and David Poritzky make Grandma's Chicken Soup and ship it in half-gallon plastic containers, with matzo balls and noodles, enough for four to six servings ($29.50 plus shipping). 

Good to Go: A round trip

There's something called "gorditas" on the menu at Tacos Lupita, which roughly translates to "little fat ones." We thought about the old saying "you are what you eat" and decided not to tempt fate. The combo taco plate ($6.75) was a good choice -- the Somerville restaurant is named for these savory items, after all. 

Without Reservation: Seoul food

December can be a minefield for those who try to eat nutritiously. Try tiptoeing around a holiday party featuring chips and dips, fried chicken wings, potato pancakes, buttery cakes -- you get the picture. What's needed is a break from the Western idea of feasting. Koreana, near Central Square, offers just that: an antidote in a stone pot.

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We Cook: Taking smoking inside

There are all sorts of contraptions for stovetop smoking, most of which produce foods so saturated with smoky taste that the flavor of the original ingredient is obliterated. Chicken, for instance, enclosed in a small container with chips of wood for a short time, might as well have been smothered in mesquite or hickory overnight. Chinese restaurants also smoke whole chickens and ducks using spices and tea. 

Recipe:

* Tea-smoked chicken