DIGEST: Boston Globe Food Section

TPO · June 16, 2005

Boston Globe – June 15, 2005

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Finally, [Tony] Maws sits down in the dining room with a cup of tea to talk about the last few years and being named one of Food & Wine's 10 best new chefs of 2005. The little 42-seat place, with its mismatched tables, eclectic decor, and boundary-pushing menu, is just 2 1/2 years old. Maws, like other award-winning restaurateurs in this region, may seem like an unusual choice in this superheated industry, where multimillion dollar design budgets and acres of stainless steel kitchens prevail.

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Rustic meets regal in these cookies

Homey oatmeal and bittersweet chocolate: a classy combination

By Lisa Yockelson, Globe Correspondent

Oatmeal cookies that are graceful and radiate with craggy pieces of bittersweet chocolate combine an earthy texture with deep, resonating flavor. If a batch of oatmeal cookies can be called glamorous, then these qualify.

Recipe:

* Bittersweet chocolate oatmeal cookies

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The eggplant parm of their dreams

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

However it's pronounced, a hankering is a hankering. So when the couple -- particularly Paul, executive director of the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism -- gets a voglia for eggplant, he can satisfy it only with a trip to Artu. At this trattoria on Prince Street in the North End (another location is on Beacon Hill), the prices are reasonable and the melanzane parmigiana just like mama's.

Recipe:

* Lola's vegitalian sandwich

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SHORT ORDERS

Chef's special

If Dad is the cooking and entertaining type, this linen bistro apron ($35) will let him serve his favorite dishes in style.

Veal of the sea

Fish steaks will satisfy most diners, but your hungry Dad might want to tackle a thick, meaty chop. Not pork or veal, but one cut from swordfish.

A pressing need

The pie iron -- also called ''hobo pie," ''pudgie pie," or ''camp cooker"-- has been used by campers for many years to make toasted cheese sandwiches and all kinds of improvised ''pies." If Dad is camping with the kids, take along this nifty tool, made of cast iron or aluminum and designed to really take the heat.

Dessert course

In our experience, an unfettered day on the golf course is all Dad really wants -- on Father's Day or on an ordinary Sunday. You'd still like to use this holiday to show him what lovely offspring he's raised, and you can't bear to visit him just to watch golf on TV with him or wait for him to get home from two quick rounds. So tear Dad away from the tube or the course and head to J.J.'s Dairy Hut in Cohasset, a South Shore soft-serve standby.

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Three weeks of strawberry fever

By T. Susan Chang, Globe Correspondent

But every year, the three weeks of strawberry fever arrive like a whirlwind, peaking between Father's Day, which is Sunday, and July Fourth. Local strawberries are the first sweet taste New England fields yield up from their cool, rock-strewn soils. At last they have arrived. The succulent, ruby-tinted, juice-dripping pleasure will be ours, along with a brief paradise of cobblers and shortcakes.

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The time is ripe for picking at these local farms

By Stacey Perlman, Globe Staff

The following is a list by town of some pick-your-own strawberry farms.

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Dessert showcases the cream of the crop

By Debra Samuels, Globe Staff

Strawberries Romanoff is an old presentation in which ripe berries are surrounded by vanilla ice cream and whipped cream infused with orange liqueur. The updated version here lets the berries, not the cream, take center stage -- in all their ruby-red glory.

Recipe:

* Strawberries Romanoff

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For perfect smoked meats, grill power is not enough

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

Gas models now make up an estimated two-thirds of the $2 million US market for grills, and the appeal is obvious: No messy charcoal, no messy ashes, no smelly lighter fluid. That makes gas the obvious choice for everyone whose primary desire when cooking outdoors is no-hassle burgers and dogs at a moment's notice. But for those seduced by the alchemy that happens when smoke slowly infuses meat -- the definition of true barbecue as opposed to grilling -- something other than gas has to burn.

Edited June 16, 2005 by TPO (log)

TPO · June 24, 2005

Boston Globe – June 22, 2005

Don't try this at home

Pino Maffeo brings chemistry to the kitchen

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

When planning their menus, most chefs surely start by asking what's in season, what goes well with it, and how the combination might fit into the restaurant's way of presenting food. At Restaurant L, Pino Maffeo asks all that, but also wonders, what is the food's reading on an infrared spectrometer? And what would happen if he dipped it in liquid nitrogen?

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Mothers helper: Baby food to cultivate palates

By Tina Cassidy, Globe Staff

At a time when childhood obesity is epidemic and many parents are worried about what their kids eat, entrepreneurs Sara Cabot and Antonia Perry are hoping Orgagaganics can orient infant taste buds toward healthy, good-tasting food. ''You have a window from six months to 12 months to train their palate," says co-owner Perry, an Australian-bred former investment banker whose fifth child is on the way.

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A sweet slice of homemade success

By Jonathan Levitt, Globe Correspondent

The Pie Guy is a four-year-old endeavor started by Withrow and his wife, Lisa, after Michael was let go from a job as director of operations at a local hotel chain here. When the couple discovered a struggling little bakery, with a catchy name and a loyal clientele, for sale in Plymouth, N.H., they bought it and changed the recipes. Last year they moved the company to a 7,800 foot manufacturing plant,where 30 employees help them churn out more than 15,000 pies weekly, in more than a dozen varieties. The preservative-free fresh pies include wild blueberry, very berry, pecan, and strawberry cream.

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SHORT ORDERS:

Mama's got a cheese box

Instead of a box grater, this is a grater box. Palm-sized and ergonomically designed, this tool allows you to hold it in one hand comfortably and a chunk of cheese in the other hand.

Blueberry pie

Jennifer Trainer Thompson's ''Very Blueberry" cookbook is a slender volume with every imaginable way to use the small blue fruits. The Williamstown resident, who has been nominated for national awards, heaps five cups of berries into her flaky dough, which is topped with a turbinado sugar glaze.

It's bean fun with fresh favas

Shelling fresh fava beans can seem like a dog of a job -- a lot of work to get at what the uninitiated might think of as just glorified lima beans. Whole fresh favas look like sweet peas overgrown and long forgotten in the garden. Seven inches long and tough as banana peels, the pods are as austere outside as the insides are plush. Fresh favas are the Pratesi sheets of the bean world.

Recipe:

* Roman-style fava beans

For a fish dinner, why not wing it?

Skate is the wing of a ray fish, and in the market, it looks likea big fan. After a very brief cooking over high heat, skate is fine eating, not unlike shellfish. Restaurants serve bone-in wings, which requires patience on the part of the diner to lift the sweet, slender strands off the bones a little at a time. But skate is also available skinless and boneless, and at about $6 to $8 per pound, it's one of the more affordable treats in the fish case. Unlike farmed fish, ray is a wild species, so it isn't always on ice when you want it.

Recipe:

* Broiled skate wingswith brown butter

Project chili

Homemade chili and cornbread can now be found at Downtown Crossing under a red and white umbrella with a ''HomePlate" white banner. You can't miss enthusiastic servers in their red chef's jackets adorned with the logo. Created by Project Place, which offers job training and employment to homeless men and women, the cart serves two winning recipes (one meatless) from a chili cookoff held by local chefs.

Salmon in season

Not all salmon are created equal. The fish with more fat have more flavor, which makes Yukon River king salmon especially fine eating.

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The history of six liquids flows in 'Glasses'

By Stephen Meuse, Globe Correspondent

In ''A History of the World in Six Glasses" (Walker & Company), Standage looks at the emergence and subsequent careers of beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola as beverages with world historical credentials. These drinks had a profound influence on the cultures into which they were born and now, as global commodities, they continue to play an intimate role in the daily ritual of billions.

TPO · July 1, 2005

Boston Globe – June 29, 2005

Sweet land of ice cream

Frosty drinks are the American way

By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent

Summer is ice cream cone season, but all the frozen creamy drinks -- floats, milkshakes, frappes, and smoothies -- also have a following. These tall, cooling glasses are typically American: grand in presentation, ample in flavor, and loaded with luscious calories. Though other cultures have their icy drinks, no one tops them full of ice cream the way we do. And in Boston, ice cream drinks come with their own quirky language.

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The plain truth: We love vanilla

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

The lines for cold, creamy treats are beginning, and everyone queues up with a flavor in mind. Mabel doesn't need to check her board of dozens of flavor choices or glance at the specials -- peach, s'mores, and coconut pineapple on this particular day -- in order to know at once what people are ordering. ''Vanilla," she answers immediately. ''We sell vanilla four or five to one."

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Sandwiches grow up

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

At the South End's Union Bar and Grille, pastry chef Kathleen O'Donnell is currently featuring a whoopie pie with vanilla semifreddo, a creamy, soft Italian mixture, sandwiched between two slices of domed chocolate cake. She adds fresh berries, champagne gelee, and strawberry ice cream. ''I like to do things that are a little nostalgic," she says.

Recipes:

* Ice cream sandwiches

* Malted chocolate frappe

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SHORT ORDERS

Frozen treats

Definitions of a frappe, float, milkshake, and smoothie.

Here's the beef

Whether they order just a roast beef sandwich ($4) or one with fries, onion rings, and salad ($7.70), ''people come for the beef," says Eleni Koudanis, wife of one of Nick's Famous Roast Beef owners and sister of another.

Heat Wave Cookery: Watermelon-tomato gazpacho

Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis (she is a former Newton resident) own Pure Food and Wine, a New York restaurant that serves mostly raw food. Now the couple's ''Raw Food/real world: 100 Recipes to Get the Glow" (ReganBooks) has just come out -- and what better time than in the middle of a hot summer?

Straight from the leaf

It's iced tea season. Skip frothy chai and bottled concoctions. When you want iced tea, you want real tea. Earl Grey, green tea, or fruit-flavored brews are best for a refreshing and bracing cold drink, says Ysuff Salie, owner of Timeless Teas, which has relocated to a light and bright new second-floor home.

Great shakes

Confectioners' sugar is the pastry chef's best trick. The fine powder covers up unintended cracks on cakes and all kinds of other baking imperfections. Even if you only serve berries for dessert, you should have a shaker on hand.

Take the steak

Just in time for the three-day weekend (or is it a four-day weekend?), you can take out prime steaks. Dry-aged Smith & Wollensky beef is available for the road.

Baking in the great outdoors

Cornbread in a can is the ultimate camper's treat. If you pack right, all you have to do is add water.

Recipe:

* Camper's cornbread in a can

TPO · July 7, 2005

Boston Globe – July 6, 2005

Local beef, hold the anxiety

Farms offer natural meat, full of flavor but not additives

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

River Rock's dry-aged steaks, roasts, ground beef, and sausages are wrapped in white paper and sold from coolers at farmers' markets in the summer and fall. Often, Konove sets up a grill and offers samples to passersby. At $15 a pound for sirloin steak and $5.45 for lean ground beef, the cost is considerably higher than commercially raised beef, but a taste is convincing: meaty, flavorful, and far from the stringy qualities once associated with grass-fed beef and the bland taste of some supermarket meat.

Where to find it

River Rock Farm is located at 8 Five Bridge Road, Brimfield, 413-245-0249, or go to www.riverrockfarm.com. Fresh and frozen beef is sold at farmers' markets (Newton's Cold Springs Park, Somerville's Davis Square, Brookline, Marblehead, Northampton, and Cambridge's Harvard Square).

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Cut for the grill

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

Tender cuts of beef best suited for the kind of high-heat, dry cooking that comes with grilling are from the least-exercised parts of the steer, its upper midsection: the rib, strip loin (also called short loin), and sirloin. That's where you'll find steakhouse favorites, including some that are trendy in restaurants but rarely seen in supermarkets. Underneath, the plate and flank sections are home to tougher steak cuts that have become popular for grilling but require extra care to render them tender.

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SHORT ORDERS

Hot lunch

Sel de la Terre's bread -- black olive, fig-anise, rye, and sourdough -- forms a base for some fabulous sandwiches. Everything is homemade there, including the mayo.

Box rebellion

So imagine our surprise when we discovered this delicious little organic red ($30) from winemaker Jean David in France's sunny south. The bag inside holds 5 liters, which is about 6 1/2 bottles; it collapses around the wine as you pour it out, so there's no way for air to get in. Kept in a cool spot, the wine will stay fresh for a month.

A bed for bacon

For breakfast, bacon and eggs often overpower waistline anxiety, and for lunch the pair has a sturdy home in Panificio's spinach salad ($7.75). Rings of red onion, feta cheese, and mustard vinaigrette are pert foils for the spinach, but creamy hard-cooked egg and crumbled smoky bacon gird the entire enormous dish.

Bone of contentment

Pino Maffeo's Asian ribs ($12) are transporting. And while they won't exactly take you to a beach in Southeast Asia, you will feel far from the city on the patio of Restaurant L in Louis Boston.

To marinate or not to marinate?

Chris Schlesinger of East Coast Grill, author of ''How to Cook Meat" with John Willoughby, finds tenderizing marinades a misnomer.

Tastes like tradition

Terra Burdigala red wines are products of Bordeaux's Right Bank. The main component of the wines is merlot, with some cabernet franc. The first vintage was 2001; these are the current releases.

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A seafood dish that's spicy and rich

By Clea Simon, Globe Correspondent

The best dishes should be enjoyed without much thought. New Orleans-style barbecued shrimp is one. Butter comes in an ungodly amount -- even in the so-called healthier versions. And the word ''barbecue" has virtually no connection to the spicy, peel-and-eat crustaceans.

Recipe:

* New Orleans barbecue shrimp

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Kitchen essentials don't always come with the summer rental

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

On a typical weekend, adding to the exodus are the turnover people -- vacation home renters who hit the roads full of anticipation for their days of bliss. They're easy to spot. Their cars are so laden down that the chassis are practically scraping the highway, with kayaks strapped on and bicycles hanging. And in the mess of deck chairs and beach towels, many smart renters are also carrying a bag of essential kitchen equipment. If you love to cook, you won't be happy with the absolute basics.

Making a list

People who frequently rent vacation houses keep a checklist of kitchen items they take along.

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With peelers, different styles serve different purposes

By Joe Yonan, Globe Columnist

As with so many kitchen tools, peelers have advanced far beyond the standard models that have been around for decades. Most have ergonomically designed handles. Some have ceramic blades. The newest ones are serrated, and super-sharp.

Where to find it

Edited July 7, 2005 by TPO (log)

TPO · July 14, 2005

Boston Globe – July 13, 2005

Bold flavors come from a small city kitchen

Former Green Street Grill chef brings Caribbean roots and French technique to his new endeavor

By Clea Simon, Globe Correspondent

Sweet, spicy, tangy, and bold were synonymous with chef John Levins's food during his tenure at Cambridge's Green Street Grill. These same assertive tastes, which originate with his roots in the Caribbean, are perfect for cutting through the haze of New England's humid summers. The best part, as Levins demonstrates in his Cambridgeport home, is that the biggest flavors can be created in the smallest spaces.

SUMMER MENU FOR SIX:

* Mesclun greens with pomegranate-orange dressing

* Roasted vegetable relish

* Roast pork tenderloin

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Why is this crop forbidden fruit?

By William Brantley, Globe Correspondent

The bulbous currants hang off the bushes in clusters, like bright red salmon roe on stems. Super-tart, vitamin-loaded berries long cherished in Europe for their use in sauces, jams, and wines, currants have experienced a recent boom among growers in the United States. But they're forbidden fruit in many areas of Massachusetts because of their long-standing association with a tree-killing infection called white pine blister rust.

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Raise a glass to France with its bee

By Ann Cortissoz, Globe Staff

Some fine beer is brewed in the farmhouse brasseries of northeastern France. In this area between Calais and Lille near the Belgian border, known as Nord-Pas de Calais, they've been making ale for centuries. When France celebrates Bastille Day tomorrow -- the day in 1789 when the citizens stormed the Bastille, thereby beginning the French Revolution-- perhaps some modern French tables will boast bottles of smooth, slightly fruity, effervescent farmhouse ale.

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On hot nights, dress to impress

By Sheryl Julian & Julie Riven, Globe Staff

Our antidote to steamy or lazy summer nights is a big platter lined with salad greens and blanched vegetables, bits of grilled chicken or steak left from another dinner, and a sharp vinaigrette. Bottled dressings may taste fine, but they tend to be too thick and too sweet and overpower delicate native produce.

RECIPES:

* Dijon vinaigrette

* Balsamic vinaigrette

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SHORT ORDERS:

To our readers

Beginning this week, the Food pages are expanding to offer new columns and more recipes.

A real treat

This is for anyone who has ever dreamed of crushing up some fresh fruit for homemade frozen treats but just couldn't face the Popsicle stick routine. Edy's Ice Cream Whole Fruit Fruit Bars ($2.99 to $3.19 for a box of 6) are made, as the name suggests, from real fruit and fruit juices.

Thai Basil

What it is, how to use it, and where to get it.

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Currants: a rare treat for a tart pie

By Emily Schwab

Currants are often overlooked in favor of more mainstream berries -- strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries. The brightly colored currants are tiny pebble-sized rounds in red, black, or white, and are more closely related to the gooseberry. Bite into a currant (or several) and you will be greeted with a mouthful of tart and tasty juice. Each berry is almost entirely nectar.

RECIPE:

* Red currant pie

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Go to the market and cook like a chef

By Lisa Zwirn

Tim Partridge is a chef on a mission: not to persuade you to eat far-fetched foods, but to get you to shop at a farmers' market.

RECIPE:

* Olive-oil-poached vegetables with seared tuna

Edited July 14, 2005 by TPO (log)

TPO · July 20, 2005

Boston Globe – July 20, 2005

Kitchens move to a Latin beat

Staff from South America and beyond bring the flavors of their homelands to local restaurants

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Without their Latino staff members, some chefs say, restaurant life would grind to a halt. They're cooking dishes that are French, Italian, and contemporary American, most of which they learned on the job. From watching television cooking shows or reading the biographies of chefs in glossy food magazines, the dining public might assume all of the kitchen crew is culinary-school-trained. But many cooks start as dishwashers, quickly working their way up.

Recipe:

* Sancocho

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For chefs, staff meals serve as inspiration

One way that flavors of Latin America quietly appear on menus is through ''family suppers," staff meals usually prepared by the day cooks before restaurants open for evening service.

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Get in the pink with refreshing roses

By Stephen Meuse, Globe Correspondent

At the cafe tables of Marseilles, Arles, and hundreds of other towns great and small, a carafe of pink wine, cool and beaded with condensation, is a refreshing summertime staple -- and not just with ladies.

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Plump blues in a perfect batter

When blueberries pile up, especially native fruits with their concentrated flavor, it's time to gather the cartons in quantity and take advantage of that abundance in a perfectly orchestrated recipe. A creamed muffin batter, so simple in form and style, displays this flavorful wealth in a glorious way.

Recipe:

* Cakey-style blueberry muffins

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In the Market: Cherries

What they are, how to cook them, and how to buy them.

Recipe:

* Cherry clafoutis

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Bitter melon enlists a neighborhood

By Kimberly W. Moy, Globe Correspondent

Andi Sutton probably has one of the hardest food publicity jobs around -- promoting bitter melon. With its grooved, gourd-like appearance, bright green color, seeded flesh, and yes, very bitter taste, the melons are loved by some, and simply too weird for others.

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Good to Go: Pho? No, but filling

Pho 2000, which opened five years ago, is known for its big bowls of soup, especially beef. The menu offers four sizes of Vietnamese beef and noodle soup, in which beef flank, tripe, and tendon bob along with sliced steak, brisket, and noodles in a steamy broth.

Recipe:

* Grilled beef salad with Thai basil

TPO · July 28, 2005

Boston Globe – July 27, 2005

Market research

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

Farmers' markets connect rural producer to urban and suburban shopper, and the dozens in the Boston area are as unique as the city's neighborhoods. When four Globe staff members visited 12 markets over the last few weeks, the differences were apparent.

For more information, check out Markets around Boston.

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A traditional recipe, with a few twists

Relegate store-bought pesto to the supper table and bring out this glorious version -- a blend of fresh basil leaves, garlic, and Asiago cheese -- when the table is set for festive occasions.

Recipe:

* Basil pesto

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Garden ingredients, Vineyard style

Layering zucchini and tomatoes in a baking dish seems ordinary enough, but in the hands of Martha's Vineyard personal chef Tina Miller, the dish celebrates two common garden ingredients.

Recipe:

* Zucchini and tomato casserole

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Fresh cranberry beans

The creamy texture and chestnut taste lend complex flavors to ordinary soups and simple pastas. A fresh cranberry bean has ''a nice earthy tone," explains Anthony Susi, chef of Sage restaurant in Boston.

Recipe:

Pasta e fagioli

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Farms' investors enjoy the fruits (and veggies) of their labors

By Clea Simon, Globe Correspondent

Community supported agriculture pairs growers with customers, who buy ''shares" in local farms. Since the movement came to Massachusetts in 1985, it has provided cash upfront for many farmers who might not have survived without it (shareholders pay $200 to $500 a year). The payoff: Throughout the growing season, farmers offer a percentage of the harvest to customers.

Recipes:

* Stuffed summer squash

* Swiss chard soup

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Grilling for friends, she riffs on Filipino fare

With a Scottish-Irish father, a Filipino mother, and various international family friends, Newton native and Winthrop resident Rachel Kelso, 34, grew up with ''no boundaries, big food, and big flavors."

Recipe:

* Spicy ginger beef

TPO · August 8, 2005

Boston Globe – August 3, 2005

Rookies at the smoker

When four guys enter a barbecue competition, they find they have a lot to learn

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

A blackened crust, called the bark, has formed on the brisket, and as Wayne Kowalski slices off a top layer of fat, his knife slides so easily the meat might as well be a wheel of brie. That's what 12 hours of low, slow cooking can do.

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For Harpoon brewers, it's all a barrel of fun

By Ann Cortissoz, Globe Staff

The Harpoon's 100 Barrel Series beers, which, as the name implies, are limited to single 100-barrel batches, are made in small quantities and sold until the beer runs out. At this gleaming facility on 10 acres of rolling hills on the Connecticut River, also the site of the Harpoon Championship of New England Barbecue last month, creativity flows like. . . well, like beer.

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SHORT ORDERS

A dandy green

Horta, which are wild greens, are one of the characteristic elements of the Greek table.

Sugar in your tea

Old-fashioned, striped candy sticks called Iced Tea Sippers ($6 for a package of 9) garnish and sweeten tea with key lime, orange, or lemon.

As good as fried chicken in summer

The idea of deep frying anything in summer would never occur to a practical cook. But fried chicken is a picnic basket and family staple, and fine fare on a warm night along with bowls of slaw and potato salad. So if your kitchen isn't too hot, make some moist, crunchy chicken drumsticks.

Recipe:

* Oven-fried drumsticks

The layered look is easy and elegant

To do it, press the rice and other ingredients into a square. Known as oshizushi, or pressed sushi, the dish is made with layers of cooked short-grain rice and fish, then cut into bite-size pieces.

Recipe:

* Pressed salmon sushi

Baby bok choy

What baby bok choy is, how to cook it, and where to buy it.

Recipe:

* Baby bok choy and tofu stir-fry

Duckfat serves up guilty pleasures

Duckfat, a new restaurant on the outskirts of this old port, is Rob Evans and Nancy Pugh's latest venture. What they had in mind, she says, was ''a homey neighborhood kind of place serving Euro-style street food made from scratch with a Maine twist."

Recipe:

* Sweet panini

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Legend spells out the ABCs of barbecue

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

In competitive barbecue circles, Mike Mills is called ''The Legend" for good reason: He's the only three-time Grand World Champion of Memphis in May, also known as the Super Bowl of Swine. In a new book, ''Peace, Love, and Barbecue" (Rodale, $28.95) Mills shares secrets for pulled pork, ribs, rubs, and sauces, and reconnects with barbecue buddies all over the country.

Recipes:

* Apple City barbecue sauce

* Magic dust

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Heat for the meal, not the kitchen

By Will Thomson, Globe Correspondent

Over the centuries, Mexican cooks have developed a cuisine that helps both chef and diner keep cool during the hot summer. Most famous, or infamous depending on your tolerance level, is the chili pepper. By inducing sweat, the chili works to cool the body without exertion and without raising body temperature.

Recipes:

* Spicy marinated portobello quesadillas

* Tostadas of chicken tinga

TPO · August 11, 2005

Boston Globe – August 10, 2005

Southwest by Northeast

When childhood friends from Santa Fe have a reunion in Wellfleet, the food -- especially the chilies -- takes center stage

By Mara Zepeda, Globe Correspondent

This might be Cape Cod, but the aromas in the kitchen were distinctly non-New England. The pungent smell was a batch of poblano chilies roasting on the stovetop. On duty was Joy Miller, a former Santa Fe caterer, who was using tongs to turn the hot green peppers while talking to vacation-mate Ingela Onstad.

Recipes:

* Summer icebox biscochitos

* Poblanos stuffed with calabacitas

* Blue cornmeal crepes

* Black bean salsa

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Deep-six the six-pack: Wine beats the heat

By Stephen Meuse, Globe Correspondent

Winemakers, in fact, count on dog day temperatures to enrich their raw material. But the sun and sustained heat essential to the development of the new vintage will temporarily drive hordes of overheated wine lovers out of the camp of the civilized beverage into the arms and sudsy charms of a cold beer. And while a frosty Pilsener may be fine after a day outside, it's an unnecessary compromise (not to mention a dangerous provocation of the wine god) when the world is full of delightful après beach, après tennis, and après Frisbee wines.

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Sweet sensations

Fresh fruit is a fine dessert, but alone, it does not satisfy sweet-tooth cravings. Harvest's fruit and cookie plate ($12) does -- very nicely.

Goat cheese on the go

If power shopping on Newbury Street or a lunch-break hike through Back Bay causes hunger pains, a fresh alternative to restaurant fare is the goat cheese picnic ($4) at the Copley Square farmers' market.

Whisked away

Still owned by William and Louise Barber, the Concord Shop is bursting with kitchen equipment. You'll find five kinds of French rolling pins and 10 European vegetable peelers. As for whisks, there are French, balloon, gravy, and roux whisks, Swedish-style cooking whisks, and more. Louise Barber takes pride in the fact that they've ''never chased fads."

Bayley Hazen Blue Cheese

What it is, how to use it, and where to buy it.

Recipe:

* Penne with blue cheese and herbs

Beach blanket bingo

Our A-list of après beach whites focuses on light, breezy types with an upbeat profile and great zip.

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Shellfish pie has oceans of flavor

By Clea Simon, Globe Correspondent

This briny round, redolent of garlic and studded with sea-sweet bivalves, may not fit everyone's idea of pizza. It has no tomato sauce, for example, nor sausage or pepperoni. But for some New Englanders, white clam pizza is as traditional as a trip to the Cape.

Recipe:

* White clam pizza

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Chewing it over at Cabot's

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

On busy days, it's like a feeding frenzy at Cabot's, with people lined up out the door waiting to fill bags with chewy, brightly wrapped saltwater taffy made in this Commercial Street shop.

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With 'Secrets,' the cook gets the tips

T. Susan Chang reviews Cooking School Secrets for Real World Cooks by Linda Carucci.

Recipes:

* Chicken salad Veronique with whole toasted almonds

* http://www.boston.com/ae/food/articles/200...oasted_almonds/

TPO · September 3, 2005

Boston Globe – August 31, 2005

All dressed up and somewhere to go

For many diners, a night out is a reason to shine

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Boston is not known as fashion central, but you might be fooled on a Thursday night. ''That's when everybody goes out," says Nicole Rosenberg, 23, a Somerville resident wearing a slinky black dress and heeled sandals, sipping white wine at Sel de la Terre's bar. At the next table, three young women in low-necked, flowered sundresses pay their bill, pick up their Prada handbags, and head out into the summer night.

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Angel hair pasta with cherry tomatoes, olives, and capers

By Debra Samuels, Globe Staff

Mostly we see the diminutive cherry tomato in salads, or stuffed with fancy fillings such as crab and set on an hors d'oeuvre platter. Cherries can also be the main attraction. A pint of these sweet little rounds, bursting with flavor this time of year, will make a flavorful base for pasta sauce. And they require no cooking.

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Lemony pasta salad

Store-bought pasta salads look bright and cheery in the deli case. But once you get them home, they're often bland. Here's one way to get a quick meal on the table -- or into the picnic basket -- with just enough soul-satisfying creative energy and a minimum of cooking time.

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SHORT ORDERS

Saline solution

Salt is salt, right? Hardly. Maldon sea salt, long hoarded in secret stashes by salt lovers, is a grain apart. From the southern English coast, Maldon ($4.99 for 8 1/2 ounces) is retrieved fortnightly during high spring tides, slowly evaporated, and harvested.

This pantry is full

Two years ago, Brett Roeske left a career in design and publishing to open Lula's Pantry. The small space houses many totally unnecessary and highly addictive specialty foods and tableware items.

Where meat comes naturally

''We're suckers for small farmers," says James Lionette about himself and his brother Robert, who together own Lionette's Market and the neighboring Garden of Eden restaurant in the South End. Each week, the Lionettes bring in a whole pig from Ferrisburg, Vt., and butcher it into chops, roasts, and a revolving selection of homemade sausages ($5.99 per pound) whose flavors depend on what the cooks have on hand.

In the Market-- Blueberries

What they are, how to cook them, and where to buy them.

Recipe:

* Blueberries with lemon custard sauce

MenuSpeak -- Day boat lobster

In the glory of the season, a diner might figure a lobster is a lobster is a lobster. Not so. The discriminating diner can angle for nothing less than a ''dayboat" lobster. Denoting fresh and local seafood, the term means that the fish (or crustacean, in this case) was caught by an angler who went out in the morning and came back in the evening with his or her catch, rather than by large fishing boats that troll for days or more at sea and hold seafood in refrigerated tanks until landfall.

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His crop isn't pretty, but it tastes great

By Eric Goldscheider, Globe Correspondent

To the unschooled eye, the fungus -- also called by its Aztec name, huitlacoche -- looks like black and gray tumors bubbling up inside the kernels of corn. Levine, who has two acres of corn under cultivation here, all of it intentionally infected with huitlacoche spores, is selling the fungus at some local farmers' markets.

Recipe:

* Tacos of corn mushrooms

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Form and flavor

At El Bulli, air tastes like olives and cotton candy is a drink

By Suzanne Kreiter, Globe Staff

On an elegant, vine-covered terrace overlooking an unspoiled Mediterranean cove, six American diners nervously stared down pea-sized dollops of concentrated tarragon on silver spoons.

TPO · September 9, 2005

Boston Globe – September 7, 2005

How two chickens saved the family meal

A little menu strategy, with foods that blend easily and unrecognizably into several dishes, goes a long way toward easing the dinner crunch

By Mara Zepeda, Globe Correspondent

Perhaps it's time to reevaluate what dinnertime really means. ''The goal is not to have a perfect, wonderful gourmet meal with brilliant conversation," says author Miriam Weinstein, who lives in Manchester. ''The goal is just to be together and have something nice to eat."

* Shopping list

* Leapfrogging leftovers

Recipes:

* Thyme-roasted chicken with potatoes, zucchini, and onions

* Chicken enchiladas with guacamole and spicy yogurt

* Penne with Parmigiano-Reggiano and peas

* Penne and roasted vegetable frittata

* Moroccan carrot salad

* Raita

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Mourning a city legendary for diverse cuisine

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

New Orleans cuisine is legendary, from its high Creole institutions like Galatoire's to glamorous spots such as Emeril's to places like Domilise's Po-Boys in Uptown where women in housedresses and hairnets piled shrimp or fried oysters into French loaves. Its diversity, the odd spots, the places we remember so vividly make the scenes of devastation especially heartbreaking.

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Tiny island's bounty inspires cookbook

By Jonathan Levitt, Globe Correspondent

''Recipes From a Very Small Island" is deeply rooted in the daily cooking of this remote and beautiful place, which is home to generations of Greenlaws. ''Around here, cooking's more than a hobby," says Linda. ''There aren't any restaurants, so if you want to eat you're just gonna have to cook."

Recipe:

* Lobster stew

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Dense, chocolatey squares to savor

By Lisa Yockelson, Globe Corresp

Potent. This word isn't often used to describe a bar cookie. But a profoundly fudgy treat calls this adjective to mind.

Recipe:

* Brownie bars

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Summer favorite isn't just for slicing

By Catherine MacPherson, Globe Correspondent

While a thick slice dripping with juices can be perfection on its own, adding watermelon to your summer salad repertoire gives the fruit the chance to shine with other flavors and offers a delicious solution for dealing with leftovers.

Recipe:

* Watermelon, avocado, and arugula salad

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Haricots verts

What they are, how to use them, and where to buy them.

Recipe:

* Salade Nicoise

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Her Middle Eastern food is big on flavor

By T. Susan Chang, Globe Correspondent, reviews Zov: Recipes and Memories From the Heart by Zov Karamardian.

Recipe:

* Jasmine rice pudding

TPO · September 16, 2005

Boston Globe – September 14, 2005

That bass deserves a beer

Forget the wine. Ales and porters can be paired perfectly with just about any dish.

By Ann Cortissoz and Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

Chef Daniel Bruce is a wine guy. He drew on 13 years as chef of the Boston Wine Festival when he opened Meritage in the Boston Harbor Hotel and organized its menu not by course but around six categories of wine. So why is Bruce, in his elegant dining room with its spectacular harbor view, up to his toque in bottles of beer, choosing brews to go with some specially created dishes?

Recipes:

* Striped bass with orange ale sauce

* Wild mushroom, apple, and pecan salad

* Malted-mole-rubbed hanger steak with ragout

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School cooks add to culinary curriculum

By Jane Dornbusch, Globe Correspondent

A week or so before the school bells rang for the first time, Boston Public School managers and a well-known chef met for two days in the spacious, well-equipped kitchens of Madison Park Technical and Vocational High School in Roxbury Crossing. The program was in partnership with the Vermont dairy cooperative Cabot Creamery. British-born chef and TV personality Jon Ashton, who is based in Orlando, created a number of recipes that not only used commodity foods but reflected the range of concerns that school lunches must address: budget, nutrition, taste, convenience, and multicultural appeal.

Recipe:

* Cuban sandwiches

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Kids learn how gardens grow

By T. Susan Chang, Globe Correspondent

On a recent morning, a group of third and fourth graders streamed into the garden, hands filled with paper, crayons, and magnifying glasses. The students draw tomato plants and hunt for bugs while Groundworks teacher Amos Lans explains that ''aphids are like vampires -- they suck the blood from the leaf." A few inevitably use their magnifying glasses to fry the aphids, though some of their peers object.

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In the market: Raspberries

What they are, how to prepare them, and where to buy them.

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Making hummus is an easy process

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

Hummus made with tahini is the most widely known variation in the Western world and is usually referred to simply as ''hummus." The thick spread can also be made without tahini and with butter, which is less common here. It can have a mild or more piquant flavor depending on the spices used (cumin and the spicy ground sumac are common) and is usually served with pita.

Recipe:

* Hummus

If you don’t want to make your own hummus:

From 'dull' to 'creamy and mellow' -- our panel's ratings of commercial spreads

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Air-chilled chickens are pricier, but tastier

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Now American consumers have a chance to buy what may be the birds of the future: air-chilled chickens, popular for decades in Europe and Canada, with a better taste, a creamy color, and a crisper skin after roasting.

TPO · September 22, 2005

Boston Globe – September 21, 2005

It takes a village baker

At Hungry Ghost, people come for bread but stay for the company

By Jonathan Levitt, Globe Correspondent

The year-and-a-half-old Hungry Ghost, whose center is a giant wood-burning masonry oven edged with tiles hand-painted by local kindergartners, has become the village meeting place here. Customers who stop by become regulars, and Stevens is always up for a chat -- about what's going on in the town, politics, poetry, and music.

Also at Hungry Ghost Bread:

Bread Festival on Sunday

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Egg drop soup is comfort in a pot

By Emily Schwab, Globe Correspondent

Ping's egg drop soup is a mixture of cucumber and tomatoes simmered in chicken stock. The characteristic bits of cooked egg come from stirring a beaten egg into the hot pot and waiting a few seconds until delicate strands form.

Recipe:

* Egg drop soup

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An heirloom rice returns

By Siddhartha Mitter, Globe Correspondent

Carolina Gold's revival has become important enough to warrant its own symposium, which was held here last month. Academics and foodies discussed the variety's origins, its role in American history, and how best to grow and market the rice, while savoring interpretations by Charleston chefs of dishes that date to the plantation era.

Recipe:

* Savannah red rice

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Shellfish and Portuguese sausage come together in two-part harmony

This dish of mussels and sausage is very casual, and even a bit sloppy. It uses one pot and offers both a first and main course.

* Mussels with linguica

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Fancy fish, no fuss

Chef and owner Mark Allen of Le Soir restaurant features a trio of sashimi on his menu, for which he uses a ring mold to hold layers of tuna, salmon, and rock shrimp, each tossed with a spicy mayonnaise-style sauce; he garnishes the dish with a crunchy fennel and cucumber salad -- a pleasing contrast to the melting smoothness of the fish.

* Trio of sashimi with fennel-cucumber salad

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In the Market: Fennel

What it is, how to use it, and where to buy it.

Recipe:

* Sauteed fennel

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A favorite recipe tastes like home

Pappas grew up in Thessaloniki, in northern Greece, the eldest of four. During World War II, her mother cooked within the constraints of food rationing. When the young Pappas took over the cooking after her mother's death, she did not see it as a chore. ''I feel cooking; it's an art. If you love what you do, it comes out good," she says.

Recipe:

* Greek fish soup

TPO · September 30, 2005

Boston Globe – September 28, 2005

You don't have to be Jewish

Kosher food has moved beyond gefilte fish to pasta sauce, peanut butter, even tacos. And people are buying it for reasons that have nothing to do with religion.

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

As an Episcopalian, Christina Baker didn't know from kashrut. But then her 5-month-old daughter, Eloise, was diagnosed with allergies: No more nuts, peas, kiwi, sesame seeds -- or dairy products of any kind.
A minefield all, but when it came to avoiding the dairy, Baker found an ally in the Jewish dietary laws, particularly in the hekhshers, the various marks identifying products that have been certified as kosher.

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Rolland gets taste of controversy

By Stephen Meuse, Globe Correspondent

Bold assertions are what everyone has come to expect from Michel Rolland, who is visiting from France. Around the room, heads nod and notes are scratched as sommeliers, retailers, and other wine-trade insiders make the most of their recent two-hour audience with Rolland at the offices of Classic Wine Imports. Perhaps more than anyone else, Rolland is shaping the red wine we'll be drinking for the rest of this century --and maybe beyond.

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SHORT ORDERS

Boxed lunches, dinners, etc.

Wouldn't it be nice to organize all the keys to your favorite dishes in one sturdy tin container? The colorful What's Cooking? Recipe Box ($16.95) has room to store all your carefully saved cooking preparations, as well as 50 blank cards on which to rewrite the tomato-sauce-splattered ones.

Getting to the root of wasabi

How can you get the real thing? Short of growing your own, the easiest route may be Real Wasabi ($5.95 for a 1/2-ounce jar), a powder of dried, ground wasabi root you can reconstitute with water.

His sauce adds spice to a public life

State Senator Stanley C. Rosenberg (D-Amherst) collects cookbooks and enjoys the kitchen. The one thing he can't live without is his own homemade tomato sauce. This time of year, he makes a soup kettle of sauce from farm-fresh vegetables to last until next summer.

In the market

Coleslaw: What it is, how to use it, and where it’s good.

Recipe:

* Two-cabbage slaw

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Family traditions make the holiday special

Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, which begins Monday night, is a time for reflection and resolutions. It is also a time for celebration. At sunset, Jewish families will gather together for the traditional meal, marking the beginning of the High Holy Days.

Recipes:

* Braised brisket with red wine and tomatoes

* Noodle kugel

* Carrot tzimmes

* Apple cake

TPO · October 10, 2005

Boston Globe – October 5, 2005

The king of Siam

One restaurant at a time, he brings Thai flavors to the suburban masses

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Although many local Thai establishments are mom-and-pop ventures, Siam Lotus and eight other restaurants are part of Siam Group, which started with the vision of Thailand-born Sam Rojanasuvan.

Restaurant relations

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Flavors provide balance

By Emily Schwab, Globe Staff

The delicate blend of spicy, sweet, salty, and sour flavors in Thai cuisine comes from a range of exotic ingredients.

Recipes:

* Tom kha gai (chicken coconut soup)

* Satay with two sauces

* Pad Thai

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Heirloom apples

What they are, where to find them, and how to use them.

Recipe:

* Apple upside-down cake

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This pumpkin makes a fine pot of beef stew

Some varieties of pumpkin -- not the ones you carve and set on the doorstep -- can be used as a stewpot. The eating pumpkins go by the names ''cheese pumpkin" and ''sugar pumpkin." Using one of these bright orange rounds means that the pot becomes part of the meal.

Recipe:

* Stew in a pumpkin

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Epicurean adventures in a college town

Globe Correspondent Emily Schwab discusses four restaurants in Amherst.

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A generous collection of French farmhouse dishes

T. Susan Chang reviews Cooking at Home on Rue Tatin by Susan Hermann Loomis.

Recipe:

* Chorba

TPO · October 14, 2005

Boston Globe – October 12, 2005

Which are 'the no-fry' fries?

The ultimate side order goes low-fat, with sometimes tasty results

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

About to embark on a mission to taste-test no-fry fries at three restaurants that specialize in healthy cuisine, we first need a benchmark: the pommes frites of our dreams at this bistro near the waterfront.

The article offers reviews of the no-fry fries as well as tantalizing photos.

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A professor, author, and cook finds the other side of the island

By Jonathan Levitt, Globe Correspondent

She [Jessica Harris] has spent the summer working on ''The Vineyard Table," a volume due out in two years about home and ethnic cooking. She's on the island later than usual because she's testing recipes and a photographer is coming to shoot food photos. ''I want the book to be about the inclusiveness of Vineyard food rather than the exclusivity," she says.

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Appetizer has it all wrapped up

Shrimp soong is a Chinese banquet dish, served as a hot appetizer. And though it's quick to cook, there's some initial chopping, so it's not a family dish. ''Too much work," says Sau. That makes the shrimp fine for a company meal.

Recipe:

* Shrimp soong

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Sukkot on a Maine farm

By Jonathan Levitt, Globe Correspondent

In this remote region of the northern Maine coastline, two unlikely people are making a living from the land. Avraham and Dina Bracha Pearlman are Orthodox Jews who left jobs in Detroit 35 years ago and bought 20 acres in Washington County, the poorest and easternmost region in the state

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Pomegranate

What it is, how to prepare it, and where to buy it.

Recipe:

* Asian pear salad with pomegranate, endive, and toasted hazelnuts

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In Harvard, a honey of a harvest

By Emily Schwab, Globe Correspondent

Molnar has been tending bees since 1999 when, on a whim, he took a $10 beekeeping class at the Topsfield fair. Afterward, he learned that his father, too, had once kept bees. And the next generation is getting started early. Last year the Molnars sent their children trick-or-treating in yellow-and-black bee costumes.

Recipe:

* Spiced honey cake

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Searching for the complete package

After testing four store brands and two old standbys, we recommend sticking to cookies that were never intended to be homemade, like Oreos. Or at least visiting the bakery department, where the cookies seem to have at least a little love baked in.

The article includes reviews of six store-bought chocolate chip cookies.

TPO · October 22, 2005

Boston Globe – October 19, 2005

Plonkapalooza

When it comes to wine, cheap (what the trade calls 'plonk') no longer means undrinkable. We tasted 25 whites and 25 reds -- each bottle $10 or under -- and picked our favorite everday pours.

By Stephen Meuse, Globe Correspondent

We asked five retail shops to share their top picks of $10-and-under red and whites that are in stock and in reasonably good supply. We wanted nothing rare or exotic; no roses, sparklers, or sweet wines. The goal was to identify strong candidates that our panel -- Globe staff writers Alison Arnett, Ann Cortissoz, and Joe Yonan joined me in the tasting -- could evaluate for quality, character, and versatility.

For more information:

* 50 flavorful, affordable wines

* Tasters’ choice

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Wining and dining in the kitchen

If you're like us, a bottle with a few inches of wine still left in it gets recorked and returned to the fridge. But instead of letting that lonely bottle hide behind the week's groceries, we retrieve it within a couple of days. As a cooking ingredient, that bit of wine adds aroma and luxury to ordinary weeknight fare.

Recipes:

* Merlot risotto with tenderloin of beef

* Clams in garlic and wine

* Chicken in the pot

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A smokin' cut of meat from the grill

The small space outside the back door of Evoo has become an extension of Peter McCarthy's kitchen. Depending on the day, chef and owner McCarthy might smoke pork loin, bluefish, salmon, turkey breast, or baby back ribs on the 7-year-old Home Depot smoker.

Recipe:

* Smoked pork loin

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What's the catch? A lobster straight from the water.

By Beth Greenberg and Eileen O'Connell, Globe Correspondents

This year, 10,740 Massachusetts residents paid $40 each to the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game for noncommercial lobster licenses, and those lobster hunters go out on the state's coastal waters -- in boats with traps or in scuba gear with nets -- to nab the claw-snapping crustaceans.

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Spicy snacks that taste like home

Simbi Gatesi and her mother, Daphrose Gatete, are chatting back and forth in French and Swahili as they cook a late-night snack of central-African-style samboussas -- similar to the pastry-covered East Indian turnovers called samosas -- made with ground beef stuffed inside folded chapatis (a thin unleavened flatbread). Here, the two make their samboussas with flour tortillas.

Recipe:

* Beef samboussas

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A film about genetically altered plants is 'Food' for thought

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Genetically modified foods, in which the genetic makeup of plants is altered, are the newest worry and the subject of ''The Future of Food," a documentary film that opens Friday. It starts with a narrative about Roundup, a Monsanto herbicide, and the company's Roundup Ready seeds, which have been altered so that herbicides don't kill them, then segues into the origins of chemical agriculture.

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Golden potatoes

What they are, how to use them, and where to buy them.

Recipe:

* Golden potato salad with smoked trout and green beans

TPO · October 27, 2005

Boston Globe – October 26, 2005

Wake-up call

With the help of Boston chefs, two restaurant chains are reinvigorating their menus in an attempt to catch customers from sunup to sundown.

Au Bon Pain's Thomas John left the Mantra kitchen to spice things up at the bakery-cafe

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Under John, a full breakfast line has been added, along with warm baked sandwiches, new pastries such as a savory jalapeno corn muffin, and a variety of salads.

Dunkin' Donuts moves beyond breakfast with executive chef Stan Frankenthaler in its kitchen

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

This is no simple question, because Frankenthaler has more than breakfast plans up the sleeve of his chef's jacket. In the gleaming new research-and-development kitchen at the headquarters of Dunkin' Brands here, Frankenthaler is demonstrating how he and fellow chefs brainstorm menu ideas -- and then work to make them a reality in more than 6,400 Dunkin' Donuts franchises in 30 countries.

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With feta, a world of possibilities

By Jane Dornbusch, Globe Correspondent

Bedros DerVartanian has no quarrel with domestic feta. But he'd also like customers at his store, Eastern Lamejun, to know there are options.

Recipe:

* Tomato, feta, and cucumber salad

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SHORT ORDERS

In the Market: Vermont cheddar

What it is, how to buy it, how to cook it, and where it’s good.

Family Table: Recipe for Cod fish cakes

These can be made with any of those plain white fish, along with a golden potato, scallion, parsley, and hot sauce.

Wine wisdom

The world of wine is never the same from year to year, and there's no substitute for having boots on the ground to really know what's going on in a region.That's why the annual Wine Report series (Dorling Kindersley, $15), edited by the extraordinary Tom Stevenson, is so special.

Going to seeds

On their own, sunflower seeds are an addictive snack. Coat them in chocolate and candy, and you won't be able to stop eating them. In bright orange, yellow, blue, green, red, pink, and purple, Stonewall Kitchen's Sunny Seed Drops are candy-coated, chocolate-covered sunflower seeds -- just as much fun as M&Ms, but not nearly as sinful.

Recipe: Welsh rabbit

This luxurious open-faced melted cheese sandwich, eaten with a knife and fork, is a centuries-old dish that sometimes goes by the name ''rarebit."

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A baker and a writer collaborate in the name of good bread

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

Now Mayle and Gerard Auzet have collaborated on the charming little ''Confessions of a French Baker," part Auzet family history, part behind-the-scenes glimpse at the bakery, and part illustrated instruction manual for producing 16 breads.

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The harvest is over, but there's plenty to do

Multitasking lets this farm operate through the year

By Jonathan Levitt, Globe Correspondent

Today, the challenge for the third-generation Varneys -- for all New England farmers -- is making the land viable year-round, once the harvest is over and there are no more fresh vegetables. To that end, the Nezinscot farm store, housed in an old milking barn, sells all kinds of goods grown or made on this organic farm: yarn from their own sheep, prepared foods, bacon, milk, farmhouse cheddar, goat cheese, feta, and an array of old-fashioned pickles.

Recipe:

* Pumpkin butter

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Cooking Is Chemistry class gets good reactions

By Emily Schwab, Globe Correspondent

Take a dozen or so middle-school students, add a former high-school chemistry teacher with a lifelong interest in food and nutrition, and what you get is ''Cooking Is Chemistry," a class at the Museum of Science.

TPO · November 2, 2005

Boston Globe – November 2, 2005

Bull market

For five decades, the North Shore has been a hot spot for hot beef sandwiches

By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent

These sandwiches originated in 1951 when a local chef, Frank ''Mac" McCarthy, opened a summer sandwich shack on the beach. Thinly sliced roast beef, served warm and rare on a grilled bun with barbecue sauce (cheese and mayo are popular additions), has become a fixture of North Shore eating since Kelly's opened.

For more information:

* Roast with the most: Recommendations for the best places to get roast beef.

* Different cuts, same sauce: Other shops serving roast beef.

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Think globally, drink locally

By Ann Cortissoz, Globe Staff

But we're living in the land of diversity. In the Northeast generally and in New England in particular, our brewers know no borders or boundaries; you can satisfy a craving for pretty much any Old World (and New World) beer style at a brewpub or craft brewery near you.

For more information:

* The world in a stein: Where to sample global beers locally.

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50 flavorful, affordable wines

By Stephen Meuse, Globe Correspondent

Here are all the $10-and-under wines tasted, with notes for the whites and reds that made the tasters' lists and others the group thought interesting.

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Moosewood still has a healthy outlook, 32 years later

By Roz Cummins, Globe Correspondent

Now in its 32d year, the celebrated natural foods restaurant and its namesake cookbooks introduced a generation of cooks and eaters to a diet based on whole grains and vegetables. This new way of eating incorporated then-unfamiliar ingredients such as tofu, tahini, and tamari and cooking techniques such as stir-frying.

Recipe:

* Roasted ratatouille

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SHORT ORDERS

Tea time

Lucky for us, Adagio Teas is putting out varieties such as Dragonwell green tea, Ti Kuan Yin and Jasmine Pearls oolong teas, and Silver Needle white tea, along with Golden Yunan and English breakfast black teas. The tea comes in mesh pouches of loose leaves, enclosed in sealed foil packets.

It's the pits

Oxo has come to the rescue with a splitter device ($12), designed much like an oversized apple corer, that will have you whipping up mango salsa and mango daiquiris as fast as you can make them.

Joy of Baking: A warm, citrusy burst of sweetness and light

As the days get shorter and the sun threatens to go to bed for a few months, the family baker might brighten moods with a luscious lemony dessert -- one that offers comfort and zest and perhaps some reassurance that the sun is never far away.

Recipe:

* Lemon pudding cake

Delicata squash

What it is, how to use it, and where to find them.

Recipe:

* Delicata stuffed with rice, raisins, and Swiss chard

Occasions: Cousin of bouillabaisse makes a warming supper

Originally a fisherman's dish that could accommodate any combination of what appeared in the net, caldeirada is one variant of a stew made the world over. Bouillabaisse, the renowned fish soup of Marseilles, France, may have a higher profile. But here in New England, where Portuguese-Americans have settled in Southeastern Massachusetts, Provincetown, and Cambridge, caldeirada's onion-and-tomato base is ubiquitous.

Recipe:

* Caldeirada de peixe (Portuguese fish stew)

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- - - - - THANKSGIVING FOOD SECTION COMING IN TWO WEEKS - - - - -

TPO · November 10, 2005

Boston Globe – November 9, 2005

Spanish lessons

With his new restaurant, Toro, Ken Oringer brings the flavors -- and the fun -- of the tapas bar to the South End

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

Ken Oringer and John Critchley pluck slender, long-stemmed green peppers off a tray and stack them on a white plate. They're shiny, tinged with brown, and ''one out of every 10 is hot," Oringer says with a grin. ''You don't know until you get it. Fry 'em in olive oil, sprinkle 'em with sea salt, and this is an amazing bar snack."

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At BU, students' wishes are on the menu

By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent

The Student Advisory Board to Boston University's Dining Services was formed about 15 years ago by administrators who realized that they couldn't successfully cater to the tastes of up to 30,000 students from 50 states and 120 countries unless students had a seat at the table.

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SHORT ORDERS

Joy of Baking: With cookies, bigger is better

Recipe:

* Harbor View chocolate chip cookies

In the market: Culinary sage

What it is, how to prepare it, and where to buy it.

Recipe:

* Cauliflower soup with fried sage leaves

Taste Kitchen: Through thick and thin

A review of six brands of peanut butter.

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He teaches the world about Italian cuisine

By Emily Schwab, Globe Correspondent

A successful cookbook author and teacher, Giuliano Bugialli never expected to work with food. Growing up in Florence, he liked to craft things from clay and wanted to be a surgeon, to continue working with his hands. Cooking was hands-on, but he never considered the kitchen as a career.

Recipe:

* Stracotto alla Parmigiana

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The power of peanut butter

By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent

'Peanut butter is a very personal food," says Lee Zalben, owner of Peanut Butter & Company, a Manhattan sandwich shop that specializes in such variations as the Pregnant Lady, a PB&P (pickle) sandwich, based on a customer's request, or the fried PB&B&B (bacon and banana) associated with Elvis Presley.

Recipe:

* The Elvis

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- - - - - THANKSGIVING FOOD SECTION COMING NEXT WEEK - - - - -

Edited November 10, 2005 by TPO (log)

TPO · November 16, 2005

Boston Globe – November 16, 2005

Buyers face a bounty of turkey options

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

You can buy fresh or frozen turkey. Or one that's been commercially raised, from a local turkey farm, or even an organic bird. For purists, an American Heritage turkey will bring an unusual taste to the table. Here's some turkey talk to ponder as you plan the celebration.

For more information:

* A guide to thawing and roasting turkey

* Gear: This will pan out

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Fried turkey is stuff of barbecue legend

Kenton Jacobs carries on a Southern tradition for Boston customers

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Deep-frying large birds is an old Southern technique that came north as home cooks grew more interested in barbecue. Although the turkey is cumbersome and you need a large pot to hold it, many people like the taste of the fried bird over a roasted one. The hot oil, says Jacobs on a recent overcast morning in the big communal kitchen of Nuestra Culinary Ventures in Jamaica Plain, ''changes the taste. The skin is so crisp and the flesh is moist."

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Life of pie

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

If the world divides into pie people and cake people, then the pies have it -- at least at the Thanksgiving table. The feast promises a multitude of them at dessert time, from traditional pumpkin, apple, and pecan to virtually any combination of fruits, nuts, custards, and creams.

Recipes:

---------------

SHORT ORDERS

Now that's good pie

If you're baking challenged but love pie -- and can't find anyone to make one for you -- a local charitable organization and some of the city's top bakers can help. Pie in the Sky, a fund-raising project of Community Servings, which offers meals to people with AIDS and other illnesses, will take your pie orders until tomorrow for pickup the day before Thanksgiving.

One Cook's Best Dish | Portuguese Salt Cod

For them, it belongs beside the turkey

Marilia Araujo, 58, the family matriarch, makes the dish for Sunday dinners, other holidays, and various occasions throughout the year. Whatever else appears on the table, says Araujo's daughter Sandra, the salt-cod casserole is ''everyone's favorite." The bacalhau, which includes potatoes along with the legumes, is one of many dishes that helped secure Marilia Araujo's reputation as a good cook.

Recipe:

* Bacalhau com grau de bico (salt cod with chickpeas)

Timer marches on, and on

Instead of using one timer and the pop-up device on the bird, get all your timers in one place.The Triple Timer by Bengt Ek Design ($48), is stylish and practical.

In the Market: Sweet potatoes

What they are, how to use them, and where to buy them.

Recipe:

* Pomegranate-glazed sweet potatoes

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Turkey chasers

By Stephen Meuse, Globe Correspondent

Warmer New World growing conditions make vivid wines with big flavors. Here are some we like. Your local wine shop will have its own favorites.

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Thanksgiving food update

On Monday, Nov. 21, the Boston Globe will feature a special Thanksgiving Food section with turkey gravy instructions, recipes for home-made muffins and rolls, and vegetable ideas.

TPO · November 21, 2005

Boston Globe – November 21, 2005

<b>SPECIAL THANKSGIVING FOOD SECTION</b>

Pilgrims' progress

Turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie weren't always the stars of our Thanksgiving tables, but even the earliest settlers enjoyed a good, long feast

By Emily Schwab, Globe Correspondent

The holiday table has not always been this varied. That is, it didn't boast the array of popular dishes such as green bean casserole, Jello-O molds, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and candied sweets (no marshmallows, either). What started as a harvest feast in 1621 -- when English settlers and members of the native Wampanoag tribe of Patuxet, now called Plymouth, sat down together to celebrate -- has become one of the country's favorite celebrations.

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Squash the routine with savory sides

By T. Susan Chang, Globe Correspondent

This is the season the root family comes into its own, sweetened by the first touch of frost. Carrots and potatoes are only the beginning: Who can resist red and golden beet salads, roasted parsnips, sweet buttered young turnips? Equally unsung, and equally good, are caramelized fennel, nutty Jerusalem artichokes, and the refined-tasting, if homely, celeriac.

Recipes:

* Roasted delicata squash

* Creamy braised Brussels sprouts

* Saffron-braised potatoes with paprika

* Stuffing in a dish

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Fruit and nuts sweeten deal

Crowded -- in the most agreeable way -- with fruit and nuts, a batch of moist, grainy harvest muffins are perfect for the holiday table.

Recipe:

* Fruit and nut corn muffins

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Goodies that go with the grain

King Arthur Flour, the bakers' supply giant in Norwich, Vt., (www.bakerscatalogue.com) has offered a 10-grain blend since 1998. Their 2-pound sacks ($5.95) contain rolled wheat, rye, barley, oats, cracked wheat, wheat germ, bran, cornmeal, quinoa, soy flour, short brown rice, whole millet and even flax seeds.

Recipe:

* Seven-grain rolls

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Her pumpkin soup is roundly satisfying

By Jennifer Wolcott, Globe Correspondent

One of Ponte's signature dishes in November is soup made with pureed roasted pumpkin. This month's soup course is served after braised pork purses accompanied by apple chutney.

Recipes:

* Roasted pumpkin soup

* Pumpkin tureens

* Stewed pumpkin

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A homemade chutney delivers sweet rewards

By Sarah Hearn, Globe Correspondent

Carol Wasik, co-owner with her husband, Steve, of Wasik's Cheese Shop here, sells a cranberry chutney based on a recipe she developed herself.

Recipe:

* Cranberry chutney

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Is a Japanese diet the key to slimming down?

By Debra Samuels, Globe Correspondent

On the heels of the wildly popular ''French Women Don't Get Fat," we can now read why Japanese women don't get fat -- or old.

Recipe:

* Spinach with sesame seeds

TPO · December 2, 2005

Boston Globe – November 30, 2005

They got game

And they shot it themselves. Five Boston chefs go hunting for dinner.

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

Shooting ducks, pheasants, quail, and partridges, though, is not the only point of a day at a hunting preserve in New Hampshire. When five Italian chefs from Boston are the hunters, the prey will end up as dinner, maybe tonight.

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A new generation of wine enthusiasts

Twenty-somethings are drinking it in

By John S. Forrester, Globe Correspondent

While you probably won't see 20-somethings exchanging their steins and shot glasses for Riedel stemware, recent surveys and polls suggest that 21- to 29-year-olds, a demographic dubbed the ''Millennials," are increasingly gravitating toward wine as their beverage of choice.

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A sweet, gingery start to the day

Scones, in particular, benefit from the zesty essence, as their flaky dough is easily flavored with both ground ginger and chopped crystallized ginger.

Recipe:

* Ginger crumble scones

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Gas prices fuel costs at eateries

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

The cost of food is always variable, says Chris Douglass, owner of the South End's Icarus and Dorchester's Ashmont Grill. But in the weeks following the storms, say Douglass and others, restaurateurs started noticing fuel surcharges on deliveries of everything from olive oil to liquor.

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Persimmon perks up a homey dessert

Persimmons probably aren't a fixture on your weekly shopping list. But at this time of year, Douglas Organ can't imagine cooking without them. In late fall, when persimmons come into season -- they're grown in places with moderate climates, such as California -- Arbor restaurant's chef and owner shops for the succulent Asian fruit as zealously as a toddler picking through holiday gifts.

Recipe:

* Individual persimmon bread puddings

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In the Market: Artisanal pasta

What it is, how to use it, and where it's good.

Recipe:

* Baked ziti

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Gadgets: I'll see that pot and braise you one

Winter is stew and braising season, which means that it's Dutch oven time. Our longtime favorite vessel is made of enamel-coated cast iron, a combination good for the heat-retaining qualities of the iron and the easy cleanup of the porcelain, which also won't react with acids the way uncoated iron can.

Recipes:

* Grilled quail

* Rabbit agrodolce

TPO · December 10, 2005

Boston Globe – December 7, 2005

Steak your claim

At five restaurants, we get a taste of Boston's longstanding love affair with beef

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff

Who doesn't love a steakhouse? Boston has seen a proliferation of new ones in the last few years -- Smith & Wollensky, Fleming's, Abe & Louie's, the Palm, and now Ruth's Chris, which opened its first Boston location in mid-October.

Steaks scorecard:

* Most flavor

* Cooked to a ''T"

* Dreamy sides

* Service with a smile

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It's a match for meat

By Stephen Meuse, Globe Correspondent

These days the high-end steakhouse experience is mediated by wine and lots of it, cataloged in leather-bound volumes of impressive heft and served up in precariously outsized stemware.

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The carnivore's favorite dessert

After a T-bone or porterhouse, cheesecake hits the spot

By Lisa Zwirn, Globe Correspondent

If a cheesecake appears at a gathering, instantly you'll hear oohs and aahs, then guests recalling every great cheesecake they ever ate, and invariably the discussion about texture: whether they prefer creamy and thick (called New York style) or light and airy, plus the type of crust, flavors, and toppings.

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Cookbook Review: Bayless makes Mexican accessible

By T. Susan Chang, Globe Correspondent

Bayless has been trying out dishes in ''Mexican Everyday" for years. ''I think I've finally figured out how to get the most traditional, most complex and delicious flavor out of the fewest (and most easily accessible) ingredients," he writes.

Recipe:

* Tinga tacos

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Tailgate gourmet has a tasty pregame plan

By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent

For more than 10 years, Simcock, a Patriots season-ticket holder, has hosted tailgate parties for friends and fellow fans. The tailgates began a decade ago with a hibachi and some steak tips and have evolved into ambitious meals with multiple courses. Simcock cooks for every home game the Patriots play.

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In the Market: Rack of lamb

What it is, where to buy it, and how to use it.

Recipe:

* Rack of lamb with harissa and currants

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Trying to duplicate a childhood favorite

Years later, when I began baking, I could never quite duplicate the melting crust of that delectable pie, and after a while I gave up trying. But experimentation and a little bit of luck brought me to this recipe, which in its marriage of sweet, rich mincemeat and creamy cheesecake comes convincingly close to that long-ago ideal.

Recipe:

* Mincemeat cheesecake

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Carry a torch for this pumpkin brulee dish

Karen McCarthy, a caterer in Southboro, was living in Alaska when one autumn afternoon she set out to create a cheesecake that would imaginatively feature the flavors of fall. She didn't want a graham-cracker crust, nor out-of-season strawberries, and she hoped to wow her guests. After scouring cookbooks and websites in search of a nutty, ginger-flavored crust with a seasonal pumpkin filling and contrasting textures, she settled on toasted pecans and crumbled gingersnaps as the base, pureed pumpkin in the middle, and a crunchy brulee topping.

Recipes:

* Pumpkin cheesecake brulee

TPO · December 17, 2005

Boston Globe – December 14, 2005

The bakers' dozen is 3,000

On one day each year, this family cranks out Christmas cookies

By Jane Dornbusch, Globe Correspondent

The family gets an early start, around 8:15 a.m., and goes until sometime in the early evening. This year, the day was clear and crisp, perfect baking weather. The big Dorchester Victorian Dolores and her husband, Richard, have called home since 1959 is a hive of activity. By midmorning, about 1,000 cookies are already cooled and packed away in tins and boxes that are bought, borrowed, and collected throughout the year. The extended Miller family gives away almost all of the cookies as gifts.

Recipe:

* Christmas butter cookies

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Rachael Ray cooks up a storm

By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff

When the Globe caught up with the quick-meal queen by phone, she was buying presents at a DKNY in Manhattan for a friend (''a fabulous outfit"), for one of her Food Network directors (''a big furry vest"), and for her mother (''a cozy, 'cause she's a very cozy woman"). In a husky voice showing signs of fatigue, Ray, 37, who is coming to Boston for a book signing on Friday, talked about writing ''365," cooking for her husband, John, and the risks of overexposure.

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SHORT ORDERS:

Occasions: A roast fit for the holidays

Traditionally the center loin is rubbed with salts, oils, herbs, and spices, rolled tightly with butcher twine, refrigerated overnight, and then roasted over a wood-burning fire. At home, simplify the method by butterflying the meat, searing it on top of the stove, and then braising it in the oven.

Recipe:

* Port-braised pork loin

Apple of their eye

The apple cider cookies from wholesalers Fancypants Bakery are small and full of flavor -- your mouth is immediately filled with the tang of fresh-pressed apple cider baked into buttery shortbread.

In the Market: Pine nuts

What they are, how to cook them, and where to buy them.

Recipe:

* Pine nut shortbread

Taste Kitchen: Dark chocolate

Many of the testers fell into two distinct camps: those who like their chocolate a bit sweet and those who prefer it on the bitter side. Which is why we came away with a tie. Hershey’s reigned supreme with the first group, and Lindt took top honors with the latter.

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Treasure trove of recipes proves variety is the spice of life

By T. Susan Chang, Globe Correspondent

The year's cookbooks struck a bolder note than usual. If the last few years have seen a return to the family table and a willingness to put in more hours at the stove, now we have a veritable festival of smoke and fire, spice and flavor. Whether this embrace of the fundamentals will last is hard to say. But it sure makes for good reading.

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More than just drinks, they have tales to tell

By Stephen Meuse, Globe Correspondent

It's the season for gift-giving, when a special bottle of wine can be a good way to express love, friendship, or just say thank you. It may only be a stocking stuffer, but the occasion demands it come from the heart, and have some heart of its own.

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