In the kitchen with Kristen Chiosi

Kristen Chiosi is owner of and instructor at The Culinary Playground (16 Manning St., Derry, 339-1664, culinary-playground.com). “I got my master’s in business management and human resources. But I’d always loved to cook,” Chiosi wrote. “I always spent a lot of time in the kitchen and always took cooking classes wherever I was. … The business came up for sale and I decided that I kind of wanted to take a leap of faith and buy this business and see where I could take it. That was in 2013. The previous business owner had put in a lot of elbow grease, got a nice foundation going. I took it on in 2013 and we’ve just continued to grow and develop, offer new things.”

What’s your must-have kitchen item?

I say my must-have kitchen tool is your mindset. You have to want to do it. … It’s just an opportunity to connect and be really present. Getting all of your stuff in order — ‘mise en place’ is a term that we use. It’s just from start to finish, from pulling your ingredients, compiling your recipe, enjoying the meal, cleaning up, it’s just all such a beautiful ritual.

What’s your favorite place to dine out at?

I really like to try to keep it local, and we have some nice options downtown in Derry. We have Cask and Vine, who is just always being really unique and coming up with some great menus. We have Foundations that just reopened. We have a great little Indian place downtown, Destination India. I love that just from my location from my kitchen I can walk to all different types of cuisines.

Who’s a celebrity you would like to see taking one of your classes or eating some of your food?

Oh my gosh, I just love Barefoot Contessa [television chef Ina Garten]. She’s just so approachable …

What is a class that you really enjoy at the Playground?

I love homemade pasta. I think people are really impressed when you can make your own pasta, and it’s such a tactile experience. … We do homemade ravioli in one of our classes, and it’s just awesome.

What’s a food trend that you see in New Hampshire right now?

… I think we’re kind of moving away from a dependence on all these meat-filled dishes. I like the idea of getting more vegetables and whole grains into the diet, but not in kind of fake ways. Let’s highlight the ingredients for what they are and their nutritional value.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

I like soups and stews — something that you piece together and leave it simmering. It fills your house with these beautiful scents…

Ham & Cheese Scones

From Kristen Chiosi at The Culinary Playground. Makes 4 regular sized (or 8 smaller sized) scones

1 cup flour, spooned and leveled
½ Tablespoon sugar
½ Tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons buttermilk
¼ cup diced ham steak or deli slices
½ cup shredded cheddar
½ Tablespoons snipped scallions


Preheat oven to 425°F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, garlic powder and salt.
Add cold butter. Mix into coarse crumbs using hands or pastry cutter, working quickly so as not to soften butter too much.
Stir in buttermilk, ham, cheese and scallions. Mix until a soft dough forms.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead 3-4 times with hands.
Flatten out dough with hands until you have an even circle of dough, approximately 1 inch thick.
Cut into wedges (4 large or 8 small).
Place each wedge onto baking sheet, separating them so they don’t touch. Use a pastry brush to brush each scone with heavy cream.
Bake for 18-22 minutes or until lightly browned and firm to the touch. Let cool on baking sheet on a cooling rack for a few minutes before serving.

Featured Image: Kristen Chiosi. Courtesy photo.

Mushroom season

In springtime, foraging ramps up

By John Fladd

[email protected]

It’s maple season, and for Christine Gagnon that means one thing.

Mushrooms.

Gagnon is the owner and operator of the Uncanoonuc Foraging Co. (uncforaging.com) in Goffstown. Her passion is finding and identifying edible plants and fungi.

“I just love foraging,” she said..”I love being out there and finding things. It’s like a treasure hunt. Just the idea of what mushrooms do and what they are and to see the many different forms that they come in and how they—.” She paused to put her feeling into words. “It’s so vast. It’s just … vast.”

Gagnon said one type of mushroom that appears in early spring is an oyster mushroom. “Sometimes you’ll see those in the winter too,” she said. ”If you have a 60-degree day — and there can be snow in the woods, but 60, and you might see oyster mushrooms pop up on trees.” In other words, during maple season. “They like maple trees actually,” she said.

Another mushroom that makes an appearance at this time of year is called a Pheasant’s Back (Cerioporus squamosus). “Those grow on trees,” Gagnon said. “And they have a very cucumber-y, melon-y, watermelon-rind smell to them. So sometimes people will pickle them. Because smell makes up a lot of how things taste a lot of times.”

One of the things that can make finding mushrooms difficult, Gagnon explained, is that the mushrooms most of us see are just the fruiting body of a fungus (mycelium), which is usually tiny and threadlike and difficult for non-specialists to see. Depending on the variety of mushroom, finding them “is a combination of the season and when the conditions are right,” she said. “Some mushrooms will pop up all season and some are very seasonal.”

For example, morel mushrooms only happen in the spring for a very short period of time. “When the ground temperature has warmed up to a certain amount, when the air temperatures are certain, when the humidity and moisture is what it is. And then around here, we don’t really have the ‘burn morels’ [which appear after forest fires] they have out west so much, so you have to find them with the right trees, whether it’s in old orchards or elm trees The mycelium grows in or around or through roots of trees and plants and other organisms.”

But that’s not true of all mushrooms, Gagnon said. “Other ones are called saprophytic or saprotrophic; they’re breaking down dying material. They’re decomposers, which also makes sense with the fire morels like out west.”

“In the early spring,” she said, “you [find] mushrooms that are trying to get a jump on their biological competition. You can find morels if you know where to find them.” But, she said, sometimes they will spring up somewhere completely unexpected. “They are what we call ‘landscape morels’ because sometimes when people order mulch for their gardens the mulch is coming with the mycelium already in there. And so people find [a morel], and they’re like, ‘Oh, it was in my garden.’ It was, but it’s usually because the mycelium was present in the mulch.”

Mushrooms aside, early spring is also the season for ramps, sometimes called wild garlic, which Gagnon said is in the onion family. “The genus is allium,” she said, [with the scientific name] allium tricoccum or trichocum, variety braticii. They have a white stem or sometimes a red stem, but they are in the allium family. Sometimes they’re called wild onions, and sometimes they’re really called a wild leek, because you can eat the entire thing.”

Gagnon said that her biggest thrill is finding something new, especially mushrooms.

“There’s so much DNA work now being done on them. So if we’re not exactly sure what it is, we can go home and dehydrate it, upload it to iNaturalist, send a specimen in, and it gets DNA’ed, and then we get the results back in however long it takes. The great thing about taking pictures with our phones these days or with iNaturalist is it gives you the exact locations and when you took it. So you can kind of go back and look for anything later.”

Caution where you eat

Eating unidentified plants or mushrooms can be dangerous. Please forage under the supervision of a trained forager.

Featured photo: Oyster mushrooms. Photo from NH Garden Solutions.

Dinner and beer at Republic Brewing

A lot has changed, but not the french fries

By John Fladd

[email protected]

If you had asked Peter Macone in 2019 what he saw himself doing in six years, it probably wouldn’t have been running a brewery. “It would be running two stores on Elm Street 110 steps apart,” he said.

Macone is a veteran restaurateur. For many years he was a part owner and the operating manager of two popular restaurants in downtown Manchester — the Republic Cafe (now closed) and Campo Enoteca, which merged with Republic before being sold to new owners.

“Then Covid happened,” Macone said.

According to Macone, the pandemic shook up the restaurant industry and changed the way it viewed itself.

“Covid was sort of the earliest catalyst for where we are today,” he said. “It changed the expectation and the way that we express farm-to-table food.” One of the most dramatic changes was in the role breweries played. “Breweries are a market that are just absorbing so many markets now,” Macone said. “People go to breweries instead of brunch, breweries instead of a lunch place, breweries instead of a bar after work, breweries for dinner. I saw that and I saw the ability to have a more sustainable lifestyle for myself in the long run. I have a six-week-old.”

Eventually, this led to the Republic Brewing Co., a partnership with Mike Brown, the owner of Hometown Coffee Roasters. Macone said each partner brought a particular set of skills to the new business.

“I know about food and hospitality,” Macone said. “I partnered with Mike, [who] made some of the most top-notch beer right out of the gate. And there was a day where he presented me with a beer and said, ‘I think this will be our flagship.’ I tasted it and I was like, ‘All right, we’re going to do just fine with the beer.’”

That was Republic’s Bella, a single-hopped New England-style India Pale Ale, or IPA. Macone said he and Brown made the decision early on to focus on a few core beer recipes.

“We want to have staples people know they can get, and stand by their quality,” he said. “They’re really quality products, but we’re not looking to fill a portfolio with 700 zillion names. For instance, next winter, Michael will be, without a doubt, doing a dark beer — likely involving coffee, as he has Hometown next door.”

In addition to its own core slate of beers, Macone said it’s important to both partners to feature beers from other area breweries.

“We’ll always have a guest tap here,” he said. “We always look to feature our friends in the area. So we have a Kettlehead guest tap right now. I believe we have a To Share coming up. We’ve [featured] To Share in the past; Post and Beam, Spyglass — all people that have helped us get open in the industry. And so we kind of want to return that favor. And plus, it’s just great to be talking about other people’s breweries and representing them. And they’ll help fill the gaps of what we don’t have.”

On the food side of the business, Macone said he has brought a focus with him from the original Republic Cafe and applied it to pub food.

“We’re maintaining the same farm-to- table aspect and the farms that we used to work with. So the same farmer that brought us pork at Republic is bringing us pork here. The same farmer that brought us beef is bringing us beef here. And the same goes for chicken. And eggs, we have a local farmer bringing us eggs. This is a way to continue those relationships that are over a decade old.”

“There are a couple little recipes that we’ve carried over [from Republic],” he said. “But most of it has been tweaked into more of a brewery format menu. One thing that is a straight carryover is our french fries. Republic’s french fries were award-winning. We brought those straight over just as they were, and people are really excited about it. They’re hand cut, blanched, and fried with capers and a bunch of other little things in there that make them unique”

“It’s been important for us to focus on the beer and the food,” Macone said, “and that’s why it’s nice to have Mike and I both involved. We have sort of a left brain and right brain, and we can both really dig into what our piece of the pie is, and it allows us to work on elevating the beer and the food at the same time and try to give people that experience of both. So that on Friday night, you know, we don’t just have people coming to drink beer after work, we have people coming here for their Friday night dinner.”

The Republic Brewing Co.

Where: 72 Old Granite St., Manchester, 836-3188, republicbrewingcompany.com
Hours: Open from 3 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays; 1 to 9 p.m. Fridays; noon to 9 p.m. Saturdays, and noon to 7 p.m. on Sundays. There is free off-street parking.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

The Weekly Dish 25/04/03

News from the local food scene

Steeped in history and tradition: There will be a tea tasting and lecture comparing spring and summer teas at The Cozy Tea Cart (104A Route 13, Brookline, 249-9111, thecozyteacart.com) on Thursday, April 24, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. This will include a tasting of four teas from around the world. The cost is $30 per person. Registration by April 10 is required.

Free seeds: As it nears time to start a garden, remember that many local libraries host seed libraries where community members can take or exchange free seeds. Some area libraries that do this are the Nashua Public Library (2 Court St., Nashua, 589-4600, nashualibrary.org), the Whipple Free Library (67 Mont Vernon Road, New Boston, 487-3391, whipplefreelibrary.org), the Manchester City Library (405 Pine St., Manchester, 624-6550, manchesterlibrary.org) and the Concord Public Library (45 Green St., Concord, 225-8670, concordnh.gov/1983/Library).

Free ice cream: It’s Free Cone Day! Ben & Jerry’s annual ice cream scoop give-away is Tuesday, April 8, from noon to 8 p.m. Head to the Ben & Jerry’s at 940 Elm St. in Manchester. See benjerry.com/scoop-shops/free-cone-day.

Nuts about wine: Averill House Vineyard (21 Averill Road, Brookline, 244-3165, averillhousevineyard.com) is offering a nut and wine pairing. As described in a March 22 press release, the pairing will feature “four unique wine and nut combinations, enriched by the sweet undertones of whiskey, bourbon, and rum-infused nuts,” and a “sampling of four distinct wines, selected from a diverse range of over 21 varieties.” Reserve a seat at averillhousevineyard.com/reservations.

Moving: After five years at 900 Elm St. in Manchester, Patz Deli and Catering shut down temporarily, its last day was Feb. 26, as it moves to a larger facility, according to a post on its Facebook page — facebook.com/patzdeli.

The Taste of Hope

It’s easy to be overwhelmed sometimes, weighed down with dread, but spring is coming.

Of course, in this part of the world that means Mud Season, but there is a smell in the air, carrying the slightest hint of hope. What we need — OK, I’m projecting. What I need is a cocktail infused with hope, or in this case, peas.

Peas de Resistance

  • 2 ounces pea-infused gin (see below)
  • 1 ounces fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • ¾ ounce simple syrup

This is a simple riff on a gin sour; the only difference is the addition of the peas — an important distinction, as it turns out.

Combine all ingredients over ice in a cocktail shaker, shake thoroughly, and strain into a coupé or Nick and Nora glass. Drink blisteringly cold, with a sigh of relief.

On first sip, the taste that hits you is the peas. That doesn’t sound very enticing, but the natural sweetness of the pea pods plays well with the lemon juice. This is a mouth-watering cocktail, and one sip invites another, until you realize that you should have made two. Which might prompt a quick phone call to a friend and an impromptu cocktail hour on your front steps.

Pea-Infused Gin

A quick science lesson: Surface Area-to-Mass Ratio

This is a jargony way of saying that the more surface area a substance has, the more room it has to interact with chemicals — alcohol, acid, water, oxygen or, in cooking, even smoke.

Imagine an object — let’s say a cucumber. Think of the surface area it presents to the world, modestly wrapped in a dark green wrapper. Now, imagine cutting it in half, lengthwise. Suddenly, there are two large surfaces exposed to the World. All the original surface is still there, plus these two new ones, which probably doubles the amount of exposed surface area.

Now chop those in half, crosswise. You’ve exposed four new surfaces. They aren’t as large as you got with the first set of cuts, but there’s four of them. Now chop up the cucumber. Each time you cut it you increase the amount of surface exposed to — er — the Universe or something.

Which brings us to the pea-infused gin.

Pour a couple of cups of dry gin — I like Gordon’s for this — into your blender. Add a couple handfuls of sugar snap peas, shell and all, into the gin. Blend them for 30 seconds or so. Your blender (mine is named Steve) will chop them into smaller, then almost microscopic, pieces, greatly increasing their surface area.

Turn off the blender and walk away for an hour or two to let the gin and the peas get to know each other. The alcohol in the gin will strip away a lot of the color and much of the flavor of the peas. If you’re distracted by something actually important — your family, a Bob Hope/Bing Crosby marathon on TCM, whatever — you can leave the blender jar sitting on your counter for an almost indefinite amount of time. Remember: This pea sludge is at least half alcohol.

When you’ve got a bit of time, strain it. I like to strain it twice — once with a mesh strainer and then again through a coffee filter, which will take longer. Don’t stand around watching it; it will drive you crazy. Walk away and do something else for a while. Maybe go for a walk, recognizing that this might attract some sort of alcoholic Goldilocks.

When you’re satisfied, bottle it and set it aside until you’re ready to use it.

Featured Photo: Peas de Resistance. Photo by John Fladd.

The juice of the week

Small batch drinks at an evolving shop

If it lasts long enough, every business evolves and goes through changes. For Audrey Bowden, that has meant going in some unexpected directions.

“About 15 years ago,” Bowden said, “we started a massage therapy business. It’s been traditionally what we do from its conception. Rally and Revive is the name of our massage therapy business. We offer body work and skincare and [foot care]. We offer foot soaks for people who suffer from arthritis or anything going on in their feet that make it difficult for them.” This has included neuropathy and related conditions.

Eventually, Bowden said, this led, somewhat unexpectedly, to opening a juice bar. “The concept behind Come Into Fruition was the goal to marry together internal wellness with external wellness and bring really healthy options to the city. This part of Elm Street [to the north of Manchester’s city center] seems to be a little bit isolated and forgotten in comparison to [the area around] City Hall. If you look around you will find tons of residents but you won’t necessarily find coffee shops or restaurants, so I really wanted to just offer good, nourishing things to people.”

This led to expanding the massage and skincare business to include a juice bar that serves fresh-squeezed juices, coffee drinks and smoothies. Bowden called that part of the business Come Into Fruition. This allowed her to help advocate for healthy lifestyles for her wellness customers and guests from off the street.

“Pretty much everything is as close to organic as we can get,” she said. “A lot of the times when I find juice … it’s filled with bananas. It’s pasteurized. I’m actually in love with all of our juices.”

She pointed to her Red Juice as an example.

“That’s beets, raspberries, strawberries and apples,” she said. “Sometimes we add pomegranate to it as well, just to give it a little bit more tartness and balance out that earthy flavor from the beets. Seasonally — and this is kind of a secret — but seasonally, if we have rhubarb, we’ll add that, too.”

Eventually, though, Bowden had to rethink the juice bar’s business model. Too few customers were coming through the door to support the juice-and-smoothie end of the business.

“We just never really got super busy,” she said. “So we went ‘private’ and now we just offer juices and smoothies to our clients and anybody who happens to come in off the street and catch us when we’re here. We scaled back and we make one or two juice flavors a week and we try to rotate it. Last week we made red juice, and so next week we’ll probably make green juice. But we try to rotate whatever we have on hand and just keep things simple.”

Interestingly, by focusing on just a few items each week, Bowden has found that the quality of each menu item has remained consistently high.

“I think it all started with one of our smoothies,” Bowden said, “which is the Revival, and that one has a really cool flavor profile. That’s got, among other things, pineapple, blueberries, spinach and fresh ginger. We make our sauces and so our vanilla pods have been steeping for quite some time. You can see that right here. So that’s aging. We make our own caramel sauce using organic cream and organic sugar. And it’s just, I mean it’s fun. The creativity aspect of it is really fun.”

“We’re focusing,” Bowden said, “and it’s nice that we’re able to offer things to people that are small batch. It’s not mass-manufactured. And it’s OK if we don’t make it the same every time, if something’s not in season. Like for our orange juice, the peaches are not always in season. Sometimes we have to omit them. Sometimes we switch it out for mango. But it always tastes good. It’s always good because it’s always fresh and it’s always small-batch.”

Come Into Fruition
To find out what hours Come Into Fruition is open, contact Rally and Revive (1358 Elm St, Manchester, 622-5380, rallyandrevive.com).

Featured photo: Revival Smoothie. Photo by John Fladd.

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