Not only does this time of year mark the start of baking season; it also marks the start of soup season. While there are times that I want a soup that is quick to make, there are other days where I want a soup that simmers all afternoon. Nothing helps a day feel less chilly than something simmering on the stove, right?
This soup was created for the simmer-all-afternoon category. However, if you want to serve it on a weeknight, you can break the recipe into two parts. Do the slow simmering phase on a weekend day when you have some free time. Then, on the night it is to be served, simply take that broth you created and finish the recipe in under an hour. The most important thing is not to skip the slow simmering phase and replace it with store-bought stock. The stock that you are creating for this recipe is so flavorful that it is worth the effort.
Once you have your cooking plan ready, you can consider how you will serve the soup. I created this recipe with the thought that it makes a fine side-dish soup. Pair it with a sandwich (grilled cheese, chicken salad, or whatever you prefer) for something more filling, or a salad if you are eating lighter. However, it could become a main dish soup with the addition of some protein. Add some diced, cooked chicken breast or crumbled chorizo, and you have a fairly hearty soup.
No matter how you make or serve this soup, it is bound to be a new fall favorite.
Michele Pesula Kuegler has been thinking about food her entire life. Since 2007, the New Hampshire native has been sharing these food thoughts and recipes at her blog, Think Tasty. Visit thinktasty.com to find more of her recipes.
New & improved creamy carrot soup Serves 4
6 cups water 1 sweet onion, quartered 4 celery stalks, quartered 6 garlic cloves 4 large carrots, ends trimmed & quartered 2 teaspoons dried rosemary 2 teaspoons kosher salt Ground black pepper 7 large carrots, peeled & cubed ½ cup whole milk
Combine water, onion, celery, garlic, 4 carrots, rosemary, salt and pepper in a large pot. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 2 hours. Strain broth with a fine mesh sieve, and return broth to pot. Add 7 peeled and cubed carrots to broth, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for 10-12 minutes or until carrots are tender. Allow broth to cool for 30 minutes. Puree broth and carrots in small batches, or use immersion blender to puree. Return puree to pot. Simmer on low for 10 minutes. Stir in milk. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper, if desired.
Nothing but treats for lovers of classic horror and Halloween-y themed movies at Red River Theatres (11 S. Main St. in Concord; 224-4600, redrivertheatres.org) starting tonight with The Thing (1982) at 7 p.m. Then tomorrow (Friday, Oct. 29) catch The Shining (R, 1980) at 2 and 6:30 p.m. and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (R, 1987) at 2:30, 5 & 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, Oct. 30, it’s The Witches (PG, 1990) at 1, 4 and 7 p.m. and Psycho (R, 1960) at 2, 5 & 8 p.m. And on Halloween, Sunday, Oct. 31, check out The Exorcist (R, 1973) at 2 and 5:15 p.m. and Night of the Living Dead (1968) at 1:30 and 4:30 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 28
Or go for some horror from the silent film era withNosferatu (1922), directed by F.W. Murnau, tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Rex Theatre (23 Amherst St. in Manchester; 668-5588, palacetheatre.org). The screening will feature live musical accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis. Admission costs $10.
Friday, Oct. 29
Catch Adam Ezra Group tonight at 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.) at the Flying Monkey (39 Main St. in Plymouth; flyingmonkeynh.com, 536-2551). Tickets start at $25.
Sunday, Oct. 31
Were Ross and Rachel truly on a break? Perhaps the issue will be debated tonight at Friends The Musical Parody, a live show presented this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. (doors open at 2 p.m.) at the Capitol Center for the Arts (44 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com, 225-1111). Tickets cost $35 to $55 (plus a fee).
Sunday, Oct. 31
Buy some candy and turn on those porch lights for trick or treat today — for the most part. Get a rundown of when area towns are holding their trick-or-treats (some do it on Saturday) in last week’s (Oct. 21) issue of the Hippo on page 11. Find an e-edition of the paper at hippopress.com.
Wednesday, Nov. 3
The Millyard Museum (200 Bedford St. in Manchester; manchesterhistoric.org, 622-7531) is holding an open house and beer tasting tonight from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $15 and can be purchased online or by calling the museum. The evening will feature live music by Alli Beaudry, eats and brews from Lithermans, To Share Brewing, Woodstock Inn Brewery, Great North Aleworks and more, according to the website.
Save the Date! Nov. 6
Catch the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra playing the music of Duke Ellington on Saturday, Nov. 6, at 7:30 p.m. at the Dana Center (Saint Anselm College, 100 Saint Anselm Drive in Manchester; anselm.edu). Tickets cost $40.
It’s been eight years since gas prices were this high; on Oct. 25, 2013, the average price of a gallon of gas in New Hampshire was $3.33, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey. This year on Oct. 25, the average price was $3.29 per gallon, up 8 cents from last week, 25 cents from last month, and $1.26 from this time last year.
Score: -2
Comment: On Oct. 25, there was a 46-cent difference between highest and lowest prices per gallon in the state, according to GasBuddy, with the cheapest station at $3.08 per gallon and the most expensive at $3.54 per gallon.
And the weather’s not great either…
If we’re going to complain about gas prices, we might as well complain about the weather too! After a pretty decent stretch of warmer fall weather, the past few days have been a reality check, with temps dropping, snow coating roads in northern New Hampshire and a Nor’easter bringing inches of rain to southern New Hampshire.
Score: 0
Comment:At least it’s not snowing in this part of the state yet, and we should make it past Halloween without seeing the white stuff. It’s been years, but QOL has vivid memories of trick-or-treating in the snow, so it’s always a win to get past that date without it.
Mixed economic bag for older adults
New Hampshire tied with Utah for second place in a recent MagnifyMoney study that looked at which states offer a better financial environment for retirement. The two states have a poverty rate of 6.2 percent for the 65 and older population and came in just behind Vermont, whose poverty rate is 6.1 percent. But when looking at other key factors that play into retirement-age economic conditions, including home ownership rate and rate of adults with retirement income, New Hampshire was on middle ground, coming in at No. 30.
Score: 0 (because low poverty is good, but ranking 30th for states where older adults are best positioned for retirement is nothing to brag about)
Comment: The “housing cost burdened” rate brought the state’s overall rating down, landing in 6th in that category with a rate of 36.2 percent (compared to top state West Virginia’s housing cost burdened rate of 17.4 percent).
Tuberculosis at Concord High
Concord School District Superintendent Kathleen Murphy sent out a notice to the school community on Oct. 13 saying that the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services had identified a positive, active case of tuberculosis, which is an airborne infectious disease, at Concord High School. According to the notice, the district held an online community meeting the following day to provide information and answer questions. Infectious disease control experts said during the meeting that the case of tuberculosis is a “likely low risk event,” according to an Oct. 15 report from the Concord Monitor.
Score: -1
Comment:Since 2011, there have been 123 documented cases of tuberculosis in New Hampshire, 18 of which were reported in Merrimack County, according to the Monitor.
QOL score: 77
Net change: -3
QOL this week: 74
What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at [email protected].
Information from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services
Covid-19 news
As of Oct. 25 there were 3,295 active infections of Covid-19 statewide and 220 current hospitalizations. One additional death was announced on Oct. 25, bringing the total number of deaths to 1,544 since the start of the pandemic last year.
Last week the U.S. Food & Drug Administration greenlit the “mix-and-match” approach for Covid-19 booster shots in eligible individuals, or the receiving of shots from different manufacturers. According to an Oct. 25 report from WMUR, booster shots in New Hampshire are currently available for certain at-risk groups who previously received both doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, including people over the age of 65 and people over the age of 18 with underlying medical conditions. For those who received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, boosters are recommended for all adults regardless of any risk factors. Boosters can be administered at least six months after the second Pfizer or Moderna dose, and at least two months after the Johnson & Johnson dose, according to the report. In New Hampshire, boosters are available through doctor’s offices, pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens and at weekly clinics in Manchester and Nashua. Visit vaccines.gov to book an appointment.
Several of New Hampshire’s largest health care systems, including Catholic Medical Center, St. Joseph Hospital, and SolutionHealth, the owner of Eliot Health System and Southern New Hampshire Health, issued a joint statement on Oct. 21 announcing mandatory Covid-19 vaccine policies for their organizations. “Each of our institutions has taken time to craft vaccine policies that achieve our shared goal of patient and staff safety while accommodating for medical and religious exemptions,” it read in part. “We are also confident that our policies will align with the forthcoming guidelines of the White House’s vaccine mandate for health care workers.”
Vaccine funding
On Oct. 25, U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, along with Representatives Annie Kuster and Chris Pappas, held a virtual press conference with health care stakeholders to talk about the consequences of the New Hampshire Executive Council’s decision to reject $27 million in federal vaccine funding. According to a press release, the delegation discussed how this move has hurt prevention efforts across the state as Covid cases and hospitalizations continue to surge. “New Hampshire is one of four states with the highest numbers of infection rates,” Shaheen said in the press conference. “We’ve done our jobs. The federal delegation got the money that the State of New Hampshire said it needed. And when the federal government wasn’t forthcoming with what the state said it needed, we went back and we got those additional funds. Now it’s time for the Governor and the Republican Executive Councilors to do their jobs and to protect the health and safety of the people of this state.” Gov. Chris Sununu had encouraged the Executive Council to approve the federal funding and said in a statement after the vote that the council had shown “a reckless disregard for the lives we are losing while they turn away the tools our state needs to fight and win this battle against Covid.”
Meanwhile, the Joint Fiscal Committee voted to accept a proposal from the Department of Health and Human Services to use $4.7 million in ARPA funds to help compensate for the money that was rejected by the Executive Council, according to a press release. “New Hampshire is the only state in the U.S. to reject CDC vaccine funding, which has limited our ability to control how the vaccines are provided to Granite Staters. Today’s vote was long overdue and I hope the approved funds can be quickly implemented to make up for lost time,” Rep. Mary Jane Wallner said in a statement after the vote. In a statement, Gov. Chris Sununu said, “This funding is critical to ensure boosters are available to the State’s vulnerable and at risk populations, and will support Regional Public Health Networks to set up efficient vaccine clinics to improve access for individuals and parents who wish to have their children vaccinated.”
Sports betting
Nashua residents will vote on whether to allow physical sportsbook retail locations in the city, while Portsmouth residents will vote on KENO 603 during city elections on Tuesday, Nov. 2. According to a press release, the sports betting legislation was written to provide individual communities with the option to vote on whether to allow the operation of sportsbook retail locations within their communities, while the KENO 603 legislation allows communities the option of allowing that game by putting it on election ballots or town meeting warrants. So far, the release said, 20 communities have approved retail sportsbooks over the past two years, including Manchester, Candia, Derry, Hudson, Londonderry, Pelham, Pembroke, Salem and Windham, and 89 New Hampshire communities have approved KENO 603 during city elections and town meetings.
Police walks
The Manchester Police Community Affairs Division’s 2021 Fall Senior Walks continue, with the next one happening Monday, Nov. 1, at Livingston Park (meet in the parking lot near the playground), followed by one on Monday, Nov. 8, at the Massabesic Lake Trail (meet in the paved parking lot off Londonderry Turnpike, just south of the Massabesic Traffic Circle). According to a press release, these walks allow seniors to spend time with Manchester Police Officers while exercising, socializing and exploring different parts of the city. The walks are about 2 to 3 miles and take about an hour. Both of these walks start at 9 a.m. Visit manchesterpd.com for a full list of walk dates and locations.
Bilingual liaisons
The Manchester School District will hire three additional bilingual liaisons to improve communication with families who don’t speak English, according to an Oct. 25 report from NHPR. The Board of School Committee approved the positions at its Oct. 25 meeting and increased the starting salary from $20 per hour to $25 per hour. The district currently has two Spanish-language liaisons to serve approximately 1,600 Spanish-speaking families, the NHPR report said, and the district is hoping to hire additional staff to work with families who speak some of the city’s most common non-English languages, like Spanish, Vietnamese, Nepali or Portuguese. According to the report, the decision was made amidst pressure on the district to better serve English language learners and recently arrived immigrant families. Bilingual liaisons will interpret between English and a parents’ home language, as well as host workshops and conduct outreach to families. Federal Covid relief funds will provide a portion of these salaries, the release said.
More than 100 people gathered at the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum in Warner on Oct. 11 to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day. According to a press release, a panel discussion aimed at supporting local Native voices was followed by drumming and dancing.
The Bedford Police Department has teamed up with BeBOLD, a Bedford-based nonprofit drug awareness, education and prevention coalition, to recognize Red Ribbon Week (Oct. 23 through Oct. 31) with an initiative called “Bedford Goes Red.” According to a press release, the community is invited to use red lights and/or red bows or ribbons on their homes and businesses. Free ribbons and lights are available for free while supplies last at Primary Bank in the Harvest Market Plaza and at Cohen Closing and Title on Route 101, and red light bulbs are available at Bedford ACE Hardware.
The Merrimack Rotary Club will host an electronics recycling fundraiser on Saturday, Oct. 30, at the Merrimack Town Hall from 8 a.m. to noon, raising money for scholarships and community projects. According to a press release, the event is a drive-by dropoff for electronics ranging from telephones and speakers ($5) to computers and laptops ($20) to air conditioners and large flat-screen TVs ($35). The club guarantees a 95-percent recycling rate, with components disassembled and recycled, not ending up in landfills, the release said.
Whether you like extreme scares or less intense frights, this Halloween season has some-thing for everyone. Check out this guide to kid and family events, adult happenings, trick-or-treat times, haunted attractions and more.
ALSO ON THE COVER, teenage angst and an accidental murder are mixed with ’80s rock music in Cue Zero’s dark comedy Heathers the Musical, p. 20. Get your tickets now for the Nov. 4 Fall Festivus in Concord, p. 30. And hit the one-day drive-thru Gyro & Baklava pop-up in Nashua, p. 31.
Homemade biscotti have been in my baking repertoire for ages. However, the majority of my biscotti baking has been focused on sweet baked goods. More recently I have come to discover the delightfulness of savory biscotti.
This is the perfect time of year for an introduction to these savory biscotti. With cooler weather arriving, fall is practically begging you to turn your oven on and create some baked goods. Plus, this season usually heralds the returns of soups and stews, which are even more enjoyable when served with a carb-centric side. But forget cornbread and biscuits next time and try biscotti instead.
There are so many reasons to pair these biscotti with your soup or stew. As they are twice-baked and crunchy, they have the perfect consistency for dipping in the broth. Plus, biscotti keep really well, so you can make them when you have a little bit of time and store them until you need them.
Ingredient note: If you don’t have Parmesan on hand, any other hard cheese could be used as a substitute, such as romano or asiago.
Michele Pesula Kuegler has been thinking about food her entire life. Since 2007, the New Hampshire native has been sharing these food thoughts and recipes at her blog, Think Tasty. Visit thinktasty.com to find more of her recipes.
Savory Parmesan biscotti Makes 24
1/3 cup salted butter, softened 3 Tablespoons sugar 2 eggs 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup shredded Parmesan 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1 teaspoon dried basil 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan (for sprinkling)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer on speed 2 for 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. In a separate bowl, stir flour, baking powder, salt, 3/4 cup Parmesan, oregano and basil together. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients and mix on speed 2 for 1 minute.. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a 10″ x 3″ rectangle, using floured hands. Set loaves 2″ apart on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes or until the dough is set. Leaving the oven on, remove the biscotti loaves and cool for 15 minutes on baking sheet. Using a butcher’s knife, cut the loaves into diagonal slices, 3/4″ thick. Place slices on cookie sheet with the cut sides down. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes. Turn over slices, and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan. Bake for an additional 8 to 9 minutes. Remove biscotti from oven, and transfer to a baking rack to cool completely.
