Category: Food

Coffee and beer

It’s a magical combination

I go into most weekends with high expectations for my own productivity.

Generally speaking, though, my expectations rarely prove to be anything other than unrealistic. I have visions of yard work, cooking elaborate meals, tackling some long overdue painting, cleaning out the garage and any number of other chores and tasks.

Aside from the fact that my kids have dizzying weekend schedules sending my wife and me criss-crossing town for the bulk of the day, I am also just one person.

By 3:30 p.m. or so most Saturdays or Sundays, I find myself in a familiar spot: tired, maybe a little frustrated and probably stressed — and probably having made minimal progress on my to-do list. A cup of coffee would pick me up but maybe amplify my stress. A beer might nudge me toward completely giving up on my productive goals.

Perhaps I could combine the two? Well, you know, a coffee stout isn’t going to provide a caffeine boost but a slow-sipping brew featuring big notes of roasted coffee and dark chocolate might be just what the doctor ordered for easing frustration, while still allowing some modicum of productivity. Or maybe I just have a never-ending ability to find ways to justify having a beer?

I’ve written about coffee stouts and porters before and I’ll write about them again. These beers are like a coffee drinker’s dream: smooth, creamy brews boasting rich flavors of decadent coffee. And, might I add, it’s the perfect time of year to explore darker beers. Picture yourself spending the day Christmas shopping and running holiday-related errands, and then turning to a deliciously smooth coffee-flavored brew as you shake off the edginess from navigating holiday crowds.

In the age of buying local, brewers are more and more turning to local coffee roasters to flavor their coffee brews as well, which is a great touch resulting in unique, flavorful beers. And you can feel good about supporting your local economy.

Thankfully, craft brewers have fully embraced this style. Here are five coffee stouts and porters from the region to help you get through this busy and hopefully somewhat productive month.

Java Roots by Granite Roots Brewing (Troy)

This is just a coffee and chocolate bomb in a smooth, silky package. Granite Roots sources its coffee beans for this brew from Barrington Coffee Roasting Co., which is based in western Massachusetts. A perfect iteration of the coffee stout.

Gunner’s Daughter with Coffee by Mast Landing Brewing Co. (Westbrook, Maine)

The original Gunner’s Daughter boasts huge notes of peanut butter, chocolate and coffee and the “with Coffee” version — you guessed it — features an even bigger coffee presence. Decadent doesn’t seem to cover this beer. This is dessert in a glass.

Gepetto by Schilling Beer Co. (Littleton)

The brewery makes the late addition of whole-bean coffee in this brew, which results in a slightly sweet brew that features not only coffee but also sweet chocolate and marshmallow. It’s kind of like drinking a glass of coffee milk, which my mother reminded me was my favorite childhood drink.

Velvet Moon by Mighty Squirrel Brewing Brewing Co. (Waltham, Mass.)

This brew is especially smooth and creamy and relies on a blend of Honduran, Nicaraguan and Ethiopian beans from Atomic Coffee Roasters for its unique, amplified coffee flavor. This one hits you with waves of coffee.

Coffee Cake Porter by 603 Brewery (Londonderry)

While this has plenty of rich coffee flavor, this brew goes beyond that with coffee flavors complemented by notes of vanilla, cinnamon and a little smokiness. This is perfect for the holiday season.

What’s in My Fridge
Samuel Adams Old Fezziwig by Boston Beer Co. (Boston)
This is such a nostalgic choice for me, as I have many memories of enjoying this brew during holiday get-togethers. What I like about this brew is that it does have a little holiday sweetness and spice, but it’s not overpowering. This is quite drinkable, while still feeling like you’ve captured the holiday season in a glass. Cheers!

Featured photo: Coffee and beer together as one. Courtesy photo.

Roasted beet terrine

Beets. They definitely were a vegetable that I did not appreciate nor enjoy as a kid. Now that I am an adult, they have moved quite high on the list of ingredients I enjoy cooking (and eating). I have noticed that they appear on many more restaurant menus as well, so I am not alone in my thinking.

If you are intrigued by beets or want to start using them in your cooking, this is a great recipe. It allows the beets to shine, it has an elegant look and the effort to make it is minimal. The entire recipe does require many hours, but the majority of that time is spent roasting, cooling and setting. Active cooking time is only 30 minutes or so.

The trickiest part of this recipe is the peeling of the beets. I have done this multiple times and have a few tips: (1) Let the beets cool a little bit, so they are easier to handle. (2) Have a generous supply of paper towels, as they aid in removing the skin and they keep your hands from turning purple. (3) If you don’t want a residual pink hue, wear gloves.

Once you have the beet peeling under control, the rest of the recipe is a simple mix of slicing, mixing and layering. From that effort you will have a delicious and beautiful appetizer.

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.

Roasted beet terrine
Serves 6

4 small beets
5½ ounces soft goat cheese
4 Tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
Freshly ground black pepper
Honey
2 Tablespoons sliced almonds
Flaked sea salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Wrap each beet in foil and place in oven; roast for 45 minutes or until fork tender.
Remove beets from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes.
Using a paper towel, remove skin from beets; allow to cool fully.
Slice beets thinly.
Combine goat cheese and Greek yogurt until blended. Season to taste with black pepper.
Line a 9″x5″ loaf pan with plastic wrap.
Place a single layer of beets on the bottom of the pan.
Top beets with half of the goat cheese mixture.
Repeat with another layer of beets followed by remaining goat cheese mixture.
Top with final layer of beets.
Wrap plastic wrap around top of beets; refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Unwrap terrine and transfer to a serving plate.
Sprinkle almonds on top of terrine, drizzle with honey, and finish with a sprinkle of salt.
Cut into slices, and serve.

Photo: Roasted beet terrine. Courtesy photo.

In the kitchen with Gabe DiSaverio

Gabe DiSaverio combined his two greatest passions — spicy food and sharks — with the launch of The Spicy Shark (570-2604, thespicyshark.com, and on Facebook and Instagram @thespicyshark), a line of products that includes craft hot sauces, wing sauce, Sriracha, hot honey and hot syrups using all natural ingredients. Since the first bottle of hot sauce was sold in February 2019, the Portsmouth-based company has gone on to win multiple national awards, and DiSaverio and his team have participated in various festivals and shows all over the country. Born in Manhattan and raised in northern New Jersey, DiSaverio attributes his love of spicy food to his family’s introducing him to a variety of ethnic cuisines from a young age. His love of sharks, meanwhile, stems from being a lifelong fanatic of the film Jaws — today The Spicy Shark works with and donates to Save the Sharks and several other nonprofits that focus on shark conservation and education. The Spicy Shark will be a featured vendor at both the Made in New England Expo on Saturday, Dec. 4, and Sunday, Dec. 5, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown (700 Elm St.) and the Great New England Holiday Shopping Extravaganza on Friday, Dec. 10, and Saturday, Dec. 11, at the Hampshire Hills Athletic Club (50 Emerson Road, Milford). DiSaverio is also organizing a new event, the first annual New England Hot Sauce Fest, to be held at Smuttynose Brewing Co. in Hampton in July 2022. Proceeds from that festival will benefit the Blue Ocean Society and the Seacoast Science Center. Visit newenglandhotsaucefest.com.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

A Vitamix blender. One thing that’s really key to our sauces is the texture. We [blend] every single one of our sauces to get that consistency that they have come to be known for.

What would you have for your last meal?

My wife’s Thanksgiving pizza. We take a Portland Pie Co. pizza dough and essentially throw all of our Thanksgiving leftovers on it.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

That’s an easy one. That would be Petey’s [Summertime Seafood & Bar] in Rye.

What celebrity would you like to see trying one of your sauces?

Richard Dreyfuss. … Out of the original trio in Jaws, he’s the only one of the three who is still alive. He played Matt Hooper, the marine biologist. I actually got to meet him at SharkCon in Tampa earlier this year.

What is your personal favorite sauce that you make?

Each one is so near and dear to me, but if I had to say just one it would be the Hammah Gatah. I love blazing hot heat, and this sauce is my hottest. I put it on everything.

What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?

Eating local and knowing where your food is coming from. … This is something that’s been going on for a long time but still continues to pick up more and more speed. I see a lot more people being part of CSAs now, my family included.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

This changes all the time, but I would say right now we’ve been perfecting vegan lasagna. We make our own cashew cream and our own homemade marinara sauce.

Hot honey lemon chicken
From the kitchen of Gabe DiSaverio of The Spicy Shark

⅓ cup The Spicy Shark hot honey
¼ cup lemon juice
5 to 7 sprigs fresh rosemary (or 2 teaspoons dried rosemary)
1½ pounds chicken breast tenderloins
½ Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (or nonstick cooking spray)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat or spray tenderloins with the olive oil or cooking spray and place in an 11×7-inch baking dish. Combine hot honey, lemon juice and rosemary into a small bowl and mix well until all ingredients are fully incorporated (if using fresh rosemary, do not put in bowl; add to baking dish in between tenderloins). Pour the sauce over the tenderloins and make sure it gets underneath. Place the baking dish in the oven uncovered and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the thermometer reaches 165 degrees. Flip the tenderloins halfway through cooking (optional: brown both sides in a hot pan on the stove if desired).

Featured photo: Gabe DiSaverio. Courtesy photo.

Farmhouse artisan

The Utopian now open in Amherst

Adam Parker’s culinary journey has taken him from upstate New York all the way down to Boca Raton, Florida, with multiple stints in New Hampshire in between. Now the seasoned chef and Nashua native has his own new spot — a cozy bistro in Amherst specializing in scratch-made small plates, entrees and monthly wine dinners.

The Utopian, now open in the MC Square plaza on Route 101A, is Parker’s first restaurant as owner. He learned about the vacant space that was previously used as A&E’s coffee roastery through a friend and said the pandemic ended up being the ultimate driving force for him.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, [but] with the pandemic I looked around and I said to myself that at any given point everything can come to a screeching halt and I’d rather be in charge of my own destiny,” said Parker, who studied at the Culinary Institute of America and most recently served as the corporate chef overseeing operations at Fratello’s Italian Grille and The Homestead Restaurant & Tavern. “From there it just slowly started coming together.”

Parker said The Utopian’s concept can best be described as “farmhouse artisan,” with tabletops made from repurposed wood and an always changing selection of locally sourced options. The eatery’s name is a nod to Sir Thomas More’s 16th-century book Utopia, a word he coined for a perfect world or place in which people can come together to live in commonality.

Photo courtesy of The Utopian.

The menu combines Parker’s own favorite foods to eat and cook with items his guests have responded well to over the course of his career. There’s a base offering of shareable plates like Parmesan chicken egg rolls, meat and cheese platters, artichoke or Buffalo chicken dips, and porcini ricotta meatballs with sage cream. But Parker has dabbled in a variety of other dishes out of the gate, from beef stroganoff and chicken Marsala to a vegan butternut squash risotto.

He has even added items to his regular menu that originated as individual customer requests.

“I just kind of listen to the environment that’s around me and I try to be in touch with what’s going on. That seems to help,” he said. “Everything’s made fresh and cooked to order, and I really love being able to individually create food for each person.”

For the last decade, Parker has owned New Hampshire Hot Sauce, a purveyor of four signature hot sauces that can be found across 50 different locations across the state, including The Utopian.

Desserts are fresh too, like chocolate peanut butter pie, Key lime pie, chocolate mousse “bombs,” and cannolis with homemade filling. The Utopian also features a full lineup of both local and imported wines, and has begun holding ticketed wine dinners, usually on the first Tuesday of each month. The next available wine dinner is scheduled for Jan. 11.

The Utopian

Where: 135 Route 101A, Unit A1, Amherst
Hours: Wednesday through Friday, 5 to 8:30 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, noon to 8 p.m.
More info: Visit theutopiannh.com or find them on Facebook and Instagram

Featured photo: Photo courtesy of The Utopian.

Gourmet flavors

Delicious eats and more at Made in New England Expo

From artisan chocolates, baked goods and other sweet treats to spice mixes, hot sauces and locally roasted coffees, there will be plenty for foodies to discover at the Made in New England Expo. More than 80 vendors from across New Hampshire and its neighboring states will be selling their products under one roof during the two-day show, which returns to the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown for the fourth year on Saturday, Dec. 4, and Sunday, Dec. 5.

The event was originally conceived following the success of the Made in New Hampshire Expo, a similar multi-day show typically held in late March, said organizer Heidi Copeland, publisher of Business NH magazine and owner of EventsNH.

“We actually do have quite a bit of new vendors this year, because a lot of people at the beginning of the pandemic … were thinking about what they were going to do to make a living, and they ended up starting new businesses,” Copeland said.

Made in New England Expo. Photo by Matthew Lomanno Photography.

One such company is Mixed Up Nut Butter out of Vermont, which offers a line of craft nut butters made from different tree nut blends with pecans, cashews, almonds and more. Two new small-batch coffee roasters based in the Granite State will be there too — Critical Mass Coffee, which has multiple bagged blends of organic fair trade coffee; and Hato Viejo Coffee, a purveyor that sources its beans from the Dominican Republic.

Other newcomers to this year’s expo include Sunshine Baking, a New Hampshire company offering freshly baked shortbread cookies that launched earlier this year, and Pumpkin Blossom Farm, which has several lavender-infused products like a lavender honey and a lavender blueberry drink mixer, as well as soaps, lotions, bath sprays and more.

If you’ve attended the event previously, you’ll likely encounter some familiar faces. Chrismix Candy of Concord, for instance, will be back with its sweet and salty toffees, while Thistle’s All Natural, based in Loudon, will be selling its homemade zucchini salsas.

There is also a small overlap of businesses that have participated in the Made in New Hampshire Expo in past years, like Sap House Meadery of Ossipee, which will have canned selections of its craft meads; Loon Chocolate, a producer of small-batch bean-to-bar chocolates; and Smokin’ Tin Roof, a Manchester husband-and-wife team offering specialty hot sauces, jellies and mustards.

According to Copeland, food exhibitors are not required to offer samples, but per pandemic guidelines, those who do must provide them in individually wrapped or closed containers.

In addition to specialty foods and drinks, companies will be selling everything from jewelry, clothing and personal care products to candles, wildlife photography and various home decor. Copeland said the expo is a great opportunity for attendees to get some holiday shopping done while supporting local businesses.

“There’s always that chance that people are not going to be able to find things they want to order online, or they may be delayed,” she said. “Here, you can go pick something up that’s unique and locally produced, and the money you spend stays here and goes back into the local economy.”

Made in New England Expo

When: Saturday, Dec. 4, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 5, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where: DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown (Expo Center), 700 Elm St., Manchester
Cost: $9 admission for adults, $7 for seniors ages 65 and over, $2 for children ages 2 to 12 and free for children under 2 ($2 per child under 2 if bringing a stroller into the hall). Tickets are only available at the door (cash or check only).
More info: Visit madeinnewenglandexpo.com or follow them on Facebook @madeinnewenglandexpo
Face masks will be required for all attendees.

Featured photo: Made in New England Expo. Photo by Matthew Lomanno Photography.

The Weekly Dish 21/12/02

News from the local food scene

• Lamb dinners to go: Join St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church (1160 Bridge St., Manchester) for its annual baked lamb dinner, a takeout-only drive-thru event happening on Sunday, Dec. 12, from noon to 2 p.m. Now through Tuesday, Dec. 7, orders are being accepted for meals featuring baked leg of lamb au jus, with rice pilaf, Greek-style green beans, a salad and bread for $20 per person. Contact Barbara George at the church office at 623-6115 or via email at [email protected] to reserve your dinner, which will be ready for pickup at the church.

• A piece of the pie: The Nashua Public Library will present a virtual event about savory pies and tarts on Monday, Dec. 6, from 7 to 8 p.m. featuring Chef Liz Barbour of The Creative Feast in Hollis. Barbour will demonstrate her favorite pie dough recipe and prepare a meat pie, with vegetarian options, and a seasonal vegetable tart. Visit nashualibrary.org to register and receive a Zoom invitation link to the event. Barbour has a full schedule of other virtual cooking events throughout the month of December. Visit thecreativefeast.com for more events.

• Brunch with Santa: Get your tickets now before they’re gone to Polar Express brunch at LaBelle Winery in Amherst (345 Route 101) on Saturday, Dec. 18, from 10 a.m. to noon. In addition to assorted scones, muffins and rolls, the menu will feature a multi-course food offering and holiday-inspired cocktails. The event also includes a screening of The Polar Express and photo opportunities with Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus. Admission, after taxes, is $41.31 for adults and $23.09 for kids ages 3 and up. Visit labellewinery.com.

Stay in the loop!

Get FREE weekly briefs on local food, music,

arts, and more across southern New Hampshire!