Category: Food

The Weekly Dish 25/11/13

• Poker hand pub crawl: Following up on last year’s success, the United Way of Greater Nashua is hosting a Poker Hand Pub Crawl on Saturday, Nov. 15. Participants will visit five downtown venues, collecting playing cards with drink purchases at each stop. The player with the best poker hand wins a cash prize, and all proceeds support United Way’s programs. Registration is $25, which includes event entry, a free drink, a map of participating locations, and chances to win raffle prizes. Visit tinyurl.com/uwpubcrawl25.

• Murphy’s Taproom closes: In an Oct. 25 announcement on its Facebook page, Murphy’s Taproom’s announced the closing of its Manchester location at 494 Elm St. at the end of October. “As hard as it is to walk away from Elm Street, I have reluctantly concluded that it is in the best interests of the business, its employees, and most importantly my family to concentrate our efforts at the beautiful Bedford facility … We were glad for many years. Thanks for the memories, Manchester,” the announcement read. Murphy’s Taproom and Carriage House at 393 Route 101 in Bedford remains open; see murphystaproom.com.

• The beers of New England: The Bedford Village Inn (2 Olde Bedford Way, Bedford, 472-2001, bedfordvillageinn.com) will host a four-course dinner featuring beer pairings from New England breweries in the Inn’s Great Hall on Friday, Nov. 14, at 6 p.m. The evening will begin with a casual cocktail hour featuring two craft beers and passed canapés before moving on to a four-course seated dinner, each course paired with a beer from one of New England’s local breweries. Tickets for this 21+ event must be purchased in advance, which you can do via the website.

• Corks and Queens: Corks and Queens, a drag brunch hosted by Sasha Stone, will take place on Sunday, Nov. 16, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Unwined Wine Bar (1 Nashua St. in Milford). A cast of iconic queens and kings will dance and sing the day away, with hits from Broadway throughout the years, according to the event description on eventbrite.com, where you can purchase tickets for $28.52 plus fees.

Delhi Cooler

  • 2 ounces London dry gin
  • ¾ ounces pineapple juice
  • ¾ ounces fresh squeezed lime juice
  • ¾ ounces curry syrup (see below)

Combine all ingredients over ice in a cocktail shaker and shake thoroughly, until the ice starts to break up. Strain over fresh ice in a small Collins glass.

The ingredients in this drink all get along, but they all maintain their own identities. The result is less like the mosh pit at a concert and more like a collegial workplace. Each ingredient stands out. If you concentrate, the lime seems to be the dominant flavor, or the pineapple, or maybe the gin. If you were a little nervous about the curry syrup — and admit it, you probably were — you can relax. The garam masala lends a gentle spiciness to this whole operation, with the tiniest bit of heat on the very tail end of each sip.

Calling this a cooler implies that it would be a good conclusion to a hot, dusty afternoon, but in fact it’s a very good way to embrace a rainy November one.

Curry Syrup

  • 1 cup (198 g) granulated sugar
  • 1 cup (227 g) water
  • 1 Tablespoon ground garam masala — Most whole spices should be replaced once a year, but ground spices and spice mixes go stale much more quickly and are really only good for six months or so. This will be a good excuse for you to buy some fresh curry spices. The pre-ground stuff is fine for this application, but if you decide you want to go a step further, buy a bag of whole garam masala spices, toast them in a dry pan when you want them, and grind them yourself.

Heat all three ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Let the mixture boil for 30 seconds or so, to make certain that the sugar has gone completely into solution, then remove from the heat. Let the mixture steep for 20 to 30 minutes, then strain it, and store it in your refrigerator for a couple of weeks.

Some thoughts on straining:

Swirling this syrup around in its pan will show you that the spice mixture has not dissolved into the syrup. It has flavored it, and largely sunk to the bottom of the pan, but has not completely committed to this operation. Letting the syrup sit for an hour or so to let the curry precipitate out will help, but you’ll probably want to filter the syrup even so.

A fine-meshed strainer will not be fine enough to catch the small curry particles. Yes, you can use a coffee filter, but that might be too fine and will clog up easily. A year or two ago I bought some slightly coarser strainers from a science lab supplier, but if you don’t need to strain things like this very often, go ahead and use the strainer and line it with an old T-shirt. Just wash it first.

Featured photo: Dehli Cooler. Photo by John Fladd.

Gluten free, teen owned

New Boston bakery focuses on sweat treats

New Boston teen Marley Godbois has set up her own gluten-free bakery, The Cupcake ’Porium (facebook.com/GFcupcakesNH).

“It’s a teen-owned cottage bakery,” Godbois said. “It follows the cottage laws in New Hampshire. And it’s gluten-free. It has muffins, cookies, cupcakes, cakes, all that stuff.”

Godbois, who is a junior in high school, sells her baked goods from her family’s home and provides baked goods for The Cure Cafe (8 Mill St., New Boston, 741-5016, curellc.toast.site).

“I usually make about two dozen cookies … and a dozen muffins for the cafe downtown,” she said. “And then, depending on the week, I also make mini cakes, which are just cupcakes but in mini loaf pans.” There are often special orders. “I have a festival this week where I’m baking 150 cookies and 100 mini cakes,” she said.

Shortly after she started baking — “When Covid happened, I was stuck inside all day, with nothing else to do” — Godbois discovered an underserved market for her gluten-free treats.

“My mom kind of has … a gluten allergy and I have a sensitivity to [gluten]. And it’s just really hard to find good gluten-free stuff.” She discovered that many of her peers had an understanding of what gluten is and wanted to buy from her.

For the most part, Godbois said, her customers are looking for rich, indulgent baked goods.

“The most popular things are really anything with chocolate and peanut butter. I have a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie and a chocolate peanut butter cake, which is a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and then a little half of a peanut butter cup on top. I also have a chai latte cake; I make a spice mix that’s just like all the spices that are in chai, and then it’s just a pumpkin cake with that added in. It’s spicy.”

With the holidays approaching, Godbois has been experimenting and developing new recipes.

“We have like a Thanksgiving menu that we’re going to send out after Halloween is over. It’s the pumpkin chai, but there’s a carrot cake with an orange cream cheese buttercream. There’s the chocolate peanut butter thing, of course, with chocolate cake and peanut butter frosting. And then chocolate Oreos, which is just the same chocolate base with gluten-free Oreos chopped up inside it and a buttercream with Oreo crumbs in it, with a half of an Oreo on top.”

Godbois said that while she sells some of her baked goods in person, a lot of her business involves social media.

“I have a Facebook page,” she said. “I have Instagram. We have a cart out in front of our house every Friday and Saturday, and sometimes Sundays if we have leftover stuff. And then Cafe, obviously. We have an order form on Facebook, and customers can reach out by email or Facebook Messenger.”

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Residency to restaurant?

Cap Center seeks next culinary artist

The Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord is starting the search for its third Culinary Artist in Residence. According to Salvatore Prizio, the Executive Director of the Capitol Center, the residency is a way to help individual community members and to broaden Concord’s food landscape, while improving the experience for audiences attending events at the Capitol Center.

“This program,” Prizio said, “allows new Americans or folks who have been economically disadvantaged the opportunity to pursue a passion and open up a restaurant with minimal risk [and] utilize our commercial kitchens for a 12- or 18-month residency to start a restaurant. Eventually, our goal is that they, when they leave us, either go to a brick-and-mortar or they start a ghost kitchen somewhere or they start a food truck. Most restaurants fail in their first year. We provide the ability for [our Culinary Artists in Residence] to minimize that risk.”

The CCA’s first Culinary Artist in Residence was Batulo Mohamed, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“She was our first candidate,” Prizio said, “and she sold Somali meat pies and Somali delicacies at the BNH stage. She developed a great business catering, and then she saved up enough through the time that she was with us to buy a food truck. Now she has one of the most popular food trucks in New Hampshire.”

The Capitol Center’s second Culinary Artist in Residence is Susan Chung, owner of Sue’s Kimbap House, which is working out of the Capitol Center’s Bank of NH Stage. Chung said her residency has been a learning experience she wouldn’t have had any other way.

“It’s been amazing,” she said. “It’s been difficult, but I’ve learned a lot for sure. But the wonderful thing about this is that it really helped me and will probably help the next person be able to take [a restaurant idea] from a thought and a concept to reality. The team that the Capitol Center provides helps with everything in all aspects of the restaurant industry and what it takes — things that you wouldn’t even think about if you didn’t have a restaurant previously.”

Much like her predecessor, Batulo Mohamed, Chung is planning to use her experience with the Capitol Center to launch a food business that follows a different path than a traditional brick-and-mortar restaurant.

“So the great thing is, I’m here until April,” she said, “But starting Nov. 1, I have some exciting news that I’m going to [launch] a meal-prep business along with this restaurant for the next five months.” She said the meal-prep business will start by offering kits to make Korean dishes at first, then eventually dishes from other styles of cooking. “Right now we’re going to offer all of the favorites from our restaurant, like bibimbap, japchae, the combo bulgogi, and a few others. And not only will it be Korean food, it will be other foods as well. It’ll have a rotating menu.”

For Salvatore Prizio, seeing unique new businesses like Mohamed’s and Chung’s hints at opportunities to explore cuisines and business models new to the area.

“We had this amazing Somali food the first time around,” he said. “We have Korean food. Is there another community in the area that we could connect with via a food opportunity that’s not currently being offered on the street or in our area? We want to find somebody who has the willingness to commit to this for a minimum of 12 months and has the personal stamina to commit to the project. We want to see an enthusiasm for it, and see some creativity. Are they willing to innovate? Are they willing to embrace technology?”

For Susan Chung, operating out of the same building as a theater provides a unique way to combine food, media and technology.

“We’ve gotten approval for a K-Pop Demon Hunters dance party in February,” she said. “I think it’s going to be so much fun where everyone can get kimbap and all the food items that are in the movie.

Featured photo: Susan Chung and her family. Courtesy photo.

The Weekly Dish 25/11/06

By John Fladd
jfladd@hippopress.com

• Tavern in the Square: Tavern in the Square (125 S. River Road, Bedford, 635-4445, taverninthesquare.com/locations/bedford-nh) has opened at a new location in the Market and Main complex in Bedford. Serving upscale comfort food, the restaurant will open daily at 11:30 a.m.

• Street tacos: T&T Way taco shop (138 Main St., Nashua, 417-5910, ttwaynh.com) has opened. Serving upscale interpretations of authentic Mexican street food, it is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 12:59 a.m.

• Greek food at the mall: Zeus Mediterranean Grill has opened in the food court at the Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester. It is open Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

• Hooksett pizza grand opening: According to the Hooksett Chamber of Commerce newsletter there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Nakis Pizza & Bar (1558 Hooksett Road, Hooksett, 485-5515, nakispizza.com) Thursday, Nov. 6, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The restaurant offers pizza for pickup or delivery 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week.

• Community comfort: According to an announcement on its Facebook page, Honey Cup Cafe & Tearoom (150 Bridge St., Manchester, 836-6008, honeycupnh.com) will be open for Neighborhood Night every Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. and will offer a free comfort meal of a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup or chips at no cost, no questions asked, “until the government opens.” Dine-in only. Ask for “the special.”

Apple Bars, or maybe Cake

These apple bars might actually be bars. But this might also be a cake. Or it could be a pan of apple blondies. This dessert’s status depends on the belief of an individual snacker.

  • 12 ounces (340 g) diced apples, about three fist-sized apples; I like to mix it up and use a couple of different types – Granny Smiths and Braeburns, for instance
  • ½ cup (1 stick) butter
  • 1½ cups flour (180 g) – I find whole wheat works well for rich, brown baked goods like this, but regular all-purpose flour will work just as well
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
  • ¾ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1½ cups (320 g) brown sugar
  • 1 egg plus one or two egg yolks – you probably have some yolks left over from making the pumpkin soufflé (see page 17)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla or dark rum
  • pinch of coarse salt

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Line an 8×8” baking pan with parchment paper. If the parchment seems reluctant to stay in the pan, put a dot of butter between the pan and the paper to hold everything in place.

Melt the butter in a small skillet, then pour almost all of it into a dish to cool off. Fry the apple pieces in the remaining butter until they start to brown slightly, then remove the pan from the heat.

In a mixing bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and spices. Set the mixture aside to psych itself up for its big moment.

In a second bowl — it could be the bowl to your stand mixer, but it doesn’t have to be — whisk the melted butter and sugar together thoroughly. Whisk in the egg and extra yolk, then the vanilla or dark rum. When the gloppy ingredients are all mixed, stir in the dry ingredients, one half at a time, then stir in the fried apples.

Transfer the apple batter to the parchment-lined baking pan, and bake on the center rack of your oven for 40 minutes or so. You can use a toothpick to judge how done it is, or just pat it gingerly, like you would a lizard. It should be golden brown and not squishy. The apple bars, not a lizard, though he probably shouldn’t be squishy either.

Let the bars — or maybe it’s a cake — cool in the pan. Eat warm with vanilla ice cream, or cool and chewy for breakfast.

Featured photo: Apple bar with ice cream. Photo by John Fladd.

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