Category: Food

News from the local food scene

• New poké: Poké BonBon (232-2464, pokebonbon.com) has opened in Manchester at 1000 Elm St., inside across from Hop Knot. Focusing on Asian- and Pacific-inspired dishes, it is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

• New tea: On its website, the new Honey Cup Cafe & Tearoom (150 Bridge St., Manchester, 836-6008, honeycupnh.com) describes itself as “Manchester’s first and only tearoom, dedicated to offering delicious bites, a wide variety of tea and coffee beverages, as well as innovative non-alcoholic cocktails and soft drinks.” It is open Tuesday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

• Happy birthday wine: LaBelle Winery (345 Route 101, Amherst, or 14 Route 111, Derry, 672-9898, labellewinery.com) announced the release of a special limited-edition wine to commemorate the 90th birthday of the New Hampshire Liquor Commission (50 Storrs St., Concord, 230-7015, gov.liquorandwineoutlets.com). As part of the Commission’s “90 Years of Cheers” campaign, LaBelle Winery has created Granite Anniversary Red, an artisan red blend that offers fruit-forward flavor with blackberry notes, a rich tannin structure and a smooth, dry finish. It has been crafted by winemaker Amy LaBelle. It is available in New Hampshire State Liquor Stores, where it retails for $24.99 a bottle.

• Gnocchi and vino: Learn how to make ricotta gnocchi from scratch and pair it with wine. Chef Jarret will teach a hands-on class at Tuscan Market (Tuscan Village, 9 Via Toscana, Salem, 912-5467, tuscanbrands.com) Sunday, Nov. 17, from 10 a.m. to noon, which will also include a demonstration on how to make the perfect sauce to pair with your gnocchi. Tickets are $70 and are available through the Tuscan Market website.

• Cleaner, greener beverages: In an Oct. 31 press release, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that New Hampshire has been selected to receive $265,000 in grants. The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (des.nh.gov) “will provide technical assistance to New Hampshire’s craft beverage sector with an emphasis on reducing environmental and health impacts for businesses and disadvantaged communities,” the press release read. The goal, the EPA said, will be “implementing environmentally friendly practices which save energy, conserve water, minimize wastewater, avoid toxic or hazardous chemicals, and reduce greenhouse gases.”

• Brunch: The Hop Knot (1000 Elm St., Manchester, 232-3731, hopknotnh.com) will host a drag brunch Sunday, Nov. 17, beginning at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. A diverse cast of performers from the New England area will put on show-stopping performances as you eat. Tickets are $25 through eventbrite.com.

Limes

You’ll need around 4 limes, altogether

Cake

2¼ cups (284 g) heavy cream – cool, but not cold

1½ cups (297 g) sugar

2 teaspoons kosher or coarse sea salt

4 eggs + 1 egg yolk

1 Tablespoon baking powder

3 cups (318 g) pastry or all-purpose flour

Frosting

4 cups (908 g) very cold heavy cream

An 8-ounce package of mascarpone cheese

¾ cup (86 g) powdered sugar

1 Tablespoon vanilla paste or extract

½ teaspoon salt

Mangoes

4 large, ripe mangoes, peeled and chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and line two cake pans with parchment paper.

Zest and juice all four limes. Set them aside — they’re going in everything; if the mangos weren’t so dramatic, this would be the base for a very credible lime cake.

With a hand mixer, or in a stand mixer, combine 1 teaspoon or so of lime zest, 2 Tablespoons of lime juice, the smaller amount of heavy cream, sugar, and salt. Beat the mixture until it looks like whipped cream (which it mostly is). Mix in the eggs and yolk, one at a time, then the baking powder and flour, a few spoonfuls at a time. Beat everything until it is completely mixed; you might have to scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice.

Divide the cake batter between your two prepared cake pans, and smooth the tops out with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until they are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven, and set aside to cool.

When the cake has cooled, start making the frosting. (If you’ve always wondered what the difference is between icing and frosting: frosting is fluffier. This will be very fluffy.)

Combine another teaspoon or so — more, if you’re feeling daring — of lime zest, another two Tablespoons of lime juice, and the rest of the frosting ingredients together with your hand or stand mixer. Go slowly at first. As the mixture starts to thicken up, gradually boost the speed to medium-high. Beat the frosting until it is thick and fluffy.

Peel and chop your mangoes, then toss the chunks in lime juice to keep them from darkening. Set them aside.

If the cakes are cool, take them out of their pans, peel the parchment paper from their bottoms, and carefully cut them in half horizontally, giving yourself four thin layers.

Glop a generous amount of frosting onto the first layer of cake, and spread it out to cover the whole surface. An offset spatula is a very good tool for this. Alternatively, the back of a large spoon will work. Sprinkle ¼ of the mango chunks on top of the frosting, then top them with another layer of cake. Repeat the process, until you have four layers of cake stacked, a large handful of mango chunks left, and about half the frosting left in your bowl.

Use the rest of the frosting to generously cover the top and sides of the cake, then top it with the remaining mango pieces. Make peace with the fact that the plate the cake is on will be a mess. Don’t worry. When you’re done, wipe it down with a paper towel, and you’ll look like Martha Stewart.

When you’re ready to serve the cake, run a chef’s knife under hot water before each slice, to make the slices come out cleanly.

This is a real showstopper of a cake. It looks magnificent and tastes very classy. The frosting isn’t very sweet, so you get sophistication points, but the cake is, so things even out. The lime-cured mango gives off little pops of flavor in most bites. Given what an extravagant cake this is, you’ll get a surprising amount of credit for your restraint.

Get Polish eats at Holy Trinity’s Frozen Food Sale

By John Fladd
[email protected]

If you’ve been waiting all year for Polish food, it’s time to order it.

The Holy Trinity Cathedral’s big fundraising event of the year is its annual Frozen Polish Food Sale. According to Karen Sobiechowski, one of the organizers, unless you personally have a Polish grandmother this might be your best chance to score some authentic homemade Polish food.

“We are selling potato and cheese pierogi and cabbage pierogi,” she said. “We’re selling kapusta, which is like a sauerkraut cabbage with pork in it. We’re selling kielbasa, and then we have also golabki, which are stuffed cabbage.”

Sobiechowski said the parish didn’t always sell its food frozen.

“We used to have a holiday fair for many, many years,” she said, “and people would line up around the block to buy their Polish food. We had a few more parishioners back in the day, and as you might imagine we were all getting older, and when Covid hit we took a year off. We didn’t do a holiday fair where we would serve hot food or anything, because people were afraid to come out.”

Like many parishes, Holy Trinity found that its pool of volunteers was getting smaller and older. Some of them “were frail or some had passed on,” Sobiechowski said. She said the secret to pulling off a big food event like the Frozen Food Sale is pacing. “We don’t have the same team we had before. There’s fewer of us, so we have to plan our volunteer hours and do the best we can. The frozen food sale seems to work, because it satisfies people’s needs for good Polish food that they like, but it’s a lot of work to make it yourself. So we do the work for you, but you can take it home and have it at your leisure with your family.”

Each year there is a large demand for Holy Trinity’s food.

“It’s nice to see the smiles on people’s faces when they get their Polish food,” Sobiechowski said. “We’re having this close to the holidays, and so people that we only see occasionally, you know, that may not be part of the parish, but maybe their grandparents were or something, or people that just know about the food that we sell here, and they’re just always so happy to get it again and to be able to share it with their families.”

The food is so popular that Sobiechowski and her team have had to put limits on the amount of certain foods that people can buy.

“There’s a limit of four dozen [pierogi] per person on each order, so it would be a total of four dozen in any combination of those,” she said.

What makes Polish food so popular?

“Well, fat equals flavor,” Sobiechowski said, “let’s put it that way. I won’t go into detail, but we use good-quality products and everything, but it’s made with love. It’s just hearty food. [Traditionally], the Polish peasants had to sustain themselves for the work that they had to do, and so it’s hearty. There’s potatoes and cabbage — whatever grew in that environment. … Nowadays, it reminds us of the food our grandmothers would make, and so there’s a connection with the past.”

Sobiechowski is personally excited about the cabbage pierogi. “I’ve had them in other places,” she said, “and they’re not the same as here. And I’ve tried making them at home and they don’t come out quite the same. But they’re really, really good.”

She is always impressed at the power Polish food — or any food — has to bring people together at the holidays. “Sometimes there are people who might not be on the best of terms with one another,” Sobiechowski said, “but when they share food, things are forgiven and forgotten, and they can move ahead. It’s a really neat thing to happen.”

The Holy Trinity Cathedral’s Frozen Food Sale
When: Saturday, Dec. 7, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Where: at the Cathedral’s rectory at 166 Pearl St. in Manchester
Food can be ordered now. The order form can be found on the Cathedral’s website: holytrinitypncc.org. The organizers encourage you to order early, because the foods are limited and sold on a first-come-first-served basis. Sales are cash or check only. Call the rectory at 622-4524, or email [email protected].

Featured Photo: Filling Orders. Courtesy photo.

News from the local food scene

• More coffee: Popular coffee provider Aroma Joe’s (aromajoes.com) has announced the opening of two new locations in Nashua. One location, which has already opened, is inside the Hannaford supermarket at 175 Coliseum Ave; it is a 180-square-foot walk-up coffee shop. The second location, slated to open later this month, will be at 495 Amherst St., next to Nashua Community College, and will offer dine-in and drive-thru services.

• Showcase tickets: There are still tickets available for the 11th Annual Distiller’s Showcase at the Doubletree Expo Center (700 Elm St., Manchester, 625-1000) Thursday, Nov. 7, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. More than 600 spirits purveyors and 25+ restaurants will provide samples and information about their products. Tickets are $75 through eventbrite.com. Proceeds will benefit the New Hampshire Food Bank.

• Wine tasting: There will be a 2nd Anniversary Party & Free Wine Tasting at Wine on Main (9 N. Main St., Concord, 897-5828, wineonmainnh.com) Saturday, Nov. 9. Ambra from Crush distributors will be there for a free wine tasting from 1 to 4 p.m.

• Food and beer pairing: The Barley House Restaurant and Tavern (132 N. Main St., Concord, 228-6363, thebarleyhouse.com) will partner with Henniker Brewing Co. (129 Centervale Road, Henniker, 428-3579, hennikerbrewing.com) for a Harvest Beer Dinner on Saturday, Nov. 9, at 6 p.m. at the Barley House, with a social hour in the bar beginning at 5 p.m. Food will be paired with beer from Henniker Brewing. Tickets are $85 per person.

• Anniversary party: Flag Hill Winery and Distillery (297 N. River Road, Lee, 659-2949, flaghill.com) will celebrate 30 years of wine making and 20 years of distilling with a 1999 Party on Sunday, Nov. 10, from 3 to 8 p.m. Attendees will have an opportunity to mingle with fellow wine and spirit enthusiasts, and meet the distillers who crafted wines and spirits for Flag Hill over the years. Sip handcrafted cocktails and savor bites while enjoying live music. Tickets begin at $75, through eventbrite.com.