Category: Food

The Weekly Dish 21/03/18

News from the local food scene

• Greek pastries to go: Join Assumption Greek Orthodox Church (111 Island Pond Road, Manchester) for a drive-thru bake fest on Saturday, March 27, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. An assortment of homemade baked goods and desserts prepared by volunteers and members of the church’s Philoptochos Ladies Society are available to order, like tsoureki (soft round sweet bread), baklava with walnuts and honey syrup, rizogalo (Greek rice pudding), kourambiedes (butter cookies rolled in powdered sugar), finikia (soft cookies flavored with orange zest and topped with crushed walnuts), galaktoboureko (creamy custard with honey lemon syrup) and koulourakia (crisp braided butter cookies), as well as spinach and cheese petas, and pastry sampler platters. Orders are online only and must be placed by March 24. The event is pickup only (no walk-ins) — similar drive-thru fests featuring more Greek meals are also planned for April and May. Visit foodfest.assumptionnh.org.

• King Kone to reopen: Soft-serve ice cream stand King Kone (336 Daniel Webster Highway, Merrimack) will reopen for its 49th season on Saturday, March 20, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., owner George Soffron confirmed. King Kone features around 30 flavors of soft-serve ice cream, more than a half dozen of which are available at a given time. Soffron told the Hippo that the stand will be offering blackberry, coffee and orange flavors of soft-serve during its opening weekend, in addition to the usual chocolate, vanilla and twist — flavors are often rotated out each week on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. This will be the first season that King Kone will be accepting charge cards as a form of payment. The stand will be open Monday through Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday, from noon to 9 p.m., but Soffron said those hours may extend to around 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays during the summer. Visit kingkonenh.com or find them on Facebook @kingkonemerrimack.

• Plant-based palates: The Derry Public Library will hold a virtual presentation on Wednesday, March 24, at 6 p.m., all about plant-based diets. Hannaford dietitian Heidi Tissot will talk about the emerging plant-based eating movement and the foods that fit into this pattern with moderation. She’ll also showcase specific plant-based proteins and other vegan and vegetarian options that you can easily implement in your diet. Visit derry.org to register — a Zoom link will be sent to all participants prior to the program.

• Cocktails and craft brews: Get your tickets now for one of two spring craft beer cocktail dinners at each of the Copper Door Restaurant locations (15 Leavy Drive, Bedford; 41 S. Broadway, Salem), the next installment of the eatery’s “Forks & Corks” dinner series. Happening on Tuesday, April 6, in Salem, and on Wednesday, April 7, in Bedford, each dinner will begin with a reception at 6 p.m., followed by a multi-course meal of items paired with a different cocktail using a local or regional brew as an ingredient. Courses will include frisee salad, roast lamb, blackened halibut tostada, steak frites and an espresso mousse for dessert, while the breweries represented in the cocktail pairings will be 603 Brewery in Londonderry, Stoneface Brewing Co. in Newington, Jack’s Abby in Framingham, Mass., SoMe Brewing Co. in York, Maine, and Woodland Farms Brewery in Kittery, Maine. Tickets are $75 per person and must be purchased online in advance. Visit copperdoor.com.

Bryan Leary

Bryan Leary has been the executive chef of the Oak & Grain Restaurant (Inn at Pleasant Lake, 853 Pleasant St., New London, 873-4833, innatpleasantlake.com) since early 2016. In addition to indoor dining open to the public, the Oak & Grain is now offering seasonally inspired a la carte takeout meals. Its menu options change every two to three weeks but often include locally sourced steaks, seafood, soups and appetizers. Three-course brunches are served on Sundays. A New Hampshire native, Leary has amassed experience in all kinds of cooking styles over the course of his career. He graduated from Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island and later accepted a culinary position at the Scottsdale Fairmont Resort in Arizona. Before coming to the Inn at Pleasant Lake, he worked as a chef at The Grill Room in Portland, Maine.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

Either [a pair of] tongs, or my two-pound meat cleaver.

What would you have for your last meal?

My wife’s enchiladas with charred grilled chicken, and a Coke slurpee.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

I like The Coach House in New London. I also love The Black Trumpet [Bistro in Portsmouth]. Evan [Mallett] is an incredible chef there.

What celebrity would you like to see eating at your restaurant?

Probably [New York chef] Dan Barber. He’s one of my favorites. He’s incredibly smart in terms of food and expanding our horizons into what we should be eating.

What is your favorite thing that you’ve ever featured on your menu?

I really like being able to use product to create something that’s multi-faceted and just unique and different. … So, for example, we’ve done our own Tahitian buttermilk panna cotta from butter we make from local cream.

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

Switching to more of a family-friendly aspect in fine dining. We were strictly French service my first year here … [but] now the atmosphere is more easygoing and approachable.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

Barbecue food, because there’s a lot of complexity that goes into it. I love ribs especially.

Seared Canadian sea scallops and citrus-braised pork belly, with yellow curry yogurt, burnt leek puree, herbs and chicken kombu grains

From the kitchen of Bryan Leary of the Oak & Grain Restaurant, at the Inn at Pleasant Lake in New London

For the burnt leek puree:

Split a full leek down the middle. Rub with oil and burn on the grill or saute pan until black. Chop each side into quarters and place on a sheet tray. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove leek from the oven. Place it in a blender and puree with olive oil just until it is a smooth paste. Season with salt and a little bit of lemon juice. Set aside for plating.

For the yellow curry yogurt:
½ cup Greek yogurt
½ tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon yellow curry
juice of half a lemon

Mix all ingredients together until incorporated. Set aside for plating.

For the chicken kombu:
1 quart chicken stock (pre-bought or homemade)
2 tablespoons tamari (wheat-free soy sauce)
1 sheet kombu seaweed
1 cup mixed grains (quinoa, sorghum, millet or other grain of choice)

Pour chicken stock, soy sauce and kombu seaweed into a saucepan and simmer for 30 minutes.

For the pork cure:
Juice and zest of 1 lime, 1 orange, 2 lemons and 1 grapefruit
½ cup salt
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup bourbon
Pork belly

Mix ingredients together and rub on both sides of the pork belly. Place in a hotel pan, wrap and refrigerate for two days. After removing the cure, line the same hotel pan with foil and parchment paper and bake at 350 degrees for an hour and 45 minutes. Let it rest for 20 minutes, then cut up into 1-by-1-inch cubes. Set aside for plating. (Optional: For quicker time, you can use a few strips of bacon and bake at the same temperature for 17 minutes.)

Clean scallops under cold water, then pat dry. In a small mixing bowl, add a little oil and seasoning. Let the scallops sit at room temperature for at least 20 minutes. Add ½ tablespoon of oil to the pan. Carefully place scallops into the pan until golden brown, then flip and remove pan from heat. Let them sit in the pan for two minutes.

Add a small pile of the kombu chicken stock grains in the center of the plate, followed by a few dollops of burnt leeks puree. Place a few pieces of pork belly on top of the puree. Scatter the scallops around the plate, adding a dollop of curry yogurt on top of each. Sprinkle with fresh herbs.

Featured photo: Bryan Leary of Oak & Grain Restaurant in New London

Soup it up

Order now for outdoor SouperFest

Roasted Red Pepper & Butternut Squash Bisque from O Steaks & Seafood, Hungarian Mushroom Ale from the Concord Food Co-op, Smoked Brisket Chili from Georgia’s Northside — those are some of the soups on the menu for the 12th annual SouperFest, and you can only get them if you order ahead.
The event, hosted by the Concord Coalition to End Homelessness, will be held Saturday, March 20, at White Park in Concord.
In the past, Souperfest was held inside a school and brought in 800 to 1,000 attendees. Thirty-five soups were prepared mostly by home chefs and served to hungry patrons.
“People just had as much soup as they wanted,” said Greg Lessard, board vice chair of the Concord Coalition to End Homelessness.
This year, eight local restaurants will be preparing the soup, which must be pre-ordered on the Concord Coalition to End Homelessness’s website, concordhomeless.org. Anyone placing an order will select a half-hour window of time to pick up their soup.
With last year’s SouperFest getting canceled in March, Lessard said, soup orders are already pouring in for this year. The other five options are Pumpkin Apple Bisque from The Barley House, Clam Chowder from The Common Man, Vegetarian Chili from Hermanos Cocina Mexicana, Lentil Soup from The Works Cafe and Miso Noodle Soup from Col’s Kitchen.
“It’s a wonderful selection. You’re hard pressed to say ‘I’m only taking two of these,’” Lessard said. “The choices are so great you just can’t say no.”
Col’s Kitchen is a new face in Concord’s restaurant scene, having just opened in August. O Steaks & Seafood, meanwhile, has been participating in SouperFest since home chefs made up the bulk of the competition.
All proceeds from SouperFest will benefit the Concord Coalition to End Homelessness.
“[The Coalition] has a number of different programs that support people that are experiencing homelessness,” Lessard said.
These programs include an emergency winter shelter, a resource center and more.

SouperFest: Hosted by Concord Coalition to End Homelessness
When: March 20, 3 to 5:30 p.m.
Where: White Park, 1 White St, Concord
More info: concordhomeless.org/souperfest-2021

Featured photo: Hungarian Mushroom Soup from the Concord Food Co-op. Courtesy photo.

West Side comfort

Hotbox to open soon in Manchester

chicken wrap
Chicken teriyaki wrap. Courtesy photo.

Like many Granite Staters at the onset of the pandemic, Pedro Gonzalez of Manchester started cooking at home more often. Fast forward nearly a year and now he and several of his family members and friends are about to open their own eatery on the West Side, focusing on Latin soul and street foods with a New York City bodega-style storefront.

The concept of the Hotbox — fondly referred to by Gonzalez as simply “The Box” — began on a whim last spring with positive feedback for his family’s home-cooked Spanish meals.

“Restaurants were closed … and so our friends would come over and they’d be like, ‘What are you guys cooking? Can I grab a plate?’ We didn’t expect money or anything, so of course we were like, ‘Sure!’” said Gonzalez, a native of Bronx, N.Y. “Then we started showing our plates on social media, and it just took off after that, like wildfire.”

Gonzalez and his wife Kelli, daughter Ally, mother Sonia and family friends Kelley Richard and Kalley Mihalko all now have a hand in cooking or baking different items for the Hotbox. The original plan, he said, was for them to expand their newfound catering venture into a food truck before that later shifted to a brick-and-mortar restaurant. They found their current spot, most recently occupied by Rita Mae’s Restaurant, last August.

Hotbox’s menu will feature a variety of Latin soul and street food items, some of which will be available all the time, others on a rotating basis. Options may include chicken, beef or pork guisado, or a tomato-based sauce, with servings of rice and beans.

“Guisado is very popular in the Spanish community,” Gonzalez said. “We can do a Jamaican-style jerk chicken guisado, or we can do a hot Mexican guisado with spices. … We can do guisado with any meat, but the most popular one we have is our chopped chicken, which we cook in a sauce with onions and peppers.”

You’ll also find several types of empanadas and burritos, as well as Cubanos and fresh pressed sandwiches called “bobos” — the name, Gonzalez said, is a reference to Joseph “Bobo” Benedetti, who founded Benedetti’s Deli in Haverhill, Mass., in the early 1960s.

“I grew up literally five minutes from Benedetti’s Deli,” he said. “We’ll have massive subs, just like the ones I grew up eating.”

But Hotbox will offer more than just Spanish food — an ever-changing a la carte menu Gonzalez calls the “flip-flop” will be available to those who walk in, where you might find everything from pasta dishes to fried pork belly, half-chicken or shrimp. Once one “flip-flop” option is gone, he said, a new one will take its place.

Gonzalez said all kinds of unique dessert creations are expected too. One of the most popular options among their catering customers has been a layered “Oreo lasagna” cake.

Takeout and curbside pickup will be available, while between four and six tables will be set up in the eatery’s dining room by reservation only. Up to six people per party can reserve a table.

“We’re not trying to rush you out of here. We want to have it be a very intimate experience with your party when you come in to eat,” he said. “Our plates are big, too, so there will be leftovers.”

The front of the store will look similar to that of a bodega in New York City, with a few small grocery and household items for sale, as well as marinated meats, cold cuts and more.

Hotbox will be open for lunch and dinner to start, but Gonzalez said the plan is to branch out to serving continental breakfasts, omelets, breakfast sandwiches and other similar options.

Hotbox
An opening date announcement is expected in the coming weeks. Follow them on social media for updates.
Where: 280 Main St., Manchester
Hours: TBA
More info: Find them on Facebook @hotboxlfe or email hotboxlfe@gmail.com

Feautred photo: Jerk chicken plate with white rice and marinated onions. Courtesy photo.

The Weekly Dish 21/03/11

News from the local food scene

• Green cuisine: If you’re still wondering where to get your plate of corned beef and cabbage this year, visit hippopress.com for our annual St. Patrick’s Day listings at local eateries. Many are offering single or family-sized boiled dinners to go, for pickup on or around Wednesday, March 17, while others are taking the festivities a step further with options like bangers and mash, Irish soda bread, green beer, Guinness cake and sticky toffee pudding. For the most up-to-date availability, check participating restaurants’ websites or social media pages, or call them directly.

• Clam Haven to reopen for the season: Derry’s Clam Haven (94 Rockingham Road), a seasonal takeout eatery known for its fried seafood plates, will reopen for the season on Wednesday, March 17, owner Lisa DeSisto confirmed. DeSisto, who took over ownership of Clam Haven last year and who has also owned Rig A Tony’s Italian Takeout for two decades, told the Hippo that several new menu items are in store for this season, including homemade fish tacos on Tuesdays and clambakes on weekends, in addition to old favorites like fried haddock, clams and scallops, hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken fingers and ice cream. Clam Haven will be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week through the end of October. Visit clamhaven.com.

• Make it maple: It’s New Hampshire Maple Month and to kick off the annual production season Gov. Chris Sununu will perform the ceremonial maple tree tapping on Saturday, March 12, at 9 a.m. at Connolly Brothers Dairy Farm (140 Webster Hwy., Temple). He’s also expected to recognize the 75th anniversary of New Hampshire County Conservation Districts by signing a proclamation honoring 2021 as the Year of Conservation, according to a press release. Throughout Maple Month many local sugarhouses welcome visitors to partake in maple sugaring tours, view demonstrations and try all kinds of maple-flavored goodies. Visit nhmapleproducers.com to find a participating sugarhouse near you.

• Tastes of France and beyond: Office manager Nathalie Hirte of the Franco-American Centre in Manchester has recently launched Franco Foods, a how-to YouTube series dedicated to French-inspired foods and recipes. New videos are expected to be posted every Tuesday, with each focusing on a different recipe from France or Quebec. Beginning in April, Hirte said, she hopes to branch out to other regional recipes across Europe, Africa, Asia and the United States. A native of Quebec and an avid cooker and baker, Hirte said she originally started Franco Foods last year as a virtual recipe swap among Franco-American Centre members. Visit facnh.com/news/franco-foods to subscribe to her channel.

Emily Knowlton

Hopkinton native Emily Knowlton is the owner of BB Take Home Kitchen (bbtakehomekitchen.com, and on Facebook and Instagram @bbtakehomekitchen), also known as the Balanced Brussel, a weekly take-home meal business that operates out of a stationary food truck. A graduate of the University of New Hampshire with a degree in nutrition and dietetics, Knowlton launched BB Take Home Kitchen last July and, with the help of her mother, Deb, now serves more than 500 meals per month. Near the beginning of each month she’ll post the new menu with items available for pickup on designated weeks. All orders can be picked up on Tuesdays from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the truck’s regular spot (185 Main St., Hopkinton), with pre-orders closing the Sunday before. Popular meals as of late have included butternut squash lasagna, ponzu pork meatballs, roasted cauliflower soup, teriyaki salmon with sushi rice, and lemon chicken with rice and vegetables. BB Take Home Kitchen also offers a different family-style meal for pickup on the first Friday of each month, like chicken pot pie or braised beef ragu with pasta.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

A really sharp chef’s knife, because you can utilize it for everything.

What would you have for your last meal?

For me, it would have to be either sushi … or the beef ragu that my mom makes for me on special occasions.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

I like The Coach House in New London, which has the best salmon. I also like The Barley House [Restaurant & Tavern in Concord]. I get their squash salad with the green lentils on it and add shrimp.

What celebrity would you like to see ordering from you?

[Food Network’s] Michael Symon is my favorite Iron Chef. Or, if I were to get on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, that would be one of the coolest things ever.

What is your favorite menu item that you have ever offered?

I think it’s probably the teriyaki salmon, which I did a couple of weeks ago. It’s just a super-vibrant dish and I was really happy with the way it came out.

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

I feel like it’s either farm-to-table or craft beer.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

My mom made chicken and gravy with rice all the time when I was a kid. I’ve served it on the menu and I also cook it at home.

Chicken korma marinade
Courtesy of Emily Knowlton of BB Take Home Kitchen in Hopkinton

2 pounds of any kind of chicken (thighs, breasts, etc.)
½ cup cashews, unsalted
3 tablespoons tomato paste
4 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon ginger
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon coriander
½ teaspoon cardamom
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup plain yogurt

Combine all ingredients in a big blender or food processor (it will be a thick-ish paste) and marinate chicken overnight before cooking.

Food & Drink

Farmers markets

• Cole Gardens Winter Farmers Market is Saturdays, from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Cole Gardens (430 Loudon Road, Concord), now through April 17. Visit colegardens.com.

• Danbury Winter Market is Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Blazing Star Grange Hall (15 North Road, Danbury), now through April. Visit blazingstargrange.org.

• Downtown Concord Winter Farmers Market is Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to noon, inside the Families in Transition building (20 S. Main St.), next to the Concord Food Co-op. Find them on Facebook @downtownconcordwinterfarmersmarket.

• Salem Farmers Market is Sundays, from 10 a.m. to noon, inside the former Rockler Woodworking building (369 S. Broadway, Salem). Visit salemnhfarmersmarket.org.

Featured photo: Emily Knowlton of BB Take Home Kitchen in Hopkinton, with mother Deb. Courtesy photo.

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