Category: Food

Soup’s on

Bouillon Bistro now open in Milford

Scratch-made artisan soups, chowders and stews are the stars of the menu at Bouillon Bistro — formerly known as Wicked Pissah Chowdah, the eatery has found a new home on the Milford Oval, where it held a grand opening Oct. 7 just in time for the town’s Pumpkin Festival weekend.

Co-owner Sue Poulin left her corporate career to purchase Wicked Pissah Chowdah, at the time located on South Street just off the Oval, from founder Ellen Muckstadt in June 2020. Poulin and business partner Lisa Gamache have also since opened a second location in Townsend, Mass.

Bouillon Bistro is unique for featuring a different lineup of around six to eight home-cooked soups every single day, with a total of 35 to 40 rotating soups available any given week. By Monday, the new menu for the upcoming week is posted to the website and on social media.

“There’s a lot that goes into it. The process starts at around 8, 8:30 in the morning … and then by about 10 or 10:15, everything is nice and percolating,” Poulin said. “We open the doors at 11, so we like to let the soups sit in the cauldron for 40 minutes or so to let the flavors do their thing.”

Hot soups are then served straight out of the pot from 11 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. (or, for the really popular soups, whenever they sell out — Poulin said it’s not uncommon for some soups to not make it past the lunchtime hour). A cooling process begins at 2:30 p.m. for the leftover batches.

“Whatever is left, we put them in an ice bath, bring the temperatures down and then we package them in pints and quarts to go in the cooler. Then we’re open until 6 for cold takeout,” Poulin said. “[They are] good for up to a week in the refrigerator, or up to a year in the freezer.”

Saturdays are when Bouillon Bistro will serve what Poulin calls a “wild card” lineup of soups, or options based on whatever excess inventory or ingredients they’ll find themselves with.

Since taking over the business, Poulin estimates amassing around 120 different soup recipes. They’ll often run the gamut from traditional offerings like beef stew, corn chowder, broccoli cheddar soup and New England-style seafood chowder to more unique soups, like a Mexican-inspired chicken tortilla soup, a cheeseburger soup with ground beef, shredded carrots, diced celery and potatoes, a Buffalo chicken soup, a creamy sausage tortellini soup and more.

In addition to the soups, the eatery offers bread, bagged crackers and a small menu of paninis.

“I really want to be known for the soups, and going forward we’ll be doing different sides just to accompany the soups,” Poulin said, “Each one would have a fun side.”

Poulin said that, like at its South Street predecessor, the plan is for Bouillon Bistro to temporarily close just before Memorial Day and reopen Labor Day weekend.

Bouillon Bistro of Milford
Where: 123 Union Square, Milford
Hours: Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Closed on Sundays and Mondays.
More info: Visit bouillonbistro.com, find them on Facebook and Instagram or call 213-5443

Featured photo: Sausage and gnocchi soup. Photo courtesy of Bouillon Bistro of Milford.

Winter is brewing

Oktoberfest, ski and snowboard sale return to Pats Peak

Just ahead of its season kickoff, Pats Peak Ski Area in Henniker is inviting you to the slopes for two concurrent annual events to celebrate — a ski and snowboard sale inside its main lodge, and an outdoor German food festival and beer garden, complete with live music, a magic show, a stein holding contest, keg bowling, demonstrations and more. It’s all happening on Sunday, Nov. 6, at 11 a.m. and is free to attend, regardless of whether or not you’re a Pats Peak passholder.

“There’s a lot going on, and you can come and shop at the sale and stay for the Oktoberfest, see all your friends and get ready for winter,” said Lori Rowell, Pats Peak’s director of marketing and sales. “The food and the band are all outside underneath a big tent in front of the main lodge, [and] the Oktoberfest goes from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., while the sale goes from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.”

According to Rowell, Pats Peak’s in-house kitchen team — led by longtime head chef Guy Pelletier — prepares all of the dishes featured at the German food festival. Options will include knockwurst or bratwurst, steamed in beer and served on 6-inch sub rolls with sauerkraut and grilled onions. You’ll also be able to order a plate of pork schnitzel with mushroom gravy and sides like hot German potato salad, braised red cabbage with baked apple, and a warm soft jumbo pretzel. Kids’ hot dogs and chicken fingers will be available as well.

For those with a sweet tooth there will be apple crisp with your choice of ice cream or whipped cream (or both) and, of course, Pats Peak’s famous home-baked giant M&M cookies.

“The cookies started back in the early ’60s, [when] the owners’ wives used to be the cooks in the kitchen,” Rowell said. “They made chocolate chip cookies at first, and then someone said, ‘Oh, let’s put M&Ms in them.’ So then they would just make them bigger and bigger, and now they’re so big, they’re like the size of your face. … We can only fit six of them on one big sheet pan. I think the chef said we sell something like 20,000 of them a season.”

The beer tent, meanwhile, is sponsored by Harpoon Brewery and will include many of its seasonal selections, from its Oktoberfest to its Flannel Friday and Rec. League brews.

The Massachusetts-based Bavarian Brothers band is scheduled to perform traditional Oktoberfest party music for the duration of the festival. Rowell added that, between the band’s breaks, there will be a series of three magic shows with Marko the Master Magician and Hypnotist.

A beer stein holding contest is also planned, with signups available on the day of the event. An Oktoberfest tradition that’s also now a competitive sport, the contest challenges you to hold a beer-filled stein out in front of your body with one hand for as long as possible.

“There’s also going to be bounce houses for the kids, a woodsman show … and an ax throwing trailer,” Rowell said. “This year we also have a new event called McDonny’s Traveling Farm. It’s a petting farm with chickens, ducks, bunnies and goats.”

As for the ski and snowboard sale, Rowell said that’s put on by the Pats Peak Ski Team, a nonprofit alpine race program that gives kids the opportunity to participate in race training exercises and competitions throughout New England, mostly in New Hampshire and Vermont.

While it does largely depend on the weather, Pats Peak’s projected season runs from the first Saturday of December through the last Sunday of March. Rowell said that Jan. 5 will mark the 60th anniversary of skiing at the slopes.

“Our plan is to start making snow in the middle of November, and if we have favorable snowmaking and enough snow, we’ll open,” she said.

Oktoberfest/ski and snowboard sale
When: Sunday, Nov. 6 (Oktoberfest is from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; ski and snowboard sale is from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.)
Where: Pats Peak Ski Area, 686 Flanders Road, Henniker
Cost: Free admission; food and beers are priced per item
Visit: patspeak.com
Oktoberfest is rain or shine. Anyone who wishes to sell their own skiing or snowboarding equipment must drop it off between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5, and fill out a consignor form online at patspeakracing.org.

Featured photo: Photos courtesy of Pats Peak Ski Area in Henniker.

The Weekly Dish 22/11/03

News from the local food scene

• Seniors Thanksgiving luncheon: The Salvation Army’s Northern New England Division is inviting seniors from Manchester and Bedford to attend its annual Thanksgiving luncheon on Thursday, Nov. 17, at 11:30 a.m., to be held at its community center (121 Cedar St., Manchester). Entertainment will be provided by The Sunshiners. Reservations for the luncheon are being accepted now through Nov. 10. Call 627-7013 for more details.

• Get your Greek feast: Join Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church (68 N. State St., Concord) for its next boxed Greek dinner to go, a drive-thru takeout event, on Sunday, Nov. 13, from noon to 1 p.m. Now through Wednesday, Nov. 9, orders are being accepted for boxed meals featuring dinners of Greek stuffed peppers, rice, a Greek salad and a roll for $20 per person. The event is drive-thru and takeout only — email ordermygreekfood@gmail.com or call 953-3051 to place your order. The church is also planning a similar takeout and pickup meal on Dec. 11, featuring cheese pitas with a Greek vegetable medley. Visit holytrinitynh.org.

• Bon appétit: The Franco-American Centre presents “Holiday Food Traditions of Franco-Americans,” a free lecture to be held at the Dana Center for the Humanities (Saint Anselm College, 100 St. Anselm Drive, Manchester) on Thursday, Nov. 3, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. According to the Franco-American Centre’s newsletter, the event will feature a panel of avid cooks who will explore Quebec’s traditional and recent contributions to holiday fare, from tourtière (pork pie) to crêpes and tarte au sucre (sugar pie). Panelists will include Renée McMaster, owner of the HotMess Poutine food truck; and Nathalie Hirte, office manager of the Franco-American Centre and host of Franco Foods, a how-to YouTube series on French-inspired recipes that her son Oskar directs and produces — both McMaster and Hirte are natives of Quebec. According to the newsletter, this event is part of the New Hampshire Institute for Franco-American Studies’ lecture series. Visit facnh.com.

• Backyard brews: Get your tickets now before they’re gone to the fourth annual Backyard Winterfest, happening at Backyard Brewery & Kitchen (1211 S. Mammoth Road, Manchester) on Friday, Dec. 2, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. A 21+-only event, Backyard Winterfest brings together craft breweries from Derry, Londonderry and Manchester for a night of pouring and sampling. Backyard Winterfest is an outdoor event, so dress accordingly. Tickets are $30 per person and include access to all the beer being poured throughout the evening, as well as a 4-ounce tasting glass. Visit backyardbrewerynh.com.

In a dark and stormy mood

OK, this one is going to be fun.

First, you’re going to need about a pound and a half of bee pollen — the Italian stuff, if you can get it, otherwise whatever you can get your hands on. After that, you’re going to need some small-batch bourbon. This particular label is a little hard to track down, but if you—

No.

And, of course, you’re going to need to sculpt some ice into—

No.

I beg your pardon?

I said no. Every couple of weeks, you come here and get very excited about some fancy, or exotic, or, worst of all, “interesting” cocktail, and I go along with it, because it’s mildly amusing and you seem like you need the attention.

But I just can’t do it this week. Do you have any idea how many soccer games are involved in the end of a season? And I hurt my knee in Zumba class. And my mother-in-law has decided that she’s coming for a visit. Not at Thanksgiving, not at Christmas — next week. Do you have any idea how much house cleaning that involves?

So, no. Don’t come at me with freakin’ bee pollen. What else do you have?

A Champ—

If you’re about to say “Champagne,” you can stop right there.

[A thoughtful pause.] What if you can get almost everything at the supermarket?

[Suspiciously] How many ingredients?

Three. Four, if you count ice.

Special artisanal ice?

No. Just ice.

[A pause.]OK, hit me with it.

Dark and Stormy

A Dark and Stormy is a classic drink. If you’re making it for yourself, it is cold, refreshing and quick to make, but just a little different from your standard highball. It feels a little bit like giving yourself a treat. If you’re making it for a special friend, they might have had it before and if so it might bring back that summer they spent with Fancy Yacht People. If not, it will probably sound familiar and thus non-threatening.

Ingredients

  • 2 ounces dark or black rum — I like to use a black rum, but Meyer’s will work very well.
  • ½ jalapeño or Fresno pepper — My preference is for the heat and flavor of a jalapeño, but they can be undependable. You never know what you’re going to get heat- and flavor-wise.
  • 5 to 6 ounces ginger beer — I like Goya, but whatever they have in the soda aisle at the supermarket will be fine. Just remember to get ginger beer, not ginger ale.
  • A lime

Cut your pepper in half lengthwise. Cut a little bit off the tip and taste it to see how hot it is. If it seems a little too aggressive for your taste, scoop out the seeds and membranes with a spoon; that should knock the heat down a little bit. If you’re happy with the heat level, put it in a cocktail shaker.

Muddle the pepper thoroughly against the bottom of the shaker. You can use an actual bartender’s muddler for this, but a wooden spoon will work just as well. I use the pestle part of a large mortar and pestle to do this sort of thing.

Add the rum, and dry-shake the two ingredients. Dry-shaking means shaking it without ice. The reason you’re doing that in this case is that the capsaicin in the pepper is not water-soluble but it is alcohol-soluble. That means that the rum will be able to strip away a maximum amount of flavor and heat from the chile. Ice and melt-water would only get in the way at this point.

Strain the rum over ice, in a tall glass. Top with ginger beer, and stir gently.

Garnish with a quarter of a lime. I would slice the lime in half lengthwise, then again, but that’s a personal preference.

Rum goes extraordinarily well with lime, and just as well with warm spices, like ginger. This is a cold, delicious drink that will help you get a little distance from the chaos and entropy in your life. This is the “self-care” people are always encouraging you to practice.

Though maybe not at work. Although it might make budget meetings more interesting.

Butternut squash chili

With frost warnings in our forecasts, it is the time of year for slow-cooked meals. Simmering on the stove or in a slow cooker or instant pot, this meal shows that comfort foods can be vegetarian.

This chili is 100 percent vegetarian, which is why I included butternut in the name. This is not a recipe where you might be able to hide that it is vegetarian. However, it also is a terrific recipe to show how hearty and delicious a vegetable-based dish can be.

There are many options for accoutrements and side dishes to make this chili even more appealing. You can top it with shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, scallions, chives, diced onions or jalapeno rings. If you’re looking for something carby to pair with it, you can’t go wrong with a fresh batch of cornbread or biscuits. Of course, a loaf of store-bought Italian bread would work well also.

As for the ingredients in this recipe, they are all pretty straightforward. All of the vegetables in the recipe are fresh. Don’t try substituting with frozen butternut squash; it will be much too soft for this dish. The spice level on this chili is pretty tame. If you prefer a spicier chili, you can add some diced jalapeno or hot sauce.

Put that cold weather at bay with a bowl of this chili.

Butternut squash chili
Serves 4

Olive oil
1 large green pepper, seeded and diced
1/2 cup diced sweet onion
4 cups cubed butternut squash
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, minced
1½ Tablespoons chili powder
1 26.5-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
Salt and pepper

Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat with a small amount of olive oil.
Add pepper and onion, and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes.
Transfer pepper and onion to a crockpot or stockpot.
Add squash, tomatoes, garlic and chili powder.
If using a slow cooker or instant pot, cook on low for 4 to 5 hours or until squash is tender.
If using a stockpot, cover and cook over low heat for 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes.
Add beans to chili, and cook for 30 minutes or until heated through.
Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

Featured Photo: Butternut squash chili. Photo by Michele Pesula Kuegler.

In the kitchen with Ashley Tardugno

Ashley Tardugno of Derry is the owner of Whisk Chick (whisknchick@gmail.com, and on Facebook and Instagram @whiskchickbakes), specializing in charcuterie-style sweet boards and boxes consisting of freshly baked goods, chocolate-dipped items, candies, fresh flowers and seasonal fruits, as well as some pies and cream- or mousse-based cakes. A graduate of New England Culinary Institute, Tardugno oversaw all of the bakery items and sweet treats at Roundabout Diner & Lounge in Portsmouth for around a decade prior to launching Whisk Chick about six months ago. She works out of Creative Chef Kitchens (35 Manchester Road, Derry), a shared commercial kitchen space — a one-week advance notice is recommended for all orders, which include multiple sizes depending on the number of people being served. In addition to owning Whisk Chick, Tardugno also runs the New Hampshire chapter of For Goodness Cakes, a national nonprofit providing underprivileged youth with a birthday or graduation cake.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

For me, I feel like a rubber spatula is so important. I can’t do anything without that thing. It’s multi-purpose — you stir with it, you scrape with it, you do everything with it.

What would you have for your last meal?

Fried chicken. … Other than that, it would be my mom’s soups.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

I’m going to go with Jocelyn’s in Salem. It’s Mediterranean … and everything at that place tastes amazing. I love the kafta and the hummus.

What celebrity would you like to see trying something that you’ve made?

Jack Black, because he’s awesome and he makes me laugh, and maybe he’d write an awesome song about it or something.

What is your personal favorite order you’ve fulfilled?

I love doing them all — they are all so individual. But I’m probably going to go with the first one that I did for a customer. … It was just basic stuff, like chocolate chip cookies, brownies, blondies and fruit and all that stuff … [but] I had had this idea for so long, and it was just really nice for me to see it finally come together.

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

Definitely charcuterie, grazing tables and those kinds of things. They are popping up everywhere.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

Anything having to do with breakfast. It’s my favorite meal.

Homemade shiny cookie icing
From the kitchen of Ashley Tardugno of Whisk Chick in Derry (makes enough to cover 30 medium-sized cookies)

1½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
1½ to 2 Tablespoons milk
1 Tablespoon light corn syrup
½ teaspoon vanilla

Mix all of the ingredients until combined, using only the 1½ tablespoons of milk. If the icing is too thick, add the remaining ½ tablespoon. Proper consistency will make it drizzle thinly off the back of the spoon. Drizzle icing on the cookies. Allow at least two hours to set before stacking or storing them.

Featured photo: Ashley Tardugno of Whisk Chick, based in Derry. Courtesy photo.

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