Category: Food

Granite grazing

Taste of New Hampshire returns (in person!)

Experience the best of what several local eateries have to offer during the 17th annual Taste of New Hampshire — for the first time post-pandemic, the event is due to return in person to the Grappone Conference Center in Concord on Tuesday, Oct. 18, featuring opportunities to meet with chefs, discover new restaurants and breweries and bid on all kinds of silent auction items.

Formerly known as the Taste of Concord, the event — a chief fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire — began welcoming restaurants in other neighboring cities and towns in 2017. The last two years, Covid regulations caused it to go virtual in the form of discounted restaurant gift card promotions. Although the Boys & Girls Club was able to raise more than $160,000 for local restaurants over those two years, development manager and event coordinator Tanya Frost said she’s “thrilled” to be able to have it back in person once again.

“The gift card portion was such a huge hit that we’ve had people reach out about it, and we’re actually working with the restaurants now to see who would like to participate in that,” Frost said of this year’s event. “So we will also be selling gift cards to some of those restaurants in attendance as well, and that will be at a discounted rate, so the consumer is still getting that deal. … For $20 you get a $25 card and then for $40 you get a $50 card. We will be reaching out to those who purchase them after the fact, just like we’ve done in past years.”

Frost added that the event, normally held on a Thursday, has been moved up to a Tuesday to accommodate the participating restaurants, many of which continue to experience staff shortages.

“We’re just trying to be respectful of the restaurants as well [with] every step that we’re taking,” she said. “Even before we started planning, we surveyed the restaurants and ended up moving the event to Tuesday to try and help them and so that we could also get more people.”

hand passing plate with small burger in bun to another person
Courtesy photo.

Attendees will have free rein to graze their way through the venue, sampling sweet and savory options from more than two dozen vendors this year. The Red Arrow Diner, for instance, will serve American chop suey with garlic toast, onions and peppers, while O Steaks & Seafood will offer its homemade macaroni and cheese. Some vendors, like the Banquet Center at Pats Peak Ski Area in Henniker, are bringing a whole smorgasbord of items for you to try — they’ll have bacon-wrapped shrimp drizzled in a honey garlic sauce, along with fried chicken and mini waffles served with maple syrup, and teriyaki beef kabobs with onions and peppers.

New Taste of New Hampshire participants include the 110 Grill, which is due to open a location in Concord next year. Reed’s North of Warner and the Flannel Tavern of Chichester — both owned and operated by local chef Carrie Williams, a friend of Frost’s — are also newcomers.

For dessert, there will be items like a flourless chocolate torte from The Crust & Crumb Baking Co.; pumpkin cheesecake and chocolate cake shots from The Red Blazer Restaurant & Pub; and chocolate-covered cream candies from Granite State Candy Shoppe. The Boys & Girls Club will even be serving its own pumpkin whoopie pies throughout the evening. As for drinks, New Hampshire Distributors and Horizon Beverage Group will be providing some wines and a wide variety of craft beers to sample, including several Oktoberfests, pumpkin brews, IPAs and more.

Silent auction items are available for all event attendees to bid on — in the past, items have included everything from restaurant gift certificates and assorted gift baskets to VIP brewery tours and some other special experience gifts. All proceeds from the Taste of New Hampshire benefit various programs of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire, which has expanded to more than 20 service sites across the state.

17th annual Taste of New Hampshire
When: Tuesday, Oct. 18, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Where: Grappone Conference Center, 70 Constitution Ave., Concord
Cost: $40 per person, or $350 per 10 people; tickets are available in advance or at the door, with all proceeds benefiting the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire
Visit: tasteofnh.com

Participating local businesses
• 110 Grill (110grill.com)
• Alan’s of Boscawen (alansofboscawen.com)
• The Barley House Restaurant & Tavern (Concord, thebarleyhouse.com)
• Boys & Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire (Concord, nhyouth.org)
• C.C. Tomatoes Restaurant (Concord, cctomatoes.com)
• Chuck’s BARbershop (Concord, find them on Facebook @chucksbarbershopnh)
• The Common Man (Concord, thecman.com)
• Constantly Pizza (Concord, constantlypizza.net)
• The Crust & Crumb Baking Co. (Concord, thecrustandcrumb.com)
• Downtown Cheers Grille & Bar (Concord, cheersnh.com)
• El Rodeo Mexican Restaurant (Concord, el-rodeo-nh.com)
• Flannel Tavern (Chichester, flanneltavern.com)
• Granite State Candy Shoppe (Concord, granitestatecandyshoppe.com)
• Grappone Conference Center/Catering by Design (Concord, cateringbydesignnh.com)
• Hermanos Cocina Mexicana (Concord, hermanosmexican.com)
• Horizon Beverage Group (Concord, horizonbeverage.com)
• Lakehouse Tavern (Hopkinton, lakehousetavern.com)
• New England’s Tap House Grille (Hooksett, taphousenh.com)
• O Steaks & Seafood (Concord, osteaksconcord.com)
• Pats Peak Banquet Center (Henniker, patspeak.com)
• The Red Arrow Diner (Concord, redarrowdiner.com)
• The Red Blazer Restaurant & Pub (Concord, theredblazer.com)
• Reed’s North (Warner, reedsnorth.com)
• Smokeshow Barbeque (Concord, smokeshowbbq.com)
• Sunshine Baking (sunshineshortbread.com)
• Twelve 31 Events (Tilton and Concord, twelve31.events)
• The Wine’ing Butcher (Pembroke, wineingbutcher.com)

Featured photo: Photo by HK Photography.

The Weekly Dish 22/10/13

News from the local food scene

• Diner days: Join the Red Arrow Diner for a special 100th anniversary celebration event at its Manchester location (61 Lowell St.) on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The block party-style event is free and open to the public, featuring an afternoon of raffle prizes, games, music, family-friendly activities and an onsite radio broadcast with DJs Nazzy and Marissa of Frank FM, along with samples of a variety of the diner’s most iconic dishes available to ticket holders for a small fee. All year long, to celebrate its 100th year in business, the Red Arrow has also been featuring monthly “Diner Dish of the Decade” promotions at each of its four locations, offering special discounts that have corresponded to various menu items that were or became popular during different decades. Visit redarrowdiner.com to learn more, or check out our coverage of the Red Arrow’s historic milestone in the Sept. 29 issue of the Hippo — the story starts on page 10. Visit issuu.com/hippopress to read the e-edition for free.

• Grapes and meatballs: Don’t miss the Hollis Grape & Italian Festival, set to return to the Hollis Town Common (Monument Square) on Sunday, Oct. 16, from 2 to 7 p.m. Presented by Fulchino Vineyard, the annual festival raises money for the Hollis Agricultural Scholarship, the Hollis Police Benevolent Association and the Hollis Fire Explorers. This year’s features will include grape stomping, cornhole games and local vendors, as well as a few food trucks and — new this year — a meatball contest. Admission is free, but there is a $5 fee to sample the meatballs entered into the contest. Visit fulchinovineyard.com.

• Get in the spirit: Tickets are on sale now for A Taste of Ireland: Exploring Premium Irish Spirits, a special seminar-style tasting event happening on Wednesday, Nov. 2, at the Manchester Country Club (180 S. River Road, Bedford) as part of New Hampshire Distiller’s Week. Leading Irish spirit experts and distillers will be on hand to present a series of products from their premium brands, from Clonakilty, Coole Swan and Drumshanbo to Five Farms, Green Spot, West Cork and more. The event will also include a reception with various hors d’oeuvres and sampling of some signature cocktails. Tickets are $60 per person and, at the end of the event, attendees will be able to purchase products with a 15 percent discount on every bottle. While you’re at it, save the date for the annual Distiller’s Showcase of Premium Spirits, due to return to the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown (700 Elm St.) on Thursday, Nov. 3. Visit distillersshowcase.com.

Rosés for fall

The pink drink with seasonal flexibility

The autumnal equinox, denoting the first day of autumn, fell on Thursday, Sept. 22, at 9:04 p.m. Yes, school is back in session. Yes, the nights are getting cooler, but the days remain warm and the skies are a crystal-clear blue. OK, it is fall, but we don’t want to give up on those warm afternoons and times to spend with friends and family. We still have time to prepare for winter. There are opportunities to go apple-picking, to have that afternoon picnic, to schedule that barbecue of chicken or sausages or to just “kick back” and enjoy the day and embrace the evening.

Rosé wines are growing in popularity, simply because they are so flexible. They pair well with many cheeses, chicken, pork, shellfish and, let’s not forget, vegetables. In this column we will explore two rosés that are not only created in different parts of the world but created with very different grape varietals. Rosé wines are made from red grapes whose skins spend limited time in the pressing process. Rosé wines are light and have a limited lifetime, once bottled. That’s not a negative; it is in fact a contribution to the very essence of what they are. Rosé wines are youthful and bright and can be sipped with or without a pairing with food. But, as with all wines, the experience of the tasting is changed with proper pairing with food, and thus enhanced. So. Let’s explore some rosés!

Our first rosé is from where else but Provence, France! The 2021 Crépuscule Coteaux D’Aix-en-Provence Rosé (available at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets, originally priced at $39.99, reduced to $12.99) is a classic rose from the south of France. Coming from Château Paradis, it is a blend of 30 percent syrah, 30 percent grenache, 20 percent Carignan and 20 percent cabernet sauvignon. Crépuscule is the noun the French use to define that time of day at twilight when the sun sets and the sky is a wonderful collection of golds and pinks, casting these warm colors of various shades of pink on the landscape. This is the perfect description of this wine, its color, its presence.

The grapes of this wine are grown at an elevation of 850 feet at the northern edge of Provence, in a rich clay-limestone terroir. They are blessed with a warm Mediterranean climate with strong Mistral winds, blowing from the Bay of Biscay to the Gulf of Genoa, resulting in clear skies and warm weather. The color is a rich peach, and to the nose the peach carries through along with floral notes, coupled with minerality. The fruit is dense, slightly spicy, and crisp. This is a wine to be enjoyed with grilled meats and vegetables, flavored with herbs de Provence. The crispness and minerality of the wine work very well with this blend of herbs, and so it should, as they speak of the same terroir.

Our second rosé is from Washington State. The 2020 CasaSmith Vino Rosé (available at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets, originally priced at $13.99, reduced to $6.99) is made from 100 percent sangiovese grapes. The sangiovese grape is grown throughout Italy and may have its roots in Roman times. It is most famously known as the grape of Brunello di Montalcino and Chianti, but when used to make rosé, the earthy tea leaf notes of these reds recede, producing a wine with lighter mineral notes. In his tasting notes posted on his website, Charles Smith states, “The 2020 vintage might be the best vintage that we have ever had in Washington state history.” This may very well be the case. Coming from the Columbia River Valley, this wine has pale straw color tinged in pink. To the nose there are berries along with some floral notes. The minerality of the soils of the river valley carries through to the tongue with a refreshing, crisp finale. Noted wine critic James Suckling described it as a “dry, chewy rosé with sliced-cherry and peach-skin character. Flavorful finish…. Drink now.” With his score of 91 points, this is a wine to be tried, and per his instructions, now! At this most inviting price, this is a wine not to be passed by!

So extend your summer by a few weeks. Pick up one or both of these rosés, grill some food and enjoy that beautiful sunset a fall day can bring.

Featured photo. Courtesy photo.

Peach salad with bourbon vinaigrette

Fall in New Hampshire quite often includes a visit to an orchard. While most people may think about apples, there also are peaches available at many orchards. Why not make peaches a part of your fall cooking? This week I want to take a break from weekend snacks and share a healthier, but just as delicious, recipe.

This peach salad is meant to be served as a side dish, but it could be turned into an entrée with the addition of a protein. A chicken breast, a boneless pork chop or some shrimp could make this a fairly hearty meal.

This salad is pretty simple, which means that the ingredients are key. I opt for arugula in this salad to provide some bitterness and to balance the sweetness of the peaches. Of course, almost any green would work in a pinch. For the peach, you want optimal ripeness. Not overly ripe and mushy and not underripe and tart; you want the moment-of-perfection sort of peach. For the dressing, a good bourbon is key. One third of the flavor comes from the bourbon, so use one that you’d drink without a mixer. If you would rather not have bourbon in your dressing, you can increase the vinegar to 2 tablespoons and the maple syrup to 1 1/2 tablespoons.

While this salad highlights fresh fall fruit; it also is a bright reminder of warm and sunny days. Enjoy this salad now while the peaches are fresh and there is still some warmth in the air.

Peach salad with bourbon vinaigrette
Serves 2

2 cups arugula
1 peach
¼ cup whole pecans
1½ Tablespoons cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon good bourbon
1 Tablespoon maple syrup
Salt & pepper

Divide arugula between two salad plates.
Dice peach into half-inch cubes; sprinkle over arugula.
Chop pecans; add to salad.
In a small bowl, combine vinegar, bourbon and maple syrup; whisk well.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Divide vinaigrette between the two salads, and serve.

Featured Photo: Peach salad with bourbon vinaigrette. Photo courtesy of Michele Pesula Kuegler.

In the kitchen with Emilee Viaud

Emilee Viaud of Milford is the owner of Sweet Treats by Emilee (sweettreatsbyemilee@gmail.com, and on Facebook and Instagram @sweettreatsbyemilee_), specializing in cakes, decorative cookies, doughnuts, scones, croissants and a variety of handcrafted chocolate items. She started the business in October 2020 at the height of the hot cocoa bomb trend, soon becoming a regular vendor at the Manchester Craft Market inside the Mall of New Hampshire (1500 S. Willow St., Manchester) and branching out to all kinds of bomb flavors, from milk, dark and white chocolate to salted caramel, cookies and cream and peanut butter. She now has a whole lineup of sweet treats stocked there, as well as at Junction 71 (707 Milford Road, Merrimack) — items include chocolate-covered Oreos, chocolate-covered pretzel rods, Rice Krispie treats and jumbo peanut butter cups. Viaud also sells an assortment of fresh baked goods at the Milford Farmers Market (300 Elm St.) on Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., from doughnuts and croissants to scones, cupcakes and rotating flavors of hand pies. The final outdoor date of the market is Oct. 8 before it moves indoors at the Town Hall Auditorium starting next month. Viaud’s first participating date of the indoor market will be Nov. 19.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

The utensil that I use the most is definitely a whisk.

What would you have for your last meal?

I grew up eating a lot of pasta with meatballs and garlic bread. That’s kind of always been like a childhood meal that I enjoy.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

Revival [Kitchen & Bar in Concord] because, of course, it’s farm-to-table and their menu changes seasonally. One thing that always stays consistent is their meat and cheese platter, and so I’ll always go for that as an appetizer.

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

I would choose a lot of people, but I kind of lean toward Duff Goldman, just because I watched a lot of his shows growing up. … I really like him specifically because he’s more on the decorating side, and that’s what I enjoy the most out of baking. So, I know that he would give me an honest opinion on whether he liked it or not.

What is your favorite item that you offer?

I would say probably the doughnuts, because I have not been doing them for a long time. I’m honestly still learning — I’ve changed the recipe multiple times ever since making them, so it’s something that kind of challenges me a little bit, and I also get to change the flavors seasonally.

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

I was thinking, maybe, like cultural food. … You’re starting to see, I guess more on the side of pop-ups, more restaurants displaying their heritage and their food.

What is your favorite thing to make at home?

Something that I always try to do is fresh bread … because I feel like it really completes a meal. I just love fresh bread and butter — there’s nothing better.

Brown butter Rice Krispie treats
From the kitchen of Emilee Viaud of Sweet Treats by Emilee (makes a 9-by-13-inch pan)

1½ sticks butter
2 10-ounce bags mini marshmallows, plus 1 cup
12 cups Rice Krispies cereal

Place the butter in a pot. Let it melt until bubbles form on the top, then start stirring, lifting the browned butter from the bottom of the pan. Once the butter has burned brown, add the two bags of marshmallows. Once the marshmallows are melted, add your cereal. Mix until fully coated, then add an extra cup of marshmallows for extra gooey treats.

Featured photo: Emilee Viaud. Courtesy photo.

Ready, set, cook

MasterChef Junior Live tour comes to Concord

Former contestants of the hit Fox cooking competition series MasterChef Junior hit the road last month for the “MasterChef Junior Live” tour, an interactive show packed with cooking demonstrations, unique challenges and audience participation throughout. Locally, MasterChef Junior Live will make a stop at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord on Thursday, Oct. 13.

Season 8 of MasterChef Junior premiered on Fox in March and concluded on June 23, but it was actually filmed back in 2019, prior to the pandemic. Each week young chefs between the ages of 8 and 13 from across the country perform in a number of challenges and present their own prepared dishes to celebrity judges Gordon Ramsay, Aarón Sánchez and Daphne Oz.

The Oct. 13 show in Concord will feature live appearances from Season 8 winner Liya Chu of Scarsdale, New York, who was just 10 years old at the time of the show’s filming, as well as runner-up Grayson Price and fan favorites Molly Leighninger and A’Dan Lisaula.

“The fun part of our show … is that we end up with about 10 people that we randomly choose from the audience that can come onstage and taste the actual food they cook,” tour manager Marti Ramirez said. “People get to be tasters and they judge the appetizer part, and then we have four people that are volunteers, also from the audience, that are sous chefs. … At the end, kids get to come up on stage and help decorate the dessert part of our show, which is cupcakes.”

Chu, now 14 years old, recently spoke with the Hippo via phone about her experience being on MasterChef Junior, as well as what attendees can expect ahead of the Concord show.

Can you tell us about your cooking background and interest in cooking at such a young age?

I started cooking around 5 years old. … My first dish was making dumplings, and it’s kind of a family tradition, since my mom learned how to make them from her mom, and her mom learned it from her mom. So it has kind of been passed down through many generations. … My parents own two restaurants, so I’ve kind of been involved in the restaurant life since I was young. … One restaurant is in Bronxville, New York, and it’s called Dumpling + Noodle, and then the other one is called Fantasy Cuisine and it’s in Hartsdale, New York.

What was the audition process like for getting on MasterChef Junior?

My friend was actually on Season 7, so that was when … I was like, ‘Oh wait, I could go on the show as well.’ … [The audition] started around, like, February [2019] or so, and then it was back and forth for two months of Zoom interviews. Sometimes they’d ask you to cut red peppers or onions or, like, cook an egg 20 different ways. … After those two months, many of us … wondered if we were even still in the audition, because they wouldn’t answer us for like two or three weeks. … Then, May 20 was when they confirmed and we flew all the way to L.A., but at that time it was still [in the] Top 50, and then they started to cut it down to the Top 16 and then the Top 10, the Top Five and then that whole process was another two months. … [The show’s airing] got delayed many times, so after a while, since it was three years, it kind of felt like it was a dream.

Do you remember which dishes you made while on the show? What was the most challenging dish that you prepared for the judges?

Yeah, I do remember a lot of the dishes, because they are all really important to me. Every dish I made was something that … represents my family, my background and what I’ve learned since I was young. … I think the hardest dish was either the sweet bread or the eel dish, or maybe the duck dish that I made last. … Duck is a pretty hard dish to cook, because you have to time it just right in order to get it medium rare. The eel was also hard because it was my first time cooking on the show, and I was really nervous that time.

What is Gordon Ramsay like in person?

Gordon is a very tall man. I mean, of course, we were all very tiny at that time. But he was really nice to us. Of course, he would get mad at us sometimes, but when he did, I think [it was] because he was only trying to teach us and trying to get us to push ourselves. … I was definitely nervous to see what he was like, but he was really nice. He wasn’t mean.

What was your personal favorite thing that you made on the show?

It was definitely my semi-finale dish, which were the dumplings. … When I was around 5 years old, my mom every weekend or every two weekends or so, she’d cook dumplings for my brother and me. … I remember I would run around the house and I would always try to peek around the corner and say, ‘Hey, Mom, can I help you out?’ But it would never work out well because [the dumplings] would always just flop over or they wouldn’t even close. … My mom would still teach me. She never said, ‘Oh, Liya, you’re too young,’ or anything. … She still always tries to help me improve.

Tell us about the MasterChef Junior Live tour. Will the challenges be happening in real time?

Yeah, so it’s kind of like being in the show, in a way, just actually seeing it front and center and being part of it. … We’re cooking on stage, and so yeah, it’s all happening in real time. We don’t know who’s winning, because it’s the audience who is doing the judging. It’s more about just having fun and letting the audience be able to experience it. … It’s definitely fun and family-friendly, and something that I would encourage everyone to come watch.

What’s next for you? Is cooking something you think you’d want to pursue as a career?

I’m very interested in art and being creative, and cooking is definitely a type of art form, for sure. … I don’t really know what I want to do yet, of course, I still have a lot of time to think of what I want to do. But yeah, definitely art and maybe even culinary will be part of my future.

MasterChef Junior Live
When: Thursday, Oct. 13, 7 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.)
Where: Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St., Concord
Cost: Ranges from $23.25 to $58.25. Optional VIP add-ons are $75 and include a pre-show Q&A, meet-and-greet with photo opportunities and a signed poster.
Visit: mastercheflivetour.com

Featured photo: Liya Chu. Courtesy photo.

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