Category: Food

Fig and cheese tarts smothered with bacon

Since this recipe starts with figs, I know some people may look away. However, I am hoping the phrase “smothered with bacon” keeps most of you reading. Figs may not always sound appealing, but in this recipe I am pretty sure they are going to be a hit.

Although I am a fan of all figs, dried or fresh, I think what makes this recipe such a success is that the fig used in this recipe is actually fig preserves. You may wonder what you will do with the remainder of the jar after making this recipe, but the answers are many. First, you could make multiple batches of this recipe. Second, you could serve it as a condiment with a charcuterie tray. Third, it makes a great topping for toast, biscuits and more.

Now that I have you assured on your purchase of fig preserves, the other ingredients are pretty straightforward. I do have to let you know that it did take some searching to find the phyllo cups. My regular grocery store doesn’t seem to carry them anymore, but another one did. For those of you new to phyllo cups, you will find them in the dessert portion of the freezer area.

For the bacon in this recipe, I used regular sliced, as I wanted it to be extra crispy. However, if you prefer your bacon to be heartier, a thick-sliced version will work as well.

These tarts can be served straight from the oven. (Just don’t burn the roof of your mouth!) They also work well either at room temperature or cold. If you won’t be serving them immediately, be sure to store them in your refrigerator in a covered container.

Fig and cheese tarts smothered with bacon
Makes 15

5 strips bacon
15 phyllo cups
4 ounces goat cheese
4 1/2 Tablespoons fig preserves

An hour before cooking, place goat cheese on the counter to soften.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Heat a large frying pan over medium heat.
Add bacon, cooking until crispy (about 5 minutes).
Transfer bacon to a paper-towel lined plate.
Place unfilled phyllo cups in a mini muffin pan or on a baking sheet, and bake for 2 minutes.
While they bake, combine goat cheese and fig preserves in a small bowl, stirring until well distributed.
Remove cups from the oven.
Divide cheese mixture evenly among the cups.
Return the cups to the oven, and bake for 5 minutes.
While cups bake, dice bacon.
Remove tarts from the oven, and top with bacon.

Featured photo: Fig and cheese tarts smothered with bacon. Photo by Michele Pesula Kuegler.

In the kitchen with Kevin Anctil

Kevin Anctil of Litchfield is the owner and pitmaster of Smokin’ Spank’s Barbecue (smokinspanks.com, and on Facebook and Instagram @smokinspank), a 22-foot food trailer he launched last fall. Anctil, who is affectionately known in his college friend circle as “Spank,” describes his concept as traditional Southern barbecue, but with some New England roots. His brisket, for instance, is smoked Texas-style with salt and pepper in tribute to his own travels, while other items include maple baby back ribs that are finished with maple syrup as a glaze. Anctil grew up on family-owned farmland in Lewiston, Maine, where his late grandfather was revered in the community for his barbecued chicken. He even pays homage to his family’s roots on the trailer, using the same original basting sauce and finishing sauce recipes for his own barbecue chicken, as well as a custom-built pit that implements the same type of sandwich grating techniques his grandfather once employed. Find Smokin’ Spank’s in the parking lot of New England Small Tube Corp. (480 Charles Bancroft Hwy., Litchfield) most Sundays, from 1 to 5 p.m. Online pre-orders are often also available.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

I guess I’d have to say my smokers. That’s really where the magic happens. If I didn’t have my smokers, I’m just another kitchen.

What would you have for your last meal?

A homegrown tomato sandwich. If you’re feeling fancy, you might do it on toast or with a little olive oil, some basil or something like that.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

I want to shout out the entire Litchfield food scene here. There’s a lot of stuff going on locally in town. … We’ve got Tammaro’s Cucina, which is a new Italian place, and Romano’s Pizza who has been around longer. We’ve got Day of the Dead doing fantastic Mexican, and then the Bittersweet Bake Shoppe does some fantastic desserts.

What celebrity would you like to see ordering from your food trailer?

I’m going to date myself a bit, but Ray Bourque. He was the legendary captain of the Boston Bruins when I was growing up. … He was just the pinnacle of an athlete to me, both within his sport and just being a gentleman and a classy guy and role model. … I know he’s a foodie too … so it would be pretty cool to be able to serve him some barbecue.

What is your favorite thing on your menu?

That would be my brisket. … The only things that go on my brisket are salt, pepper and smoke, and I serve it to you sliced fresh to order. You do get some Texas table sauce along with your order, if you choose to use it or not.

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

Poutine seems to be making a comeback, and I’m here for it!

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

If I’m cooking for myself, then a ridiculously big steakhouse-style steak dinner, [with a] baked potato, a big, thick steak and spinach — the works. If I’m cooking for the family, chicken soup. I do a chicken soup that takes me like two days to cook. It’s phenomenal.

Texas table sauce
From the kitchen of Kevin Anctil of Smokin’ Spank’s Barbecue in Litchfield

2 cups ketchup
1 cup white vinegar
1 lemon (juice and zest of)
½ cup white onions, grated

Combine all of the ingredients in a sauce pan and heat over medium heat, until it just begins to boil around the edges. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. For a smoother sauce, use an immersion blender, or allow to cool and transfer to a blender. For the best results, allow it to sit overnight in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Serve at the table, allowing your guests to add to a smoked meat for a tangy counterpunch.


Featured photo: Kevin Anctil, owner and pitmaster of Smokin’ Spank’s Barbecue. Courtesy photo.

The legacy continues

New ownership but familiar dishes at Campo Enoteca

Three months after Campo Enoteca founders Edward Aloise and Claudia Rippee announced their retirement, a new owner has stepped in to carry on the pioneering couple’s legacy. Nashua native Eric Maxwell acquired the downtown farm-to-table Italian restaurant earlier this year, reopening its doors on March 16 and retaining much of its original staff.

For guests, especially loyal fans of Campo who have frequented the restaurant since its 2014 opening, the new ownership is welcome news. That’s because Maxwell said he plans to keep the menus the same, while also expanding the options and even adding a separate lunch menu soon.

“I come from an Italian family with a lot of restaurants in the Ohio and western Pennsylvania areas, so it’s always been sort of my dream to have an Italian spot locally,” Maxwell said.

Aloise and Rippee originally opened Campo Enoteca on the heels of closing the Milltowne Grille — the latter enjoyed a highly successful 20-year run at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. At the time of its opening, Campo was just a two-minute walk south of Republic Cafe, which opened four years earlier and would soon achieve recognition as the first New Hampshire eatery to receive “certified local” status by the New Hampshire Farm to Restaurant Connection.

Then came the pandemic, ultimately prompting Aloise and Rippee to make the decision to move all of Republic’s operations under the same roof as Campo. For more than two years thereafter, they operated as the “Republic of Campo,” offering two separate menus under one roof.

In December, the couple announced that, after a career spanning more than three decades in Manchester eateries, they would be stepping away from the kitchen. They put the restaurant up for sale, and Maxwell, who has a background in food manufacturing, decided to “jump on it.”

“I had been to Campo probably half a dozen times … and that concept really fit who I was,” he said. “When it went up for sale, the writing was kind of on the wall. … I had wanted to mirror something like that, but I couldn’t believe that it was that — one of the restaurants that I absolutely loved.”

Maxwell recruited his sister, Erin Convery, who has front end experience at local restaurants, to run Campo’s day-to-day operations as general manager. All of the eatery’s bartenders and waitstaff have returned, he added, as have a few members of the kitchen staff.

“Peter [Macone], the old GM, has actually been working with my sister, basically making the introductions to all the farms and the vendors, so [the ownership transition] has definitely been very smooth,” Maxwell said. “We’ll expand with some personal family touches, but we won’t get rid of anything that was on the menu before. The Republic recipes will also be on the menu.”

Instead of removing any staple items, Maxwell plans to only add to the existing menu, perhaps most notably when it comes to Campo’s house-made pastas.

“Lunch will be kind of a new concept,” he said. “It will be pick your stuffed pasta, pick your sauce, pick your salad or whatever, so you can come in and get cheese ravioli [or] beef ravioli and whatever sauce you want to try with it. That will cater toward the lunch menu side of things.”

Lunch is available on Fridays and Saturdays for now, but Maxwell said the plan is to also be open on Sundays in the coming weeks. As they were under Campo’s previous ownership, dine-in reservations are available, as well as online ordering and curbside pickup.

Campo Enoteca
Where: 969 Elm St., Manchester
Hours: Tuesday through Thursday, 4 to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, noon to 9 p.m. Expanded hours likely coming soon and will include Sundays
More info: Visit campoenoteca.com, find them on Facebook and Instagram @campoenoteca or call 625-0256

Featured photo: Photos courtesy of Campo Enoteca.

Any way you slice it

Fresh pies and good times at South Manchester pizzeria

A South Manchester pizzeria is proving that good vibes don’t have to stop with freshly baked pies. It’s also a place where you can pick up and play the electric guitar, sing tunes from a jukebox connected to your phone, flex your mental muscles during trivia night and sip cocktails reminiscent of Capri Sun, Bomb Pops and other nostalgic childhood favorites.

It’s all part of a unique experience Gregg Joseph aims to bring to his customers at Clemento’s Pizzeria & Brew. He took over ownership of the eatery last year after previously working in the corporate world. He operates it with his wife, Estella, along with help from the couple’s children.

Joseph was born and raised in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and came to the United States as a teenager. He first lived in Miami for a time before coming up to Massachusetts and later New Hampshire.

Pizza pies are baked fresh to order every day, with thin crusts and hand-rolled doughs Joseph said are characteristic of a traditional New York-style.

black man wearing suit jacket posing with light skinned black woman in their restaurant
Clemento’s of Manchester’s owner-operator Gregg Joseph and his wife, Estella. Courtesy photo.

“We have the open kitchen concept, so you see your pizza being made right in front of you,” he said. “You’re seeing your dough getting stretched, [and] you’re seeing the onions getting chopped to be put on your pizza right then and there.”

Since assuming ownership, Joseph has incorporated some of the flavors he enjoyed back home on some of his specialty pizza toppings. Gregg’s Caribbean Jerk Special, for instance, is a pie topped with jerk sauce, chicken, green and banana peppers, onions, jalapenos and mushrooms. Almost any pie can also be baked using a gluten-free crust.

Rounding out the food menu are calzones, hot and cold subs — Joseph recommends the meatball sub, featuring handmade meatballs from his wife — appetizers, like deep-fried chicken wings, cheesy garlic bread and fried pickle chips; and scratch-made desserts, from fried dough to fried brownie and cheesecake bites.

Clemento’s boasts a lineup of nearly two dozen domestic and local craft brews, in addition to an extensive offering of craft cocktails Joseph said his wife will often experiment with.

“People know what a cosmo is, and what a Manhattan is, so we like to have a little twist on some things,” he said.

The Twisted Capri Sun, for example, features a dark rum, shaken with banana liqueur, peach schnapps, pineapple juice and a splash of strawberry puree. Blueberry vodka, lemonade, blue Curaçao and Razzmatazz liqueur make up the Bomb Pop cocktail, named after the popular treat you commonly see off of an ice cream truck’s menu.

The eatery’s interior dining space is small, but Joseph still manages to offer entertainment every night throughout the week. Monday nights feature open mic comedy with a rotating group of regional comedians. On Tuesdays it’s all about the karaoke — the pizzeria has a TouchTunes jukebox you can use directly from your phone. Wednesdays are trivia nights with Clemento’s regular Benji Day; Thursdays are game nights and Fridays are open mic music nights.

“If you open a restaurant in Haiti, people … are coming for the different activities that you’re offering, and that’s sort of the same model that I’m trying to bring here,” he said. “Sometimes people don’t even come in for the food. They’re coming because there’s a smile. … If you like open mic comedy, I got you. You want to play guitar, I have one I can plug in for you right now. Sooner or later, I’ll find something that you’ll like and you’ll just keep coming back.”

Clemento’s Pizzeria & Brew
Where: 1875 S. Willow St., Manchester
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Closed on Sundays.
More info: Visit clementospizzeriabrew.com, find them on Facebook @clementosmanchester or call 782-8450
Takeout and delivery services are also available through GrubHub, DoorDash and UberEats.

Featured photo: Photos courtesy of Clemento’s Pizzeria & Brew in Manchester.

The Weekly Dish 23/04/06

News from the local food scene

• Easter sweets: Join Assumption Greek Orthodox Church (111 Island Pond Road, Manchester) for a walk-in Easter bake sale organized by the Ladies Philoptochos Society that’s scheduled for Saturday, April 8, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. inside its church hall. Spinach and cheese petas, Easter bread and Greek cookies and pastries like baklava, kourambiethes and koulourakia will all be available. For more ideas on how to celebrate Easter Sunday this weekend, check out our annual listings that ran in the March 30 issue; they begin on page 34. Go to hippopress.com to read the e-edition of the March 30 issue.

• Cheers to seven years: Lithermans Limited Brewery (126B Hall St., Concord) is celebrating its seventh anniversary in business on Saturday, April 8, from noon to 8 p.m. The day will include special menu offerings from Up Street Food Truck, known for its “upscale street food” concept, as well as Let’s Get Cupcaked, a Henniker-based pop-up business specializing in hand-crafted cupcakes in a variety of flavors. Since opening in the spring of 2016, Lithermans has grown to become a leading New Hampshire brewery, known for its music-themed brews and regular schedule of local food trucks. Visit lithermans.beer or find them on Facebook @lithermans.beer for details on their upcoming anniversary party.

• Here we go! Chunky’s Cinema Pub in Pelham (150 Bridge St.) is partnering with Ya Mas Greek Taverna & Bar in town for a family-friendly five-course dinner party alongside a screening of The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Join them on Thursday, April 13, at 6:30 p.m. — the meal will feature separate Mario-themed menus for adults and for kids. Before the start of the movie, the chef at Ya Mas will speak about the featured menu items. The cost is $75 for adults and $25 for kids and includes all five courses as well as the movie screening. Vegetarian and VIP wine pairing options are also available for the adult menu. A special 21+ only screening of the movie is also happening on Thursday, April 6, at 8 p.m., across all three of Chunky’s locations. That event is being sponsored by Crown Royal Regal Apple and will feature their “Power-Up Punch” (a cocktail featuring Crown Royal Regal Apple, peach schnapps, cranberry juice, sour mix and grenadine). Visit chunkys.com.

• Chili cook-off results: More than 175 chili lovers attended this year’s Amherst Fire & Ice cook-off and ice cream social on March 10, according to a press release. The Amherst Lions Club organizes the competition as a fundraiser for local charity organizations. “[It] is always a fun community event, bringing family and friends together during [the] dreary winter,” Amherst Lion Shirley Flowers said in the release. The crowd selected Bruce Manchester as the People’s Choice best chili, while participating judges selected Hooksett Lion David Hutchinson’s smoked brisket chili as the Best Lions Club chili and Moulton’s Kitchen & Market’s red and white bean chili as Best Restaurant chili. Each winner received an engraved traveling trophy and bragging rights for one year.

In the kitchen with Kassandra Santana

Kassandra Santana is the executive chef of Tuscan Kitchen (67 Main St., Salem, 952-4875, tuscanbrands.com), a regionally renowned restaurant known for its artisan Italian cuisine. A native of Lawrence, Mass., Santana joined the company in early 2011 as a busser before ultimately working her way up the ranks at both the Salem restaurant and its accompanying market. She is the first — and, to date, the only — female executive chef of Tuscan Brands, which also has restaurants in downtown Portsmouth and in Burlington and Newburyport, Mass., as well as in Boston’s Seaport District.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

A spoon, because I’m constantly tasting everything.

What would you have for your last meal?

My go-to would be some miso ramen soup.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

That would be Grand India. It’s pretty new in Salem. I love their mango shrimp curry — it’s outstanding.

What celebrity would you like to see trying something on your menu?

I would say Zendaya, the actress. I’ve always loved her, and she seems like a very kind-hearted person, for sure.

What is your favorite thing on your menu?

That would be the tortelli brasato [braised short rib stuffed pasta]. That was the first dish I actually walked to a table when I first got my chef jacket. … I’ve always loved it, and I think it’s because that sauce is the most time-consuming sauce to make. It takes about six hours just to cook the demi to create that sauce, so we put a lot of time and effort into that dish.

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

When it comes to trends in New Hampshire, I feel like it’s comfort food [and] cheesy dishes — the type of food that you take your time cooking all day. … Our wild boar ragu with truffled gnocchi is a good example and checks all of those boxes.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

I can’t go wrong with something from my own culture. I like to cook a true traditional Hispanic meal — it would be different types of rice and just a nice braised steak or an oven-roasted chicken.

Oat banana bread
From the kitchen of Kassandra Santana, executive chef of Tuscan Kitchen in Salem

2 large bananas
1 large egg
1 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
Walnuts or chocolate chunks (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl or blender. Whisk or blend on high until the texture is smooth. Add chocolate chunks or walnuts to your liking. Pour batter onto a greased loaf pan. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes. Slice and enjoy.


Featured photo: Kassandra Santana, executive chef of Tuscan Kitchen in Salem. Courtesy photo.

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