Category: Food

Simple Sausage Rolls

If you still are thinking about sausage-based appetizers after last week’s cheesy sausage balls recipe, you are in luck! This week I have another bite-sized, sausage-centric treat.
This recipe requires only six ingredients and is really easy to make.
Let’s talk about those ingredients. I personally prefer hot sausage for its flavor. If you like sweet sausage better, it’s a fine substitute. Also, if you can’t find bulk sausage, buy links and remove it from the casings. For the bread crumbs, you need to use regular dried or panko. The dry element allows them to absorb moisture from the sausage when it cooks. Finally, you can use dairy or non-dairy milk, but you do not want to use vanilla-flavored.
I highly recommend mixing the filling by hand, so that the ingredients are well incorporated. That said, your hands are going to be messy afterward. Be sure to have hot water and soap ready!
For serving, I enjoyed these rolls as is. They are full of flavor. However, I know many people enjoy dipping. You could serve these with any one of the following: marinara, honey mustard, barbecue sauce, and maybe even pesto.
Another delicious snack recipe is at your disposal. Time to start building your weekend snack menu!


Michele Pesula Kuegler has been thinking about food her entire life. Since 2007 the New Hampshire native has been sharing these food thoughts and recipes at her blog, Think Tasty. Visit thinktasty.com to find more of her recipes.

Simple sausage rolls
Makes 24

½ pound bulk hot sausage
1 egg
¼ cup finely diced yellow onion
½ cup dried bread crumbs
1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted
Milk

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Mix sausage, egg, onion and bread crumbs, using hands to combine well.
On a floured surface, roll out puff pastry to a 12×10-inch rectangle.
Cut into three 12×3⅓-inch rectangles.
Divide filling into thirds; place in middle of pastry strips.
Close pastry, pressing seams together on side and ends.
With seam side down, cut each section into 8 pieces.
Place on a parchment paper-covered baking sheet.
Brush with milk.
Bake for 20 minutes or until sausage is cooked and pastry is golden brown.

Featured Photo: Simple Sausage Rolls. Photo courtesy of Michele Pesula Kuegler.

In the kitchen with Danilo and Amanda Portillo

Danilo Portillo and his wife, Amanda, of Plaistow are the owners of Rico’s Burritos (ricosburritosfoodtruck.com, and on Facebook and Instagram @ricosburritosfoodtruck), a food truck specializing in street tacos, burritos, burrito bowls and other authentic Mexican options with a Central American twist. The truck launched this past June, but both Danilo and Amanda Portillo have worked in the restaurant industry since they were teenagers. They met at a local Mexican restaurant just over a decade ago and, according to Amanda Portillo, had talked about launching a food truck for a few years before jumping in. Rico’s Burritos gets its name both in inspiration from the couple’s son, Ricardo, and for the Spanish word meaning “tasty” or “delicious.” The truck has a regular presence at venues across northern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire, including at Griffin Park (101 Range Road, Windham) and Peters’ Farm (3 Cross St., Salem). The Portillos will also be at Plaistow’s annual Pumpkin Lighting Festival on Saturday, Oct. 29, from 2 to 6 p.m. on the Town Green.

What is your must-have kitchen item?
Danilo: A knife … because I cut everything — the meat, the parsley, the lettuce, the onions and cilantro.
Amanda: He mostly works on the flat top and I help put together all the burritos and bowls and everything, so I guess a must-have for me would be a pen to take down the orders. If I didn’t have a pen, that would be really bad.

What would you have for your last meal?
Danilo: A sushi boat … loaded with everything, pretty much.
Amanda: I think I would have to go with chicken tikka masala.

What is your favorite local restaurant?
Amanda: I guess I’m just going to roll right with my chicken tikka masala and go with Kashmir [Indian Cuisine in Salem], because that’s where I’d get it.
Danilo: The Common Man. I do love the fresh bread that they have with butter, and the steak is good, with baked potatoes and veggies.

What celebrity would you like to see ordering from your food truck?
Danilo: John Cena.
Amanda: I’m going to go with Adam Sandler, just because he’s a New Hampshire native and he’s always been one of my favorite actors. … I wouldn’t be super intimidated with him because he seems like he’s just so low-key.

What is your favorite thing on your menu?
Amanda: I’m definitely going with the pork carnitas street tacos. … It’s [on] our grilled corn tortillas, with melted cheese, diced onion, fresh cilantro and our house sauce. They’re so good.
Danilo: I like the California burrito that we did as a special [with] mango pico [de gallo], avocado, cheese, rice and beans.

What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?
Amanda: I feel like food trucks are trending in New Hampshire, more than they were before. When we first started talking about it a couple of years ago, there weren’t even half as many food trucks around, I feel like, as there are now.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?
Danilo: I like when we do baked haddock with fresh salad, and some veggies and some rice.
Amanda: I’m going to go with a steak dinner with salad and broccoli, and rice pilaf as well.

Shrimp ceviche
From the kitchen of Danilo and Amanda Portillo of Rico’s Burritos

1 pound extra-large shrimp
½ of a large red onion
1 bunch of cilantro
1 cucumber
1 large tomato
2 jalapenos
1 avocado
5 limes
½ cup ketchup
1½ cup Clamato juice
2 teaspoons Tapatio hot sauce
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil the shrimp for three minutes and season with salt. Place in an ice bath for about five minutes. Dice up all of the vegetables and place in a large mixing bowl. Squeeze in the juice from all five of the limes. Add the ketchup, Clamato juice, Tapatio hot sauce, garlic powder and onion powder. Cut each shrimp into three pieces and add to the bowl. Mix everything together and chill for 30 minutes or more. Enjoy with fresh tortilla chips.

Featured photo: Danilo Portillo (left) and his wife, Amanda, of Rico’s Burritos.

Raise a glass to fall

Fody’s Tavern introduces fall festival in Derry

When Fody’s Tavern acquired a 40-by-60-foot tent in January 2020 for its inaugural winter festival in Derry, co-owner Maria Foden could not have imagined just how critical that investment would be.
“I mean, we’ve probably used that thing a thousand times now,” Foden said. “It was just good fortune … because when everybody else was shut down because of Covid and we were trying to scramble to get outdoor seating ready and everything, we already had the tent. So we were very lucky, because we were able to have so many seats outside early on.”
After skipping a year in 2021 due to pandemic concerns, the winter festival returned for a second year the following January. Now, a new similar event is building on its success — the first Fody’s Fall Festival is happening on Saturday, Oct. 22, and will include all kinds of locally sourced food and beer samples, Foden said, along with live music, a stein hoisting competition, children’s games, giveaways and more.
“We’re essentially mirroring our winter festival, so it’s going to be literally 10 hours of just fun entertainment, [with] great music and food, all outdoors,” she said. “We’ll have all sorts of fall goodies … for people to buy, and samples, too.”
From noon to 4 p.m., the festival will be open to attendees of all ages, with pony rides, face-painting and other activities and games available for the younger crowd. Then, beginning at 4 p.m., the event will transition into a 21+ outing. In addition to beers from several local breweries — Rockingham Brewing Co. of Derry; and Long Blue Cat Brewing Co. and Pipe Dream Brewing, both of Londonderry, to name a few — the Boston-based Ghost Tequila, a chief sponsor of the festival, will offer samples of its own.
Food samples will be provided by some local vendors as well. Fabrizia Spirits of Salem, for instance, will have some of their own limoncello-infused desserts in addition to some of their liqueurs, while Theresa Zwart of 603 Charcuterie is providing several types of locally made cheeses and other products commonly found at her wildly popular charcuterie classes. Additionally, Foden said that the tavern will likely offer a special menu of seasonal options.
“We’ll probably just do easy things that, when people are out there enjoying themselves, they can just grab a snack,” she said. “The whole restaurant will be open for full dinner and lunch service as well, so if people want to go in and sit down and get a meal during the festival, they can.”
A full schedule of live local music is also planned, with each act broken out into two- to three-hour performing increments. From 6 to 8 p.m., there will be a stein hoisting competition, a tradition at many Oktoberfest celebrations that originated in Germany and is now a competitive sport. Participants are given a stein filled to the top with beer that they must hold by the handle out in front of their bodies with one hand for as long as possible. The person who can hold it for the longest time without breaking form or spilling their stein is declared the winner.
Once night falls, Foden said, attendees can gather around a fire pit, and there will also be a special LED light dance show.

Fody’s Fall Festival
When: Saturday, Oct. 22, noon to 10 p.m. (kids’ activities will be available from noon to 4 p.m.; after 4 p.m., the event is 21+ only)
Where: Fody’s Tavern, 187½ Rockingham Road, Derry
Cost: $10 general admission; additional charges apply for food, drinks and pony rides
More info: Visit fodystavern.com or see “Fody’s Fall Festival” on Eventbrite to purchase tickets
Event is held outdoors, so be sure to dress appropriately. A potential rain date is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 29.

May the best chilis win

Great Bowls of Fire Chili Cook-off returns

If you think you make the best bowl of chili around, here’s your chance to show it off — the Great Bowls of Fire Chili Cook-off, returning to Goffstown Ace Hardware on Saturday, Oct. 22, is a friendly competition and fundraiser that will feature a variety of homemade chilis available to taste from local community members and restaurateurs.
Chili entrants are welcome to bring a slow cooker of their best batches by 10:30 a.m., with sampling beginning at 11 a.m. No pre-registration is required for entrants, nor for tasters who just want to come and vote. Prizes in the form of Goffstown Ace Hardware gift cards — $100 for first place, $75 for second place and $50 for third place — will be awarded to the winners.
“We started doing it … just sort of casually, and now people are really excited about it, and so we keep doing it in October,” said event coordinator Pat Barss of Goffstown Ace Hardware, who herself took home second place in last year’s cook-off, her first year participating as an entrant.
The cook-off was introduced in 2018 as one of several fundraising events sponsoring Goffstown Ace Hardware owner Karen Henderson’s annual running of the Boston Marathon. While they did have to skip a year in 2020 due to the pandemic, Barss said they experienced a great turnout at last year’s cook-off, with around 15 chilis for attendees to sample.
“There are chili competitions all over … and I guess the word gets out,” she said.
But part of the draw of this cook-off is that you’ll never know what’s in store to taste until the day of. In the past, Barss said the event has been known to feature all varieties of chili, from traditional beef chili to some white chilis, vegan or vegetarian chilis and even a venison chili. While any individual can enter, the cook-off in the past has garnered participation from local agencies like the Goffstown Fire Department, as well as The Village Trestle and some other restaurants in the area. All of the slow cookers are placed under tented tables out in front of the store. Each entrant is assigned a number that’s displayed in front of the chilis, enabling attendees to blind taste each one and vote for their favorite. Some people, Barss said, have even turned the cook-off into their own lunch outing.
“We have little sampling cups … and once it’s gone, it’s gone,” she said. “If most people are there to sample early, then … some of the [slow cookers] are cleaned right out.”
Vote counting will take place at the conclusion of the cook-off around 1 p.m. Donations will also be accepted during the event, with proceeds benefiting Boston Children’s Hospital.

Great Bowls of Fire Chili Cook-off
When: Saturday, Oct. 22, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Where: Goffstown Ace Hardware, 5 Depot St., Goffstown
Cost: Free to enter in your chili or attend as a taster; no pre-registration required
Visit: goffstownhardware.com
Entrants are asked to bring their chilis to Goffstown Ace Hardware by 10:30 a.m. First, second and third place prizes — Goffstown Ace Hardware gift cards of $100, $75 and $50 — will be awarded. Proceeds from gathered donations will benefit Boston Children’s Hospital.

Featured photo: Scene from the Great Bowls of Fire Chili Cook-off.

The Weekly Dish 22/10/20

News from the local food scene

• Come, we fly! Have you seen Disney’s Hocus Pocus 2 yet? Decorated candy apples featured on screen in the film were made right here in New Hampshire, at Nelson’s Candy & Music in Wilton — that’s according to owner Nancy Feraco, who told the Hippo she received a special phone order nearly a year ago for a large quantity of them. “We didn’t know it at the time, but they were for the filming of Hocus Pocus 2 in Rhode Island,” Feraco said in an email, adding that the apples were prepared for use in the film by Nelson’s confectioner Maria Marini. Feraco even recently brought her whole Nelson’s candymaking crew together at the nearby Copper Kettle eatery on Main Street for dinner and a special screening of the film. Leading up to its release, Feraco said she had been “dying to tell people” of Hocus Pocus 2’s connection to the Granite State. “We have been keeping quiet about it as we didn’t know if those shots were edited out or not … [but] we never guessed it was part of the plot,” she said. The film was released Sept. 30 and is available to stream now on Disney+. Visit nelsonscandymusic.com.
• Brews and tunes: Join Twin Barns Brewing Co. (194 Daniel Webster Hwy., Meredith) for a harvest festival on Saturday, Oct. 22, kicking off at 10 a.m. with a full schedule of live local music acts all day. Also included will be several local food trucks, a cornhole tournament with prizes, and specialty brews — Twin Barns even just held a release party last week for a seasonal Pumpkin Fest ale, declared the official beer of the upcoming New Hampshire Pumpkin Fest in Laconia on Oct. 29, according to the brewery’s Facebook page. Tickets to the harvest festival are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. Funds are being raised for student music education, with event proceeds benefiting the New Hampshire Department of Education’s Modern Band Initiative. Visit givebutter.com/harvest-fest-22.
• OakCraft Pizza coming to Salem: Nashua’s OakCraft Pizza will soon open a second location inside the Tuscan Village development in Salem, according to recent announcements made on the company’s website and social media pages. Construction on the new space is underway and regular updates will be made on its progress, the posts read. OakCraft Pizza owner and Hollis native Rick Carvalho opened the fast-casual eatery in Nashua’s Amherst Street Village Center in September 2021, specializing in made-to-order wood-fired pizzas cooked in an imported Italian oven. The restaurant offers completely customizable options on an assembly line before your pie reaches the end, along with additional items like cheesy garlic bread, salads, meatballs with red sauce, and hand-filled whoopie pies. Visit oakcraftpizza.com or follow them on Facebook and Instagram @oakcraftpizza for updates.

Negroni

I’ve got a firm rule for buying old photographs at flea markets; I’ll definitely buy one, if the price is right, but there has to be some sort of identification on it, so I can do some research and find out who the subjects are. I want to know more about them. Where did they live? How were they related to each other? What happened to them? Were there any shocking skeletons in their closets?

vintage photograph of 5 member family, serious expressions, a man, a woman, 2 boys, a girl

One look at this family, though, convinced me that they almost had to have a minimum of three literal skeletons. In the time it took me to get $5 out of my pocket, I constructed a backstory for each of these (technically unknown-to-me) people. I named the daughter Hortense.

From the quality of the photograph and the style of their clothes, I suspect that the picture was taken in the very early 1900s, perhaps 1904 or 1905. In very old photographs, from the mid-1800s, subjects did not smile, for fear of blurring the image in the several minutes that the film was exposed, but by the beginning of the 20th century the exposure time was down to a few seconds, so this somewhat forbidding-seeming family did not have to look this way. I get the feeling that it was just their default expression.

I don’t know about you, but I feel like drinking something bitter.

Negroni – Two Ways

Perhaps the best-known bitter cocktail is the Negroni, a mixture of gin, Campari, sweet vermouth and a splash of soda water. If you are a fan of bitter-sweet flavors, it’s a lovely break from the sweet/sour/boozy rut a lot of us find ourselves in from time to time.

One of the reasons you’ve heard of Negronis but rarely see anyone drinking one is the Campari. I like Campari enormously and use it for background bitterness in many drinks, but there are some cocktail fans, perhaps with less enlightened palates, who are not strictly fans of the red liqueur.

So here are recipes for two variations on the Negroni theme:

Mostly Traditional Negroni

  • 1 ounce Campari
  • 1 ounce botanical gin – I’ve been enjoying Uncle Van’s
  • 1 ounce sweet vermouth – I’ve been using Dolin Rouge
  • 3 to 4 ounces plain seltzer
  • 1 very large ice cube

Pour the Campari, gin and vermouth over a large ice cube in a rocks or highball glass.

Pour the seltzer over the other ingredients, and stir gently to combine.

Drink while looking at a photo of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday.

As advertised, this version of the Negroni is both bitter and sweet. The addition of so much soda is somewhat controversial, but I feel that the cocktail benefits from the dilution and carbonization. It is a complex, adult drink.

But pink.

An Alternate Negroni

  • 1 ounce Campari
  • 1 ounce gin
  • 1 ounce sweet vermouth
  • 1 ounce Amaro Lucano
  • ½ ounce plain seltzer
  • Another very large ice cube

This version is made in the same way as a traditional Negroni except that it replaces the Campari with another bitter Italian liqueur, Amaro Lucano, which uses different herbs and is less flamboyantly colored. The resulting cocktail is less frivolous-looking and doesn’t need the extra soda.

Is it bitter? Yes. Is it delicious? Yes. Is it pink? Not even a little. Would the mother from the antique photograph drink one out of a teacup? Probably.

Featured photo. Negroni. Photo by John Fladd.

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