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 ([email protected], 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.

The Weekly Dish 22/10/06

News from the local food scene

• Market updates: Farmers markets in Milford and New Boston are each expected to wrap up their outdoor seasons this Saturday, Oct. 8 — in Milford, the final outdoor date at 300 Elm St. (across from the New Hampshire Antique Co-op) will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., before it returns indoors inside the Town Hall Auditorium (1 Union Square) every other Saturday beginning early next month. New Boston’s market, meanwhile, also holds its final market from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. the same day on the corner of Route 13 and Meetinghouse Hill Road. Other markets across the Granite State, including in Bedford, Concord, Henniker and Pelham, each still have a few more weekends to go before they wrap up by the end of October.

• Bring on the doughnuts: The New Hampshire Doughnut Co. is now open at 410 S. River Road in Bedford, the company’s third location overall. The custom doughnut shop opened its first location on Route 4 in Chichester in August 2019 before a second location arrived in the former space of the Capital Deli in Concord the following year. Cake doughnuts baked fresh daily are the stars of the menu, with regular flavors that include vanilla, chocolate, apple cider and several gluten-free and dairy-free options, as well as rotating specialty-themed doughnut weeks. Owner Amanda Baril told the Hippo last month that the new Bedford location is expanding New Hampshire Doughnut Co.’s offerings into yeast ring doughnuts, filled doughnuts, fritters and French crullers. Visit them Wednesday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Visit nhdoughnutco.com.

• Forage around: Join the Brookline Public Library (16 Main St.) for Foraging New England, a special presentation on Wednesday, Oct. 12, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., featuring Russ Cohen, expert forager and author of Wild Plants I Have Known … and Eaten. The 60-minute slideshow will include images and information about at least two dozen species of native edible plants suitable for adding to your own landscape. Cohen will cover the many keys to the identification of each species, along with their edible portions, seasons of availability and preparation methods, as well as foraging guidelines that are safe and environmentally responsible. Printed handouts and some samples of foraged goodies will be provided. Register online at brooklinelibrarynh.org.

• Turkeys and trains: The Hobo & Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroad is partnering with Hart’s Turkey Farm in Meredith to offer turkey dinner train rides — the next one is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 8, with two more to follow on Oct. 15 and Oct. 22. The trains depart Meredith Station (154 Main St.) at 5 p.m., traveling south along the western shore of Lake Winnipesaukee through Weirs Beach and Paugus Bay toward Lakeport and back along the same route, returning at around 7 p.m. Riders will be treated to a complete dinner catered by Hart’s Turkey Farm, featuring freshly carved roast turkey, stuffing, whipped potato, butternut squash, gravy, rolls and butter and apple crisp for dessert. The cost is $47.50 per person and advance reservations are required. Visit hoborr.com.

On The Job – Christine Arlit

Quilt shop owner

Christine Arlit is the owner of The Sewing Diva Quilt Shop, a full-service quilt shop in North Salem Village.

Explain your job and what it entails.

As the owner, I wear many hats [including] purchasing inventory, entering it in the system, getting it onto the sales floor, scheduling classes, making samples, cooking for events in the store, teaching, long arm quilting customer quilts, bookkeeping and cleaning.

How long have you had this job?

I have been in business since 2009, briefly closing in 2017 to care for my mom.

What led you to this career field and your current job?

I took a quilting class and just fell in love with quilting. I was out shopping for fabric one day and was in need of help and I couldn’t get the help I was looking for so I decided to be that person who would be there to help new quilters pick out fabrics for their projects.

What kind of education or training did you need?

I wouldn’t say it was training, but my passion about what I was doing and wanting to help and educate new quilters was my goal. I learned a lot on my own and hired teachers to help in the process of educating new quilters.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

I am business casual most of the time. I am on my feet most of the day, so you will find me with black polka dot slippers on in the store the majority of the day.

How has your job changed over the course of the pandemic?

The pandemic changed us in the fact that we were limited on the number of people in our classroom, people were masked in the store, inventory was delayed, and we would need to monitor how many people we had in the store.

What do you wish you’d known at the beginning of your career?

I wish I knew that sometimes salespeople are just that — salespeople. You need to listen to your gut and buy what’s good for your store and customers. More is not always better.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

I think most people know as a small business owner you do everything. You never stop working. Even when I am home, I am always on the computer looking at new patterns and fabrics for the store.

What was the first job you ever had?

My first job was being a cashier at Marlin Mills in Methuen, Mass. I remember we had to wear striped aprons over our clothes and you were to always look busy.

What’s the best piece of work-related advice you’ve ever received?

The best advice I received is do what you love and love what you do; the rest will fall into place.

Five favorites

Favorite book: Anything by Danielle Steel
Favorite movie: Dirty Dancing
Favorite music: Country and ’80s music
Favorite food: Chinese
Favorite thing about NH: I love camping, hiking and the mountains.

Featured photo: Christine Arlit. Courtesy photo.

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