Pairing beer with food shouldn’t be that hard — but sometimes it is.
You can get as in-depth with pairing beer with food as you can with wine. I don’t, personally, but similar to wine, the right brew can elevate the overall eating experience. But it doesn’t need to be complicated.
Especially as our palates turn to richer fare, comfort food and homestyle staples, you do want to think about your beer choices and how they might impact your taste buds. For example, I wouldn’t opt for a rich coffee stout with pizza and I wouldn’t choose a juicy New England-style IPA with apple pie.
I suggest spending a minute to think about what you’re going to be eating and what you’d like to drink. I don’t think you’ll need a chef or a sommelier to break it down for you. You’ve got this.
You want to think about what you want the beer to do for your experience. Do you want it to complement the flavor profiles of the foods you’re eating or do you want it to stand on its own?
Aside from Thanksgiving, which, wow, is just three weeks away, you’re probably eating a lot of chicken wings and chili while you watch football and you’re probably enjoying more roasts and stews as the weather has cooled. Thinking about chili and wings, both of which tend to have a little (or a lot of) spice, you’ve got a few options.
IPAs, in general, such as the Hazy Rotation New England IPA by Great North Aleworks in Manchester or the Damn Sure Double IPA by Henniker Brewing, tend to stand up to spicy food, without completely overpowering your palate. IPAs tend to be able to stand on their own more than other brews, but if the food you’re eating is more subtly flavored, IPAs can take over, so be careful.
Saisons can be a versatile choice for pairing with food — they’re often fruity and spicy on their own. They also vary greatly from brew to brew — just something to keep in mind.
Pilsners and lighter brews are just fine too, but I do tend to think you’ll lose their nuanced flavor in the face of spicier foods.
With a beef stew, I tend to move toward drier stouts, such as Irish stouts or American stouts, like Stout #3 by Throwback Brewery in North Hampton, that offer complex layers of flavor but without much sweetness. I’ll save sweeter stouts with notes of chocolate, fruit and coffee, such as the Black Cat Stout by Portsmouth Brewery or Stoneface Brewing Co.’s Porter with Chocolate & Cherries, for pairing with dessert.
Brown ales, like the Paradigm Brown Ale by Kelsen Brewing Co., are another nice choice for pairing with stews and roasted meats.
Thinking about Thanksgiving, you know the fare is going to be rich, sweet and slathered in gravy. With that in mind, I’m looking for something a little lighter, like a Pilsner or a fruity wheat beer, both of which allow you to appreciate the buttery goodness of mashed potatoes, sweet potato pie and mounds of stuffing — and also turkey. Another interesting option for Thanksgiving is to explore the world of sours — the tartness from sours can cut right through rich, fatty foods.
If you really want to get it right, ask the brewer or the beer expert at your local store. They’ll be able to tell you exactly what kinds of foods pair well with their beers.
What’s in My Fridge Relic Twenty-8 Imperial Stout by Bent Water Brewing Co. (Lynn, Mass.) I’ve been loving the stouts by Bent Water over the past few weeks, and the Relic Twenty-8 is another tremendous choice from this brewery. This is a perfect imperial stout that is rich, fruity and complex. A seasonal offering for the holidays, Bent Water makes this with toasted coconut and blackberries and those two flavors balance each other quite well. But I’m also picking up notes of dark chocolate and maybe a little coffee, too. This is decadent and, at nearly 12 percent ABV, a brew best savored during a quiet afternoon or evening by the fire. Cheers!
Featured photo: Kelsen Brewing Company’s Paradigm Brown Ale pairs well with richer foods. Courtesy photo.
Alex Waddell of Hopkinton is the owner and pastry chef of Crémeux French Patisserie (707 Milford Road, Merrimack, cremeuxfrenchpatisserie.com), which opened in Pennichuck Square over the summer. Crémeux’s concept is modeled after that of a Parisian pastry shop, with a menu of macarons, eclairs, croissants, lemon honey tarts and other classic French pastries, in addition to freshly baked artisan breads, gourmet teas and coffee, and Belgian chocolates shipped from overseas. Originally from Florida, Waddell got his start working at The Grazing Room at the Colby Hill Inn in Henniker as a teenager. He went on to attend an intensive professional program in French pastry at Ferrandi, an internationally recognized culinary arts school in Paris, before later returning to New Hampshire to open Crémeux with the help of his family.
What is your must-have kitchen item?
A bowl scraper, because it has so many uses in the kitchen. Honestly, it’s something that I can’t ever see myself not having.
What would you have for your last meal?
It would probably have to be my grandmother’s orange duck. She really influenced me as a kid with her French cooking, and I remember her orange duck was so killer. It was definitely one of my favorite things to eat.
What is your favorite local restaurant?
Mint Bistro in Manchester. I love to go there for the sushi, but they do a lot of other dishes really well. It’s a really good restaurant to go out to on a Saturday night.
What celebrity would you like to see trying something in your shop?
I would say Gordon Ramsay. I’m confident enough that he would like my pastries.
What is your favorite thing on your menu?
We do a version of a croissant that I love that’s called Kouign-amann [pronounced “queen-a-mahn”]. … It’s made with croissant dough that’s caramelized on the outside … and has a gooey, buttery center. It’s a traditional pastry from the Brittany region of France.
What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?
Farm-to-table cuisine is big right now. People are trying to go more local with food, and there are definitely a lot more farm-to-table places popping up.
What is your favorite thing to cook or bake at home?
During the Christmas season, there’s one dish that I absolutely love making, called porchetta. It’s basically a big slab of pork belly with a bunch of aromatic herbs put in.
Dark chocolate crémeux Courtesy of Alex Waddell of Crémeux French Patisserie in Merrimack
If using an electronic scale, weigh the chocolate, then chop into small chunks. Add the chocolate to a medium-sized mixing bowl and set aside. Weigh milk and heavy cream together in a small saucepan and set aside. Separate your eggs and add into a medium mixing bowl. Once the yolks have been separated, measure the sugar directly on top of the yolks and whisk quickly until homogenous. Place the milk and cream mixture on a burner set to medium-high heat. Using a rubber spatula, stir occasionally to prevent scorching the milk and cream. Remove from the heat once a very weak simmer has developed. Pour half of the heated milk and cream mixture over the yolk and sugar mixture, being sure to whisk quickly. Once half of the milk and cream mixture has been poured out over the eggs, return all ingredients to the saucepan. Setting the heat to low, use the rubber spatula to stir in a figure eight motion, constantly scraping the bottom of the saucepan. Slowly bring the mixture up to exactly 82 degrees Celsius (or 180 degrees Fahrenheit). Once temperature has been reached, pour the mixture over the chopped chocolate. Let it sit for two minutes before mixing with an emulsion blender until smooth. Place plastic wrap over the top (be sure it’s touching the mixture with zero air pockets) and set overnight in the refrigerator to set.
How local eateries are handling the change in season
Even as the 1750 Taphouse in Bedford broke ground on a new outdoor patio in May, managing partner Charlie Waitt knew there needed to be a solution for the colder months ahead.
“We knew this wasn’t going away anytime soon,” he said. “As we were coming out of summer, we would say the old Game of Thrones phrase ‘Winter is coming.’ We’ve got to do something.”
Waitt had heard of a few New England businesses with heated dome-shaped “igloos” during the winter, including The Envoy Hotel in Boston’s Seaport District, which has them on its rooftop. On Oct. 8, the 1750 Taphouse posted photos on its Facebook page of four heated igloos the restaurant purchased from the Florida-based company Gardenigloo USA, announcing that reservations for each would be available the following day. The post garnered more than 100,000 views overnight. Nearly a month later, Waitt’s staff is still fielding dozens of calls per week from customers wanting to make reservations inside the igloos. Others are contacting him from as far away as New York and Ohio — restaurateurs with questions of their own about how the igloos work and where they can get them for their establishments.
“I didn’t expect it to take off like it did,” Waitt said. “Weekends are jam packed, and we’re seeing weekdays being booked up too. That’s business we never would have had.”
Outdoor dining has been a saving grace for thousands of restaurants in New Hampshire during the pandemic in what has already been a tough year for the industry. Add the elements of a New England winter and many restaurateurs are now having to pivot operations even more.
“I think everyone is trying to extend dining outdoors as long as they possibly can, but once snow starts to fly and we start to get into those bitterly cold winds in December and January, I’m just not sure how much that’s going to buy you, frankly,” said Mike Somers, president and CEO of the New Hampshire Lodging & Restaurant Association.
On Sept. 24, Gov. Chris Sununu announced the release of updated guidance for the state’s restaurant industry, which included easing the six-foot rule between tables as long as dividing barriers are in place, effective Oct. 1. Solo performing artists are also allowed back inside restaurants and function centers as long as they maintain an eight-foot distance from any table.
“The approved barriers are going to be a huge game-changer for a lot of businesses and, I think, will allow for greater occupancy for some,” Somers said.
On Oct. 29, Sununu announced that, starting Oct. 31, restaurants would be required to keep a temporary database of their customers to assist the state’s contact tracing team. Basic information from dine-in patrons such as their name, phone number and day and time of arrival are to be collected from one person per party and kept for a period of 21 days. The announcement comes less than a week after potential community exposure notices issued by the state Department of Health & Human Services at restaurants in several cities and towns, including Concord, Portsmouth, Atkinson, Lincoln and Peterborough.
As the winter season approaches, local restaurateurs discuss the steps they’re taking to prepare for it, and what more they say needs to be done to help keep their businesses afloat.
Constantly adapting
Each of the 1750 Taphouse’s four igloos is set up on the patio. To keep track of the high volume of reservation requests, Waitt said, three designated times per igloo are available each evening — 4:30, 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. — for maximum parties of six. Since the eatery is open for lunch on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, there are additional reservation opportunities at 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. Parties are given approximately one hour and 45 minutes, while the remaining 15 minutes between reservations is spent thoroughly sanitizing and disinfecting the inside of the igloo. Zippered flaps are open on both sides of the igloo for cross-ventilation.
“We’re taking reservations six weeks in advance right now,” Waitt said. “We take a $50 deposit over the phone that goes on a gift card. We hold that gift card until the night of your reservation, give it to you as you walk in, and then you use that gift card toward your bill that night.”
The igloos are close to seven feet tall and about 11 feet in diameter and are made of a vinyl plastic material that feels like a thick shower curtain. Four hundred pounds of sandbags are around the outside of each dome to keep it in place.
Inside, the igloos have a remote control with adjustable LED lights in a variety of colors and patterns, as well as a space heater for you to adjust the warmth to your liking. Two of the igloos also have low-top tables and cushioned patio furniture.
“People are having a lot of fun in them,” Waitt said. “It’s a more intimate setting. … They feel like they’re hanging out in their own living room, eating dinner and just relaxing.”
A few weeks after the igloos went up, the 1750 Taphouse also added vinyl plastic dividers between several of the tables inside, and clear dividers between every few seats at the bar.
In Londonderry, 603 Brewery is also expected to have heated igloos on its patio from the same Florida company, likely starting on Nov. 13, according to marketing and events manager Morgan Kyle. Four of them were introduced last winter, just before the start of the pandemic. This year, there will be eight that will all operate on a reservation system, for maximum parties of six. Professional cleaning crews have been hired to sanitize them after every reservation.
“They’re all going to be spaced out. There will be four closer to the building, and then four more that are a little farther away in a zig-zag pattern,” Kyle said. “We’re going to have people reserve them online through the website on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.”
Other local eateries have taken unique steps to prepare for the colder weather from inside. Grill 603 in Milford, in addition to putting up plexiglass dividers between each of its booths, has installed UVC light sterilization filters into its HVAC system, designed to kill and genetically alter bacteria and viruses. Air purifiers have also been installed with UVC lights in them.
Surfaces are regularly treated with a quaternary ammonium sanitizer, which owner Eric Griffin said is a more effective and less toxic alternative to bleach.
“It was something that I had known about from a previous career,” Griffin said of the UVC filter installations. “When I used to run big yachts in Washington, D.C., where we had a touring party company, and we had put UVC light filters on our water system there.”
Although most of his patrons were understanding of the new contact tracing measures by the state, Griffin said Grill 603 experienced about a 40 percent drop in sales over the weekend following the announcement.
Tom Boucher, CEO of the Bedford-based Great New Hampshire Restaurants, which includes each T-Bones, Cactus Jack’s and Copper Door location in the Granite State, said air purifying systems to eliminate nearly 100 percent of all viruses on surfaces have been purchased. Between two and three have been installed at each restaurant, depending on its size, with one purifier covering approximately 2,000 square feet in the restaurant’s bar or dining area.
Each location is also currently in the process of building a “Santa’s Workshop” shed that will be placed outside near the entrances. Those are expected to be ready in the coming weeks.
“They’ll be heated, they’ll be lit, and we’ll have an employee in there selling gift cards during the holiday season,” Boucher said. “This way, if customers that perhaps aren’t comfortable inside to purchase a gift card, they can do it outside, and we’ll have dedicated parking spaces real close. … We just thought that it would be a nice, fun thing for people to help keep them in the spirit.”
Even before Sununu’s Oct. 29 announcement on gathering information from restaurant patrons to assist in contact tracing, Boucher said tablets have been purchased for each T-Bones, Cactus Jack’s and Copper Door location. They’re being used to record the first name, last initial and phone number of one person per party and each bar customer. The following Monday after the announcement, Boucher reported that virtually every guest over the weekend was understanding of the new measure — many had seen it on the news and were not too surprised, he said, although a few across the board were bothered by it.
“If [the Department of Health & Human Services] has a situation in some of these restaurants, they don’t have to necessarily do a broadcast release, because they’ve got the names and numbers of people that visited on whatever days they might be concerned about,” Boucher said.
Booth dividers at The Post Downtown. Courtesy photo.
Vikki Johnson, who owns The Post Downtown on Main Street in Concord and The Newell Post Restaurant on Fisherville Road, said booth dividers have been installed at both locations with the help of a carpenter. Each one is made with a wood frame that was stained to match or complement those of the existing booths, with plexiglass inserts.
Dividers have been implemented at all four Red Arrow Diner locations, according to chief operating officer Amanda Wihby, including three in Manchester, 11 in Concord, eight in Londonderry and 14 at its largest restaurant in Nashua. The outdoor tables have been removed at all of the locations except in Manchester — those have been kept for people utilizing takeout.
“The Manchester location usually seats 36 people,” Wihby said in an email. “Without the dividers, we were at 11 seats, [but] with the dividers, it added an additional eight seats.”
Some restaurants are putting the focus back on takeout rather than full indoor dining, once it becomes too cold to eat outside. During the early months of the pandemic, Revival Kitchen & Bar in Concord became a popular spot for its takeout specials, like burger and beer combos, cocktail mixes and hand-cut steak and wine pairings. Owner and chef Corey Fletcher said he plans to start increasing the social media interaction for those types of specials once again, while keeping the indoor dining capacity at around 60 to 75 percent and encouraging reservations.
Stalk, a farm-to-table bistro in Dover, recently announced it would cease all dine-in operations starting Nov. 14, and will tentatively switch to takeout only around Dec. 3. A section of the eatery’s website will also be available for people to find food-related gifts for the holidays, from marinades and spice blends to barbecue sauces, vinaigrettes, jams and more.
A “better than expected” summer
Thanks in part to a mainly dry summer and additional outdoor seating, some New Hampshire restaurants were able to rebound in sales, especially those with large patios or parking lots.
“It’s no doubt still been a challenging year all around, but I think for some folks that had limited to significant outdoor dining, the summer was much better than expected,” Somers said.
At its peak, Grill 603 had about 70 outdoor patio seats, according to Griffin, including two tables that were added this season.
“We were right about where we were last summer,” he said. “I never would have guessed that, if you had told me in May that we were going to pull out of it and have a pretty solid summer like that. It was pretty surprising.”
He said he plans to keep the patio seats open as long as he possibly can until enough significant snowfall forces its shutdown, but he’s also not ruling out reopening them if it warms back up.
“We had a run of 70-degree days in February one year, and I put patio furniture out and people were flocking to it,” he said. “So it just depends on what Mother Nature throws at us.”
Boucher said Great New Hampshire Restaurants, collectively as a company, also experienced a much better summer season from the sales of each restaurant than he was expecting. The newest T-Bones restaurant in Concord, the company’s sixth overall, opened the week after Labor Day and is now generating the greatest revenue.
“We ended our third quarter, at the end of September, down only about 10 percent year-over-year, which I was very, very pleased with,” Boucher said. “That being said, about 20 percent of our revenue is takeout … and then roughly another 20 to 30 percent, depending on the location, was outdoor dining.”
In May, each T-Bones, Cactus Jack’s and Copper Door restaurant set up rented tents in the parking lot, which added dozens more seats in addition to the existing patios. The tents came down last weekend, following a recent drop in turnout due to cold nights, but Boucher said traditional outdoor dining on patios and terraces will continue for as long as possible.
Waitt said the 1750 Taphouse has broken its own sales records multiple times in the last several weeks, and that’s not just due to all the attention it has received from the igloos.
“For us, if there’s been any silver lining from this, it was that it accelerated a lot of the plans we had and put them in motion a lot faster,” Waitt said. “We built the patio, we revamped our menu and our service model, and we brought in a lot of great new people who are just as passionate about making the restaurant successful as we are.”
At Georgia’s Northside in Concord, a takeout-only Southern kitchen and craft beer market, owner and chef Alan Natkiel has enjoyed a massive increase in food sales compared to last year.
He initially closed for nearly three weeks before reopening in April with a retooled business model, implementing an online-only ordering system through the restaurant’s website and installing a pickup counter out in front of the door.
For Natkiel, being transparent with his customers is absolutely essential in the throes of a pandemic — that’s why every several weeks he’ll put out a post on Facebook updating them with his service protocols. He and each one of his four other staff members also take turns getting coronavirus tests every two to three weeks on a rotating basis.
Downtown dining
Expanded outdoor dining on public sidewalks and parking spaces downtown became a major lifeline this summer for many city restaurants in New Hampshire. Most of these regulations are set to end this month, but despite the onset of the winter season, a few municipalities have voted on or are considering extending it even further for interested businesses.
In downtown Manchester, the jersey barriers that accommodated outdoor seating space for restaurants and other businesses along Elm Street were scheduled to be picked up this week.
But according to Lauren Smith, chief of staff for Mayor Joyce Craig, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted late last week in favor of extending them for those that want them. Most have elected to keep the barriers, she said, with the exception of Boards & Brews and The Shaskeen Irish Pub & Restaurant. Each business that is keeping the barriers will be responsible for removing snow from inside the enclosed space from the street, but the city’s Highway Department will still plow snow from the sidewalks.
Nashua’s parking restrictions to accommodate outdoor dining on Main Street are currently set to expire on Nov. 15, but according to city economic development director Tim Cummings, there have been talks to possibly get them extended.
Concord’s outdoor dining permits are also valid through Nov. 15. While city health and licensing officer Gwen Williams said no extensions have been discussed, the city council has been working with the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce to award grants of up to $1,500 to restaurants to help offset any expenses related to increasing capacity indoors, such as dividers.
Chamber president Tim Sink said the grants come from money that was going to be used for the city’s Fourth of July fireworks display, which was canceled.
“The council recognized that the end of outdoor dining in Concord put restaurants in a tough position,” Sink said. “[The fireworks cancellation] created a small pot of money for something like this, and so they contacted the Chamber to see if if they’d like us to manage the grants.”
Within the first couple of days, Sink said he already received multiple inquiries from Concord restaurants. Grant applications through the Chamber’s website are available through Nov. 20.
More aid needed
Although Boucher did acquire Paycheck Protection Program [PPP] funds back in April, Great New Hampshire Restaurants did not qualify for either of the state’s Main Street Relief Funds, even as it approaches half a million dollars in extra expenses since the start of the pandemic.
“It’s not just masks and sanitizer,” he said. “It’s the tents that we’ve rented, the tables and chairs, the propane heaters, the dividers, the amount of signage we’ve had to print, the amount of times we’ve had to change our menu and our website, and the labor that’s gone into all of that. … These are all expenses that never existed before.”
Boucher said he and members of two other local restaurant groups — The Common Man and the 110 Grill — are working with state officials to propose a new fund, which would target businesses that did not get any relief from the first two rounds, and that have accrued Covid-19-related expenses in excess of $100,000.
“This winter, I’ll be grateful if we’re down 20 to 25 percent, but we won’t make money doing that,” he said. “We’ll probably barely break even, and some stores will lose money.”
According to a nationwide survey conducted by the National Restaurant Association in September, 40 percent of restaurant operators think it is unlikely their establishment will still be in business in six months if there are no additional relief packages from the federal government.
“I think New Hampshire has fared a little better than some other states that are still under lockdown,” Somers said, “but without that federal assistance, whether it’s another round of PPP or another program, some of these businesses are not going to make it to the spring.”
On Oct. 1, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the $2.2 trillion Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act 2.0, which includes a $120 billion grant program to support restaurants with fewer than 20 locations by helping to cover cost of rent, utilities and employee salaries. According to Jenni Muns, a spokeswoman for Rep. Annie Kuster, who is one of more than 200 co-sponsors of the bill, the grants would total the difference between a restaurant group’s 2019 revenues and expected 2020 revenues. The bill remains part of ongoing negotiations with the Senate.
Featured photo: The 1750 Taphouse in Bedford recently installed four heated dome-like “igloos” on its patio for you to enjoy its food outside all winter, like the tater kegs with house beer cheese, crispy bacon, Parmesan and scallions. Photo by Matt Ingersoll.
• Wine & chocolate: Join Appolo Vineyards (49 Lawrence Road, Derry) for its next chocolate and wine weekend, featuring Kevin Miller of KRM Chocolates in Salem. From Friday, Nov. 6, through Sunday, Nov. 8, reservations are available to taste up to five Appolo wines along with a box of KRM Chocolates. The socially distanced tastings will be held outdoors. Pairings are $15 per person and advance registration is required — visit appolovineyards.com/book-online to book your designated time.
• Turkey talk: The Hollis Social Library will present a virtual demonstration on Zoom on Monday, Nov. 9, at 6 p.m. featuring Chef Liz Barbour of The Creative Feast. Barbour will lead a discussion about the many types of turkeys available and the ways to prepare them for a Thanksgiving dinner, and then demonstrate two of her favorite side dishes. Visit hollislibrary.libcal.com to pre-register the event for free. Virtual attendees will receive a confirmation email with a link to the live webinar. Zoom accounts are not required to access the event.
• Meet The Kitchen Witch: Sweet Hill Farm (82 Newton Road, Plaistow) will host a socially distanced book signing on Saturday, Nov. 7, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., featuring Dawn Hunt, a.k.a. “The Kitchen Witch,” of Cucina Aurora in Salem. Hunt will be presenting her new cookbook, A Kitchen Witch’s Guide to Recipes for Love & Romance, which explores food’s roles in self-love and interpersonal relationships with personal anecdotes, spiritual techniques and more than 50 original recipes and illustrations. Featured foods include cinnamon crumb pound cake, avocado chocolate mousse, pomegranate mimosas with muddled raspberries, stuffed zucchini pinwheels, pork loin roast with cherries and red wine and much more. Admission to the signing is free, but masks are required for attendees. Visit cucinaaurora.com.
• NHLC recognized: The New Hampshire Liquor Commission was recently named one of the top 10 retailers in the country by Beverage Dynamics magazine, according to a press release. The magazine recognizes off-premise retailers, such as liquor stores or supermarket chains, that demonstrate innovation and superior beverage alcohol industry knowledge. The state Liquor Commission was featured alongside the other top winners in the July/August issue of the magazine. The Top 100 Retailer Awards were also presented to winners at the fourth annual Beverage Alcohol Retailers Conference, which was held virtually this year, on Sept. 15.
• Playa Bowls comes to Manchester: Playa Bowls, a New Jersey-based chain offering açaí bowls, poke bowls, smoothies and juices, opened its first location in New Hampshire on Oct. 31 at the North End Shops at Livingston Park (555 Hooksett Road, Manchester), according to a press release. Its 99th store location overall, Playa Bowls is open for indoor dining and takeout, as well as curbside pickup through DoorDash, Postmates and Grubhub. Visit playabowls.com.
Beaver Brook Nature Center in Hollis is offering several outdoor programs for kids that start next week. Natural Wonders for kids ages 2 to 5 (and their caregivers) will be held Tuesdays, Nov. 10, Nov. 17, Dec. 1 and Dec. 8, from 10 to 11 a.m. at Maple Hill Farm (117 Ridge Road, Hollis). The program will include hikes and stories and costs $36. The Busy Beavers Forest Preschool starts a four-week mini session at Maple Hill Farm on Thursday, Nov. 12, running through Thursday, Dec. 10 (no class on Thanksgiving), from 9:30 to 11: 30 a.m. The cost is $107.50. A Fitness Hiking Club for students in grades 4 through 6 also starts Tuesday, Nov. 10, and will be held at the Beaver Brook Brown Lane Farm (52 Brown Lane) from 3:45 to 5 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday through Dec. 10 (no hikes Thanksgiving week). The cost is $120. Two outdoor homeschool science classes will start next week, one for ages 6 to 9 that will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays, Nov. 10, Nov. 17, Dec. 1 and Dec. 8, and one for ages 9 through 13 from 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesdays, Nov. 11, Nov. 18, Dec. 2 and Dec. 9. The cost of each class is $100. Register for programs at beaverbrook.org.
Jumping worms!
It’s time for another Super Stellar Friday at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center (2 Institute Drive, Concord). On the first Friday of each month, the Discovery Center explores science in a live online program. This month, on Friday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m., the program is Invasion of the Jumping Worms, about the “aggressively invasive” species from Asia that has been spreading through the Northeast and Midwest. This event is free, but registration is required at starhop.com.
At the movies
To infinity and beyond! Cinemagic theaters in Hooksett (38 Cinemagic Way; 644-4629), Merrimack (11 Executive Park Drive; 423-0240) and Portsmouth (2454 Lafayette Road; 319-8788) will have special showings of Toy Story (PG, 1995) Friday, Nov. 6, through Thursday, Nov. 19, for $5 a ticket. Other upcoming family-friendly special showings include Guardians of the Galaxy (PG-13, 2014) from Nov. 13 to Nov. 26 and The Santa Clause (PG, 1994) from Nov. 20 to Dec. 3. Visit cinemagicmovies.com for times and safety protocols.
Save the date
Jeff Kinney, bestselling author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, will make two stops in New Hampshire during his book tour for the series’ 15th title, The Deep End. On Thursday, Nov. 12, at Lincoln Street Elementary School (25 Lincoln St., Exeter) and Friday, Nov. 13, at Rundlett Middle School (144 South St., Concord), from 5 to 7 p.m., Kinney will host Drive-Thru Pool Parties with pool party-themed activities like a lifeguard dunk tank, a tiki hut and an underwater venture. He will also personally deliver signed copies of the book to fans using a six-foot pool skimmer. Tickets cost $14.99. Visit waterstreetbooks.com and gibsonsbookstore.com.
LaBelle Winery (345 Route 101, Amherst) is hosting a Family Bingo Night on Saturday, Nov. 21, at 6 p.m. featuring six rounds of bingo (with one adult and one kid winner per round) and an Italian dinner and a full bar with alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. There is a maximum limit of six adults per table, with no more than 10 people, including kids, per table. Tickets are $25 to $33 and can be purchased at labellewineryevents.com.
Try Brussels sprouts, broccoli and other fall veggies
Cut away fhe fine roots of celeriac to expose the bulbous root used for cooking or even salads. Courtesy photo.
Granted, I have a vegetable garden mainly so I can have fresh, succulent tomatoes from July until some time in October. But I also have grown, I think, all vegetables that will grow in our climate. Right now, in late October, my saved tomatoes are all eaten, but I am enjoying plenty of other fresh veggies, and I am storing others for eating later.
For late fall, nothing beats Brussels sprouts. The trick to having good Brussels sprouts is to cut off the top of the plant in early September. I say do it on Labor Day, but even a bit later is fine. If you fail to do that, the plants will use all their energy to grow taller and taller. If you cut off the top three inches and it stops growing taller, it sends its energy to bulking up those cute little green “cabbages” that pop out of the stalk. Some years I’ve continued picking until late December, despite snow and cold.
Now I realize that for many people, a serving of Brussels sprouts is as appetizing as dead skunk left on the side of the road for a couple of days before serving. Those are people who probably were served overcooked sprouts in public schools. Mushy, grayish-green sprouts are not appetizing.
If you cook your sprouts “al dente,” you may change your opinion. Steam them until just tender enough to spear with a fork, or cut them in half and sauté in butter or olive oil and walnuts, and you may change your mind. I happen to like steaming them, then sprinkling Marukan brand seasoned gourmet rice wine vinegar over mine — tasty, and without the calories of the butter preferred by many.
Kale gets tastier as the season goes on. A few hard frosts sweetens it up, and if the deer don’t get it after snowfall, I often have it until Christmas. I like it in a breakfast smoothie: In a blender I put two leaves of kale with midribs removed, a banana, a cup of orange juice and a cup of water, some fresh ginger (to taste), the juice of half a lime, and some frozen blueberries or raspberries from the garden and stored in the freezer.
Kale can also be used for salad. Our friend Eliza Bergeson makes a great kale salad: She removes the midrib and chops the kale. She then massages it for about five minutes with a dressing of olive oil and lemon. She adds honey mustard, salt and pepper. The massaging makes the kale tender and works in the dressing. She adds feta cheese crumbs, dried cranberries, walnuts and fresh red peppers for color.
My broccoli continues to produce side shoots, despite the frosts. If you keep on cutting them off, they keep on flowering. Some years I grow non-heading broccoli relatives. One is called piricicaba, the other Happy Rich. Neither produces a big head, but both produce lots of little florets and persist well into the fall. I get seeds from Johnny’s or Fedco and start them in April, as these are not readily available as starts in most garden centers.
I just harvested a five-gallon pail of celery root, or as it is often called, celeriac. This is a celery relative that is grown for its roots, not stems. The leaves look and smell the same, but celeriac does not produce edible stalks. I clean and chop celeriac roots and chop them to use in soups and stews. It has a nice celery flavor.
I start celeriac in March by seed indoors. It is a slow grower at first, but once in the ground it takes off if in moist soil and full sunshine. Spacing is important, too. Crowd celeriac and you’ll get little. This summer I spaced them six inches apart in three rows eight inches apart in one wide bed, and they did well. I watered in dry times.
I also just harvested a five-gallon pail of leeks. Leeks are great, in my book, because you can use them in lieu of onions when cooking, and unlike onions, you can freeze them.
Leek and potato soup is one of my fall favorites. I just made some, and here is what I did. I started by dicing and frying two or three strips of thick-cut bacon in a large cast iron, enameled pot. Of course, vegetarians can substitute butter instead. Then I added some olive oil and four cups of potatoes, cut into half-inch cubes. I browned the potatoes a little, then added four cups of leeks. Since I am rich in celeriac, I chopped up a whole one and added it to the mix.
Then I added eight cups of water and simmered slowly. I added 1½ teaspoons of a dried herb called herbes de Provence. That is a mix of various Mediterranean spices (savory, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, oregano and lavender). And I added a couple of tablespoons of vegetarian vegetable broth powder (Seitenbacher brand) to give some added flavor. Then I added a handful of fresh chopped parsley.
I cooked the soup until the potatoes were done. I used a red-skinned potato I grew this year, one called Fenway Red. It is a productive potato and holds together well in a soup. Just don’t overcook it. I like a milky leek and potato soup, but don’t like to cook the milk, so I just added a quarter cup to each bowl at serving time. Yum!
As with any soup, I vary my leek and potato recipe whenever I make it. Sometimes I add dried cherry tomatoes or peas. Kale would be good — it goes well with potatoes at my St. Patrick’s Day meal, colcannon. That’s the great thing about fresh vegetables. You can’t go wrong.
So when you plan your garden for next year, be sure to grow some veggies that survive frost and are tasty on a cold fall night.
Featured Photo: Leeks are easy to grow and a good substitute for onions when cooked. Courtesy photo.
