Tag: 210107

Meredith Touma

Meredith Touma of Derry is the owner of Sal Terrae Seasonings (salterraeseasonings.com, and on Facebook and Instagram @salterraeseasonings), a company offering four hand-crafted spice blends using various herbs, salts, peppers and other ingredients. Named after the Latin translation of “salt of the Earth,” Sal Terrae started last April as a grassroots project when Touma, a stay-at-home mom for 14 years, began sharing her spice blends with neighbors, friends and community members. Over the summer she brought her spices to farmers markets in Nashua, Bedford and Exeter. Sal Terrae’s spice blends, each of which is prepared at Creative Chef Kitchens in Derry, are the Classic, with local lavender and fennel; the Italian, with herbs like rosemary, sage, thyme, basil and oregano; the Inferno, a hot, earthy blend with Trinidad scorpion and ghost peppers; and the Beach, which has cinnamon, oregano, clove, ginger, mace and smoked paprika. Four-ounce bottles of each of Touma’s blends are available at The Grind in Derry, Mr. Steer Meats in Londonderry, the East Derry General Store and Donahue’s Fish Market in Plaistow. Online ordering is also available.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

I love to cook, and anyone who’s always in the kitchen knows the importance of a good, sharp knife.

What would you have for your last meal?

Just a regular simple broth fondue. We like to season that with the Inferno blend.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

I have a soft spot for the East Derry Tavern. The food is spectacular. I have known [owners] Sam and Lina Patel for years … and they’ve done a magnificent job turning it into a gorgeous town gem.

What celebrity would you like to see trying one of your spice blends?

Definitely Gordon Ramsay. I know it’s very cliche, but he’s actually been a culinary inspiration of mine for 20 years. I’ve been following him even before he had all of his TV shows. We’ve eaten at The London in New York City, which is a stunning restaurant. … It would be an honor to be able to thank him for his inspiration.

What is your favorite spice blend that you make?

The Beach. I use it on everything from salmon to brisket and pork ribs.

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

Home cooking. People are forced to … be creative in the kitchen and to make things at home they would normally eat while out. There are so many Zoom classes out there now that you can sign up for.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

Coq au vin is probably my No. 1 go-to meal, especially in the winter season. I love cooking with chicken thighs. I give them a really hard sear and make them with tomatoes, carrots and tons of mushrooms.

Sal Terrae roasted corn and shrimp chowder
From the kitchen of Meredith Touma of Sal Terrae Seasonings in Derry

1-pound bag frozen corn
1 can unsalted creamed corn
3 to 4 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped
2 pounds medium peeled and deveined shrimp (marinated in 1 tablespoon Sal Terrae Beach seasoning at room temperature for about 10 minutes)
1 package chicken sausage (Buffalo or sweet apple), sliced into coins
1 large onion, diced
2 to 3 stalks celery, chopped
1 large carrot, grated
1 red pepper, julienned
3 to 4 cloves garlic, smashed
3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream

Place frozen corn on a lined baking pan, toss with chopped bacon and roast in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until bacon is cooked entirely. Set aside. In a wide stock pan, sauté onion in olive oil for five minutes, until translucent. Add garlic, celery, carrots, sausage and red pepper. Sauté on medium-high until the sausages brown slightly. Add one tablespoon of Sal Terrae Inferno seasoning and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, stir in cream and add potatoes. Let simmer for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. If you prefer a creamier chowder, use an immersion blender to break up the potatoes. Return to a rolling boil and add shrimp, creamed corn and roasted bacon and corn mixture. Cook until shrimp are cooked evenly (about 3 to 5 minutes), stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

Featured photo: Meredith Touma

Southwest inspired

Trio’s Cafe & Cantina to open in Salem

A new eatery coming to Salem later this month will offer family-sized meal kits, as well as other lunch and dinner items, with fresh ingredients and a unique Southwestern flair.

Trio’s Cafe & Cantina, due to open in the Breckenridge Plaza on North Broadway in the coming weeks, gets its name from the owners — a “trio” of generations of the same family that includes general manager and Salem native Julie Manzer, her mother, Janet, and father, Paul, and her two daughters, Tanna and Keira Marshall.

Manzer, who previously owned the Purple Finch Cafe in Bedford, said she learned about the vacant restaurant space last August from her best friend in high school.

“My friend had wanted me to own something around here where I grew up, and so I ran it by my family and we decided to look into it,” she said. “Originally I was going to do breakfast and lunch, because that was kind of the world I was used to … but with Covid it seemed to make more sense to focus on takeout and family meal deals.”

It’s that concept, combined with Manzer’s love of Southern California and Tex-Mex flavors, that sets the menu at Trio’s apart. Meal kit options will include tacos, enchiladas or fajitas, with either chicken or steak and flour or corn tortillas; various soups and chilis by the quart; and tray-sized or take-and-bake bowls, like a chili and macaroni and cheese bowl with sour cream and tortilla strips, a plant-based protein bowl with sweet potato, black beans and avocado, and a citrus chicken bowl with bacon, tomato, greens, cheddar cheese and onion.

There are several sandwich, burger and side options that you’ll be able to order via either takeout or dine-in. The Southern “Steuben,” for instance, will feature barbecue pulled pork, coleslaw, melted cheddar cheese and ranch on grilled country white bread, while the Philly torta has steak, onion, bell peppers, queso, jalapeno, avocado and chipotle mayonnaise on a tolera roll. A “comfort kitchen” section of the menu has plated options like beer-braised steak or half-roasted chicken with veggies, pulled pork chipotle barbecue macaroni and cheese, and tempura-battered fish and chips with a lime cabbage carrot slaw.

Trio’s is also rolling out a menu of Southwestern-themed house cocktails, in addition to some bottled beers, wines and seltzers, and white citrus or seasonal red sangrias with fresh fruit.

“I have a fresh-squeezed orange juice machine, so we’ll have a house margarita that has a little bit of that in it,” Manzer said. “We’ll also have bloody marys and marias, and mimosa flights.”

Trio’s Cafe & Cantina
An opening date is expected in the coming weeks. Visit their website or follow them on social media for updates.
Where: 264 N. Broadway, Unit 105, Salem
Anticipated hours: Daily, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
More info: Visit trioscc.com or find them on Facebook and Instagram

Featured photo: Left to right, are: general manager Julie Manzer, her father Paul Manzer, older daughter Tanna Marshall, mother Janet Manzer and younger daughter Keira Marshall. Photo by Matt Ingersoll.

Lone Star eats

Texas-style BBQ food truck opens restaurant space in Milford

Regina and Jeremy Davison gained a devoted following after the launch of their Texas-style barbecue food truck on Elm Street in Milford in late July. Now, after moving a few miles down the road, the couple is continuing that success at a brick-and-mortar location.

R & J Texas-style BBQ On Wheels, according to Regina Davison, will still be open outdoors as a mostly takeout operation. The new space, which opened last week in the former Pizza Top restaurant directly adjacent to the food truck, introduces indoor seating and expands the menu to include a wide variety of items not previously available, from breakfast options and weekly specialty burgers to mixed cocktails, spiked milkshakes and more.

Whether you order pulled pork or beef brisket on a sandwich or as a combo plate — the meats are smoked overnight for 12 hours and 16 hours, respectively — you’ll get a ton of it.

“Texas-style means a lot of fat, a lot of grease and a lot of food,” said Regina Davison, a native of Dallas who came to New Hampshire about eight years ago. “What you would get at a normal restaurant, you get three times that much here. So you have enough for lunch, dinner and probably for lunch the next day.”

An entree plate of brisket with either chicken, sausage, pulled pork or pork chops will come with three sides and a serving of cornbread. Davison makes all of her own sides from scratch, like baked beans that are prepared for six hours with pulled pork, bacon and brown sugar. Other sides include fresh collard greens, Gouda macaroni and cheese, chili cheese fries, grilled green beans with fried bacon, coleslaw, and potato salad with white or brown gravy.

Recently Davison has added items like catfish, steaks and fried chicken; smothered chicken or pork chops with gravy, bell peppers and onions; and macaroni and cheese bowls topped with chili, brisket or pulled pork.

Breakfast is now available all day from the new location too.

“I’m creating my own hash that’s going to be with brisket or pulled pork, and then I have what I call a Momma’s breakfast burrito,” she said. “We have pancakes and waffles as well.”

Beginning this week Davison has introduced a “Wednesday Burger Madness” menu featuring a selection of specialty burgers only available on Wednesdays. They include options like the Davison Burger Extraordinaire, cooked medium and topped with bacon, two fried eggs, Gouda cheese, arugula, onions and a house sauce; and the Williams Beast Burger, which has pulled pork and pieces of ribs on top of a double meat patty, also with bacon, onions and a bourbon barbecue glazed sauce.

A drinks menu is also new for the indoor space, with a small selection of bottled beers, vanilla, chocolate or strawberry shakes (with the option to add a liqueur like Kahlua or amaretto), and mixed cocktails, like margaritas, mimosas, hurricanes and Texas rum punch.

In addition to keeping the truck open for takeout orders, Davison said it will remain available for event catering.

R & J Texas-style BBQ On Wheels
Where: 183 Elm St., Unit 3, Milford
Anticipated hours: Wednesday and Thursday, noon to 9 p.m., and Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. (breakfast is available all day)
More info: Visit rjtexasbbqonwheels.com, find them on Facebook or call 518-0186

Featured photo: Breakfast brisket burritos. Courtesy photo.

The Weekly Dish 21/01/07

News from the local food scene

• Salem market moves indoors: The Salem Farmers Market will move indoors for the remainder of the winter beginning Sunday, Jan. 10, at a new location at 369 S. Broadway in Salem (the former location of Rockler Woodworking), according to a recent post on its Facebook page. The year-round market, which normally operates indoors from November through about April or May, has been outdoors at Salem Marketplace since this past March. According to Bonnie Wright of the market’s board, limited hours of 10 a.m. to noon each Sunday will continue in the new location. Visit salemnhfarmersmarket.org.

• Blind wines: Join WineNot Boutique (221 Main St., Nashua) for a blind tasting of cabernet sauvignon wines on Thursday, Jan. 14, from 6 to 8 p.m. Participants will taste nine wines, each of which will be hidden in brown bags, paired with varieties of cheese, chocolates and appetizers. After tasting each wine, you’ll be asked to vote on your favorite. Separate tables and chairs will be set up for each attendee with its own individually prepared plate. The cost is $40 per person and face masks are required when entering the store. Visit winenotboutique.com.

• Get in the spirit: LaBelle Winery recently unveiled a new line of spirit infusion kits under “The Winemaker’s Kitchen” collection of handcrafted culinary products, according to a press release. Six natural flavors — juniper berry citrus, cinnamon vanilla, spicy bloody mary, triple citrus twist, vanilla bean old-fashioned and cranberry vodka — are included in the line, all of which are used to incorporate into a pre-existing alcoholic spirit of your choice. Simply add your favorite liquor to the infusion jar and let it rest for approximately a week. According to the release, kits are available to purchase online or by visiting LaBelle’s Amherst location. Each kit includes one Ball jar with instructions and assorted herbs, spices and fruits for infusion. They can also be shipped or delivered locally. Visit labellewinery.com.

• Makris restaurant takes a break: Concord’s Makris Lobster & Steak House has temporarily closed its doors as of Jan. 1, according to a recent post on the restaurant’s website attributed to the Makris family. “We have come to a last-minute hard decision, after some deep thought, that it is in our best interest to shut down for a couple months due to Covid restrictions and lack of staff,” the post reads. “Our plan is to renovate and reopen stronger than before.” The post goes on to say that a reopening date for the restaurant is “to be determined” sometime in the future.

Kiddie Pool 21/01/07

Family fun for the weekend

Math discoveries

Have “Phun With Math,” a virtual program from the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center (2 Institute Drive, Concord) being presented on Friday, Jan. 8, at 7 p.m. Phun With Math is the theme for this month’s Super Stellar Friday event. STEM instructor and Discovery Center educator David McDonald will explore fun patterns and numbers in nature, explain what you could do with a rope that circles the Earth at the equator, and show you how to increase your chances of choosing the right door in “Let’s Make a Deal.” This event is free, but registration is required at starhop.com.

Library fun, at home

Many local libraries are closed or have limited hours and services, but they’re still offering plenty of fun for kids and families. The Nashua Public Library (2 Court St., 589-4600, nashualibrary.org) has virtual story times posted on its website, along with monthly interactive virtual activities — January’s is “Case of the Missing Snowman.” The library also offers age-appropriate craft projects on the second Saturday of each month; materials can be picked up curbside.

At the Manchester City Library (405 Pine St., 624-6550, manchester.lib.nh.us) kids can find a new Messy Art project online each Wednesday afternoon. The projects can be done at home with items around the house. The next new project will be posted on Wednesday, Jan. 13, at 3 p.m. Also on Wednesdays starting Jan. 13, the library will host “For the Young & Young at Heart – Movement and Songs” via Zoom, starting at 10 a.m. Registration is required for the live, 20-minute program, which encourages all ages to get moving.

And at the Concord Public Library (45 Green St., 225-8670, concordpubliclibrary.net) parents can pick up craft kits for their kids (and, every other week, for themselves). On Monday, Jan. 11, the Fun Coloring Kit will be made available to kids, while supplies last. The library is also hosting Book Bingo, challenging readers of all ages to complete as many squares as possible by Feb. 26. Fill in the squares with the names of books you’ve finished, and every time you get five in a row you’ll earn a raffle ticket. Register online to have the game board emailed to you, or pick it up curbside.

To discover the virtual events and activities that are happening at your local library, visit its website — most town and city libraries have revamped their programming to offer safe, at-home fun for families.

2020 gardens

What worked last year and what didn’t

This past year was a tough one for many of us: isolation due to Covid-19, political turmoil, employment interruptions and more. But in the garden? For me, it was pretty good, overall. It was a very dry summer, but that meant that there were fewer fungal diseases on my tomatoes and phlox. Since a small stream passes through my property the water table is high, and my established plantings did fine with little supplemental watering.

Let’s start in the vegetable garden. What tomatoes did best for me? For sheer production, it was one called “Big Mama.” She is shaped like a plum tomato, but three times the size or more. Flavor-wise it was not spectacular for fresh eating, but it was great for making sauce. I got seeds from Burpee.

My best-flavored tomato? One I bought as a seedling called Hungarian Heart. It is a big, juicy tomato that makes any sandwich memorable. I ate them for breakfast, lunch and dinner when I had them. Seeds for this heirloom tomato are available from The Seed Savers Exchange or Burpee seeds. And since it is an heirloom, you can save seeds from this year’s harvest to use next year.

Equally tasty is a perennial favorite of mine, the Sun Gold cherry tomato — early, relatively disease-free, highly productive. It’s a modern hybrid, so you’ll need to buy seeds or plants every year. But buy them early: They sell out fast. They’re great for snacking or in salads. I also dehydrate them by the hundred and use in soups, stews and salads all winter.

Best-looking early tomato? Blue Beauty. It starts out blue but ripens to be a red tomato with black shoulders. Very productive with six- to eight-ounce tomatoes and a nice flavor. Hybrid. Seeds available from Pine Tree Garden Seeds.

Best annual flowers? My wife Cindy ordered 18 dahlia tubers last winter, and we started them indoors last March in 12-inch pots. We grew them under lights until mid-June, when the soil was warm enough to please this heat-loving flower. They grew purple, pink and white six-inch blossoms on six-foot-tall plants. We had more dahlia plants than any normal people would want, and even after we gave away a few we had a forest of them.

These big plants had to be staked, and the only thing strong enough to support them were one-inch-square hardwood grade stakes, five- or six-footers. We dedicated one eight-foot by three-foot flower bed to them and scattered a few plants elsewhere.

For years I have been trying to find the perfect spot for a nice flowering shrub called Carolina allspice or sweetshrub. I moved it this year for the third time, and finally found a good spot. About 10 years ago I planted it in full sun with moist soil, and the leaves burned. Then I put it in shade, and it didn’t flower much. This year I moved it to a drier location in dappled shade under a pear tree. It grew well and appears to have settled in *well.

Sweetshrub produces nice burgundy flowers in late June. Some varieties are very fragrant. Mine is not. (Note to self: Buy flowering plants when in flower if they are supposed to be fragrant.)

We had a fierce windstorm in 2020 and it partially tipped over a 15-foot catalpa tree that we’d had for three years. I was able to push it back up to vertical position but worried that it was unstable. I tied it to three stakes for a while. Then I had the idea to place a large stone over the root ball on the side that had lifted up. That really stabilized it, and I removed the ropes, which had begun to dig into the bark. So far, so good, despite strong winds this fall.

For years I have been frustrated by weeds that infested a walkway through a terraced area for flowers. Goutweed and creeping grasses were seemingly impossible to eradicate, especially since the roots could hide under the large flat stones I had used as stepping stones. This year my wife, Cindy, decided to make it better.

First we removed all stepping stones and she dug out the weed roots. She hired three teenagers to wheelbarrow away the soil and help with the digging as she excavated the path. They dug out a pathway about eight inches deep, two to three feet wide and 80 feet long. They then put down six inches of one-inch crushed stone and covered it with landscape fabric. Then they edged it with bricks standing on edge and filled it with rounded pea stones about half an inch across.

The project was a huge success: For the first time ever, we had no weeds in the walkway. Not one, all summer. Stone, with no soil mixed in, will not grow weeds and the bricks kept soil in the beds from getting into the pathway. We will be on the lookout for scraps of goutweed that might pop up at the edges of the walkway next year, but the landscape fabric will keep any scraps of root from sending up shoots.

Each year is different. Each year certain flowers or vegetables are supremely happy, and others sulk. That’s part of the fun of gardening: remembering the good, learning from the bad, and looking forward to the next year. My best wishes to you all for 2021.

Featured Photo: Calycanthus or sweetshrub is a shade-loving shrub I love. Photo courtesy of Henry Homeyer.

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