Tag: 230615

In the kitchen with Cora Viglione

Cora Viglione of Derry is the kitchen manager of Hare of the Dawg (3 E. Broadway, Derry, 552-3883, hareofthedawgnh.com), a family-friendly downtown bar and grill that opened in early January 2022. Taking over the space that had long been occupied by the C & K Restaurant, Hare of the Dawg features a wide variety of scratch-cooked comfort foods, craft beers and cocktails, and even has a 24-seat custom bar built from the ground up by a local woodworker. A Massachusetts native, Viglione joined the staff of Hare of the Dawg shortly after their opening, after previously working at The Derry Diner for nearly two decades.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

You always have to have a spoon, or tongs. … We use different spoons for different things.

What would you have for your last meal?

Probably fried haddock. … That’s one of my favorite things, and we have very, very good haddock here.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

The Coach [Stop Restaurant & Tavern in Londonderry]. … I’m a really big seafood person, so if any kind of special is seafood, I’ll usually get that.

What celebrity would you like to see eating at Hare of the Dawg?

Oh my goodness. If I had to choose, it would be Robert Urich.

What is your favorite thing on your menu?

I would have to say the meat loaf rolls, and probably a pepperoni and onion pizza.

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

I think it’s the food trucks. There are a lot of food trucks around. … There is a seafood one in town, the One Happy Clam, and the gentleman that runs it used to own Clam Haven. We follow him everywhere. … He’s a nice gentleman and he has good food.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

I like to make American chop suey with hot sausage and zucchini, and all kinds of vegetables in it. That’s my favorite. … I want to try it here as a special, because it’s very, very good.

Cora’s American chop suey
From the kitchen of Cora Viglione of Hare of the Dawg in Derry

2 boxes large elbow pasta, boiled
2 packages ground hot sausage
3 to 5 pounds ground beef
1 Vidalia onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 zucchinis, chopped
1 summer squash, chopped
2 Tablespoons crushed hot red peppers
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon garlic
1 jar Ragú sauce

Cook all ingredients together. Salt and pepper to taste.


Featured photo: Cora Viglione, kitchen manager of Hare of the Dawg Bar & Grill in Derry. Courtesy photo.

When life gives you lemons

Fabrizia Spirits to celebrate National Limoncello Day

June 22 is National Limoncello Day, and Salem’s Fabrizia Spirits purveyor of limoncello in the United States, is marking the occasion with a new festival featuring live music, lawn games, giveaways, facility tours and even a lemon-squeezing competition.

“We discovered there was a National Limoncello Day and we said, ‘We have to do something. We can’t just sit on this,’” Fabrizia Spirits co-owner and founder Phil Mastroianni said. “People for years have been asking to visit Fabrizia and if we did tours, and we don’t, but then we said, ‘Well, why don’t we use Limoncello Day as an opportunity to open up our doors?’”

Launched in 2008 with its flagship limoncello, Fabrizia Spirits has since expanded its product line to include a variety of ready-to-drink cocktails, like its Italian margarita and Italian-style lemonade; multiple flavors of vodka sodas, like Sicilian lemon, blood orange and raspberry; and liqueurs, like the Crema di Pistacchio. In November 2020 the Mastroiannis launched the Fabrizia Lemon Baking Co., introducing their own line of limoncello-infused baked goods for the first time, from cookies and whoopie pies to biscotti, blondies, loaves and white chocolate-dipped truffles — each item is produced fresh onsite at Fabrizia’s Salem headquarters.

Many of these products will be available for attendees to sample during the festival. Indoor tours of Fabrizia’s facility, Mastroianni said, are going to be where you can sample the company’s higher-proof spirits, as well as items from a table of baked goods.

“We’re going to be selling additional stuff that people can take home, if they’d like to buy some baked goods while they’re here,” he said.

Ticket-holders will also receive two full-sized canned cocktails and one complimentary item from the Tola-Rose Italian Eats food truck, which will be parked outside the building. Tola-Rose is owned and operated by Goffstown couple Tony and Laurie Lomuscio and is best-known for authentic Italian options like meatball subs, sausage subs with peppers and onions, chicken or eggplant Parmesan and chocolate chip cannolis.

Outdoors is also where the lemon-squeezing competition is set to take place, and all festival ticket-holders are eligible to participate. Up to eight contestants will stand in front of a bottle of Fabrizia’s limoncello and a basket of halved lemons. The bottle will be topped with a funnel and the first person to fill the bottle to a designated line the fastest — by squeezing juice out of the lemons with their bare hands — will be crowned the winner. In the event that more than eight people sign up, Mastroianni said, there will be qualifying rounds with the same rules.

The festival will not take place in the event of rain, although Mastroianni said if all goes well the hope is to make the National Limoncello Day celebration an annual event. Continuing to grow as a company, Fabrizia established its own lemon grove in Sicily, Italy, earlier this year, and has raised more than $129,000 in funding for nonprofits through its “When Life Hands You Lemons” charity initiative.

National Limoncello Day celebration
When: Thursday, June 22, 6 to 8:30 p.m.
Where: Fabrizia Spirits, 2 Industrial Way, Salem
Cost: $30 per person; includes two drink tickets, one food truck item from Tola-Rose Italian Eats, a gift bag and exclusive tours of the Fabrizia Spirits facility. Attendees can also opt to participate in the lemon-squeezing competition during the checkout process.
Visit: fabriziaspirits.com
In the event of inclement weather, the festival will be canceled and all ticket-holders will be refunded.

Featured photo: Limoncello Day. Courtesy photo.

Lamb feast

St. Nicholas Church celebrates 75 years of Greek eats

Hand-cut marinated lamb is the main draw of one of the Granite State’s longest-running Greek food festivals for many. Get lamb fresh off the skewer, in addition to other homemade items like Greek meatballs, pastitsio and spanakopita, during the annual Lamb Barbecue and Food Festival, returning to St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Manchester for the 75th year on Saturday, June 17. The event will also feature a variety of Greek cookies and baked goods for sale, in addition to some raffles and a live DJ performing.

Mobile food ordering was implemented on the church’s website a few years ago, according to festival co-chair and parish president Barbara George. Although the date to pre-order has passed, walk-ins are welcome beginning at noon and until the church runs out of food.

As with previous barbecues, the lamb is prepared using a recipe from the late George Moulis, one of the co-founders of the church. Parishioners gather to prepare the lamb hours before the date of the big event, and work to cube and marinate it before it goes onto the skewers.

You get five pieces of lamb per order for the dinner, which also comes with rice and a Greek salad. George said other dinner options this year include marinated Greek-style chicken tenders, Greek-style meatballs (two per order) and pastitsio, better known as Greek lasagna and featuring layers of ground meat and pasta, topped with a homemade béchamel sauce.

“Something that’s new is we’ll do a Greek salad option with the grilled chicken on top,” George said. “This year we’ve also added paximathia, which is basically a Greek biscotti.”

Also on the menu during the festival will be dolmathes (meat- and rice-stuffed grape leaves, topped with an avgolemono, or Greek egg lemon sauce); and spanakopita (a spinach- and feta cheese-based dish with layers of phyllo dough). If you just can’t decide, you can order the “Papou” sampler dinner, featuring a little bit of everything — each order comes with two pieces of barbecued lamb, one meatball and two stuffed grape leaves, along with the rice and salad.

Several assorted homemade Greek pastries and desserts are available throughout the day as well, from traditional baklava to kourambiethes (powdered sugar cookies) and — returning for the first time since 2019, according to George — finikia (oval-shaped, date-filled cookies soaked in a honey syrup). Visitors are welcome to stay and enjoy their meals under one of the tents outside the church, or get their food to go.

George said a local DJ with Ultimate Music Entertainment will perform during the festival. Various items will also be raffled off, and tours of the church will be available at designated times of 1, 2:30 and 4 p.m.

75th annual Lamb Barbecue & Food Festival
When: Saturday, June 17, noon to when the food sells out
Where: St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 1160 Bridge St., Manchester
Cost: Free admission and parking; foods are priced per item
Visit: stnicholas-man-nh.org

Featured photo: Scenes from the annual Lamb BBQ & Greek Food Festival. Courtesy photos.

The Weekly Dish 23/06/15

News from the local food scene

• Berry delicious: Join J&F Farms (124 Chester, Road, Derry) for its annual strawberry fest on Saturday, June 17, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Festivities will include hayrides, food trucks, a petting farm and liv e music, in addition to food trucks and, of course, strawberries. Visit jandffarmsnh.com. Or check out our berry season cover story, which ran in the June 8 edition of the Hippo on page 10 and includes a list of other upcoming local strawberry and blueberry festivals as well as some berry recipes and a list of farms where you’ll soon be able to pick your own. See hippopress.com.

• Cheers to beer: The ninth annual Newport Nano Brewfest is happening on Saturday, June 17, from noon to 3 p.m. on the Newport Town Common (North Main and Park streets, Newport). In addition to beer and cider tastings from local breweries, the event will feature live music, games and more. General admission is $35 per person and tickets are on sale now (event is 21+ only; no children or dogs are allowed). Visit newportnhchamber.org.

• Flight Center closes in Manchester: The Flight Center Taphouse & Eatery has permanently closed its Manchester location, according to a June 3 announcement on its Facebook page. “Ultimately the cost of doing business was making it not feasible to continue forward in this space,” the post reads in part, going on to say that the closure does not impact the company’s other locations. The Flight Center Restaurant Group, which also operates the 1750 Taphouse in Bedford and Aviation Brewing Co. in Dover, opened The Flight Center Taphouse & Eatery in the former British Beer Co. space on South Willow Street in the Queen City in June 2021. Read the full announcement on Facebook @flightcentermht.

• Local eats and brews: The New Hampshire magazine annual Best of NH Party is happening on Thursday, June 22, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Flag Hill Distillery & Winery (297 N. River Road, Lee). Attendees will have access to food and drink samples from a wide array of award-winning New Hampshire restaurants, breweries and other businesses, and this year’s event will also include a special appearances by television chef and author Mary Ann Esposito. General-admission tickets are $68 per person. Visit nhmagazine.com/best-of-nh.

On The Job – Jennifer Lynch

Hair stylist

Jennifer Lynch is a hair stylist and owner of Style and Grace Salon in Bedford.

Explain your job and what it entails.

Not only do I run the business myself and perform all hair services, but I also change people’s lives. I make people feel good about the way they look, which goes deeper than the surface. I’m also like a therapist with scissors.

How long have you had this job?

I have been in the industry since 1999.

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

I love making people feel good and transforming how they look.

What kind of education or training did you need?

I originally went to a vocational high school in Mass. for 1,000 hours of training. When I moved to New Hampshire, I ended up going back to school, because the state’s requirement here is 1,500 hours. I did about a year at Empire Beauty School — only missed one day due to an emergency room visit.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

I would call it professional-casual. I have to think about what is practical for standing and working for eight to 12 hours, and what I won’t be too sad about getting ruined.

What is the most challenging thing about your work, and how do you deal with it?

You cannot please everyone, no matter how bad you want to and how hard you try. Trust me, a hairdresser’s goal is to make people happy, and when it doesn’t happen, it crushes us. But we can’t live there too long; some people need more than just a good balayage and blowout.

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

That the possibilities are literally endless. I never pictured myself owning multiple businesses, but I love it, and nothing is stopping me from growing and expanding. There are so many more options other than working behind the chair. I might look into being an educator or being a brand ambassador or business advisor for salon owners.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

That we are not bubble gum-chewing, hair-twirling bimbos. Most of us are chemists, marketing majors, business owners and masters of networking and communication. We need to know so much information just to be able to shampoo someone. It’s not at all how the movies portray us. We also are human, and we have emotions and bad days, but have to put on our game faces so that it doesn’t interfere with the client’s experience.

What was the first job you ever had?

My first job ever was at McDonald’s, but my first job in the industry was right after that at age 15, shampooing people’s hair at a local salon and wiping down sweaty tanning beds. I wouldn’t recommend that.

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

Never stop learning; when you stop growing, you start dying.

Five favorites

Favorite book: Discipline Equals Freedom by Jocko Willink
Favorite movie: It’s a tossup between Zero Dark Thirty and The Devil Wears Prada.
Favorite music: pop/hip-hop
Favorite food: Pizza
Favorite thing about NH: There’s so much to do here, but the mountains and beach are something I couldn’t live without.

Featured photo: Jennifer Lynch. Courtesy photo.

Treasure Hunt 23/06/15

Good morning.

I have had these six luncheon plates in storage for years. I’m wondering if you can tell me anything about them and their value. Thank you!

Pam

Dear Pam,

Your Haviland Limoges plates with the Frontenac pattern were produced in the 1920s. They were part of a much larger set. The plates, cups and saucers are very common. The rarer pieces are the serving pieces, such as platters, pitchers and tureens. As with all dishware the harder-to-find pieces today will bring a higher value.

Frontenac is such a nice light pattern.

The value on your plates with no damage (chips, cracks, excessive scratching) would be in the $40 range for the six.

Thanks for sharing, Pam. I hope this was helpful.

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