While cleaning out my fridge, I found this jar of pickled ramps that I prepared at the end of April (when ramps were in season…). While it may not be pertinent to the summer harvest, I still enjoyed making these photos and the shoot that accompanied it, and am sharing them here.
For ingredients and instructions on how to make these addictive pickled ramps, head on over to my piece at EatBoutique.com.
Okay folks! It’s time for a giveaway! I have a pair of tickets to attend this Saturday’s Eat Boutique Holiday Market in Boston, Massachusetts!
I had such an amazing time visiting all of the different vendors and authors at the Eat Boutique Market last year, I thought I’d give the opportunity to one of you lucky folks! This year’s venue is much bigger than last – and it is going to be filled with samples, workshops, tastings and plenty for you to buy for yourself and your holiday list!
You only need to do TWO things to be entered to win!
1) Follow this blog (if you already aren’t) by using the box in the sidebar to the right.
2) Leave a comment below. (Maybe about your favorite local/handmade/homemade product?)
That’s it. You’re entered!
You have until 9PM Thursday December 5th to enter and the winner will be randomly chosen by an online sweepstakes generator and notified by email on Friday.
You want an extra entry?! Okay. Follow @petrelis on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway to your followers. Boom! You’ve just doubled your chances.
(Below are some of the photographs I’ve styled and used in my posts for EatBoutique.com.)
I know I still have to update my reupholstery project progress. Until then, here’s a post and some photos I did for Eat Boutique. It features the amazing creations of EHChocolatier out of Somerville, Mass. You’ll be able to experience them in person at this year’s Eat Boutique Holiday Market in Boston in about two weeks!
I have heard great things about EHChocolatier for quite some time now, but had yet to experience their products first hand. It took me a while, but now I understand why everyone who enjoys quality chocolate is so excited by this maker.
The assortment of bonbons and confections available from this Somerville, MA operation are as appealing to the mouth as they are to the eye. Just one glance at any of the products offered by EHChocolatier, and you can tell you are in for a rewarding experience.
These chocolates are made with love, which gives each of them a unique glow one can see and taste. When discussing the business with Elaine Hsieh, cofounder of EHChocolatier, I inquired about her favorite product to produce and/or consume. Her response -“ Egads, that’s a difficult question to answer!” – sums up the product line and its appeal. She went on to say that “All of our products are especially delicious when they’re still a little warm and just made. I never tire of making ganaches and watching them come together through all the different stages while I’m stirring along. It’s a thing of beauty and it never gets old.” Her passion clearly carries over to the final products.
Find out more about the Eat Boutique Holiday Market and EHChocolatier by using this link!
We had already made a tasty dish this week utilizing a pint of tomatoes from our CSA box from Saltbox Farm in Concord. There was still another pint waiting around the kitchen, nearly a week later, with not much inspiration to be found for it.
I was flipping through Jennifer Perillo’s book Homemade with Love for dinner ideas and found a simple recipe for slow-roasted tomatoes. I headed into the kitchen, grabbed the tomatoes and sliced them up. After following her simple instructions, I had a warm dish of late summer perfection to devour.
While the tomatoes were roasting in the oven, I ran out to the store for bread, apples, pears and fig jam. Oh – and cheese – Herve Mons Morbier; Emmi Gruyere Reserve; and Les 3 Comtois Comte. The tomatoes have definitely won out as the favorite cheese and bread compliment this evening. I am surprisingly full with nearly half of the cheese still remaining – quite an oddity in my presence.
The recipe, courtesy of Homemade with Love:
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Add everything to an 8-inch square baking dish and toss. Adjust seasonings to taste. Bake until tomatoes are slightly collapsed and tender, about an hour. Enjoy warm or store in fridge for up to two weeks.
I sometimes forget how a few simple ingredients can come together to make a dish that truly stands out. This is one of those recipes, and I would like to thank Sara Forte for bringing this to my attention in her cookbook of delights, The Sprouted Kitchen – a tastier take on whole foods.
I try and utilize fresh ingredients which haven’t traveled too far as often as I can. This recipe called for fresh strawberries, and there are plenty of berries around this time of year. Another main component of this unusual (amazing!) take on a quesadilla is goat cheese, which is another locally produced item that is fairly easy to find. Pair those with leeks, mozzarella and brown rice tortillas, and you’ve got the makings of a memorable treat.
Leeks and strawberries and goat cheese? Yes, they do work together. Each of these ingredients has its own distinct flavor characteristic which manage to meld together in such a way that you are left wondering why you haven’t ever put these together all at once before. (It may also lead to run-on sentences.) I’ve had similar flavor combinations in the past and called on those examples to tell myself that this would be amazing. It was, and much more than I was hoping for. Are you feeling reassured yet?
For more, head over to the rest of my post at EatBoutique.com
Maybe it just occurs in my kitchen, but I’ve noticed a small collection of condiments rapidly taking hold over the shelves on my fridge door. Horseradish, chutney, peanut sauce, relish, and mustard – just to name a few of the residents. Looking more closely within the mustard neighborhood, I decided it might be time to try creating my own mustard. It’s really quite a simple process, and the customization opportunities are only limited by what you can come up with in your head.
I searched through my spice rack to see if any inspiration would develop, and then I came upon the caraway seeds. I added the seeds to a traditional mustard recipe and what developed was a spicy mustard with a rye bread familiarity. This would be perfect for both creating a filling reuben or for something more simple, such as dipping fresh baked pretzels.
Giving the flavors a day to settle in gave this mustard a completely different vibe. It went from a subtle tangy kick to an all out spicy attack on my taste buds, which I must say I enjoyed wholeheartedly. The level of heat you prefer can be negotiated. If you want a spread that is less spicy, do not grind the mustard seed too finely. The more you grind the seed, the spicier your mustard will become…
For my recipe, head over to Eat Boutique!
Since my garden has an aversion to allowing squash plants to thrive, spaghetti squash, luckily, is easy to obtain throughout the fall and winter in the produce section. There are countless ways to use the meat of this squash – bakes, au gratins, pancakes, etc. – however, the purest way to enjoy it is to simply slice it in half and bake.
Once you scoop out the seeds, place in the oven and cook for about an hour. In the meantime, you can chop up some of your favorite herbs, combine them with butter and have them ready and waiting when the squash is out of the oven.
The presentation is always lovely and is another added perk of this squash variety. Plate it with some fresh baked corn muffins and roasted Brussels sprouts for a healthy and filling meal. If you know other ways to utilize spaghetti squash in a recipe, please share in the comments below.
Click here for the recipe on my post at Eat Boutique!
I was asked to come up with a Valentine’s Day dessert recipe with honey as the star ingredient for my friends over at True Food Movement. I chose to make this refreshing granita to close out the most love-filled day of the year with a sweet and cleansing frozen treat. The recipe uses honey and a sparkling rosé Labrusco….yum!
The recipe is featured in True Food Movement’s first e-cookbook Honey for my Hunny! It puts some of the best recipes using honey together in one place, and I suggest you go on over and take a look.
What are you doing to celebrate Valentine’s Day? Making anything special??
My most recent post for Eat Boutique focuses on using chestnuts as the main ingredient in a filling and seasonally mouth-watering stuffed mushroom.
Over the past few weeks the air in New England has been changing. It’s a familiar feel that brings an open-arm embrace to sweaters and hooded sweatshirts while at the same time an outstretched grasp hoping to cling to a few more days of warm weather. Fireplaces begin to smoke and the scent of burning wood while working out in the yard brings about a certain hunger. Thoughts of consuming recipes composed of heartier elements than most that I have eaten over the past few months begin to invade my cravings.
The seasonal changes of fall bring about the recollection of roasting chestnuts in the fireplace while growing up. The uniquely brown nuts marked with an “X” pattern would line the outer tiles of the fireplace hearth, slowly roasting until their aroma filled the room. My family would eat them together as soon as they were cool enough to peel, but we had never used them in a recipe.
Recently, while consulting with my hunger, I sensed that these hard-shelled delights might work well in a stuffed mushroom. I combined the fresh chestnuts with local leeks and hand-picked apples from a local orchard, then added some Manchego cheese to round out the flavors…
To read more and to get the recipe, head on over to Eat Boutique! While you’re there, check out the gift boxes and individual items in the shop! I had the chance to sample (and purchase!) many of the items available at the Eat Boutique Holiday Market in Boston this past Sunday. The items and packages you will find easily make perfect gifts for someone on your list (or treat yourself!).
My favorites include the Mexican Chocolate Almonds from Q’s Nuts (made right in my neighborhood!), Donovan’s Cellar Ginger Spiced Beets and for someone special, the Joy the Baker Gift Box which comes with Sweet Brook Farm Maple Syrup, Sweet Revolution Caramels and a 14-oz bag of Marge Granola – oh, and a signed copy of Joy Wilson‘s cook book!
I am excited to announce that my first post writing and photographing for Eat Boutique, an online magazine and market, is up! I truly admire the aesthetics and ideas behind what they have accomplished, and I am honored to be a part of it, in whatever small way I am able. I urge you to go check out eveything they have put together over the past several years.
Below is an excerpt from my first contribution on how to make a delicious and filling veggie taco (Hint: Fried Green Tomatoes).
“Being a carnivore married to a vegetarian can sometimes be a challenging adventure. Over the past ten years I have been enlisted as a vegetarian-by-default at many a meal. During this time, however, I have grown to appreciate plant-based foods in ways that still surprise me. Using vegetables in unexpected places to fill the void in a meatless marriage has become a skill I am still honing, but there are those moments when a vegetable dish leaves me completely satiated.
Vegetarian tacos have been a recurring presence in my kitchen and typically involve a frozen meat substitute defrosted and flavored with a taco seasoning packet – and a lot of cheese. This dish, however, has none of the previously mentioned vegetarian taco curses. Using the leftover green tomatoes gathered from my garden right before the first frost settled in, I refocused the vegetarian taco into an exciting, fresh and multi-layered delight.”
Click here to read the rest of this post and to view images of how beautiful this dish is….
I was craving a bunch of things to eat this evening when I got in from work. I decided to put them all onto burgers and combine the goodness into some seriously flavorful bites.
I found my favorite peanut sauce at the store the other day and have been dying to put it on something, anything, since I picked it up. I also wanted cheese. I haven’t had any since Saturday. This is a huge deal.
Instead of dipping the cheese into the peanut sauce and satisfying my desires while at the same time ignoring thousands of years of evolution, I thought it might be nice to be civilized and eat a proper meal. Hence my burger idea.
I mixed the meat with some garlic, fresh herbs, salt and pepper and grilled. Then took two routes.
Burger One: Apple (fresh picked at the orchard yesterday!) and Brie.
Burger Two: Blue Cheese (Bleu d’Auvergne), Onion, Peanut Sauce.
I started out eating the peanut sauce burger first. Then switched to the brie and apple. There was some intense flavor action going on between the two as they fought for dominance over my tastebuds. They kind of complimented each other though. And I am happily satiated because of it.
Thirsty? Check out Bantam Cider Company from Massachusetts. A local company using nearby orchards to make their deliciously flavorful cider. I wrote a bit about them, here’s an excerpt:
The company chose their name because “the word bantam means small and mighty. When we were looking for a name, we wanted something that was a metaphor for our home market of Boston and at the same time, would embody our company – which is a small cider company in a sea of very large beverage brands.” explains Michelle da Silva of Bantam.
Bantam Cider Company’s first endeavor is a cider they have named “Wunderkind”. The name is in honor of one of the greatest modern adventurers, Amelia Earhart, who just happens to have local ties as well.
At the moment, Bantam is concentrating their energy on creating a variety of ciders. The company hopes to focus on cider in a way that people begin to reshape the way they experience it. Bantam has been experimenting with several new ideas, including a heavier farmhouse style cider and one with some accents of other fruits and spices…
…With autumn fast approaching, Bantam Cider Company will be starting up production again in late September/early October. At that time, apples fresh from central and western Massachusetts vineyards will be pressed for sweet cider. Bantam then adds yeast and ferments the cider in stainless steel tanks. Once ready, the cider is then blended to create the final product.
You can read the rest at the Boston Local Food Festival blog!
On Sunday October 7th, 2012, the Rose Kennedy Greenway will host the 3rd annual Boston Local Food Festival. The festival is a celebration of local food, local farms, local businesses and more. There will be plenty of music, samples and activities all day long. In addition, there will also the the Local Craft Brew fest on October 5th featuring some of the best local breweries around!
I am excited to be blogging for this event, getting to know some of the sponsors and participants while at the same time sharing information with you all! The first company I got to know a bit better was Olivia’s Organics. You can my article about them on the Boston Local Food Festival blog.
Stay tuned for more with some of the festivals sponsors and participants!
So I was very excited to find that the first thing ripe and ready to eat from my garden was an eggplant. I had never grown an eggplant before, and it seems to require little attention and maintenance to get to the eating stage.
I cut this little gem off from the stem with much excitement. While I have plenty of recipes in my mind that I am going to utilize eggplant for, having just one small eggplant limits the extent to which I can carry through on those ideas at the moment.
So, with it being the middle of a lazy Saturday afternoon, I glanced around my kitchen and decided I had the ingredients for frying up some eggplant slices. First thing I did was cut the eggplant into about 1/4 ” slices and pressed them while I got everything together.
The Italian in me knows that the best way to prepare eggplant like this is to salt the slices and press out the excess moisture – and if you listen to my mom who listened to her mom who listened to her mom, it’s best to prepare ahead of time and leave overnight if you can. But, in real life, when I just want to eat fresh food by frying it up in oil, twenty minutes will totally suffice.
Once the eggplant is pressed, coat with fresh breadcrumbs (or, if you’re like me, use the can you found in the back of the pantry shelf that was probably opened three years ago and is 3/4 empty…either way works.) Then…fry it up!
Drain the eggplant as it comes out of the pan and set it aside while you cook up the rest. Plate and serve with a fresh tomato sauce (or, again, follow the path of the breadcrumbs…) and eat it all in under five minutes while sitting on the couch catching up with your DVR. Or, you know, you can serve it to friends/family in a civilized manner if that’s your thing.
To Make:
Ingredients:
Recipe:
Dip eggplant into eggs and then coat on both sides with breadcrumbs. Place into hot oil and cook until browned on each side. Place cooked eggplant on paper towels to drain excess oil off. Repeat process until all all cooked.
Plate and serve with sauce.
For some reason, this past week has seen me and smoothies having a serious love affair. I’ve been loading them with strawberries and kale and raspberries and blueberries and anything else I could find fresh. When the produce available at my local grocery store wasn’t cutting it, I ventured on over to my local farmers’ market. There were plenty of vegetables and fruit to choose from. Looking around, I was drawn in by the large, oddly shaped gooseberries. They look like a grape, but at the same time, not at all. 
I remember tasting one last year and enjoying it, but didn’t buy any at the time. They are often used for baking and are featured in pies and other desserts. They are also used to make beverages such as wine and tea. And smoothies.
Now, I wasn’t quite sure what to combine with the gooseberries, but something told me mango. So I did that. And some fresh blueberries. And honey. I added in some frozen peach slices as well for temperature control (I also used some frozen vanilla yogurt for this). A splash of vanilla flavored almond milk to round out the liquid portion and…
It was pretty darn refreshing! And apparently also very energizing, as after having one I went on a six mile walk. For real.
Recipe…
Ingredients:
To make:
Add all of the ingredients into a blender. Turn the blender on. Mix into a smoothie. Drink. (I know. It’s incredibly hard to make.)
Will make about 2 cups worth of liquid smoothie goodness.
Okay. So maybe I took a break from this blog. It wasn’t that we weren’t getting along…things just got busy. You know how it goes. Out of nowhere you become occupied with everything at once and before you know it, five weeks have gone by without any contact. It’s okay. We’ve reconnected, and we’re still pals. 
Here’s an article of mine published today on the True Food Movement website. I talk about the benefits of local honey and the downfalls of all that other stuff claiming to be honey you find on grocery store shelves.
Here’s a look…
…A list of contaminants found in store-bought honey can be obtained by doing a quick internet search, but suffice to say, you don’t want antibiotics or lead with your cup of tea. Those are ingredients that were found in one quarter of Asian honey inspected in 2009, the kind most commonly found in your grocery aisle.
For that reason alone, local honey is the superior choice, but there are plenty more. When you purchase regionally-produced honey, you support your local economy while also creating a greater community for yourself and your neighbors…
Go read the rest at True Food Movement!
Years ago while in college, I worked part time at a local Whole Foods. In that time, I learned a surprising amount about produce. I did not know there were so many edible items that grew from the earth. Fiddleheads, I believe, fit into that grouping.
I have to say, upon first glance, they can look as though someone made a mistake and inadvertently stocked the shelf with an imported species of centipede. That is not the case however. Besides, you want them to look all curled up and tight like they are hiding from you. That’s how you know they are safe to eat. (Once they lose the tight curl, they can make you sick.)
Now that I’ve scared you off from ever making these at home by comparing them to bugs and telling you they will make you ill, let me tell you about how I made them (and ate them!) in my kitchen.
Fiddleheads before cleaning
First, like I stated above, be sure the fiddleheads you are cooking with are tightly curled. Next, you will want to cut off the very tips of what is left of the stem. They tend to brown a little while hanging around at the produce section (think of it as a tan!). Chop it off, it makes for better aesthetics.
Once you’ve cut off the ends, wash the fiddleheads in a bowl of cold water. Get rid of any orange-brown leaves and/or dirt. I’d do this about three times, or until the water you’re draining out doesn’t have a lot of pieces floating around in it. After they are rinsed, you should boil them for about 10 minutes in water.
Add the fiddleheads, garlic, salt and butter in a pan and sauté until done to your liking. Plate, add some lemon on top and enjoy!
Ingredients:
To make:
Cut and clean the fiddleheads as mentioned above.
Boil cleaned fiddleheads in a pot of water for about 10 minutes. Next, strain from water and add into pan/skillet with garlic, salt and butter. (I’m sure adding bacon here wouldn’t be a bad idea either…)
Sauté until done. Enjoy with your meal by adding on some fresh squeezed lemon juice!
A shoot I helped out on with joe(y). I did some of the styling and whatnot. Great pics! Great food!
Saltbox Farm is one of those places that somehow manages to capture an amazing essence of New England and distill it down to its truest and purest form. Pastoral fields, chickens running about and a weathered patina that seems to only get better with each passing season. It’s the kind of place where modern cars somehow seem odd, you would half expect company to arrive via a horse drawn carriage and messages to arrive via telegram. Owner Chef Ben Elliot’s grandfather built the farm in the 1940’s and modeled it after a 1720’s Saltbox. Today, Ben carries on the tradition of the farm, using the land to harvest fresh produce, keep livestock and grow his culinary enterprise. My dear friend, Chef Molly Loveday, has teamed up with Ben at Saltbox; together they not only run the farm but operate a successful catering company and offer private/group culinary classes. I recently…
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The Things I Think About 