Tuesday, July 28, 2015
But crêpes... Oh, crêpes. These fluffy, French-y little griddlecakes are more egg than flour, sinfully smooth and endlessly flexible — you can fold them around everything from fruits to fish for a meal that feels fancy (but isn't, really), any meal of the day. They've been a staple in my house on and off since college.
This summer, I've been wrapping berries — this week, blueberries from Super Acres Farm, in Lyme, N.H. (which is about 15 miles from my house and offers pick-your-own for $2.75 a pound) — into crêpes with winning results that have been too good not to share.
With all the rain we've been having, the berries have been fruiting like crazy and, so far, 2015 has brought bountiful strawberries, black raspberries and blueberries, as the bushes soak up the water and convert it into fruit. In Chittenden County, pickers can head to Adam's Berry Farm or Charlotte Berry Farm (among others) for pick-your-own, or to Last Resort Farm in Addison County.
I froze much of my last 10-pound pick, but saved the rest for snacking and crêpes — because the summer is short and why not pretend we're fancy?
Tags: Blueberries , crêpes , breakfast , lunch , dessert , recipe , Image , Web Only
Monday, July 27, 2015
As most of my food excursions begin, two friends and I biked a good ways down Pine Street Thursday evening with a cool breeze at our backs. After a quick peek at a smoky sunset at Oakledge Park, we followed the road back up to Select headquarters, just of Flynn Ave. A few guitar licks and muffled runs from a female vocalist escaped from a giant white tent, where the band was still tuning up. It was enough to get us excited for the night. We decided to head straight for the food trucks, hoping to fuel up for some funky dance moves later on.
Tags: Select Sessions , Select Design , the Hindquarter , Dolce VT , Image , Web Only
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Late last week, a wave of sadness rippled through the local food and restaurant community as information leaked out via social media and scattered news outlets that chef/restaurateur Michel Mahe had died.
Mahe — known for his gracious hospitality and wild ambition as much as for his food — grew up in a New York restaurant family and cooked at landmark restaurants Gotham Bar & Grill and Michael's on 50th before landing in Vermont in 1999. After opening Starry Night Café with a partner that year, the chef went solo and debuted the Black Sheep Bistro in Vergennes in 2002, which he followed with many other eateries, including the Bearded Frog, Bobcat Café & Brewery, Next Door Bakery, Park Squeeze, and, in early 2014, the Lobby. His culinary portfolio spanned from pub fare to upscale and fanciful, all delivered with friendly, easy charm and minimal pretense.
Tags: Michel Mahe , Black Sheep Bistro , Bearded Frog , Bobcat Café & Brewery , Park Squeeze , The Lobby , Vermont restaurants , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
When I do need to heat something, I prefer to do it in bulk — making big batches of rice, beans and pasta that I can eat all week at room temperature, and blanching whole pots of veggies for use with the starches and legumes. Armed with a fridge full of these, you can produce an amazing variety of healthy, nourishing dishes with the addition everyday condiments or a quick, whisked-together sauce or dressing.
But about the market. Greens are coming into their prime now, as are beans, cucumbers and summer squash. Last week at Barre Farmers Market (which I still maintain is one of Vermont's best — small but wonderful), I grabbed a pound or so of gorgeous purple haricot verts and blonde cucumbers from LePage Farm. Today, I threw both over coconut rice for a light, easy-peasy summer lunch, which is, like so many of my other Farmers Market Kitchen recipes, endlessly variable. No beans? Use kale, broccoli rabe, bok choy, spinach (this will take far less time to cook) or cabbage. No cucumbers? Use apples, honeydew, pears or firm peaches. Even halved seedless grapes would work!
Here's the non-recipe recipe, which will serve about one person per five-inch cucumber. So for two, you'd need two five-inch cucumbers, or one 10-inch cucumber.
Tags: Recipes , rice , haricot vert , cucumber , farmers market kitchen , recipe , Image , Web Only
Friday, July 17, 2015
Our first stop was Citizen Cider. Yes, I’m aware that Citizen doesn’t normally do the beer thing. But for the second year in a row, it's teamed up with Zero Gravity to collaborate on a cider-beer for the brew fest called Citizen Zero. The Citizen Cider tasting area and bar is airy and spacious, with an outdoor patio and long, wooden, community-style tables inside. As we chatted up the bartender, interesting ourselves in the cider cocktail list, Citizen Cider cofounder Bryan Holmes appeared.
Holmes, who manages the fermentation part of the business, is a UVM graduate with a PhD in chemistry. He greeted us and offered to give us a tour before we sat down to taste Citizen Zero. Leading us through some swinging doors just right of the bar (which I had assumed led to the kitchen), we entered a huge production warehouse — the place where every ounce of Citizen Cider is made.
Tags: Vermont Brewers Festival , beer , brewing , brewery , Queen City Brewing , Zero Gravity , Citizen Cider , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
I thought this might be too much to ask for. I had just recently heard about Summervale, Intervale's series of summertime festivities. Being a music fan and a pesto person, it didn't take much convincing for me to attend the celebration, which featured Kat Wright & the Indomitable Soul Band and a make-your-own pesto table.
It was only about a 15-minute bike from downtown Burlington, so I barely had time to imagine the scene before we pulled into a grassy lot. There, a circle of tents enclosed what looked like a rather large crowd. We had followed some conveniently placed signs that advertised free, secure bike parking and checked in our vehicles.Upon entry, I showed my ID, got a cool stamp of a carrot and access to the Zero Gravity and Citizen Cider kegs. Now I was ready for the full Summervale experience.
Tags: Summervale , Intervale , American Flatbread , Kat Wright & the Indomitable Soul Band , Image , Web Only
Tags: Black raspberries , recipe , custard cake , brown butter , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Tags: Garlic scapes , recipes , sesame noodles , peanut sauce , Image , Web Only
Monday, July 6, 2015
Instead of drinking the day away down by the lake, I kicked off the evening of July 3 at a pre-fireworks extravaganza put on by Hotel Vermont. It was the first annual Cherry Street BBQ on the terrace between Juniper restaurant of Hotel Vermont and Bleu of the Courtyard Marriott. I looked forward to some good, American-style grillin' as my friend and I walked toward the waterfront squinting into the five o'clock sun.
Tags: Fourth of July , Hotel Vermont , Juniper , Bleu Seafood , corn on the cob , Wood Mountain Fish , Image , Web Only
