fauren

A (Miraculously) Successful Experiment: Espresso Cayenne Cookie Sandwiches

I spent this past weekend at my folks' temporarily empty house on the coast of southern Massachusetts with a fire in the fireplace, five excellent human beings, and lots and lots of food. Sadly the weather wasn't so great, so after a gray walk on the beach, there really was just one way to spend the rest of Saturday afternoon: making cookies.

Dinelle, friend and frequenter of Brooklyn bakeries, opened my eyes to a peculiar but delicious espresso and sea salt cookie a couple weeks ago, and it inspired me to do something I'd never done before: make up my own cookie recipe. I don't bake much (I was abysmal at chemistry), so this was kind of an adventure. After doing some thinking and surveying what my mom had in her kitchen cupboards, I settled on a variation: espresso and ancho chilli.

Everything was going fine until I discovered that the dried ancho chillis I had weren't brittle enough to be finely ground. Since larger chunks of chillis didn't really mesh with my idea for the cookies, I ended up changing them out for ground cayenne. I think I liked these results better, anyway.

The cookies are very chewy, and it turns out that the heat that creeps up at the end of each bite is perfectly offset with some cool, creamy vanilla ice cream. Yeah, you might know where I'm going with this...

Ice cream sandwiches! And now that there's a solid chance it'll break 65 here in Brooklyn tomorrow, I feel fully justified in thinking ahead to summer eating.

Community Farm Profiled in This Month's Atlantic

The Atlantic has a nice piece on Nuestras Raíces, a community farm in Holyoke, MA, in its April food section. A particularly moving passage:

"We have nine community gardens in some of the toughest neighborhoods in the city if not the country," [Nuestras Raíces  Executive Director Daniel] Ross said, "and the incidence of vandalism has been almost zero." Joel Cortijo, a colleague along for the tour, said simply, "It’s ours." Cortijo, 30, grew up in Holyoke and spent six years in the Army before returning to run a high-school basketball league; he is now co-coordinator of Holyoke’s Food and Fitness Policy Council... Harming a garden, he said, "would be like vandalizing your own car."

The Atlantic: A Papaya Grows In Holyoke

38 Reasons It Would Be Wrong Not to Cook More in 2007

Well, 2006 went out with a whimper here at Fauren, but happy belated holidays, everyone.

My last entry marked the beginning of finals period, which carried me right through to my trip home for the holidays.  My parents somehow live with dial-up internet access (I really don't know how they do it), so it's taken me until now to catch up.

Christmas break was a wonderful end to a stressful couple of weeks.  I baked apple pie with my best friend, made Christmas eve dinner for my family, and picked up a healthy handful of kitchen gadgets.  Behold my mediocre Photoshop skills:

I'm a geek for cooking utensils.  The spoils:

01. Crate and Barrel cookbook stand
02. The New England Clam Shack Cookbook
03. Fox Run Craftsmen salad bowl
04. Two Fox Run Craftsmen serving bowls
05. Crate and Barrel Chop and Scoop cutting board
06. KitchenArt adjustable teaspoon and tablespoon measures
07. Culinary Tech mini spatula and spoon
08. Mario Batali garlic slicer
09. Joyce Chen "My Handy Little Knife"
10. Orka all-silicone spatula
11. Zyliss can opener
12. Best Standard french whip and 8-inch mini-whip
13. Dexter Russell pancake turner
14. Chef'n Tongo tongs
15. Joyce Chen unlimited seafood scissors
16. OXO 2-cup liquid measuring cup
17. La Tourangelle grapeseed oil
18. La Tourangelle roasted almond oil
19. Stonewall Kitchen peach salsa
20. Schokinag Moroccan spice drinking chocolate
21. Stonewall Kitchen country ketchup
22. Ateco mini-spatula
23. Mario Batali flexible turner
24. Microplane grater/zester
25. Chicago Metallic GourmetWare 12-cup mini-popover pan
26. Mario Batali 5-piece measuring prep bowl set
27. Morton & Bassett bay leaves
28. Trader Joe's lemon pepper
29. Blaze balsamic glaze
30. Sahale Snacks Ksar blend
31. Pinch Plus Garam Masala, Curry, and Turmeric
32. Mas Portell saffron
33. More Than Gourmet Demi-Glace Gold and Jus de Poulet Lié Gold
34. Pan scraper
35. Chef'n palm peeler
36. Chef'n palm brush

Not pictured: An Oggi microtorch and Cuisinox egg wedger.  I can't wait to put all these to use in the new year.

So I hadn't exactly planned to make Christmas Eve dinner for my family, but when my mom unexpectedly headed out that afternoon to collect my Grammie for a visit, suddenly I was in charge.  The meal -- standing rib roast, roasted butternut squash and green beans in sherry butter, and wild rice Yorkshire pudding -- came together pretty well, but I am positive that's got less to do with me and more to do with my mom's amazing kitchen.  Even my decent-for-Brooklyn kitchen leaves a lot to be desired, and being able to cook in a place with plenty of counter space, an oven with an accurate temperature, and pots with matching lids made it just a little bit harder to come back to the city and attempt to find storage for all those new toys.

But anyway, on to limited storage space but lots of yummy food in 2007 and a resolution to blog better and often.  Happy new year.

Turkey Day

It says a lot that "Turkey Day" is synonymous with Thanksgiving at this point.  I have never met a person who had much interest in the history of the holiday, but I think just about everyone I know agrees it's not Thanksgiving if you don't stuff your face.

Thanksgiving in my family happens at my parents' house with my dad's side of the family and occasionally an aunt or my grammie on my mom's side.  Regardless, there are always at least 16 people and enough food to feed each of them for about five days.

There was the requisite bird, weighing in at almost 20 pounds.

Our one attempt at raw, healthy vegetables -- a salad my mom concocted of red leaf lettuce, clementines, cranberry Wensleydale, and spiced pecans, with a dressing of almond oil and ginger vinegar.

And everything else.

The two staples we have at every Thanksgiving are thanks to my dad's Portuguese roots: simple Portuguese rolls, which aren't terribly different from other rolls except that they are inexplicably superior, and my aunt Winnie's stuffing, which is spicy with chourico.  This year, I was thankful for the fact that she made a double recipe.

Dinner was topped off with four pies -- pumpkin, squash, orange-pecan, and apple -- and a plate of cupcakes, since two of the kids in our family have birthdays right around the holiday.  A vanilla cupcake with sprinkles and chocolate frosting may not be traditional, but dear god it tasted good.

The rest of my weekend was spent at the Scrabble board, eating leftovers, and/or visiting with friends from home.  It was lovely.

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was peaceful, delicious, and lazy.  Enjoy those leftovers.

Gravy Wishes and Cranberry Dreams

The car is packed and ready to hit the road when I finish my three-hour work day tomorrow.  I'm off to my parents' house for my favorite holiday.  I've been slow to update around here, thanks mostly to school, but these next few days will be a welcome break from all that.  It'll give me a chance to catch you all up on a few things, not the least of which is the conference, which was amazing.  I also indulged in some homemade pear, plum, and fig pie with hazelnut crust at a friend's house last night.  What a way to kick off the most gluttonous week of the year...

More soon.  Happy almost Thanksgiving, everyone.

Birthday Outing #2: Boy Feeds Girl

I've had a very long love-hate relationship with the North End of Boston.  While its narrow side streets and historic buildings give it a certain Old World charm, I've made the mistake too many times of trying to drive (and therefore park) in this neighborhood.  Every Bostonian save for the ones who actually live in the North End will attest to the area's innate ability to enrage even the calmest driver, thanks to throngs of pedestrians trying to navigate said narrow streets (most of which are one-way, often in the direction opposite from the one you need) and an unreasonable amount of exclusively residential parking.

Luckily, Mamma Maria has valet parking.  After a little sitcom moment in which we could see the restaurant down a one-way side street but had to drive for another ten minutes before we could actually pull up in front of it, Zak and I left my wheels at the mercy of the valet and stepped inside for dinner.

Mamma Maria is a two-story restaurant in a converted townhouse in North Square, an area that feels particularly historical thanks to its cobblestoned streets and most significant site, Paul Revere's house.  The steep staircase at the entrance ends inside the door with a narrow hallway that leads to the first-floor dining area and a set of stairs going up the the second floor, which has a number of dining areas (from a private alcove to a 50-person dining room).

Part of the appeal of Mamma Maria is that, though it serves Italian food, the restaurant still believes in focusing on local and seasonal ingredients.  From their website:

We focus strongly on the local foods of New England and find authentic Italian dishes through which to showcase them. In the fall and winter, our menu features more northern Italian and mountain dishes. In the summer, our menu veers to the south - allowing us to highlight local produce and the abundant and diverse summer seafood market. Mamma Maria believes that an Italian restaurant can only be "authentic" when it exploits its own regional specialties. As any real Italian will tell you, the best food comes from his very own village.

We sat on the second floor in the main dining room, which has a dark painted ceiling that makes it feel very cozy despite its relatively large size.  I could barely contain my excitement when I opened my menu.  How on Earth is a person supposed to choose between things like pan-seared pork tenderloin with Gorgonzola Dolce, grilled loin of Vermont lamb with corn polenta-filled grape leaves and caramelized Maine Chantenay carrots, and pan-seared local Halibut with salsa verde, Oregon morel mushrooms, and English peas?!

Birthday Outing #1: The Family

Henrietta's Table is one of two restaurants located in the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square.  I had never been there before and wasn't sure what to expect, given that Rialto (the other restaurant) is a very fancypants affair.  I chose Henrietta's Table for dinner with my family after looking through the list of Massachusetts member restaurants of the Chefs Collaborative; I wanted to find a place that would serve up some quality seasonal and local foods.

To my relief, Henrietta's Table is a jeans sort of place.  We ate a relatively early dinner (7pm), and the place was already packed, probably owing to the very family-friendly vibe.  Aside from a small area with tables and stools by the bar, the dining area is one large, open room, furnished with rustic wooden tables and chairs.  Even in that space, though, the noise was not so overwhelming that we couldn't hear across our table, which is nice when one hasn't seen her family in a month or two.

The entrance to the restaurant has a little store selling stuffed farm animals and local produce (right now they're primarily selling a variety of apples), among other things.  There is a section of the kitchen that opens into the dining area, so you can see cooks preparing some of your food.  I'm always a fan of the open kitchen; that sort of transparency conveys a very reassuring confidence in the restaurant's food and the people who prepare it.

Between the six of us, we sampled almost 40% of the menu for the evening.  Yes, I calculated it.  Henrietta's Table has a staple seasonal menu and then offers a good number of specials on top of that.  Autumn is one of my favorite eating seasons, and Henrietta's Table did not disappoint.  The menu for the six of us:

Appetizers

• Pumpkin and German Russet apple soup
• Three cheese plate: Woodcock Farm's Summer Snow and Weston Wheel, and Lakes End Misty Cove
• Red Oak lettuce, local organic beets, watermelon radish, Valley View (278 High Street, Topsfield, MA) chèvre, and sherry-champagne vinaigrette
• Iceberg lettuce with creamy Massachusetts blue cheese dressing
• Native heirloom tomatoes, basil, Maine sea salt, and extra virgin olive oil

Entrees

• Seared King salmon with raspberry gastric
• Bell and Evans herb-crusted rotisserie roasted chicken
• Rotisserie free-range duck, roast heirloom apple, and natural port reduction
• Niman Ranch grilled smoked pork chop with fresh McIntosh apple sauce
• Wild striped bass, organic pumpkin, roasted corn, native arugula, and butternut-sage butter

Sides

• Yellow waxed and green beans
• Mashed potatoes

Dessert

• Henrietta's pie of the day: heirloom apples and cranberry
• Chocolate bread pudding, caramelized bananas, and vanilla bean ice cream

Beverages

• Stephen Vincent Crimson (a Cabernet-Syrah blend), Sonoma County, 2004
• Henrietta's Cellars Chardonnay, Sonoma County, NV
• Cambridge Brewing Company Pumpkin Ale
• Big Pig Brew

I think it's safe to say we enjoyed it.

Happy Birthday to ME

Yes, it's true.  On this day, 26 years ago, a Fauren was born. 

It hasn't quite sunk in that today is the day, probably because I somehow managed to con all of my loved ones into making the celebration span nine days.  It began with three days in Boston this past weekend, part of which was spent boring my boyfriend with tales of my youth, and most of which was spent with food in my face.  It will end this coming Sunday after brunch with friends.

I had so many exquisite eating experiences in one short weekend that I can't possibly contain them in one post, so I'm just showing my face today to give you all a bit of a teaser.

Coming attractions:

• Dinner on Friday at Henrietta's Table
• Dinner on Saturday at Mamma Maria
• The food of my homeland, including croissants from Quebrada, sandwiches from The Linden Store, and brunch at Joan and Ed's

But right now?  It's time for birthday cake.

Home Sweet (Juicy, Tart, Rich, Fresh) Home

When my parents moved out of my childhood home, I thought the adjustment would be really difficult.  It was a tough summer, but it was made much easier by the place they ended up.  Westport, Massachusetts, is a beautiful town on the southern coast, just east of the Rhode Island border. 

Places it is not:

• Cape Cod
• Westport, Connecticut

Sometimes that confuses people.

Lots of Massachusetts natives know Westport as the home of Horseneck Beach, and while summer is definitely its most popular season, the area around the Westport and Sakonnet Rivers has an active year-round food community that includes wineries, farms (fruit, vegetable, dairy, alpaca...), orchards, seafood markets, bakeries, and more.

This weekend I made a small pilgrimage to my favorite farm stand, Walker's Roadside Stand in Little Compton, RI (261 West Main Road).  As I said earlier, I can't just mention Walker's without explaining how wonderful it is, so this time I made a point of gathering some goodies to share with you all. 

Walker's is primarily a vegetable farm; the fruits it sells are bought elsewhere with the exception of berries and a couple varieties of melons.  They sell a huge variety of heirloom tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, herbs, and root vegetables (their radishes and carrots both looked quite tasty), in addition to local strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. 

Like many local farms, though, Walker's is also known for its sweet corn. 

On Tomatoes

My love of the tomato blossomed relatively late in life.  I did that thing kids often do, swearing off the actual fruit (probably without even having tasted it) and only eating its most un-tomato-ey incarnations: ketchup, canned tomato soup, artificially sweetened pasta sauce. 

It wasn't until I was a sophomore in high school that I ate my first slice of raw tomato in earnest, in a turkey sandwich made for me by my friend's aunt on Long Island.  (It goes to show how momentous the experience was that I still remember it so vividly.) By the time my mother's landmark Summer of the Tomato came around, I was finally able to pop one in my mouth in its most naked state without so much as a wince. 

Since then, I've taken it upon myself to make up for lost time.  Thankfully, this season is off to a spectacular start. It began when I was home with my parents, with some startlingly sweet and juicy yellow gooseberry tomatoes from Walker's Roadside Stand in Little Compton, Rhode Island (261 West Main Road). 

(I will keep from saying more about Walker's now; it most assuredly deserves its own post.)

And just today I experienced what can only be described as tomato bliss, in the form of one Yellow Perfection (aptly named) and a handful of red grape tomatoes, all from a farm in upstate New York that I swear the man I spoke to said was called Standard Farm, though I've found no evidence of them online.  And we all know if it's not on the Internet, it must not exist.*

Anyway, the tomatoes needed very little adornment, but I took the liberty of dressing them up with a sprinkle of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, and some chopped Anise Hyssop that I got from Pumpkin's Organic Market (1302 8th Avenue, Brooklyn) this past week.  It's a member of the mint family, with a strong licorice scent but very subtle flavor--a very nice alternative to basil.

In hindsight, the tomatoes didn't need even those little additions, so I think I'll polish the rest off tomorrow in their natural state.

* August 21 update: After some investigating, I discovered that the farm is actually called Stannard Farm, and they are located in Johnsonville, NY.