History on A Plate: 3 Recipes

At Da Vinci’s Table: Renaissance Foodie and Bon Vivant

Da Vinci Salad

Combine the following ingredients in desired proportions according to your taste:
arugula
assorted bitter greens
quartered dried figs
fennel, slices thin
red onion rings
orange slices (blood oranges if in season)
pine nuts

Leonardo’s Salad Dressing:
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup wine vinegar
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 tsp fresh mint, minced
` 1 tsp fresh thyme, minced
salt and pepper to taste
(Combine all ingredients in a jar and shake well)

Honey Citrus Salad Dressing:
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
juice of one lemon
1 tsp of orange honey
1 chopped garlic clove
1/2 tsp of fresh rosemary, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Leonardo’s Winter Minestrone
In a large saucepan, heat oil and sauté 1 chopped onion for 2 minutes over medium heat. Add 1-2 cloves of chopped garlic for another minute. Add and continue to sauté: one stalk of celery chopped, 1 carrot peeled and chopped, 1/2 head of cabbage, chopped, 1 large zucchini chopped, 2 medium leeks chopped. Seasonings: sprig of fresh basil, 2 springs of fresh rosemary minced, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add 8-9 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20-30 minutes. Then add 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas. Simmer another 10 minutes. Serve with hearty dark bread.

At Shakespeare’s Table: Food and Cooking Imagery in Shakespeare’s Plays

Elizabethan Nightcaps

Posset
Posset recipes varied widely, but they usually contained wine or beer, cream, sugar and egg, and were thickened with bread, biscuits, oatmeal or almond paste, which formed the top layer. They were served hot as a festive finish to a meal or before bedtime. Special posset pots and cups held spiced and sweetened ale with mashed apples added.

‘a posset pott, or a wassell cup, or a sallibube pott, having 2 handles, with a pipe on the side’.

Shakespeare makes reference to posset in Act II of MacBeth, the scene where Lady MacBeth slips a couple of Mickeys into the evening possets of the guards at Duncan’s quarters.
The doors are open, and the surfeited grooms
Do mock their charge with snores. I have drugg’d their possets
That death and nature do contend about them,
Whether they live or die.

To make a Sack Posset:
‘Take a quart of thick cream, boyle it with whole spice, then take sixteen eggs, yolks and whites beaten very well, then heat about three quarters of a pint of sack , and mingle well with your eggs, then stir them into your cream, and sweeten it, then cover it up close for half an hour or more over a seething pot of water or over very slow embers, in a bason, and it will become like a cheese.’ -A Boke of Gode Cookery, 17th century

SYLLABUB
Unlike posset, syllabub was enjoyed cold and was thicker, more custard-y or cheese-like The top layer, curdled by the alcohol, required a spoon to dig down to the wine finish.

‘Take one Quart of Cream, one Pint and an half of Wine or Sack, the Juice of two Limons with some of the Pill, and a Branch of Rosemary, sweeten it very well, then put a little of this Liquor, and a little of the Cream into a Basin, beat them till it froth, put that Froth into the Sillibub pot, and so do till the Cream and Wine be done, then cover it close, and set it in a cool Cellar for twelve hours, then eat it. ‘ ~Hannah Wooley, The Queen-like Closet, 1674

Victorian Victuals: The Kitchen of Queen Victoria

Mulligatawny Soup (from Mrs. Beeton’s All About Cookery, 1861)

Ingredients:
1 lb. veal or beef shank /beef short rib and ham steak— any combination
1 onion
1 apple
1 carrot
1/2 small parsnip
1 oz butter
1/2 oz curry powder
1 oz ﬂour
1 qt bone stock or water
Bunch of fresh herbs (thyme, oregano, parsley)
Lemon for juice
1/4 tsp of black treacle (molasses)
2 oz. Boiled rice
Salt

Optional: Substitute lentils for meat, or simply add about a 1/4 cup lentils.)

Directions:
“Cut the meat oﬀ the bone into bitesized cubes. Chop the onion ﬁ: and chop the apple. Heat the butter in a deep pan and in it quickly fry the onion, then the curry powder. Add the apple and cook it gently for a few minutes, then stir in the ﬂour. Add the liquid, meat and salt, and bring slowly to simmering point, stirring all the time. Add the other vegetables, the herbs tied in muslin ad a few drops of lemon juice. Simmer until the meat is very tender. This will take between 2-4 hours. Taste the soup and add more lemon juice or add black treacle to obtain a ﬂavor that is neither predominatingly sweet nor acid. Strain the soup, cut some of the meat in neat cubes and reheat them in the soup. Boil, drain, and partly dry the rice as for curry and hand it with the soup.”

( I cut meat into small cubes when removing it from the bones. I also chopped the apple before adding. I added cooked rice into the soup in the last 15-20 minutes. This soup just gets better the longer it sits!)

Flavors of the Valley: Expo Features Local Food Purveyors and Farm Products

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Posted on April 14, 2015

New Faces & New Places to Find Local Food All Year by Martha Esersky Lorden

It’s really not that hard to eat local and eat well in the Upper Valley region of the Connecticut River, and the recent Flavors of the Valley expo reminds us of that the food and farm connection is a healthy one in our region.

I spent a morning navigating the booths and tables overflowing with local bounty. This year’s event coincided with one of the first true spring days of the year. I was surrounded by happy farmers, chefs, and locovore lovers so it didn’t take long for me to be filled with the optimism of the perennial gardener.

It was fun to schmooze and also to learn. For 15 years, Vital Communities (http://www.vitalcommunities.org) has sponsored this event, which is both educational and delicious. Consumers, farmers, and also schools benefit from their efforts, and the Flavors gathering is a wonderful celebration of their commitment. It’s also a chance to see what’s new on the local market.

I met some folks this year who are hard at work bringing their local produce to the regional table:

Meet Norah Lake, proprietor at Sweetland Farm in Norwich, VT, a CSA that runs from mid-May through October. Shareholders can enjoy the farm firsthand when picking up produce. Sweetland also delivers to several central locations. They sell their own processed meats like pork, chicken, and lamb, and shareholders can get honey, eggs, flowers, and herbs, too. I’ll be gathering my own brown bag from the Sweetland Farm CSA this summer. What a great source for healthy, local food.

Next meet Erik from the Bickford Homestead Cheese of Peaked Moon Farms. I sampled a creamy and tangy cow’s milk feta, which was definitely over the moon. There was a fresh mozzarella, too. These young cheeses were superb, and we can look forward to more aged cheeses from them in the future.

Alice Mower of Alice’s Kitchen out of Cornith, VT tempted everyone with her light, crispy and buttery maple cookies and smooth rich chocolate sauce varieties. I purchased her peppermint chocolate sauce, but equally swooned over the almond flavored variety. Her confections are refined and indulgent sweet treats.

Next, I made a beeline for the hot food buffet tables. Chef Eli Morse, director of food services at the Hanover Consumer Co-op Society was dishing up a creamy polenta topped with a tender veal stew. I spied pulled chicken sliders and classic whoopee pies lined up on the table from Pine, the Hanover Inn’s anchor restaurant, but opted for a more hearty macho kitchen cuisine. The notorious local BBQ joint called Big Fatty’s BBQ out of White River Junction, Vt, (a growing hipster haven for great food, art, theater, and generally funky stuff ) was getting a lot of attention. Brandon Fox, Big Fatty’s keeper of the smoke pit, had just set out chunks of luscious smoked pork bellies. He enjoyed the compliments, but assured folks that a crispy version of the fragrant meat was in the works. Consider BFBBQ for your next catered event.

With the growing interest in sustainability education, local products and regional cuisine, I predict that the Flavors of the Valley event will be forced to seek a new venue. I had to sidestep over bales of hay, composts devices, tree surgeon displays, and flower pots. Many of these vendors are now popular and familiar faces at the local farmers markets during both the winter and summer seasons. The Upper Valley grows really good food and is supported by an enthusiastic public working together to forge a powerful and delicious farm to table network.

This year, nearly every farm table display was awash in giant bags of carrots. It must have been a banner year for the sweet root vegetable; one table even had a large basket of them with a sign that said “Please Take One.” Many obliged as I saw numerous folks chomping on the orange veggie like Bugs Bunny, but I by-passed the healthy treat, collected my free petunia, and headed out the door toward the re-awakening Connecticut River valley.

Pleasures of the Picnic

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Posted on July 11, 2013

by MELorden

Whenever I see a red checkered tablecloth, I can’t help but think of a picnic. Turned into a colorful blanket, the symbol of eating al fresco is the classic canvas for a spread of old-fashioned American culinary delights. Add a green hillside dotted with daisies and a woven wicker basket. Now toss in a bottle of wine accompanied by plates of cheese, bread, and fruit. For good measure, bring along a few large brimmed hats, and the picture is complete.

With summer now in full swing, the desire to picnic is picking up. This portable and often impromptu outdoor meal is a wonderful option with the increased selection of fresh, seasonal local produce at farm stands and regional cooperatives. Browsing the produce and prepared food sections of your grocery store or the stalls of local farmers markets inspires a seasonal picnic menu.

History

The ideal picnic has a certain romantic elegance. Victorian style picnics came into fashion in America by the 1860’s and were often very elaborate affairs. Designed around lengthy menus and elegantly outfitted hampers, Victorian picnickers filled them with every tool and gastronomic delight imaginable: Dishes included timbales, stuffed eggs, pressed chicken salad, aspics, jellied roasts, fish balls, and the ever-popular baked bean sandwich. Desserts featured puddings, prune and other fruit whips, custards, and cakes. By the 19th century, the American picnic was a sort of English high tea en plein air.

This stylish “informality” in dining came to America via Great Britain, by way of the French. The origins of the word piquenique, according to Michael Quinon at World Wide Words, describe an outdoor gathering with food, where participants bring a little something to the party. The French piquer enjoyed this leisurely pot-luck meal where attendees gracefully picked at delicious trifles of this and that. Historians find references to the word in the17th and 18th century (the period of Louis XIV – XV), and by 1800 it appears in English.

I like to imagine the French nobility at these affairs joyously poo-pooing the cumbersome rules of formal dining at Versailles while eating finger food and romping about in nature days before the French Revolution.

The American Picnic

It is this mildly rebellious spirit of the picnic that makes it such a great match for Americans. Picnics are a collaborative, resourceful approach to enjoying the fruits of one’s labor in the wild. Busy as bees and as industrious as the ants that march across their picnic blankets, Americans found ways to eat outdoors: clambakes, the old box social, Texas BBQs, and Louisiana shrimp boils. There’s backyard grilling, tailgating at athletic events, outdoor concerts, the Old-Fashioned July 4th family reunion. Don’t forget the hiking trails, seaside vistas, mountain tops, and national or state parks where picnic tables beckon. Given the cornucopia of fresh food from the American landscape, the options for what to pack in the picnic box are limitless.

Picnic Fare

There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to American picnic foods– there are just traditions. Many of us fall back on the reliable cold chicken with potato salad, cole slaw, and rolls, or ham and cheese sandwiches with chips and pickles followed by brownies or fresh fruit salad. Hamburgers, hotdogs, and beans are also perennial favorites for noshing out of doors, and for many folks, cookouts simply feel incomplete without them. On the other hand, there is that extreme form of outdoor dining typical of the professional and competitive picnicker: NFL tailgaters or sophisticated diners on the lawn at Tanglewood light torches and enjoy champagne, entire roast pig, coq au vin, escargots, and chocolate mousse served on real china, eaten with sterling silver and accompanied by linens that are actually made of linen (no folksy red-checkered tablecloths here).

Indeed, today’s picnic venues and menus are getting an extreme makeover, but there is no need to go to such lengths to amp up your picnic experience. What we eat at a picnic can be more than a box lunch but need not be a gourmet tour de force. A picnic can be a break from mealtime routine, a chance to commune with both nature and your company. Most importantly, a picnic can be an opportunity for tasting a number of small portable plates that, once consumed in the fresh air, become memorable culinary experiences and part of your own picnic food traditions.

High on my list of excellent picnic foods are cold soups and tortes, pickled foods, slaws, local cheeses, and crusty breads. Chilled roasted vegetables and salads travel well and offer that refreshing crunch as well as hydration in the hot weather. Grain-based salads (quinoa, couscous, farro, and barley) are nice replacements for traditional pasta-based and mayonnaise dressed salads. Sliced baked ham, or marinated chicken and beef make wonderful contents for wraps or are great rolled around asparagus and red peppers. Food eaten with your fingers adds to the convenience of the fun we associate with summer picnics. And you can leave the clean up to the ants.

Planning a Picnic

Regardless of the equipment used to package, transport, or eat picnic fare, you can plan a quality dining experience that is both smart and simple. Pick up a used basket at a thrift store, or drag out that old Scotch Plaid cooler if you want to be stylish or retro. With the advent of lightweight insulated bag coolers, you can easily hike to your picnic destination and not worry about bringing along ice cold dishes on a summer’s day.

If you are looking for a more intimate and personal picnic experience, and the sound of distant thunder looms, plan an indoor picnic. Move over breakfast in bed! Why not picnic on the porch, or on the floor? Bring out the basket, the ground cloth, the picnic plates and cutlery and treat yourself to a great picnic menu under your own roof. Add a few flowers as a centerpiece, and enjoy your own picnic paradise at home.

Sometimes the best picnics are those that are not extensively planned. Beautiful weather beckons, friends are free, and with a destination selected, the meal comes together in a collaborative fashion. Great expense of time or money is not needed for a sophisticated and satisfying picnic adventure. However, with a little planning and a few good picnic-worthy recipes by your side, you can assemble a simple smorgasbord of samplings that are in tune with the available produce of the summer season.

When I got married, a very popular wedding gift was a woven wicker picnic basket. Somehow, that basket with its nestled cups and plates and its snaps and straps for cutlery, a bottle opener, and linens represented the idyllic adventures my husband and I were going enjoy together for the rest of our lives. As someone once said, “You can plan a pretty picnic, but you can never predict the weather.” Now that we are both retired, I’ve dusted it off. For us, eating on the road these days is actually more of a fast food picnic, but I still believe that the stylish wicker suitcase is nothing short of romance in a box.

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RECIPES

These refreshing cold soups are two of my favorites, and they are just as delicious when served from a paper cup as from a wine glass. The roasted vegetable torte is an Ina Garten gem. I was served this elegant but simply prepared layered vegetable dish at a recent luncheon. It can be served either cold or hot and holds up well. Top it with a spoonful of your favorite yogurt or tangy vinaigrette.

Summer Gazpachos

Adapted from Company’s Coming Soups by Jean Paré (2006)

Combine the following ingredients in a bowl; toss. Then pureé in a blender till smooth.

4 large hothouse tomatoes (peeled, seeded, and chopped)

1 English cucumber (peeled, seeded, and chopped)

1 cup chopped red pepper

1/2 cup chopped red onion

2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 garlic clove (minced)

1/2 teaspoon lime juice

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar

2 dashes Tobasco

Salt and pepper to taste

Serve with chopped cucumber, sliced avocado, croutons, or a dollop of sour cream.

Yellow Summer Squash Buttermilk Soup

Adapted from the Whole Living website

Ingredients:

Curry powder (1-2 teaspoons)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 medium sweet onion coarsely, chopped

2 medium garlic cloves, minced

2 pounds yellow squash, cut into 1/2” thick rounds

1 large Russet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2” cubes

3 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken stock

1/2 cup buttermilk

Chives, chopped for garnish

Directions:

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.

Cook onion, garlic, squash, and potato, stirring often, until vegetables begin to soften (but not brown), about 5 minutes.

Add curry powder and combine.

Add 3 cups stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, stirring occasionally until potato is tender when pierced with the tip of a paring knife, 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove from heat; let cool slightly.

Puree soup until smooth.

Pour through a fine sieve into a clean large saucepan. Set pan over med.-low hat.

Stir in remaining 1/2 cup stock; stirring constantly for 5 minutes. Slowly pour in buttermilk.

Serve chilled.

Roasted Vegetable Torte

Adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cooks (1999) by Ina Garten

Ingredients:

2 Zucchini, cut into 1/4 inch slices

1 Red onion, sliced

1 Garlic clove, minced

2 Red bell peppers, halved, cored, and seeded

2 Yellow bell peppers, halved, cored, and seeded

1 Eggplant, unpeeled, cut into 1/4 inch slices (1 1/2 pounds)

1/2 Cup grated parmesan

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In large sauté pan, cook zucchini, onion, garlic, and 2 tablespoons olive for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Brush the peppers and eggplant with olive, season with salt and pepper and roast on a baking sheet for 30-40 minutes until soft (not browned)

In 6 inch round cake pan, place each vegetable in a single, overlapping layer, sprinkling Parmesan, salt and pepper to taste between each of the layers of vegetables:

Begin with half of the eggplant, then layer half of the zucchini and onions, then all of the red peppers,then the rest of the zucchini and onions, and then finally the rest of the eggplant.

Cover the top of the vegetables with a 6 inch round of parchment or waxed paper. Place another cake pan or bottom of a tart pan on top and weight it with a heavy jar. Place on a plate or baking sheet (it will leak) and chill completely.

Drain the liquids, place on a platter, and serve at room temperature.

Spinach-Pancetta Quiche

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Posted on April 15, 2013

Maggie is at it again. Yum. Real hungry people eat quiche, especially when it is full of sweet and salty panchetta and wholesome spinach.

maggiesonebuttkitchen

Spinach-Pancetta Quiche

preheat oven to 350 degrees

Crust

1 cup chilled butter, cut into cubes

3 1/2 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup white wine

1 egg

1/4 cup olive oil

Filling

6 eggs

2 cups heavy cream

salt and pepper , to taste

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

2 cups yellow onion, chopped

1/2 lb. pancetta, chopped

1/4 cup grated parmesan

1/4 lb. Gruyere cheese, grated

1/2 lb. fresh baby spinach

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with metal blade add flour, salt, and butter cut into cubes. Pulse until it resembles cornmeal. Add the wine , olive oil and egg. Blend until dough comes together. Remove from bowl and divide in half. Place one half wrapped in plastic in freezer for later use. With the other half, wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Roll dough out to fit a 10 pie…

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Take A Magic Carpet Ride: Turkish Cuisine at Pasha

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Posted on March 12, 2013

Today OTK reviews a great little Turkish joint on NY’s Upper West Side.

Drive your camel to this simple yet exotic dining local for excellent food worthy of a caliph.

(Click on ON THE ROAD WITH OTK in the sidebar menu to read the review and get recipe link.)

OTK Issue #3: Coming Attractions

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Posted on January 27, 2013

Art and Food: The Connection Explored

Meetup Party Photos: Our Italian Feast

Plus Recipes!

Eating Italy in Six Courses

Good Books for Cooks:

New Orleans Classics series by Kit Wohl

Adventures in Food History: Da Vinci’s Renaissance Cuisine

Steak Diane: An Elusive Recipe by Tina Rosser

Can Eating Apples Chase Away the Blues?

outtathekitchen to King Arthur Flour

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Posted on January 20, 2013

OTK took a trip outtathekitchen and into Vermont to visit a famous flour company founded in 1790 in Boston.

In 1984 it moved to Norwich, Vermont where it now has its central headquarters. Come along and visit the home of The Baker’s Catalogue.

On this pilgrimage to Camelot, the headquarters of the King Arthur Flour company, I visited the Baking Education Center, Baker’s Store, café and their kitchens.

This visit was particularly meaningful to me. In the early 1900′s, my grandfather Thomas Esersky used to take a train from Claremont, NH to Boston to buy King Arthur’s large bags and barrels of rye, whole wheat, and white flour for his Ward 7 Bakery. My grandmother Edith made a Russian black bread greatly favored by the local Polish and Russian immigrant populations.

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The spacious retail center has an eye-popping array of every flour type imaginable, including gluten-free variations, along with packaged products such as scones and muffins, bread batters, cookies and squares, toppings, flavorings– everything imaginable for preparing baked confections. Plenty of upscale kitchen gadgetry and gifts galore at every turn, too.

There is also a new baking demo area where I met Lee who had just finished off some basic bread recipes and two kinds of scones, white and wheat flour. I enjoyed chatting with her (as well as “testing” the free samples. I could not believe how tender and rich the whole wheat scones were).

The highlight of the visit was the chance to go behind the scenes of the whole operation to see where skilled bakers make all the products for the KAF cafés and several nearby food stores.

These guys had been here since 4:00 AM and were still in a good mood. This kitchen looked like a very cool place to work. And it smelled heavenly.

KAF brags a 100% employee owned company.

Angela Fredericks, a 3rd generation baker from the midwest, works massive amounts of beautiful and elastic dough into exactly 3.5 lb loaves

Her grandparents and parents ran Frederick’s Bakery in Sheboygan.

Clouds of puffy and fragrant dough will see another rise before being baked.

These dough-rising baskets, or brotformen, are made of coiled willow and are sold for the home baker in the retail area.

Nearly 40 different varieties of bread are baked on the premises on specific days, (see listing at http://www.kingarthurflour.com/visit/bread.html ), but today featured deli rye and classic baguettes.

There is also an impressive cookbook selection focused exclusively on the art of baking.

For a listing of the King Arthur Flour series of cookbooks, see

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=king+arthur+flour+cookbooks

And don’t forget to check out the handsome Commemorative edition of the Original King Arthur Flour Cookbook celebrating 200 years of KAF.

Next, it was time for a peek at the spacious education center. Courses are generally booked solid. I met guest teacher, consultant, and educator, JamesMacGuire of Montreal. He was preparing for the upcoming class on brioche and croissants– a challenging level of difficulty here. MacGuire emphasizes the importance of the artisan’s hand in making these French style breads.

When the new center was reconfigured and refurbished, the directors and staff decided to save the original bread oven. It now sits on the entrance to the property, and there are plans to develop a community oven program. It is a magnificent piece of masonry and seems to be weathering the Vermont winter well.