Free Gourmet Salad Dressing

Apparently the people over at Girard's Salad Dressings liked our cucumber-feta picnic salad idea so much that they have offered to sponsor a very nice contest for TBF readers. They will provide to five lucky readers four full size bottles of their gourmet salad dressings made with premium ingredients. They have been making their dressings since 1939 and a few of the flavors will include their new Creamy Balsamic Vinaigrette and Peach Mimosa Vinaigrette. Again, these are not sample sizes but full twelve ounce bottles! To be eligible simply send us an email by midnight on Sunday August 1, 2010. That's it! A new winner will be announced each day beginning next Monday and the dressing will be shipped directly to you. So, get those emails out and happy weekend everyone!

Picnic Picks

It's picnic time! Everyone should enjoy at least one nice picnic during the Summer and it doesn't always have to be elaborate. Here's some ideas.

Of course, sandwiches are always popular. We made these turkey roll ups with fresh greens that will stand up to packing.


Ham and cheese sandwiches always carry well. Many people prefer to bring the separate ingredients and assemble the sandwiches when they arrive at their picnic spot.


We like these Goya fruit nectar drinks as they are not carbonated, travel well and are like drinking a serving of fruit.


You gotta have chips!


Chilled, fresh fruit is always a good choice, i rinse mine well in ice cold water then drop them into a plastic bag still dripping.


This very easy salad is simply cucumber and feta cheese, a great Summer combination. We dressed this with Girard's Champagne dressing, a premium dressing that features a variety of amazing flavors. Sometimes it's easy to build a picnic menu around a high quality ingredient such as this.


Crusty, fresh French rolls travel well and are excellent to just break apart and enjoy with slices of cheese and jam.


We like the Cabot sharp cheddar cheeses (made by small farmers) and found this fig spread from the Adriatic at Whole Foods. The taste of the sweet figs was a great match for the sharp cheese.

Let us know what's in your picnic basket. Leftovers? Pasta salads? Where in Boston is your favorite picnic spot?

Dogfish Head Craft Brews

We headed over to Morton's Seaport location last week to try out some Dogfish Head microbrews. Frankly, I had no idea that Dogfish Head has such an avid, loyal following. The event was sold out. All of the brews were expertly matched with cheeses and we also enjoyed some appetizers included the brand-new-to-the-menu salmon flatbread, which was incredible if you're a smoked salmon fan.


Some of our favorites were the malty 90 Minute IPA which Esquire Magazine reviewed as "the best IPA in America". The Raison D'Etre is a deep mahogany ale brewed with beet sugar, green raisins and Belgian yeast, a real mouthful of complex and interesting flavors. Perhaps our favorite was the Midas Touch which uses an ancient Turkish recipe using the original ingredients from 2700 year old drinking vessels recovered from the actual tomb of King Midas. It might seem gimmicky but it definitely works. It was like nothing I have ever tasted before. It's described as a cross between a beer and a mead (mulled wine) and having tasted authentic Irish mead at a castle visit there once I can tell you that that description is accurate.

Aside from the delicious brew samples I was also rather surprised to see Morton's Seaport location absolutely packed on a Tuesday night. The Seaport dining scene really seems to be catching on.

Morton's The Steakhouse
Two Seaport Lane
Boston, MA 02210
Telephone: 617.526.0410

KO Prime's Other Side

I was invited last week to a very special evening of dining and conversation with about a dozen other bloggers and food writers at KO Prime. The event, dubbed STEAKCATION, was intended to showcase some of the non-beef selections offered at the restaurant, which is basically known as an upscale steak house, as well as the skill and craft of Chef Josh Buehler. Chef Buehler often slips under the radar on the Boston scene and maintains a refreshingly low profile persona. He is quite comfortable, it seems, to not be a celebrity chef. His food, however, is clearly star quality. We enjoyed a sumptious nine course tasting menu which I will go through in detail, explaining the ingredients many diners may not be familiar with.


The first taste was a Squash Blossom Crab Rangoon with duck sauce. You may recall last week when Chef Paul Wahlberg treated us to a similar dish. Blossoms are in season and the dish has found it's way onto many local menus. This version was excellent.


Next up was an Heirloom Tomato Salad. It featured crispy Manouri cheese, tomato-basil vinaigrette with peach and apricot aioli. The tomato and cheese combination is classic and hard to beat and the sweet aioli added a fine contrast.


Manouri cheese is a Greek, semi-soft white whey cheese similar to feta but much creamier. The golden touch added, again, a nice contrast.


Course three was a Roasted Jalapeno Beef Tartare. This included smoked poblano jam and and a crispy quail egg.


I've written before how one of my favorite condiments is the Stonewall Kitchen's Farm House Chutney. This jam was similar, with more heat and smoke. Very nice.


The poached then fried egg is another new trend and I loved that it was done here with a tiny quail egg. Chef Jacky Robert made this for us last week, as well, but I liked the quail egg, smaller with a perfectly runny yolk.


Next was Fricassee of Escargot. It included thumbellina carrots, mushrooms, salsify, lardons and brioche. I love escargots and they are actually hard to find on local menus so this was a rare treat. Lardons are excessively flavorful, tiny cubes of pork fat, the stuff that gives bacon it's distinctive taste. Nice touch.


The brioche added to the presentation. I need more good brioche in my life.


We then enjoyed a Seared Striped Bass dish served atop summer succotash, cockles and homemade chorizo. Succotash has both Native American and Southern roots. In it's most simple form it's boiled lima beans and corn kernels with butter and cream. A cockle is basically a very small salt water clam. The dish packs a wallop of taste bud sensation due largely to the strong, rich striped bass. Great selection of accompaniments, though, to balance the flavors.


This Apricot Soda with a yuzu-mint crème fraiche foam was a perfect follow-up to clear the palate after the briny sea bass and cockles. I love apricots and apricot nectar. Yuzu is a fairly rare Japanese citrus fruit. I have to say that this was one of my favorite tastes and a great selection for the menu.


Next was Pork and Beef Duet. Dry rubbed pork loin, stewed olives and tomatoes, chantarelle polenta cake, grilled flat iron steak, pickled ramps and harissa were included on the plate. Aaron of @eatboston, who sat to my left, raved about the polenta as the pork melted in my mouth. Ramps, which are basically wild leeks, and the harissa, a hot chili sauce typically found in Tunisia and North Africa added to the complex layer of the meaty match.


The pineapple sorbet was excellent in both presentation and taste and, again, a good choice to cut the saltiness of the last dish.


Last was the Dark Chocolate Marquis. Served with a buttery popcorn ice cream, caramel sauce and a popcorn toffee topping, it was the perfect ending to a fine meal. The Marquis cake is actually a mousse made with double cream, amaretto and chocolate, not baked. We thought we we were all chocolated out after judging that TasteTV chocolate recently but this was amazing and I loved the popcorn idea. Comforting and refined at the same time.

After a cup of coffee we all left, stuffed and anxious to get back and write about the experience. Thank you Josh, Nicole and everyone for a flawless evening of dining and fun.

KO Prime
90 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02108
617.772,0202

And, don't forget, TBF can suggest options and make all of your dining reservations when visiting Boston. Just email us and show up, saving you all that time and bother.

Rolling In Clover

What are your thoughts when the words "food truck" are mentioned? I can only imagine the words that bubble up to describe what is the worst food in the world. Inedible. The last resort to starvation.


Not true any longer. One of the very latest trends in food is mobile food. And the Clover Food Lab is on the forefront, the very crest of that wave.


Locally-sourced, organic whenever available and mostly vegetarian, this operation was sort of a secret for a while, hidden on a side street, a gift to the Technorati of MIT and Kendall Square.


Then things started to catch on. The food is absolutely great. It's fresh and, perhaps the greatest attribute favored by the students and locals: it's really reasonably priced.


Sure, it's fast food but it's great food, without doubt restaurant quality.


We stopped by last week when they were busy but not so busy to happily demonstrate the high-tech iphone ordering system they use.


Go ahead, Tweet your order in ahead of time. I have never really considered myself as part of the truly wired set so when I was asked by the Clover guy if I was a programmer I was seriously flattered. No, I said. I'm a food writer.


The chick pea fritter pocket. Delicious. No wonder there are lines. No doubt here that the Tech Mecca of Kendall Square and Cambridge is leading the Tech/Food movement. Just ask Ferran Adria, who'll be on El Bulli hiatus this Fall when he comes to Harvard to teach.

Clover Food Labs

There are currently two locations:

Clover MIT
20 Carleton St., Cambridge (Near Kendall T stop)
Weekdays 8am – 7pm (breakfast, lunch, dinner)

Clover DWY
Summer St. & Atlantic Ave, Boston (Near South Station T stop)
Weekdays 8am – 7pm (breakfast, lunch, dinner)

Copley Square Farmer's Market

Out of all of the Farmer's Markets in the Boston area perhaps our favorite is Copley Square and it seems to be one of the most successful, too. I'm not sure if it's the days (Tuesday and Friday), the location or the vendors. Everyone seems to be there on Fridays and most seem to be in a buying mood.


Whether you are looking for affordable, beautiful fresh cut flowers, artisan cheeses or breads or all kinds of local food and produce goodies, it's always worth the trip. It's even great to just hang out for the people-watching!


If you've been meaning to get to a local farmer's market this season but have not yet I urge you to do so. Not only will you be supporting local independently owned operations, many family run but you'll also be getting the freshest you can buy.


For more information on this and other local farmer's markets you can click here: Mass Farmer's Markets.

Educating Jenny

Jose, Luis, Juelle and Ann of Future Chefs. That's Chef Evan Deluty of Stella in the background.

Anyone who watches NECN's TV Diner is familiar with the Educating Jenny segments taped at the amazing new BCAE facilities. I stopped by last week for an incredibly fun and informative day spent learning, meeting people and, of course, food. I invited along some Future Chefs friends to make it even more memorable.


While we won't give away all of the details I can tell you that eggs were big on the menu and Chef Jacky Robert was most gracious to the FC Alumni, inviting them into the kitchen to help. His newest restaurant, Petit Robert Central will be opening in the Downtown Crossing area soon.


Jenny welcomes Luis and Juelle into the kitchen to assist with the prep.


Chef Jacky Robert with Luis and Juelle preparing his Crispy Poached Egg Salad dish.


Poached egg, breaded and fried, served over a mound of chopped bacon, frisee and veggies. Talk about brunch heaven.


Next up was Chef Joanne Gregory of South End Buttery, another amazing Boston brunch spot, who prepared Dough Pate Sucre, better known as brown butter tarts.


See this tray of pastry? Juelle and I devoured half of it, at least.


Last to tape was Chef Paul Wahlberg of Alma Nove in Hingham. He may resemble a few of his more famous brothers but this Wahlberg can cook.


Chef Wahlberg prepared an amazing Squash Blossom Tempura. Stuffed with a goat cheese, basil and ricotta piping, delicately fried and served with slices of green and yellow tomato drizzled with a fine aged balsamic this was art on a plate. I can't wait to get to his restaurant.


This one is definitely going into the TBF photo album!

The episodes will air beginning on July 31 and running through September. A big thanks to Susan Brown, Executive Director of BCAE for greeting us and making us feel at home.

Summer Reading

It's usually cold, rainy afternoons and nights when we relax with our stack of books for marathon reading sessions but we haven't had that weather in these here parts for quite some time now. So, instead I've turned to beach and pool reading to stay caught up.


If you're like me you have friends with magnificent, impressive gourmet kitchens built with that last refinance they did before the crash (and if they threw in the media room are now probably in foreclosure). Mine is more compact and efficient but Chef/Author Jennifer Schaertl is proud to call hers a Crappy Little Kitchen. In her cookbook, GOURMET MEALS IN CRAPPY LITTLE KITCHENS, she provides some very nice recipes, fairly easy to make with an emphasis on the very best fresh ingredients. I've enjoyed this book a lot as I've long been a believer that source and technique make the meal. You don't need that cavern of brushed steel to produce a meal worthy of a top notch restaurant plate. While I am on the subject have you ever noticed that most of those kitchens are not used all that often? Anyway, take a look at the book. Even you can make Rum-Infused Carmelized Pork Chops.


The other read is by our friend Becky Sue Epstein and is more of a reference book you'll definitely want on your counter top cookbook collection. There are all kinds of amazing tips and tricks in this book. Did you add too much salt to the dish? Put in a sliced potato and it will absorb the salt. It also has measurement conversions - grams to ounces, etc. and recipes for everything from mouthwash to glass cleaner.

So what's on your Summer Reading list?

Our Chocolate Challenge

In a recent hush-hush operation I was asked to serve on a panel of judges for TasteTV to judge a slew of local chocolatiers and their products, some of which were really incredible. From about July 3 through July 12 (so as not to get total chocolate overload) we tasted different chocolates every day then submitted our ballot with the results of our choices.


There were some very creative designs and flavor combinations. The William Dean PB&J was one of our favorites. Then there was The Chocolate Truffle's oreo, peanut butter and chocolate. Another favorite was the William Dean key lime chocolate which tasted exactly like a tiny piece of key lime pie with a bit of chocolate aftertaste.


I know. It was not exactly one of my toughest assignments. The panel's results will be released in early August and I am pretty sure that my favorites will be among the top picks. These taste panels happened all over the country. The San Francisco results are already out and posted on the site so stay tuned Boston!

While on the subject (and I do hope I have put you in the mood for chocolate), our local chocolate factory, Taza Chocolates, needs your help. I have written about them before here. Not only do they provide a superior, organic product but they are also really good people and great neighbors. They have gone out of their way to create a local company with real values, fully supporting free trade, paying employees and suppliers a living wage (some of them for the first time in their lives) and fostering community efforts toward sustainable food. The recent flash floods in Somerville all but destroyed their brand new facility. If you haven't tried their products I urge you to do so and support them as they have supported our community. Visit them at your local Farmer's Market or order through their website: Taza. I promise you that you will be reaching out to lift some very good people up who need a helping hand.