All posts by Stephanie

cooks, eats, meals, providence

Local Love

2 Comments

Last night’s dinner was delicious! It was inspired by yesterday’s post-work trip to the Wickenden farmers’ market.

First, we started with a caprese salad made with a striped German tomato from White Barn Farm, mozzarella from Narragansett Creamery (also from the market, sold by Wishing Stone Farm) and basil from our garden plot. The tomato was giant and so sweet. I thought we’d have leftovers, but it was impossible to leave any.

Caprese Salad

Then, Jeremy grilled a chicken breast stuffed with arugula from the garden, spicy dried sausage and hot pepper cheese, both from Tony’s Colonial on Atwells. Meanwhile, I sauteed beet greens, also from White Barn Farm, with some garlic and hot pepper flakes.

What a feast! And what a great city we live in.

cooks, salads

If You Can’t Beat It, Eat It

Leave a comment

The latest weed that’s taken a hold of my garden plot – even flourishing during an unwatered week of vacation – is purslane. I initially let it be, hoping it would make an attractive groundcover, but quickly realized my mistake as it started to spread.

Uglyagnes told me that one of her plot neighbors has been cooking purslane, so I thought I’d give it a try. I bit off a leaf and found it juicy with a mild citrus flavor – like a tame sorrel. Searching Epicurious revealed a few recipes, some of which, to my amusement, implied that purslane was something that one could only be lucky enough to find at speciality markets.

Purslane Lentil Salad
Salad with Purslane

I was most excited by the recipe for Grilled Zucchini Salad, but I modified it to include lentils and a chopped cucumber. It was the perfect way to use some of my Wickenden Street farmers’ market purchases. The result was quite delicious and a good use of “weeds”!

eats, massachusetts

Boston Barbecue

1 Comment

Early one Thursday morning, I was blearily explaining to my co-workers that I had been out late in Boston the night before. I explained that no, I wasn’t out dancing – I was eating barbecue.

You can imagine their surprised looks. It would be quite a stretch to say that Boston is known for its barbecue, but the city was fortunate to have the Phantom Gourmet host a “BBQ Beach Party” right next to City Hall. The festival, which lasted five days, had ten vendors serving up some of the best barbecue out there. Different styles and regions were represented.

First, we tried a large sampler platter from Virginia’s Johnson’s Bar-B-Que, which included ribs, pulled pork and chicken. Our stomachs happy but still ready for action, we moved over to Florida’s Porky n’ Beans for a double-decker Kansas City sandwich. The sandwich had one layer of brisket and one of pulled pork. I especially liked their spicy sauce and wished I could have brought some home. For dessert, we tried a decked-out cannoli from Wholly Cannoli. No meat in this one, just a sweet finish.

Treats from the Phantom Gourmet BBQ Beach Party
A Johnson’s Bar-B-Que Sampler, the grill at Porky N’ Beans. More photos here >

My favorite part of the festival was obviously the barbecue. I wished I would have had a larger appetite, more friends along to nibble from, or another day to go back. On the other hand, I thought the festival could have done without the “beach party” and offered a better beer selection. But I would gladly go again.

The event is slated to take place again next June. My recommendation is to skip the crowds and go as early as possible on Wednesday or Thursday. We were lucky to experience instant barbecue gratification, but heard the lines on the weekend meant over an hour wait! Also, bring friends so you can share and sample.

uncategorized

Oops

1 Comment

I just disappeared for almost 2 months. I don’t know how it happened.  I switched jobs, no longer had a computer, went away on vacation, battled with my internet connection.  Excuses, excuses.

Don’t worry: the whole time, I’ve been nibbling on things that I’d like to write about.

Please accept my apologies and stay tuned for a post very soon!

eats, new jersey, new york

Down the Coast

Leave a comment

Before I launch into my weekend I wanted to point you to a new site addition – the “What’s Cooking” item on the right. This is pulling from a Twitter page which I can use to make quick updates without getting into a whole blog entry.

The Memorial Day weekend found me in New Jersey. We first shot over to New York City where we visited Loreley for beer and pretzels and Pasticceria Bruno for dessert and cannolis to go.

Berry tart from Pasticceria Bruno
Berry tart from Pasticceria Bruno. Photo by Jeremy May

Back in New Jersey we poked into an Indian grocery store in Parsippany called Subzi Mandi, where I picked up rosewater and some jars of spicy condiments and marveled at the unusual produce like Luffa (aka Chinese Okra).

Lobster
Lobster and corn, eaten outside at my parents’ house

Later my family made lobsters using my dad’s new method – a turkey fryer (filled with water, of course). It’s a great way to cook a lot of lobster while keeping the mess and smell out of the kitchen. I love eating steamed lobsters at home. Not only are they much more expensive in restaurants, but they definitely don’t taste as good if you can’t make a mess.  Hope you all had a great weekend too!

grows, reads

Grow Your Own

1 Comment

One of the only amenities missing from my condo is outdoor space. Providence’s ban on overnight street parking has forced my building, as well as everywhere else I’ve lived, to pave over what once was a backyard.

In early spring, when the first hints of green started poking through the soil, I was getting itchy fingers. I looked into community gardens and was excited to discover one hidden just a block away! The first harvest happened even before I started planting: while weeding my plot, I discovered it was full of delicious arugula and chives and cooked up an outstanding pasta with blue cheese. The plot also has a peach tree and mint, cilantro and oregano plants.

Garden progress
Garden progress: from weeding to planting

We got a head start thanks to the Southside Community Land Trust‘s annual plant sale. If you live in the area and haven’t been, put it on your calendar for next year. It’s a great organization and they have some unusual and exciting plants. I picked up four varieties of tomato (red pear, sun gold, pink brandwine, and prudence purple – which really are purple), some herbs (sacred basil, purple opal basil, tarragon and epazote), alpine strawberries, and sweet peas.

A trip to the library was also fruitful. I’ve been reading Cultivating the Cook’s Garden by Theodore James, Jr. and Modern Vegetable Gardening by Christopher Bird. The former focuses on growing and cooking specific plants, with good advice about varieties. The author has a real enthusiasm for both gardening and eating, so it’s a fun read. The latter book is great for general gardening information and lots time- and money-saving tips.

I’m not an expert gardener: my experience consists of container gardening in apartments and helping my mother in the garden as a child. Jeremy hasn’t gardened a lot either, but garnered some great intuition while growing up in the midst of farmland. I’m sure we’ll make mistakes here and there, but hopefully we’ll end up with something delicious and fresh on the dinner table.

buys, eats, new hampshire

Ribs for Breakfast

1 Comment

A few days of bland food finally helped me recover from the Wings from Hell, and I was ready for another food adventure. Jeremy caught a segment about Parker’s Maple Barn, a southern New Hampshire sugar house and restaurant, and once we saw ribs on the breakfast menu, we decided it would be the perfect Saturday morning outing.

After a surprisingly short and pleasant drive, we arrived to find the giant barn hopping. We ordered two huge breakfasts: him, the Maple Baby Back Ribs and Eggs with a side of pancakes, and me, the Mini Parker’s Special. My breakfast was anything but mini, with pancakes (I loved raspberry – the flavor of the month), an egg, bacon, sausage, ham, large pieces of toast, and Maple Baked Pea Beans in place of the usual home fries. As for the ribs, I’ve never had ribs cooked outside of the barbecue style, and these were good, but we both agreed that once is enough and our next visit would probably be for a “normal” breakfast.

Ribs for Breakfast at Parker’s Maple Barn
Maple Baby Back Ribs and Eggs at Parker’s Maple Barn

After breakfast we stopped in the store and picked up some maple syrup. I love the more flavorful Grade B syrup, especially because its flavor holds up better in baking. The next day, I discovered it made my maple granola even more delicious than usual. I can’t wait to return to Parker’s Maple barn during sugaring season next year.

eats, rhode island

Wings from Hell

8 Comments

As a 10-year-old tomboy, I always rose to the dare of eating something spicy. I’d chomp a hot pepper and try to convince everyone that it was nothing, even if the steam circling out of my ears belied my suffering.

I guess that part of me hasn’t died, because last night I went to Providence’s new BBQ joint Rick’s Roadhouse and insisted on finishing their Wings from Hell so I could get my picture on the Wall of Flame.

The waiver we had to sign hinted at how hot the wings would be. And they were HOT. My dining companions were only able to get through one or two, but once I hit four I became one with the pain and made my way through the rest. These weren’t tasty wings for spice lovers – they were a potent weapon slathered with as much capsicum as a wing could hold. Strangely enough, they were so hot that the Beamish Stout we were drinking tasted like pure sugar. I managed to survive, though we canceled our movie plans for the evening so we could all go home, clutch our stomachs and feel sorry for ourselves.

My Place on the Wall of Flame
My Place on the Wall of Flame

This was my second meal at Rick’s. The first as a bit more modest – a shared deluxe barbecue platter. We thought Rick’s was the best barbecue we’ve had in Providence, but I know barbecue is a very subjective and touchy subject, so you should find out for yourselves. A lot of the menu items are a very good value, like the pulled pork sandwich which is just $5.49. They have a bunch of whiskey flights and you can get pitchers of beer (which is a necessary accessory to wash down really hot wings).

If any of you decide to rise to the hot wings challenge, let me know what happens!

Rick’s Roadhouse
Map Marker 370 Richmond St., Providence (in the Jewelry District)

cooks, reads, vegetables

Asparagus Risotto

Leave a comment

I’ve been neglecting my blog this week. It’s not that I don’t think “I need to write about this!” every time I eat a delicious morsel or spy some interesting food item – mostly, it’s that I hesitate to post without a picture, and after a day at work, the lighting in my house can most pleasantly be described as “romantic”. So I’m going to tell you about the pot of risotto I made tonight, but you’ll just have to imagine how beautiful it looks.

Asparagus Napkin I made at the AS220 Print Shop
No food photo, but check out this asparagus napkin I silkscreened at AS220’s print shop yesterday!

Sometimes I gravitate towards recipes with multiple diced vegetables – I read them slowly, thinking of how therapeutic all that chopping will be (I suspect that visions of the beach do this for most people, but I’ll take what I can get). Last night I was reading Ruth Reichl’s Garlic and Sapphires, and when I got to the Risotto Primavera recipe, I knew it was the perfect fate for my Monday night and the extra bunch of farmers’ market asparagus I’d been saving.

While it doesn’t take that long to prepare, it’s the perfect evening “cooking retreat” – an excuse to turn off the phone, the TV and the computer, and immerse yourself in the acts of chopping vegetables and stirring risotto.

Now for the recipe…

Continue reading Asparagus Risotto →

cooks

Messes I Have Made

1 Comment

It’s inevitable, when you cook more than 4 courses in a night, to make a total mess.

Messes I Have Made

But I’m happy to see how much smaller that mess looks in my new kitchen! (on the right). We cooked a 5 course dinner for 8 of us this weekend and there was still space left on the counter.