Photo: Courtesy of Justin Mi

Have you ever gone on vacation and wished you could take a piece of it home with you? Justin Mi did that – and then some – when he started LobstaTruck, a (mobile) piece of Maine in the middle of Los Angeles.

When Justin Mi quit his job in seafood management, he decided to travel to Maine to clear his head. Though part of his family lives in New England, Justin had never once tasted a true Maine lobster roll. Like many vacationers before him, Justin fell in love. Several lobster shacks (and several more lobster rolls) into his trip, Justin had an inspiration: the quick, fresh, simple food served up at coastal lobster shacks wasn’t so different than the taquerias back at home in L. A. And if tacos could be served out of trucks as street food, why not lobster rolls?

Thus, LobstaTruck was born. Continue reading →

Photo: joyosity/Flickr

This will be a momentous, emotional weekend for many in the Boston area. Across the nation and around the world, as well. With our deepest respect, PRK offers the below, small ‘celebrations of freedom’ which begin this weekend, the 10th anniversary of September 11th. May a shared love of food and need for nourishment heal us all.

Ice Cream Showdown III
Join the hoards Sunday, Sept. 11, from 4-6pm on the docks of Community Boating in a fundraiser for Community Servings and Lovin’ Spoonfuls. Attendees will sample ice creamy offerings from some of the Boston area’s best purveyors; several are participating for their third year straight! All info here.

Harvest Dinner in Natick
Natick Community Organic Farm’s 9th Annual Harvest Dinner will be held September 19, 6-9pm in Wellesley. A scrumptious meal of NCOF’s organic fruits, vegetables and meats — paired with beer and wine from MA brewers and vintners, plus cheese from MA dairies — are the main guest of honor. The Mass-Made Wine Tasting runs from 5:15-6:15pm; there will be a Silent Auction too, with all proceeds benefiting the work/mentor NCOF Teen Program. Reservations can be made online. (Read about PRK’s own visit to the farm here.)

Libation Elimination
Boston’s best bartenders will grab their bottles of tequila, pray to their personal muses and begin mixing for this second annual event, happening Wednesday, Sept. 14th, 7-9p.m. at the W Lounge on Stuart Street, Boston. You get to sample and judge, but vote for your favorite bartender NOW! Last year’s prize went to Alejandro Alvarez of Stella. To attend, you gotta’ RSVP: WBostonRSVP@WHotels.com.

Family Farm Day
Head to Appleton Farms in Ipswich, MA, on Sept. 18th for a day’s worth of family- and environmentally-friendly events. There will be butter-making, pumpkin-picking, local foods at the food court, and music by Ben Rudnick and Friends (a Boston-area favorite!). Oh, and a calf training show. And tours of the Old House. And farm animals. Event details through Trustees of Reservations.

“Everybody Has Food Stories”
So says Candy Gold of Newton. And she has her own to tell. Pluck, imagination and a great brisket sandwich has landed her a spot on the Cooking Channel, though she is already at home on TV. Literally. Read her food story; it’s inspiring.

Continue reading →

The Barn at Stillman Turkey Farm (photo: Robin Cohen)

Today Robin Cohen treats us to the third essay in her series on the tradition-rich farming community of Hardwick, MA.

Robin Cohen, Guest Contributor
Doves and Figs

Standing in the valley of the slope near the barn on Kate Stillman’s farm in Hardwick, MA, I looked toward the craggy hill where sheep grazed and chased each other merrily. The animals were skipping over small stones and scampering up and across boulders as they sought out the choicest greens to nibble.

“We grow an excellent crop of rocks here in Hardwick” quipped Kate. Behind us, the restored early-1800s barn was set against a soft, hazy sky, making the farm look like a scene from a classic French pastoral painting.

After growing up in a farm family, Kate knew well the challenges that would be involved when she expressed a desire to own a farm. Her father encouraged her to follow that dream. “You are 24 years old,” he told her. “You have nothing to lose!” He then helped connect her with business people he knew and trusted. Continue reading →

Photo: stebulus/Flickr

Welcome full-on to September, folks. Labor Day weekend has come and gone, but our summer fruits and vegetables still linger. Thank goodness!

Now’s your chance to can those tomatoes, instead of chopping and slicing them every which way for a salad (though that is obviously delicious, too). And peaches? How about turning them into a jammy sort of fruit butter. Here’s how.

Here & Now resident chef Kathy Gunst guest appeared on yesterday’s show to guide us through making end-of-the-season roasted tomato sauce and peach butter. Pay-back comes in a few months. You’ll be soooooo happy.

P.S. If you’re adequately inspired, read on: PRK’s Jamie Lutz recently reviewed Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It and Other Kitchen Projects by Karen Solomon.

Photo: Courtesy of RecipeCan

It’s Labor Day – and while it’s not technically the last day of summer, with Boston once again swarming with college students, it sure feels like it. Now, I can’t wait for fall (I was disappointed when Trader Joe’s didn’t have canned pumpkin this weekend before I realized, uh, it’s not actually in season yet). But I remember how, last year, I got so sick of fall squash and sweet potatoes and corn by mid-October that, in a fit of desperation, I bought out-of-season, watery blueberries for an obscene amount of money, just to pretend it was July again and that all the produce in the world was available to me. Blueberries, of course, are past their picking season in the Northeast already; but they’re still cheap and readily available and, dear reader, I think maybe, just maybe, you should ignore your locavore, environmentally-conscious trendy northeastern tendencies (oh yes, I’ve got you pegged, NPR-website-reading foodie) and make some blueberry muffins before they stop being good anymore. RecipeCan has an awesome-looking recipe, in any case (and check out her recap of this awesome brunch I was lucky enough to attend this weekend!).

Photo: courtesy of The Garum Factory

Today’s Food Therapy is from a cooking couple new-ish to the Boston food blogosphere.

Debuting in June, Ken does the writing for The Garum Factory — he’s greatly entertaining and can wax poetic — while both he and his wife, Jody, cook. Their weekly recipes are consistently easy to follow, and stunningly appetizing. There’s not a single recipe I’ve read through that you wouldn’t and couldn’t do at home.

Take their most recent collaboration: Summer Tomatoes with Grilled Corn and Barley. The ingredients are simple enough and seasonal, the barley innovates, grilling the corn adds texture and flavor, and the eye-poppingly beautiful photographs (Ken’s) keep reeling you in. But what I like best about this post, in a pattern you’ll see throughout their blog, are the notes at the end. This is Jody’s domain, and you wouldn’t want to pass over her tips blithely. She’s the Jody of Rialto in Cambridge, as in head chef Jody Adams, and the culinary how-to’s she offers will easily enter your repertoire because they’re so practical and applicable elsewhere in your cooking.

Back to the recipe. It calls for peeled raw tomatoes. Ken again draws you in, in this moment with words, not photos, as to why you’ll want to eat tomatoes this way forever more, while Jody describes how best to peel a raw tomato without damaging the flesh (you have four options). Never grilled corn before? Husk on, husk off, take your pick. Jody’s personal notes again guide you through.

Here’s to more succulent meal ideas — and helpful skills, and beautiful photography — from The Garum Factory. They look like they’re having fun.

Photo: The Garum Factory

Photo: gailf548/Flickr

LOCAL TREATS

Start Your Holiday with a Brew (or 80)
The 2nd Annual Mass Brewers Fest is taking place this Friday evening, Sept. 2nd, at the Seaport Boston Hotel, 6-9:30p.m. More than 20 Mass brewers will be represented! More than 80 different brews for the tasting! And, live music. We say, skip Friday’s traffic and head out Saturday a.m….

Indian Summer
New England autumns can be sublime. Eat outside for as long as you can! The folks at boston.com have posted a valuable resource to help: a list of Boston-area restaurants offering outdoor dining for as long as the good weather lasts. Here’s to it.

Do Oysters
Next weekend marks the two-day Island Creek Oyster Festival being held at Duxbury Beach Park on Sept. 9th (6:30-11 p.m.) & Sept. 10th (3-11 p.m). Tickets can be purchased online. Guest chefs from Chicago (Brian Huston and Erling Wu-Bower of The Publican) and New York City (Josh Schwartz of John Dory Oyster Bar) will be joining this celebration of Duxbury’s native bi-valves.

Can It, Re-Mix It
Several of the Berkshire Grown workshops — offered as part of its “Preserving the Bounty” Fall series — have been re-scheduled due to Hurricane Irene. Two canning workshops will take place on Saturday, Sept. 10th, while “Preserving with Spirit(s) plus Cocktail Condiments,” will now be held on Sunday, Sept. 11th, 1-3pm. Let the spirit infuse you! Details through Berkshire Grown.

Volumes of Vineyards
The number of wineries in Massachusetts is growing by leaps and bounds. How many currently exist, would you guess? Try 36. The Patriot Ledger reports on the ‘why’ and ‘who’ behind this growth in local viniculture. Continue reading →

Photo: CasaDeQueso/Flickr

Today on Radio Boston, we peek under the shell of New England’s most iconic summer food: Maine lobster.

You may smack your lips at a hefty lobster ready to be cracked but, according to Elisabeth Townsend, food writer and author of Lobster: A Global History, when Europeans first arrived in New England, they found lobsters 5 to 6 feet long and weighing 16 to 45 lbs!

Honey, we’re gonna need a bigger tub of butter. Continue reading →