Photo: courtesy of Boston-based Brian Samuels (A Food for Thought and Brian Samuels Photography)

Food-lovers Unite!

We all are called to celebrate the first annual Food Day this Monday, October 24th. Brainchild of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, this nation-wide celebration is following Earth Day’s successful model and asking people across the U.S. to be more conscious of their food choices in an effort to revamp the American diet.

Food Day organizers are encouraging people with even a little bit of sustainability and healthy food know-how to host events that will educate their local communities on how and why to choose “healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way.”

Partners include similarly-focused national non-profits such as Slow Food USA, Food Alliance, the Chef’s Collaborative and The Food Project, plus profit-based organizations such as Epicurious.com and The Cooking Channel which couple a love for food with the ability to inspire change.

Boston, of course, has been quick to respond. Get involved by joining one of the great Boston-area events listed after the jump, and celebrate in community as Governor Deval Patrick and Mayor Tom Menino officially declare October 24th “Massachusetts Food Day.” We all can do our part. Continue reading →

Entrance, Seed to Plate Garden, Winchester (photo: Sue McCrory)

‘Be the change you want to see.’

So the aphorism goes. Well, Chef Vittorio Ettore of Bistro 5 in West Medford wanted to replicate the connection to real, healthy food pervasive in his native Tuscany. He forged an idea on how to change kids’ eating habits beginning at his own child’s school, and he ran with it.

Not particularly fast, mind you, since anytime you launch a project from scratch, fund it through community-wide donations and build it on the (figurative) backs of volunteers, endurance is key.

But what a journey. The fruits of Ettore’s labor — mostly his, and the dozens of 4th (now 5th) graders at the Ambrose School in Winchester — are on full, glorious view below, where you see a lush, raised-bed garden lazily soaking up an early autumn sun on the grounds of Winchester’s historic Sanborn House.

The school-garden idea sown by Ettore early last Spring is called “Seed to Plate.” It aims to provide participating grade-schoolers with a hands-on, interactive learning experience, building in them a sense of responsibility and ownership for the plants they cultivate over the course of the school year. Under the Chef’s guidance, the kids plant, tend and harvest tomatoes, corn, lettuces, herbs, edible flowers, melon and more — from seed to plate. From the Spring of their 4th grade til the Fall of their 5th.

Chef Ettore says he intends, he wants, “Seed to Plate” to be replicated outside his purview. At any school, in any town or community that’s interested. Take a local chef, find a school and garden plot, and start building out from there. The kids, their teachers and parents can keep the garden running perpetually once the infrastructure is in place and the garden sown.

In the instance of Ambrose, where Ettore is a school parent, the Bistro 5 chef secured initial monies for the garden through the Winchester Foundation for Educational Excellence (WFEE). The remainder was raised at his Medford restaurant at consecutive weekly wine dinners attended mainly by the parents of Ambrose school children. Continue reading →

Photo: courtesy of Celeb Foodie

My school is pretty atypical. I constantly find myself in the middle of a hub of creative and out-of-the-box thinking that is not only encouraged, but required. It’s an environment that has traded having a large auditorium for three state-of-the-art theatres; a place that prides itself on having a football team that has gone “Undefeated Since 1880” (i.e., we don’t have one); and, finally, it’s an environment where “going to quidditch practice” is an acceptable and respectable use of time.

It was in this spirit that recent graduate Jillian Leff, the blogger behind “Celeb Foodie,” whipped up a batch of Yum Wand 3000s for the final installment of the long-anticipated Harry Potter saga a couple months back. While HP has said its final farewell, these unique treats live on: they make a superb and fetching Halloween snack.

What’s even better is that no magic is required to make these salty-sweet desserts appear. You only need several long pretzel sticks, milk chocolate chips and bags of your favorite candy. These family-friendly desserts look both delicious and fun to concoct. What’s more, you can channel your creative side and make your own version!

Personally, I suspect that whether celebrating an Emerson victory in the Quidditch World Cup (yes, it’s a very real thing) or ringing in Halloween in style, these unique and tasty treats will make the perfect October snack.

A key ingredient on winner Karen Covey's 'most splendid table' (photo: tomatoes and friend/Flickr)

Tomorrow evening WBUR is hosting the Boston visit of one of public radio’s most followed food programs, “The Splendid Table.”

Host Lynne Rossetto-Kasper will appear in person at a delicious fundraising event where the venue, the food and the talk about food will all be superb. Legal Sea Foods (Boston – Park Square) and Niman Ranch are serving the fare, while Rossetto-Kasper and long-time “Splendid Table” producer Sally Swift sign their new cookbook How to Cook Weekends and talk about the art, the science, the good times and personal histories of cooking on your own time.

Photo: UggBoy/Flickr

We asked PRKs followers to describe their most ‘splendid table,’ and in so doing enter their names into a pool to win a free set of tickets to the event. You can read all the comments on PRK’s Facebook page. They were wonderful!

We’ve got some winners, folks!

Sacha Martin
Lys Riley
Karen Covey

Each of you can pick up your tickets tomorrow evening: your name will be on the WBUR Guest list at the door. Thanks for sharing, and see you there!

Photo: Parker Michael Knight/Flickr

In food news this week at WBUR, there were two on-air segments you’ll want to catch up with on your own time. The first may get your blood boiling; the second calls for boiling of the more conventional kind.

On Monday, Virginia farmer/activist/philosopher Joel Salatin was front and center at “On Point,” conversing with host Jayne Clayson and fellow guest Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. Salatin thinks America’s food culture and our attitudes about food “ain’t normal.” Organic certification, ingredients we can’t pronounce, government subsidies, consumers’ “knowledge gap”…it’s all there. Listen in.

On Thursday, “Here & Now” resident chef Kathy Gunst stirred up some goodness in her pot to share: mushroom soup. She’s got a new cookbook out called Notes From a Maine Kitchen: Seasonally Inspired Recipes, and for October she features mushrooms and apples. Listen here for a new technique on making mushroom soup, and how-to easy apple cider jelly.

Photo: crabchick/Flickr

Sustainable seafood continues to be a hotbed issue in New England as the public becomes more and more aware of  how to keep our region’s iconic fish swimming in the ocean and not lost to a page in an historical maritime encyclopedia.

Recently, the tide has been rising in the right direction, with Shaw’s Supermarkets announcing its agreement with the Marine Stewardship Council to commit fully to MSC-certified sustainable fisheries — a move that will hopefully rock the supermarket industry’s boat, so to speak.

PRK continues to follow the debate, in all its complexities. To learn what’s new — and to share that with you — we spoke with Chef Barton Seaver, an acclaimed sustainable seafood advocate.

We caught up with Seaver here in Boston. Last night he spoke at the New England Aquarium, signing his new book For Cod and Country and talking about how eating correctly can help us sustain healthy relationships between our world’s ecosystems and each other. Chef Seaver is an expert in conservation, sustainability and culinary innovation, and has made a name for himself as a National Geographic Fellow, a host of the National Geographic web series Cook Wise and the TV series In Search of Food, and a champion of titles such as Esquire Chef of the Year (2009), Seafood Choices Alliance’s Seafood Champion Award (2008) and the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington’s Rising Culinary Star (2008). Chef Seaver’s book has been highly praised by seafood lovers who need their fix, but are respectful of our oceans’ bounty and the choices that should remain for future generations of fish eaters.

Read on to see what Chef Seaver has to say on IFQ’s, the fishing community and the New England Aquarium’s role in education– plus his recommendation of a great fall meal featuring sustainable fish.

Continue reading →

Photo: UggBoy/Flickr

We’ve got a great event to tell you about, and 3 pairs of tickets to give away, FREE!

On Tuesday, October 18, from 6-8 p.m., Legal Sea Food will be hosting a delicious evening at their Boston Park Square restaurant, featuring Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift, the host and producer  (respectively) of American Public Media’s The Splendid Table. Kasper and Swift will be signing copies of their new cookbook How to Eat Weekends — but not before delectable samples from the book’s recipes are served and the co-authors/broadcast stars speak with WBUR Reporter Monica Brady-Myerov about their latest culinary adventures. All the evening’s fare will be prepared exclusively for WBUR by the executive chef of Niman Ranch, who will be at the event to discuss the dishes, some of them starring Niman’s own all-natural beef.

So, come and join WBUR, Public Radio Kitchen, The Splendid Table and Legal Seafood for a wonderful celebration of food. For a chance to win a pair of tickets, RSVP to PRK’s Facebook page. Simply post on our wall the most splendid table you’ve ever set (describe it as you will! keep it brief!) and we’ll throw your name into the proverbial pot. Winners will be chosen at random and announced on October 17th, early afternoon. See you on Tuesday!

(Finally, a gentle nudge: we like you, so please ‘like’ us on Facebook!!)

Never listened to the Saturday broadcast of The Splendid Table on ‘BUR? Here’s an intro to the feast you’re in for.

Photo: dicktay2000/Flickr

LOCAL BITES:

Taste of Latin
Spice up your Thursday evening tonight as El Paneta presents the “Latin Taste of Boston” at Villa Victoria Cultural Center, 6-9pm, in the South End. Feast upon all-you-can-eat, Latin-inspired cuisine with DJ entertainment, a silent auction and cash bar.

Food For Free Celebrates
Know this local non-profit? Support it! Tomorrow evening at MIT the annual “Food for Free Gala” is being held at MIT’s Morss Hall, 6pm. WBUR will be there, too, in the form of Here & Now‘s Robin Young and the inimitable Car Talk guys, Tom and Ray Magliozzi — all of them long-time advocates.

Shifting Seasons
The weather has cooled, the leaves are turning, and pumpkins will soon meet their makers. Time to celebrate at the Harvard Community Garden’s second annual Harvest Festival, this Saturday, Oct. 15, 12-3pm. Enjoy live music, chef demos, pumpkin carving, cider pressing and more.

Joining Forces
A brilliant trio of Boston chefs — Bob Sargent of Flora Restaurant, Chris Schlesinger of East Coast Grill and Paul O’Connell of Chez Henri — are coming together to host a feast at the 4th annual Urban Barn Dance, Oct. 20, at the Dante Alighieri Center in Cambridge. This event will feature a farmers market-inspired meal, contra dancing, a silent auction and more.

Game on
Several well-known Boston chefs have left their posts in the kitchen (momentarily, anyway) and turned to Twitter to announce the Battle of the Heavyweights, Tuesday, Oct. 25, 6:30pm at Gordon’s Fine Wine Culinary Center. In one corner we have Paul Turano (Tryst Restaurant) and Jason Bond (Bondir Restaurant) and, in the other, Andy Husbands (Tremont 647) and Brian Poe (The Rattlesnake Bar&Grill). Call 781-893-1900 x3 or visit Gordon’s Wine site to reserve your spot and choose your side.

Thought for Food Chef Series
Ever wonder what goes on behind the kitchen doors of your favorite restaurant? Now you can find out, as Breville launches their new Behind-the-Scenes Chef Video series featuring amazing Boston chefs. On view now is Food and Wine’s 2011 People’s Best New Chef Jamie Bissonette, executive chef and partner at Coppa. Other videos feature chefs Andy Husbands (Tremont 647), Jim Sewall (Island Creek Oyster Bar) and Patricia Yeo (of the upcoming Moksa).  Grab some popcorn and settle in to watch. Continue reading →

Photo: Courtesy of A Tale of Two Kitchens

Most of us know brown sugar as a molasses-infused sweetener that provides the extra density and moistness for a chocolate chip cookie, warm muffin, the delicious crumble perched on coffee cake and all other manner of classic baked goods. Yet, despite its ubiquity in the baker’s oven, brown sugar remains an unsung hero for dinner time dishes. Luckily for those of us stuck in a brown sugar baker’s haze, A Tale of 2 Kitchens has stepped in to toot the proverbial horn for this ingredient’s more unusual usages.

Written by two young foodie friends, A Tale of 2 Kitchens is a contagiously fun blog featuring one basic ingredient each week. The women collaborate on the ingredient, but research and test it alone, coming up with two quite diverse, often inventive, recipe responses.

This week’s exploration of brown sugar is no exception. Amy’s brown sugar turned up in her spicy glazed carrots with kale and goat cheese, while Hillary slow-roasted hers with pork shoulder, producing a melt-in-your-mouth pulled pork sandwich. (It seems that these ladies’ molasses sugar dinner variations are in a position to make baked goods a bit jealous.)

Once you’re finished with your own brown sugar experiments, check back in with A Tale of 2 Kitchen’s next ingredient, coffee. According to these experimental bloggers, coffee makes “a perfect complement for sweet and savory dishes alike.”  As a tea person myself, I’ll withhold judgment till next week.

Photo: Flickr/brockney52

If you can tear your eyes away from the rows and rows of fall-perfect apples gracing supermarket entrances at this time of the year, and look a little bit to the side of the display, without fail you will see plastic tubs of dipping caramel. This is now an industry standard from the same marketing geniuses who make sure all strawberries are sold next to whipped cream and shortcake shells.

I won’t dispute that caramel and apples are two of those foods that seem made for each other – like chili and cornbread, lemon and ricotta, or strawberry and rhubarb. But the convenience here seems a little much, considering that caramel may be the easiest thing you’ll ever make (of course, that hasn’t kept whipped cream manufacturers from success – but that’s a whole ‘nother blog post).

From The Girls’ Guide to Guns and Butter — the best-named food blog on the internet — comes this easy caramel recipe. You don’t even need a candy thermometer! It’s a cinch, and it will make enough fabulous brown goo to last you through next apple season (run out of apples? Try dipping hard pretzels! You won’t regret it.).