Smart Entertaining

Last weekend Artie and I went to the Berkshires for the first time.  It was a magnificent start to the summer.

Our friend Pete teaches 3rd grade and every year his school holds a teacher appreciation raffle/school fundraiser.  Parents donate prizes, and teachers buy the raffle tickets.  He won a pretty amazing prize this year.

A weekend at a fully restored 18th century farmhouse.  As you can imagine, Artie and I were pretty thrilled when he asked us to join them!

Pete & Paige and their daughter Violet. If you don't like to look at lot's of adorable pictures of this squirt, I suggest leaving now. This post will be packed full of them.

Their friends Becky and Dan came too.  We hadn’t seen them since Pete and Paige’s wedding a few years ago, and we had fun catching up, wandering around town and exploring the property, but mostly just enjoying the down time.

A sneaky picture I took of Becky. Can't seem to find a picture of Dan, I think he was practicing archery in the backyard when this was taken.

They are both architects, and Becky just finished graduate school for landscape architecture, so we had fun oohing and ahhh-ing’ over all the period detail in the house, and the 46 acres of wonderfulness surrounding the place.

My favorite part of the trip? The animals.

The Galloway cattle, and the blind, 25 year-old paint pony in the distance.

The family who owns the house spends most of their time up the street, at another one of their properties. But the caretakers, Bill and Sue, live in a house just a few feet away. In addition to keeping the place running smoothly and looking beautiful, they take care of the various animals that call the place home.

The amazing coop where you can find Sue's hens when they aren't running free, pecking around the yard.

The chickens were very friendly, Sue told me the breed but I can’t remember the name, I will have to email her if I ever come upon a beautiful plot of land in Somerville to raise them.

A girl can dream right?

But no one was as friendly as Tiger, the cat.  Who will follow you everywhere, and run at you full speed from an acre away for a snuggle.

This was the first time I ever laid eyes on tiger. He came bounding towards me from 100 yards away.

No really, he is the nicest cat you’ll ever meet.

How many cats do you know that seek out attention from wildly flailing toddlers? who pet whack-a-mole style?  No offense Violet, I know you are trying to play nice with the kitty, you just haven’t honed your small-motor skills yet.

Tiger may have been the friendliest animal on the farm, but this little guy edged him out in the cuteness department.

He lost his mom, so Bill has been bottle feeding him and the little guy just follows him everywhere.

Bill is his new mom.

You can’t make this stuff up.

Bill and Sue’s grandson was playing on the farm (he lives right down the road) and there were pony rides, and motorbike rides, and as Bill told us later, trips to the tree house they built in the woods, and bonfires.

Maybe I can convince them to adopt me as a grandkid too.

On Saturday, we went to the farmer’s market and got all kinds of goodies for our surf and turf dinner:  steaks, scallops, spring onions, cheese, and strawberries for short-cake.

Violet got hungry looking at all the delicious food.

These guys had amazingly fresh, coral-pink scallops. They were super psyched about it, and after eating them so were we!

We cooked, we feasted.  We walked around a little bit.  That was pretty much it.

Our favorite room in the house. Built by Bill, naturally.

It was perfect.

I couldn’t leave you without an easy summer recipe, so here are my soft-shell crab sandwiches with avocado and chipotle mayo, that ran in The Boston Globe this week.  You can make them in 10 minutes, and they are perfect for those too-hot-to-cook nights.

Serve them with cold beer and lot’s of napkins!

Look for large crabs that are alive and kicking, and ask the fishmonger to clean them for you.  I like New Deal in Cambridge, MA.

Happy summer everyone!

Here’s the print-out

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I consider myself a kind of professional home cook.  I went to culinary school and practice some techniques used by professional chefs, but I make very simple, doable food.

Being a kind of hybird, I’m often thinking about what restaurants can learn from home cooks, and what home cooks can learn from the hospitality pros.   I love the restaurant trend of serving really high-quality food in a comfy, laid back atmosphere.

A while back, I wrote a Food & Travel story about The Black Birch – a fantastic little gastro-pub in Kittery Maine, for The Boston Globe.   The picture below is of the co-owners, Ben Lord and Gavin Beaudry who run the front of the house, and Jake smith co-owner/executive chef, as well as Skye Bonney the Sous Chef.

from back to front: Ben Lord, Skye Bonney, Jake Smith, Gavin Beaudry

These four know what entertaining is all about: making your guests feel welcome and happy, and serving them delicious food and drinks. I was really drawn to their restaurant because it has this lively warmth that makes you feel like you’re dining at your friends house, or at some really great neighborhood block party.

The Black Birch brick chicken, some of the best chicken I have ever eaten

Speaking of Block Parties, I just read that The Black Birch is one of the sponsors of The Kittery Block Party, happening next weekend, June, 16th.  I will be headed to the Berkshires (my first time, so excited!) but it sounds like something fun to check out if you are in the area.

While restaurants are following the trend of a home-style dining experience, you can really punch up your own cooking by taking up some of the habits of professional chefs.  I’m not talking molecular gastronomy or expensive sous-vide machines, just some very basic advice that’s changed the way I cook over the years.

1.  Learn to season properly – I don’t detail this in my recipes, but all chefs do it automatically.  Salt your cooking water generously, add a little salt to your onions right when they hit the pan to help them soften, if you have your meat ahead of time, season it the day before you cook it, or even a few hours before dinner, it really penetrates into the meat and will give you a juicer, more flavorful end result.  And always, always, taste your food right before serving it, and add another sprinkle if necessary.  I like to use kosher and sea salt – never iodized because it leaves an unpleasant metallic after-taste. I keep a small container of flaky Maldon Sea Salt on the table for the final sprinkling.  It’s expensive but you only need a little and the sweet sea flavor and crunchy texture will elevate everything from a sliced tomato to a perfectly seared steak.

2.  Turn up the heat – Don’t be afraid of a big flame or a hot oven -  it’s the best way to get a nice sear on your scallops, crisp the skin on a roast chicken, and caramelize those peppers. I cook most everything over medium-high heat and roast meat at 400-425.

3.  Keep it clean-  This took me a long time to master, and truth be told I’m still working on it, but when I think back to when I first started cooking, I shudder.  I would end up with this enormous mess that was so intimidating it wiped me out just looking at it.  Thankfully, Artie will work for food, and is amazing about doing dishes.  He is also very happy I have changed my ways.  My 3 essential tips are this -  Take time to clean up the kitchen and unload the dishwasher before you get started.   You will have more room to work, and you can just rinse and stack the dishes right in the machine as you dirty them, instead of letting them pile up and swallow your sink and counter space.  I also hand-wash big bowls and things as I go.  I promise it will save you time and effort later. I only wish it didn’t take me 5 years to learn this.  Use a garbage bowl, I think I picked this up watching Rachael Ray back in college.  It will save you trips to the trash and keep your space tidy.  Have plenty of kitchen rags, they are cheap and a great investment.   I like to have a rag hooked through my apron string to wipe my hands (a tip from my editor at The Globe, Sheryl), another to wipe clean dishes, one to wipe down the counters as I cook, and a damp rag under my cutting board so it doesn’t slip all over the place (you can also use a damp paper towel for this).  I still use more paper towels than I would like to admit, but using washable rags really cuts down on wasted paper and money.  I also use one of those sponges you can sanitize in the dishwasher to clean the cabinets and counter space, but any old dish towel will do.

I hope these tips are helpful!

Finally, I want to share this recipe for Miso and sake steamed mussels from The Black Birch.  After inhaling a bowl, I watched sous chef, Skye Bonney, whip these up.  I  jotted down an approximation of the recipe, and adapted it for home cooks.  Plump, juicy little mussels in an addictive miso broth, with garlic, ginger, and green onions.  I want some right now.

Mussels are a dish that many people leave to the restaurants.

Don’t.

They are delicious, inexpensive, and so quick to make!  Just check the dates on the tag on the bag to make sure they are fresh, or go to a fish market you trust that sells them by the pound.  Make them once and they will become a regular part of your repertoire.

Mussels in a green curry broth was one of the first recipes I ever wrote for The Boston Globe, give them a try too.

If you want to get really fancy, you can fry store-bought wonton chips for a minute or two in some canola oil and garnish the bowl like they do at the restaurant.  I tend to leave that to the pros and just sop up the delicious broth with crusty bread from the bakery.  Either way, your guests will be impressed.

Happy cooking!

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