Edible Berkshires

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Edible BerkshiresEdible Berkshires

Edible Berkshires is a local, independently owned publication dedicated to covering the unique culinary culture of Western Massachusetts.

Trout, Leek, Mushroom And Goat Cheese Quiche

Yields 4 generous servings

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup leek or foraged ramps, well washed, with white and light green parts sliced

1/2 cup in-season asparagus or red pepper, chopped

4 ounces wild oyster or morel mushrooms, or fresh mushrooms

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon thyme

3 eggs, local is best

1/2 cup cream, half & half or milk (fat content your choice)

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

Pinch of cayenne pepper or a bit of hot sauce, optional

1 deep-dish piecrust, frozen prepared is fine or use a deep-dish pie pan with no crust for gluten free

1/2 pound roasted trout (see previous recipe), fileted and crumbled

3–4 tablespoons goat cheese

1 tomato sliced, optional

 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Sauté leeks in olive oil until they start to melt; add asparagus and sauté 2 minutes; add mushrooms and continue until soft. Season with salt and pepper to … Read the rest

Quest For Taste: How shake ’n Bake chops inspired a foodie career

By Matthew LaBombard

Food was never on my mind as a child. As an energetic youngster, I barely ate the dinners that my parents prepared and when I did, I couldn’t eat fast enough to get back outside to play with friends.

I never wanted to be seated on the counter, curiously watching my parents chop, sauté, bake and broil our family recipes. There was never a sparkle in my eye as raw ingredients turned into flavorful dishes.

But looking back, there was one dish that proved that I would venture into a food-cen­tric career as an adult: pork chops.

Shake ’N Bake pork chops were the din­ner that I passionately despised, and to this moment I still loathe the thought of them. As a child I dreamt of my parents serv­ing something outlandish like sushi, which never did actually happen. My parents were good cooks, but when they served … Read the rest

Allez cuisine!

If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Get Out of the Kitchen.

By Chef Rachel Portnoy

I’ve really been wondering why chefs are all over the place these days. They’re showing up in really unlikely places: hosting day-time TV shows, judging competitions; their names are on knife sets, pan sets, cooking gizmos and reality shows.

It’s all very strange to me—a pastry chef married to an executive chef—because in my experience we’re a pretty gnarly lot. Most of the time we’re hidden in the kitchen and most of the time that’s where you want us to stay. Cooking in a professional kitchen is generally adrenaline-fueled, your time spent doing repetitive, mundane jobs and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, and it doesn’t make for interesting small talk or public appearances.

The single-minded way that we can read about food, talk about food and think about food even when we’re not at work: It takes … Read the rest

EDIBLE NEWS AND NOTABLES WINTER 2014-2015

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In addition to Pleasant & Main’s opening last spring, in “the village that could,” Housatonic, in Great Barrington, Amy Hagerty of Baba Louie’s fame, has opened Housie Market Café. The market café opened in mid June 2014, offering breakfast and lunch seven days a week.

Sourcing as much as she can locally from farms and artisan purveyors, Amy offers a creative selection of unique sustenance. A local place for residents to get food close to home, the market in time will continue expanding its offerings of shelf items.

A community gathering spot, the school bus lets school kids off right in front of the store. What a great place for parent and child to share an afterschool snack.

Housie Market Café: 226 Pleasant St., corner of Highland; 413-274-0261

newsDistrictKitchen

District Kitchen & Bar on West Street, Pittsfield, in the former Brix restaurant space, opened this past September. Fashioned after Public Eat … Read the rest

CRANWELL RESORT AND SPA

From Dishwasher to
Executive Chef at Cranwell Resort

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Executive Chef David Jordan, born and raised in Berkshire County, knew what he wanted at age 14. Knocking on the kitchen door at Cranwell Resort in 1987, David asked then-Executive Chef Timothy Cardillo, could he have a job learning how to cook?

The next day, after school, there he was—scraping the cooking scraps into a pail and loading the dishwasher. Never deterred, he worked through high school, watching everything in the kitchen as well as attending the southern Berkshire culinary collaborative. The collaborative offered a hands-on commercial cooking program under the direction of Chef Frank Cote through Monument Valley High in Great Barrington.

Recommended in his senior year of high school for a co-op program in the kitchen of Canyon Ranch in Lenox, under the direction of Executive Chef Barry Corriea, off he went. After high school his next stop was the … Read the rest

Haven Café Bakery

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Alba Sanchez, kitchen manager and Rachel O’Rouke,
the team responsible for the food in Lenox

A self-taught cook, Shelly Williams started her professional culinary career when she was asked to cater a dinner for 50 people in 2003. Eleven years later, Shelly owns a café in Lenox, opened summer 2008, and a second location in Great Barrington, opened fall of 2013.

Shelly offers her customers and says her mission is “to offer high-quality food and excellent service to all her guests—whether they need a fresh cup of great coffee to go, a healthy delicious breakfast to sit down with, a tasty lifeenhancing meal to take home, or her services if they are planning a catered event for dozens of friends and family.”

Haven is there to calmly make it happen.

Along the way she wants you to know that they support a great big team of local organic farmers, environmentally … Read the rest

Gould Farm

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Introduction by Chef Nathan Yaple, director of Harvest Barn Bakery

The Gould Farm Harvest Barn isn’t just a bakery; it’s a place to learn. Gould Farm is a therapeutic community that promotes recovery for people with mental health and related challenges through meaningful work, community living and clinical care. It is the nation’s first residential therapeutic community for adults with mental illness.

Started in 1913, the farm hosts people living with challenges such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, depression and bipolar disorder who live and work alongside the volunteers, staff and their families who manage the therapeutic program. Built like a small town, the farm is nestled on over 700 acres where community members live full-time and participate in one of several work teams that care for the animals, gardens, buildings and grounds, and produce daily meals and baked goods for each other and the wider public.

At the bakery, residential … Read the rest

WILD OATS CO-OP

Ex-Lawyer Finds Food World More Appealing

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After determining that being a lawyer was not the life for him, Greg Roach switched to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, graduating at 29. His varied career as a chef includes stints in the kitchens of Wolfgang Puck (Seattle), Jimmy Schmidt (Detroit) and Charlie Trotter (Chicago).

He moved to Williamstown in 2003, when his wife, Robin, was offered a position at Williams College. Greg became the chef at Helen’s Place in Williamstown, a collegeoriented lunch and catering operation, for four years.

In 2007 he joined Wild Oats as executive chef and prepared foods manager. Greg has substantially grown the offerings of prepared foods, creating an in-house food, soup and salad bar. He also built up a catering operation and expanded the co-op’s deli offerings as well as the selection in its bakery. He introduced an innovative healthy school lunch program … Read the rest

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