February Events

Come to one of Bob’s engaging presentations this month on chocolate and tea and chase away the winter blues!

• February 10th Bob conducts a chocolate tasting at 12 noon and again at 2 PM at Historic Deerfield’s Fourth Annual Chocolate Festival

• February 20th Bob explores the Natural History of Tea (plus a tea tasting) at the Hitchcock Center, Amherst, Ma 7 PM
 


Valentines Day is Wednesday, February 14th

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate…
don’t forget Godiva’s Annual Diamond Giveway…..
your chance to win diamonds for your sweetie
 

 

Cider and Farro Risotto with Sea Scallops
Serves 8 as a first course or 4 as a main dish

Mary Lou created this recipe for farro risotto for a Cooking with Cider article that she wrote for Cooking Light magazine. It appeared in the October 2006 issue, with duck breasts instead of scallops, and featured less butter, olive oil and salt. The recipe is delicious either way.

Farro, or emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum) is an ancient grain originating in the Middle East and North Africa. Under Julius Caesar, the Roman invasion of Egypt resulted in the introduction of this nutritious grain to Italy. Today, farro is still cultivated in isolated regions of Tuscany, especially in the northern, mountainous reaches of the Garfagnana. Serve this hearty risotto with a salad and slices of warm, crusty bread.
 


2 cups farro

3 cups chicken stock

3 cups fresh-pressed sweet cider

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon sea salt

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

6 tablespoons butter

2 medium-sized onions, finely chopped

 
2 medium-size fennel bulb, finely chopped

1½ cups dry white wine

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon lemon peel zest

¼ wedge of fresh lemon
16 ounces sea scallops, rinsed and pat dry

Optional: fennel fronds, finely chopped ( for garnish
 

 


NEW ADDITIONS

• Kishibori Shoyu
Our newest soy sauce, this beauty is made on the small island of Shodoshima in the Seto Inland Sea, between the main Japanese island of Honshu and neighboring Shikoku. The only ingredients are soybeans, whole wheat, sea salt and fresh, pure water. The shoyu is aged more than 1 year in barrels that are over 100 years old and very well seasoned. Since the 17th century, this region has prospered as a salt-producing region and many shoyu brewers began production there in the 17th century because of the pure water and the salt. Today, over 30 family factories produce shoyu on Shodoshina Island, which is about 60 square miles in size yet ranks
4th in Japan for shoyu production.

• Chile Threads
These long, thin, thread-like strands of red chile pepper are the newest food-toy among chefs in big city restaurants. Be creative and use them for garnishing all manner of dishes from simple to extravagant – desserts too! These are festive and fun and add a nice splash of color to the plate.

• Apricot and Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar
We highly recommend these well-made, delicious Italian vinegars. Made with all-natural flavors by Trentin Aceti, these condiments will add depth and flavor to pan sauces, meat glazes and marinades. We firmly believe that one cannot have too many bottles of uniquely flavored vinegars for adding character to all manner of sauces and dishes.

• Chestnut Honey
Several years ago we visited friends in Italy who introduced us to a little restaurant that brings to the table a platter of local, firm, pecorino cheeses drizzled with chestnut honey. We loved it, and have since discovered that many blue cheeses and Spanish sheep milk cheeses take wonderfully to honey too. We highly recommend perfecting the drizzle.


• TERRE BORMANE ‘Aulente’
White Balsamic Vinegar
Aulete is a white wine vinegar made from grape varieties specific to Liguria, the sunny Italian Riviera. Liguria is famous for the extra-virgin olive oil that our customers love so much, and less well-known for its local production of delicious, fruity white wines. Terre Bormane uses the word “ balsamic “ refers to the the fact that this is a barrel-agrd vinegar, not an attempt to market Aulete as a “ clear “ version of the famous dark vinegar from Modena. TERRE BORMANE products can be found on the tables of the best restaurants in the world, such as the Louis XV in Monte Carlo, the Negresco in Nice, the Alain Ducasse in Paris, the George Blanc in Vonnas, the Rochat in Lausanne and the Pitosforo in Portofino and many others.
 

 


Castelas Extra Virgin Olive Oil Promotion
Purchase the 750 ml bottle for the price of the 500 ml bottle - 50% more oil free.
While supplies last.
 

 

 
 

Gourmet News
2006 Leadership Awards

We were delightfully surprised when we received a call from this national specialty food trade newspaper that we had been selected as one of the finalists under consideration for their annual Retail Leadership Awards.

The Editor and a team from Gourmet News came to visit our store during the Christmas season and right after the New Year we received the call that we were chosen to be the recipient of one of three national awards. Our nomination and award was for the work we do in food education via our website, in-store information and hand-out materials, and for our published articles and books, a live radio program, and local and national
seminars and presentations.

We are thrilled to be so honored - what a great way to begin a bright New Year !
 


1. Place farro in a large bowl and cover with water to 1-inch above farro. Let stand for 30 minutes, rinse and drain.

2. Bring the chicken stock, cider, cinnamon and sea salt to a simmer in a saucepan, then keep warm over low heat.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter in a skillet over medium-heat. Add the onion and sauté until tender; add the chopped fennel and continue sautéing until the mixture begins to brown. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.

4. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the remaining butter over medium-heat in a Dutch oven or large saucepan. Add the farro and stir for 3 minutes to warm the grains and coat them with the oil and butter.

5. Add the white wine to the pan and stir until the farro absorbs it all.

6. Follow this by adding the broth one cup at a time, stirring constantly after each addition, until all the liquid has been absorbed.

7. When you add the last cup of broth, add the lemon rind and the caramelized onions and fennel. Mix well, and cook until the farro is
‘al dente’ - pleasantly chewy and moist, neither hard nor mushy. Add a little water if necessary to finish cooking and keep the risotto creamy. Cover risotto, set aside and keep warm.

8. Heat a skillet and add the remaining butter. Add a tablespoon of condiment quality balsamic vinegar and reduce over high heat until the mixture is syrupy. Add the scallops to the pan and gently cook them until they are lightly browned. Turn the scallops over and cook until browned on the other side.

9. Serve the farro in pre-warmed pasta bowls. Arrange scallops on top of each serving and, if desired, sprinkle each dish with a touch of finely minced fennel fronds and a squeeze of fresh lemon.
 
 


Authentic Japanese Ingredients

In Japan, chefs and home cooks alike insist on using top quality ingredients that are grown without additives in pollution free environments. To this end, the Japanese may be the most health-conscience nation in the world when it comes to their quest for eating pure, nutritious food.

‘Yukki’ is a Japanese term that refers to ‘natural farming’, a concept that is used for something grown organically by farmers who are too small to afford the costs of procuring official organic certification. These farmers are the stewards of the land and practice sustainable agriculture - they are not industrial agri-croppers.

Our Mitoku brand of Japanese ingredients are ‘Yukki ‘ products culled from small companies throughout Japan. On their own, these companies would be too small to export their products, but under the umbrella of Mitoku their products are available here.

Each company is listed on its Mitoku label, so the producer is recognized. Our selection of pickled ginger, miso, nori, shoyu, mirin, Ponzu, sesame oils, rice vinegars and Yuzu vinegar, and wasabi powder, are all made with great attention to detail and wholesome-ness. These products deliver exceptional flavor because these companies (many of whom are family companies in operation over the last several hundred years) have as their goal the development of exceptional products, and not just high volume and efficiency of operation.

Japanese cuisine features these products as major flavor components of the cuisine, therefore the flavors must be exceptional and the tastes agreeable with the simple dishes that accentuate the subtlety of fish and vegetables

Miso…should be flavorful yet sweet enough to sip pleasurably without the addition of spices or condiments. Again, aging in wooden casks for 18-24 months delivers miso that has become sweet from slow fermentation and is easily digestible and delicious enough to eat with a spoon from the container. Miso can be made from soybeans to which brown or white rice or barley has been added, or exclusively from soybeans. In Japan, the selection of Yukki miso in the markets is staggering – from dark chestnut brown to the creamiest white.

Nori…our nori is cultivated in the protected coves of northeast Japan in the Sendai region of Matsushima. Beware of cheap nori –it is cheap for a reason. Much of it now comes from the polluted waters off the industrial east coast of China.

Sesame Oil…Japan’s sesame oils can be made from natural and un-toasted sesame seeds for a light color and flavor or from toasted sesame seeds for a deep caramel brown color and rich flavor. Add some chili oil and voila – hot and spicy sesame oil. These artisan oils are made the old fashioned way by the tama shibori method, which releases the oil from the steamed and rolled sesame seeds by applying gentle pressure to the seeds in a wooden tub fitted with a manually operated press.

Shoyu (soy sauce)…these tasty soy sauces are not made by accelerated methods in stainless-steel tanks, but are still crafted by hand using natural fermentation methods and special koji culture that slowly changes hard-to-digest soybean proteins into easy-to-digest amino acids and natural sugars. Long, traditional cedar-barrel aging (18 to 24 months) gives these soy sauces mellow, rich flavors, and character not found in industrially made soy sauce.