Posts Tagged ‘American Flatbread’
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Welcome, This is a Farmhouse
No, we’re not referring to the familiar song by Vermont’s favorite jam band Phish, but there’s a new Farmhouse in town! Downtown Burlington welcomes the highly anticipated opening of The Farmhouse Tap & Grill, a new restaurant
located at 160 Bank Street. The location was ironically home to a McDonald’s restaurant for 30 years before closing and remaining unoccupied for the last two. The Farmhouse Tap & Grill is owned by Jed Davis, formerly the Director of Operations at Three Tomatoes restaurants, along with Rob Downey and Paul Sayler, owners of American Flatbread Burlington Hearth.The Farmhouse is a gastropub dedicated to showcasing and supporting the many local farmers and food producers in Vermont, with a top-notch beer bar serving only the best from “our backyard and beyond,” with 24 beers on tap. All are available in full and half pours to encourage sampling—my favorite is the Hill Farmstead Abner, an American Double IPA, brewed by Shaun Hill at Hill Farmstead Brewery in Greensboro, Vermont. The menu features gourmet burgers made with local ingredients, comfort entrées, house made charcuterie, Vermont cheese and farm-style veggies.
On opening night, I was invited to sample the venison burger
made with Hollandeer Farm venison and topped with Jasper Hill blue cheese, a local cranberry mostarda and arugula. All of the beef burgers are made with 100% grass-fed and grass-finished beef from Maple Wind Farm in Huntington and Stony Pond Farm in Fairfield. Chef Phillip Clayton’s charcuterie offerings on opening night included a house-smoked summer sausage made with beef and pork and smoked right out back in the outdoor beer garden, a rabbit rillette and a local pork country pâté.The Farmhouse Tap & Grill opened for business on Tuesday, May 18, and will will be open 7 days a week at 4:30 pm for dinner. They will begin serving lunch in June. Soon to open will be an outdoor beer garden, complete with communal tables and container gardens filled with herbs and vegetables—it will be a perfect place to spend a lazy summer afternoon.
The Farmhouse Tap & Grill • 160 Bank Street, Burlington, VT 05401 • info@farmhousetg.com
See more great images of The Farmhouse Tap & Grill on our flickr page!
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Crazy ‘Bout Maine Mussels
Why do we love Maine rope-grown blue mussels?
To start, they’re cheap, they’re meaty and they’re ever so sweet. Plus there’s no question about seafood sustainability issues with rope-grown mussels. Mussel farming on suspended ropes is considered an environmentally benign form of aquaculture compared to finfish farming, which can pollute and cause other environmental problems. Seafood WATCH gives the blue-black bivalves its Best Choice rating.
Getting mussels ready for the pot used to be tedious. You needed a stiff brush to scrub each and every one to remove the crusty bits. Next you soaked them in fresh water with a dusting of flour floating on the surface, which was supposed to purge any unsavory elements. Then you tapped each one on the counter to make sure it would close and discarded any lifeless ones. Needless to say, the procedure did not lend itself to quick weeknight fare.
Today’s farmed mussels are so clean and easy to prepare you could put them in the convenience food category. Begin with a quick rinse and an inspection to make sure there aren’t any cracked or broken ones. Many people yank off the “beard,” the fibrous threads that anchor the mussel to the mussel bed. Then you cook them. That’s it.
It’s hard to imagine any mussel dish without a garlic component, whether it’s a traditional French moules au beurre d’ail or the fusion classic, Thai green curry mussels. Hen of the Wood Restaurant in Waterbury, Vermont, regularly offers delicious Maine mussels with a garlicky herb butter and grilled bread on the side. The Kitchen Table Bistro in Richmond, Vermont, steams Maine mussels in cider and flavors them with smoky local bacon and a killer garlic-laced aioli. We’ve even come across mussels and a dash of minced garlic on pizza on occasion at American Flatbread in Burlington.
One of our favorite impromptu dishes is a Mediterranean-inspired mussel salad to serve as an appetizer or light main course. The individual components will vary depending on what’s in the fridge, but there’s always garlic and some superb Maine mussels of course.
Mussel Salad
from the FarmPlate Kitchen
Fresh mussels should be closed when you buy them. Make sure they can breathe on the trip home by leaving the bag open so air can circulate. Refrigerate immediately in an open container and use within a day or two.
If you are lucky enough to have chives that are on the verge of blooming, snip a handful of buds and add them to the salad as well.
3 pounds (2 quarts) rope-grown blue mussels
4 cloves garlic (2 smashed, 2 minced)
½ cup white wine
½ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Juice from ½ lemon
Pinch of saffron threads
Aleppo pepper or other ground red chile, to taste
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 to 3 scallions, thinly sliced
1 to 2 tablespoons capers
Chopped fresh parsley
Tender lettuce leaves for servingRinse the mussels and check them over to make sure none are broken or cracked. Put the smashed garlic cloves and wine in a Dutch oven over high heat. Bring to a boil, add the mussels and cover the pan. Cook until the mussels have opened, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
In a bowl, combine the olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, minced garlic, saffron and Aleppo pepper. Remove the mussels from their shells and add to the bowl. Refrigerate for an hour or so to blend the flavors.
Before serving, add the diced peppers, scallions, capers and parsley. Toss to combine. Serve on the lettuce leaves.
Serves 4 as an appetizer or 2 as a main course
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Root Veggie Renaissance
In case you haven’t noticed, root vegetables are staging a real comeback, at least in Vermont’s top restaurants and home kitchens. Beet salads are everywhere, and the Roasted Beet Salad with Warm Vermont Goat Cheese at the Kitchen Table Bistro is especially good. Hen of the Wood features a wide variety of roots on their menu (which changes daily to complement th
e season). Diners can dig into rutabaga, celeriac or carrot offerings at the Inn at Weathersfield. Root veggies are even turning up on pizzas. “You name it, we use it,” says Tracy of American Flatbread’s Burlington Hearth. “It’s that time of year.”This root veggie renaissance could be due in part to the efforts of Pete Johnson of Pete’s Greens along with other forward-thinking Vermont vegetable growers. Instead of being woody, bitter or virtually tasteless, locally grown root vegetables are firm, sweet and practically shouting with flavor.
Root vegetables star in the easy, one-pot recipe below.
Slow-Cooked Pork & Root Vegetables with Orange
from the FarmPlate Kitchen
If you’ve never prepared celeriac before, don’t be intimidated by its knobby, gnarly exterior — there’s a mild, even sweet, lovely vegetable on the inside. Use a sharp knife to peel. If you think this is going to take awhile, drop the chunks of celeriac into a bowl of cold water with a slice of lemon as you work to keep the celeriac from turning brown.3 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 2-inch pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large celeriac (celery root), peeled and cut into wedges
2 medium red onions, cut into wedges
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
2 small turnips, peeled and cut into wedges
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1½ cups white wine or amber ale
1 cup chicken stock
1 orange, juiced and a 3-inch strip of zest cut from the peel
1 tablespoon soy sauce
A big fresh rosemary sprig
Crusty Red Hen bread for servingPreheat the oven to 325ºF.
Over medium-high, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large Dutch oven or other heavy flameproof casserole with a lid. Season the pork with salt and pepper and brown it, in batches if necessary. Transfer to a plate. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in the pan. Add the celeriac, onions, carrots and turnips and sauté for 4 to 5 minutes, until the vegetables begin to brown. Stir in the garlic and cook for a few seconds more.
Add the pork and any juices to the vegetables, then pour in the wine or beer, stock, orange juice and soy sauce. Add the orange zest, rosemary sprig and a generous grinding of black pepper. Bring the mixture to a simmer.
Cover the pot and transfer to the oven. Cook for 1½ to 2 hours, stirring after an hour or so. Add more liquid if necessary. The pork and vegetables should be very tender. Let stand for a few minutes before serving, then ladle into shallow bowls. Serve with crusty bread to soak up the fragrant juices.
This one-pot meal reheats well.
Serves 6 to 8
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Holidazed & Confused on Tap
Straight-from-the-hearth pizza isn’t the only draw at American Flatbread on a cold winter’s evening in Burlington, Vermont. The St. Paul Street eatery is also home to Zero Gravity Tap Room, where if you were to sip a different beer every night starting tonight, you’d be there until the first day
of spring. As the Winter Solstice approaches, Zero Gravity’s staff is getting ready for the annual Holidazed & Confused Festival.The celebration of “holiday madness, cellared wonderment, aged beauties, seasonal specialties and winter warmers” takes place for two full nights this year, next Monday and Tuesday, from 5 pm to midnight, and will feature more than two dozen seasonal brews, including ZG cask-conditioned Dubbel with cherries, Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence ‘08 and Anchor Xmas ‘07.
More Regional Events
(All events take place in Vermont unless otherwise noted)
Friday, December 11
Meet the Man With the Magic Hat: Alan Newman, founder and president of Magic Hat Brewery in Burlington is the featured speaker at the “Table Talk: Side Dishes for Thought” monthly discussion at Mary’s Restaurant at the Inn at Baldwin Creek in Bristol. Dinner begins at 6:15 pm followed by the talk at 7:30 pm. $25 dinner; the talk is free. Call 888.424.2432 or email linda@innatbaldwincreek.com. For more information on this event, check out FarmPlate’s feature on it. -
Editor, Author, Cook & Cattle Farmer Judith Jones to Sign New Cookbook
On Tuesday, December 8 in Hardwick, Vermont, the Galaxy Bookshop will welcome legendary editor/author (and Walden summer resident) Judith Jones in celebration of her new book The Pleasures of Cooking for One. Jones will speak and sign books beginning at 7 pm. There will be an informal reception afterward at Claire’s Restaurant nearby.
As senior editor at Knopf, Jones has nurtured the writing careers of some of America’s most influential cooks including Julia Child, James Beard, Jacques Pepin, Marcella Hazan, Joan Nathan, Lidia Bastianich, Edna Lewis and many others. Jones has written several cookbooks herself, as well as a cookbook/memoir, The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food. A native New Englander, she lives in New York City and summers in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom where she raises grass-fed cattle.Jones will also sign her new book at Bear Pond Books in Montpelier on Wednesday evening at 7 pm.
More Regional Events
(All events take place in Vermont unless otherwise noted.)
Friday, December 4
Pull, turn, twist and roll cooked sugar into glistening, handmade candy canes alongside the skilled candy crafters at Laughing Moon Chocolates in Stowe. The captivating demonstration begins at 11 am on Fridays, Saturdays and Wednesdays, from now until Christmas. Space is limited so please pre-register by calling 802.253.9591.
Eat up and party down at the Rising Farmers’ Party—a celebration for the next generation of farmers and their friends at the Tunbridge Town Hall in Central Vermont. It’s a potluck, plus BYO cup, plate and silverware. Music by Haywire. The party begins at 6 pm. For more details contact Debbie Diegoli at risingfarmers@gmail.com.
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VT Conference to Focus on Cultural Aspects of Food
Food writers, food producers and food policy makers will gather this Friday and Saturday (November 13-14) at the Vermont Humanities Council’s 36th annual fall conference ”Food for Thought,” which takes place at The Essex, in Essex, VT. The diverse group of food enthusiasts will examine the artistic, ceremonial, cultural and social implications of food.“Food shapes social organizations, from families to nations,” says Mark Fitzsimmons, conference director. “We want to look at the ways in which we use food for those purposes. Food is a joyous, sensuous experience, and we can’t lose sight of that.”
Conference highlights include:
- On Friday, a lively conversation about the revolution in American food in the past 50 years between Darra Goldstein, executive editor of Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture, and Judith Jones, renowned editor of Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking and vice president of Knopf publishing. Noted Vermont author Marialisa Calta will moderate.
- On Saturday morning, Nils Daulaire, former president and CEO of the Global Health Council, delivers the plenary address, ”The Future of Food in a Hungry World,” discussing the relationship between health, food security and global politics.
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Smart Choices Program to Stop Labeling Food
The Smart Choices Program stated it will postpone active operations after federal regulators announced they would review the criteria behind the Smart Choices label.
Launched in August 2009 and funded by food industry leaders, the Smart Choices Program permits manufacturers to label their products as “healthy” with a bright green checkmark on the packaging.In an effort to prevent misleading nutritional labels, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg announced on Oct. 20 that the FDA will develop standardized criteria for front-of-package labeling. Hamburg noted that some of the products labeled “Smart Choices” were actually 50 percent sugar, reports the Chicago Tribune. Sugary cereals including Fruit Loops and Cocoa Krispies have the Smart Choices seal of approval.
Three days after the FDA’s announcement, the Smart Choices Program stated in a press release that they will halt production and “welcome the opportunity to collaborate on front-of-package labeling with the FDA.”
About FarmPlate
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