Posts Tagged ‘Montpelier’

• As Irish-American as Apple Pie

  Date: 03.17.2010 | Category: Real Food | Response: 0

  St. Patrick’s Day is a close-to-perfect holiday. Everyone can join in, no matter how distant their Irish ancestors. There are no cards to send, no presents to buy and no carved-in-the-Blarney-stone traditions to follow. Some celebrate with a glass of green beer, others with a cup of green tea. You might order a green pizza (green peppers, spinach and basil) at Positive Pie in Montpelier, then head to the State House for the annual Luck of the VSO Farmers’ Night Concert. It’s free and begins at 7:30 pm. Afterward, with your head full of Irish jigs and reels, you could wander back across Main Street to the Three Penny Taproom for a pint of Victory Brewery’s Donnybrook Stout or sip some Irish (Catholic or Protestant) whiskey.

  If you’re happiest staying at home on a Wednesday evening, have a slice of our Irish Apple Pie and curl up by the fire to read Vincent Feeney’s new book Finnigans, Slaters, and Stonepeggers: A History of the Irish in Vermont.

  Beannacht Lá Fhéile Pádraig!

  Irish Apple Pie
  from the FarmPlate Kitchen

  A mix of apple varieties (like those offered at Champlain Orchards) is best here. Two or three golden delicious apples are good because they keep their shape when cooked. Some Northern Spy, Rhode Island Greening or Granny Smiths will add a tart note. And every apple pie should have at least one McIntosh for its lovely aroma.

  If you can’t find demerara sugar, use brown sugar to flavor the apples and sprinkle white sugar on top of the pie.

  1 cup raisins
  1/3 cup Irish whiskey (Bushmill’s or Jameson’s)
  3½ pounds Vermont-grown apples
  2 tablespoons butter
  ¾ cup demerara sugar
  ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
  2 Vermont Mystic Pie Company frozen pie shells, defrosted
  1 egg white beaten with 1 teaspoon milk
  8 ounces heavy cream such as Butterworks Farm Organic Cream

  Combine the raisins and whiskey in a small saucepan. Heat gently almost to a simmer. Remove from the heat. Set aside to let the raisins soak up the whiskey.

  Peel and cut the apples into wedges. Melt the butter in a large heavy skillet. Add the apples, ½ cup of the sugar and the spices to the pan. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, just to soften the apples. Pour any whiskey that hasn’t been absorbed by the raisins into a glass, then add the raisins to the apples.

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• Localvore Dinner Series Comes to Penny Cluse Cafe

  Date: 01.28.2010 | Category: Coming Up | Response: 0

  Fundraisers at the Vermont Commons School have found a delicious way to help promote sustainable communities through their popular Localvore Dinner Series. Billed as a friend-raising event, each winter/spring dinner includes a four-course meal at a well-known Vermont restaurant with a guest speaker who’s a leader in sustainability.

  This coming Wednesday’s dinner will be at Penny Cluse Café in Burlington. Chef/owner Charles Reeves intends to put a typically Penny Cluseian flavor-powerd spin on seasonal, local ingredients. Look for parsley root fries with house-made ketchup, braised Vermont lamb with plenty of garlic, cinnamon-stout ice cream and much more. Saleem H. Ali, associate professor of environmental studies at UVM’s Rubenstein School and author of the new book Treasures of the Earth: Need, Greed and a Sustainable Future (Yale University Press, 2009) will speak.

  The final two stops on the VCS Localvore express will be at The Kitchen Table Bistro in Richmond on March 11 and American Flatbread at Lareau Farm in Waitsfield on April 6.

  More Regional Events

  (All events take place in Vermont unless otherwise noted.)

  Thursday, January 28
  Three Penny Taproom in Montpelier welcomes the owner and brewers from Smuttynose, New Hampshire’s leading craft brewery, who will be tapping a fresh cask of their barrel-aged Imperial Stout. 100% of sales from the cask will be donated to HELP (Haitian Education & Leadership Program).

  Friday, January 29
  ‘The End of the Line’, Rupert Murray’s 2009 documentary, presents hard-to-ignore footage and scientific evidence of the state of our oceans, arguing that overfishing will cause a “world without fish” by 2048. 7:30 pm at Spaulding Auditorium, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. $5 to $8.
  

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• Thanksgiving All Weekend Long

  Date: 11.26.2009 | Category: Coming Up | Response: 0

  Back before green bean casserole and jellied cranberry sauce from a can were standard Thanksgiving fare, America’s cooks toiled for days to get ready for our national celebration. To experience how things used to be – and used to taste – visit the Billings Farm & Museum in Woodstock, VT, this weekend.

  Bring the family and watch interpreters in period dress prepare a harvest feast in the 1890s farmhouse. Sample homemade treats and go for a horse-drawn wagon ride too.

  The Thanksgiving Weekend program takes place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm. Admission ranges from $3 to $12, depending on age.

  More Regional Events

  Friday, November 27

  The annual Vermont Farmer’s Market Christmas Fair takes place at Poultney High School from 9 am to 4 pm on Friday and Saturday. The fair offers crafts, folk art, gourmet foods and more.

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• One Sweet Weekend

  Date: 11.19.2009 | Category: Coming Up | Response: 0

  Master chocolatiers and amateurs alike can learn, shop and best of all indulge at the Festival of Sweets this Saturday and Sunday at South Burlington’s Doubletree Hotel. The festival, formerly known as the The Vermont Chocolate Show, showcases world-class confectioners working in Vermont today.

  Culinary students from NECI and St. Johnsbury Academy compete for prizes in sugar and chocolate sculpture.

  Presentations include Kim Greenwood on Vermont beekeeping, Ken Hastings on making maple candies, NECI chef Adrian Westrope on making a decorative chocolate cake, Drew Emory on making a great cheesecake and lots more.

  The festival runs from 10-6 on Saturday; 10-4 on Sunday. Admission is $10 for adults, $6 for children.

  More Regional Events

  Thursday, November 19

  As part of a Sustainable Living in Vermont series, Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center hosts Alan Benoit of Sustainable Design who will discuss how passive solar technology can be incorporated into new and existing structures. The talk begins at 7 pm.

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• First Annual Culinary Tourism Food Summit

  Date: 11.05.2009 | Category: Coming Up | Response: 0

  For a hundred years tourists have come to Vermont to hike, ski or snap photos of the changing seasons. Many have gone home with maple products in tow. Today’s tourists are likely to be hungry for more.

  Southern Vermont business leaders and food professionals will be gathering this coming Tuesday, November 10, to discuss culinary tourism and the benefits and challenges it offers. Their goal is to help define Southern Vermont’s culinary tourism potential and to develop successful initiatives based on best practices in the industry. Roger Allbee, Vermont Secretary of Agriculture, will be the keynote speaker.

  Tourism professionals, educators, town leaders, farmers, food artisans, specialty food retailers and the community at large are all encouraged to attend.

  The Culinary Tourism Food Summit will take place in West Dover at the historic Hermitage Inn, an environmentally efficient establishment. The cost is $25, which includes lunch and a limitless opportunity to network with like-minded food lovers and entrepreneurs. Contact the Mount Snow Valley Chamber of Commerce 802-464-8092 to register.

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