This coming Thursday is my monthly farm dinner with Lands's Sake Farm in Weston. And for the first time in a while I was struggling to create a menu for the event. Maybe it's because there is two feet of snow outside and it's four degrees with the windchill. Maybe it's because I'm tired of serving squash and what little root vegetables remain in the cellar. Or maybe I just needed to find some good inspiration. When the local farm produce is scarce I usually turn to local meats, cheese, jams or jellies. But even that avenue seemed stale to me. I was looking for something different. Not …

I always like the beginning of January. It is my first chance to catch my breath after the busiest time in the restaurant. And it is a time to look back on the year that was and look forward to the year that will be. I have never been one to make New Year's resolutions in the past, but on a recent trip to the grocery store I noticed something about myself that I would like to change. I would like to stop buying prepackaged product and buy more whole ingredients in bulk. This realization came to me during my last weekly trip to Trader Joe's. More specifically, it happened when I place a …

Every year I give my friends and family a themed food related gift basket. Last year it was based on my trip to Mendoza, Argentina - malbec wine, steaks and chimichuri sauce. The year before was a variety of charcuterie made from the pig that my cousin  and I raised. This year's basket is based on some of the fun local products that I have found through out the year. If you are short on ideas, here are a couple that are good and will help to support our local businesses. Harmony Cheese, Valley View, Topsfield - This amazing camembert style cheese is a collaboration between Appleton Farm's cow…

It started with a late night question to my wife: "How long do you think you could go as a vegetarian?" After some negotiations we decided to take the month of November off from meat and try to go vegetarian for 30 days. It started out as a test of willpower but ended with several points of self-realization... First, I felt like I was eating all day long, especially at the beginning of the month. Instead of having three meals, I was eating around five meals per day, which was great because I love to eat. After each meal, I felt full but I noticed that it was a much more comfortable feeling …

It's getting near that time of year again - the last Thursday of November. A time when seniors are about to play their last high school football game and when college students reunite with their hometown friends. It's a time for family to get together and enjoy a grand feast that is centered around turkey - a meal that we greatly anticipate but for some reason never replicate at some other point in the calendar year. Why? As a chef I have often wondered about this. If this meal is so good why wouldn't people want to enjoy it more than once a year? This line of thinking has left me with pounds…

Local farms are winding down and the farmers are starting to catch their breath. It was a solid growing season with not too many complaints about the weather and diseases. Although most of the harvesting is over, there are many farms that are currently producing one of their most prized crops - the cider donut.  Donuts these days are often deep fried, frosting on frosting, glazed sugary cavity-makers. They may look like donuts on the shelf -- they are the right size, the right shape and sometimes the right color. But take one bite and you know something isn't right. In this era of the cross …

Driving home after Columbus Day weekend, I was able to put in perspective how much our food system has progressed. The ease at which we can simply stroll the isles of the grocery store picking and choosing whatever we want, rather than having to hunt and gather what we wished to consume. This realization came to me after three long days of hunting for woodcock in downeast Maine. It is an active sport to hunt these birds, not like deer hunting where you wait patiently hoping something will cross your path. These birds love the thick shrubs, tall alders and wet ground for feeding. The only way …

11:30 p.m. My phone chirped to signal the incoming text message: Chants @ eleven got chx and hens good price - call. The number was unfamiliar and the message made no sense. I deleted it without a second thought.  Fortunately the mystery text was followed by a phone call two days later. "Hey man - did you get my text the other night?" Mystery solved. (Translation: Hi Sam, how are you? Hope all is well. By the way I have some wild foraged mushrooms that you might be interested in. Chanterelles are going for $11 per pound while chicken and hen of the woods are at a good price. Talk to you soon…

The local food movement is everywhere these days. Almost everyone has heard about it and is excited by it. We all like the idea that by supporting our local farms and not importing product from other states or countries we are helping the environment by creating a smaller carbon footprint. While I fully embrace this idea in theory, I believe that some compromise is necessary when working with a limited growing season.  As a chef am I only to use what is grown locally? If this is the case, it is going to be a long winter of boiled New England dinners. There are many items in our kitchen …

Sometime I feel that eating has become an inconvenient necessity rather that an opportunity for pleasure.  On a daily basis I see people ordering large amounts of food, become antsy when their order doesn't arrive within 10 minutes, eat it too fast and abruptly leave with that look of slight discomfort as their food finally reaches their stomach.  I experience it myself more often than I would like to admit. Although I am surrounded by food all day, I find that I am too busy to sit down and eat a proper meal. At the point of noticing my stomach, my two quickest options for quenching my late …

Hidden between summer and fall is my favorite season of all -- tomato season. In the spring we plant seeds, water, wait and watch. Then we water, wait and watch again until finally it is time to harvest this amazing fruit. We consume it on a daily basis enjoying its perfect balance between acidity and sweetness -- knowing all the while that we will soon be returning to the orange grocery store variety. And right now is the best part of the local tomato season. All of the farms are now selling their seconds (the tomatoes that aren't absolutely perfect) at greatly discounted prices. On a recent…

It's early September in New England. We've had a long hot summer and now our minds are starting to anticipate the arrival of fall. But before the temperature starts to drop, pumpkins are on our door step and squash soup is on our plate, let's have one more lick of ice cream. Right now the orchards across the state are producing some of the sweetest peaches around. To handle the abundance of this late summer fruit, I turn them into ice cream and freeze them to enjoy after the summer has passed. This is a two day event - not because it is a time consuming - but because I like to visit the …