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Last Sunday, we held a good old-fashioned Hoedown at Smolak Farms in Andover, Massachusetts. This scenic farm, seasonally inspired food, live bluegrass band, baking throwdown, chef demos, hoedown duds competition and refreshing dunk tank action all contributed to the fun-filled, action packed, great time we will not soon forget.

Under an immense tent the crowd pleasing Hokum’s Heroes band entertained the crowd while they sampled food from some of the areas best chefs:

• Ben Hasty, Brasserie JO – Mini Pork Belly Sliders with Chili Raisin Sauce, Shaved Carrots and Pickled Onions
• Chris Parsons, Parsons Table – Chilled Corn Soup with Toasted Cumin
• Brian Poe, Poe’s Kitchen at the Rattlesnake – Poe-co Loco Dusted Proscuitto Wrapped Tuna with Queso Fresco and Basil on Anaheim Chile and Corn Puree (say that three times fast)
• Alina Eisenhauer, Sweet (Worcester) – Ginger-Peach Whoopie Pies and Chocolate Malomars
• Antonio Bettencourt, Sixty2 on Wharf – BBQ Ribs with Cider Agrodolce and Spicy Red Cabbage Salad
• Eunice Feller, Bread & Chocolate – Sweet Corn Buns with Sage

Food Should Taste Good, Narragansett Beer & Wine Connextion provided snacks and refreshments for the crowd. And we chipped in as well with freshly squeezed Rosemary Lemonade and homemade Zucchini Bread.

Outside the tent, a whole pig was slow roasted on the hill under the watchful eye of Jason Bond of Beacon Hill Bistro. He cooked the pig in a La Caja China with corn husks and apples for added flavor. You knew the pig was done when a line formed leading up to the gazebo where the pig was located. At the base of the hill, Michael Scelfo of Russell House Tavern teamed up with the Lamb Board and Boston Chefs and grilled some Lamb Merguez Sliders. We pride ourselves on not letting our guests leave hungry and with this incredible array of food, we hopefully accomplished our goal.

One of the things we were most pleasantly surprised about was our Baking Throwdown that King Arthur Flour was kind enough to sponsor. This is the first year we held a baking competition and we were thrilled at the number of entries and the diversity of the desserts. There were only 2 requirements for entries: 1) use a seasonal, local ingredient as the main ingredient and 2) use King Arthur Flour. Contestants stepped up to the rolling pin and produced some beautiful creations using plums, peaches, apples, carrots and cantaloupe. It was amazing to see all the contributions. 6 judges had the difficult job of tasting and rating all of the desserts – sounds glamorous but that is some serious sugar they had to put down. Our own Jessie Zubatkin and former intern and blogger Lilly Jan tabulated the votes. A clear winner rose to the top and was announced: Rustic Pear & Goat Cheese Tart created by Jennifer Wolf. The judges thought the seasonal pear flavor really popped and that the dish was executed perfectly. Congratulations to Jennifer. She won a Gift Card to King Arthur Flour’s website as well as an amazing book, King Arthur’s Baking Companion and of course a how2heroes apron. We will be shooting Jennifer creating her dessert very soon so you all can try the recipe at home. Thank you to all who participated and we hope to make this competition bigger and better next year!

While cowboy hats, boots and handkerchiefs donned a variety of guests at the hoedown, there were some clear standouts for the Hoedown Duds Competition. We chose Robert Haber as the winner for his tribute Johnny Cash, the man in black, and for wearing Wrangler jeans. Now that’s legit.

We want to thank Smolak Farms and everyone for coming out and to all our chefs and sponsors. It was great day and we couldn’t have done it without all of you.

Below you’ll find a great selection of shots from the event. Come back next year y’hear?

In season this week at the Cambridge Center Farmers’ Market: Beans, Beets, Carrots, Corn, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Tomatoes, Greens, Peppers, Plums, Peaches, Melon, Blueberries…

how2heroes was lucky enough to have two chefs take time out of Restaurant Week to share their expertise on light, refreshing recipes perfect for August. And since yesterday was a hot one, let’s just say both chefs stopped traffic once the cooking commenced!

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Keith Pooler, Chef/Owner of Bergamot restaurant, prepared his rendition of Tuna Nicoise in which both the tuna AND the tomato were confited. To “confit” something means to slowly cook something in fat, or in this case, canola oil. Chef Pooler often uses this recipe for parties because the technique of confiting lends itself to the preservation of protein. All you have to do is confit ahead and assemble the day of to achieve the crisp, clean flavors of this elegant salad. Download the recipe for this beautiful appetizer and watch the how-to video above.

Chef Mary Dumont of Harvest restaurant followed with her recipe for Ginger Pork Spring Rolls. She braised the pork butt a day in advance so that was good to go. She then assembled the shredded pork, herbs, crunchy carrots, crisp butter lettuce and cool rice noodles before folding the wrapper into spring rolls. The rolls were garnished with a delicious dipping sauce comprised of peanut butter, scallions, chili sauce and, believe it or not, pineapple juice. Smooth, sweet and with just enough heat. To learn how to make Ginger Pork Spring Rolls at home, watch the how-to video below and get the recipe here.

Join us next week at 12:30 pm when chefs Steve Brand & Susan Regis of Upstairs on the Square dazzle the crowd at the how2heroes table! For the complete schedule, click here.

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YEEHAW! Hoedown 2010 is getting close! We hope you plan on coming. It’s going to be a good ole time! We went out to Smolak Farms late last week to do a site visit to get a better lay of the land. It is GORGEOUS and VAST! We will have 3 main areas for attendees to wander through – each with delicious food very close at hand, of course.

Starting at the spacious tent right looking out onto a small lake complete with swans, you’ll be able to try a variety of dishes from our guest chefs:
Jason Bond, Beacon Hill Bistro
Antonio Bettencourt, Sixty2 on Wharf
Alina Eisenhauer, Sweet
Eunice Feller, Bread & Chocolate
Ben Hasty, BrasserieJO
Chris Parsons, Parsons Table
Brian Poe, Poe’s Kitchen at the Rattlesnake

This space also features a stage so you can watch and learn recipes from our talented chefs.

After eating to your heart’s content, you can wander through the animal farm area, where you can see goats, deer, chickens and even an alpaca! This area leads you up to the activity area where the band and a variety of fun games will be stationed (try to dunk some of us into the dunk tank!).

Walking up to the top of the hill is the barn – a fantastically positioned barn which will house a few more kids games, a penny candy store, and the exciting part -  the succulent slow roasting PIG!

After finishing up our tour of the farm, we were ready for a snack. All the talk of food, planning, figuring out what chef is going to be positioned where, and who’s making what – we really needed a snack. Peach ice cream sundae or peach pie. We choose the pie. Always the pie. There is a full ice cream stand should you have the craving. We promise that you will not leave hungry!

We’re not sure yet where we are holding the Hoedown Baking Throwdown but we hope that you plan on bringing your favorite homemade dessert made with seasonal, local produce (peaches, zucchini, etc.) and King Arthur. Winners get great prizes from King Arthur Flour and us. Click here for Hoedown Baking Throwdown info & prize information.

YEEHAW! Did you get your tickets yet? If not, buy them now as this event is sure to fill up fast, y’all!.

In season this week at the Cambridge Center Farmers’ Market: Beans, Beets, Carrots, Corn, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Tomatoes, Greens, Peppers, Blackberries, Peaches, Melon, Blueberries…

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Chefs Charles Draghi and Alex Lewin helped how2heroes christen our new space at the market, just across from Dick’s Farm. And people took notice when the chefs started to share their amazing recipes!

Charles Draghi, Chef/Owner of Erbaluce in Boston’s Theater District, went first with a recipe for Crostini w/ Walnut Pesto, Ricotta & Cherry Tomatoes. He used toasted focaccia, but recommends adding a touch of olive oil to your favorite bread and toasting it lightly. These bread “cups” served as the perfect vehicle to a deliver 2-bite hors d’oeuvre topped with creamy ricotta (did you know ricotta is not technically a cheese??) and a delicious green walnut-citrus-marjoram pesto. Cherry tomatoes are the cherry on the sundae so to speak. If you’ve never seen or heard of green walnuts, it’s OK because Chef Draghi gives us the lowdown on these tasty morsels. To get the recipe for this gorgeous appetizer or first course, just click here.

Alex Lewin, chef/instructor and author of the popular blog FeedMeLikeYouMeanIt.com, followed with his recipe for Spicy Coleslaw, which Alex has dubbed “Cortido Americano.” He came to the market early to get all of the vegetables for his recipe. The usual suspects for coleslaw were used plus some heat from jalapeños. He took the raw mixture of shredded veggies and added just the right amount of salt before packing it into a jar to sit for a couple of days. Our friend Alex is in expert on the lactofermentation process, from sauerkraut to kimchi, as seen on his other how2heroes videos. With vinegar instead of mayonnaise, this coleslaw is a healthier version of the popular side dish. Watch the how-to video below and get the recipe here.

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Join us next Wednesday when Paul O’Connell, Chef/Owner of Chez Henri, and Chef Mary Dumont of Harvest, are at the how2heroes table for more great demonstrations.

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In season this week at the Cambridge Center Farmers’ Market: Seedless cucumbers, potatoes, hot & bell peppers, melons, eggplant, tomatoes, beans, cauliflower, beets, corn, carrots, radishes.

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What a day at the market! Chef Robert Sisca (Bistro du Midi) cooled the crowd with a refreshing Melon Soup using cantaloupe, grapes & sherry vinegar. He blended everything together until smooth & poured it over a Crab & Fennel mix that could be served as a salad on its own, full of Jonah crab (or luscious lobster!), green grapes & crunchy baby fennel. The kids from CitySprouts, on a field trip to this week’s market, made their way up to the front to get a close look at the action! Click here for this incredible recipe and watch Chef Robert’s how-to video above this post. Thank you, Chef!

Chef Eric Brennan (Post 390) prepared a Tomato & Basil Salad w/ Mascarpone & Bleu Cheese Mousse. Blending the cheeses with lemon & honey created a mousse he layered between sliced tomatoes with minced red onion. The honey & lemon brought out the natural sweetness in the perfectly-ripened tomatoes. Basil, arugula & toasted pine nuts with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar & olive oil added the finishing touches. Chef Eric brought some amazing bread sticks from Post 390 to share. Thank you, Chef!  Click here for the recipe & watch Chef Eric in action in his how-to video at the bottom of this post.

Join us next Wednesday when Jeff Potter, author of Cooking for Geeks & Marjorie Druker, Chef/Owner of New England Soup Factory will be at the how2heroes table!

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This morning I had the wonderful opportunity to get a tour of the CitySprouts garden by the kids in their Summer Intern Program at King Open School in East Cambridge.  CitySprouts is a nonprofit organization that works with the Cambridge, MA Public Schools to provide school gardens to elementary/middle schools and to integrate these gardens as learning resources into the curriculum. This is the only program in the country that runs from April through October and currently 12 public schools participate in the program. King Open School, our neighbor, was the first school to have this program!

Jane Hirschi, Executive Director of CitySprouts was our host. She gave us an overview of the program and then handed us over to the kids who gave each of us a personal tour of the garden. You can tell the kids are so proud of what they’ve grown and they should be!  In their garden are beautiful carrots, cabbage, watermelon, string beans, strawberries, corn, eggplant, garlic, jalapenos, brussels sprouts, herbs and more. They’re even learning how to compost. Our smart little guide, Lessy, walked us through the process and explained how the end result gets put back into the soil. The kids are also learning to cook. Several times a week they cook with ingredients from their garden. Today, they served us a Vegetable Frittata and some lemony Hummus with their own fresh carrot sticks. Watch the video below to see Victor, Angel and Markus discuss the ingredients they used in their dishes and how they made them. These kids know their stuff! And it’s clear that growing their own produce and cooking with the ingredients has given them a level of pride and confidence they can take with them in anything they do in life.

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With the growing obesity problem in America amongst kids and their unfamiliarity with common vegetables like the potato (as seen in Jamie Oliver’s “Food Revolution”), programs like CitySprouts are so invaluable to teaching kids where their food comes from, how to cook and eat healthy and how to maintain a healthy lifestyle as adults.

Thanks to Jane, Francey Hart Slater, Education & Outreach Coordinator for CitySprouts, and Alice Guglemann, Garden Coordinator at King Open School, Fletcher Maynard Academy and Cambridgeport School for welcoming us into the King Open School garden.

Visit the CitySprouts website to learn more about this inspiring and very worthwhile program. And if you have an “in” with Michelle Obama, please be sure to encourage her to make programs like this available to all children in America. They deserve it.

In Season This Week at the Cambridge Center Farmers’ Market:
Beats, Callaloo, Carrots, Corn, Kohlrabi, Turnips, Radishes, Swiss Chard, Greenhouse Heirloom Tomatoes

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It was a hot one at the Cambridge Center Farmers’ Market this week, and not just because Boston’s in the middle of a heat wave! Yesterday was our first day hosting TWO chef’s: Will Gilson of Garden at the Cellar and Michael Scelfo of Russell House Tavern, who added some extra heat with his awesome blowtorch demo.

Will Gilson went first and showed how to make a very flavorful Tomato Gazpacho featuring his father’s greenhouse tomatoes, cucumbers, and some non-traditional ingredients such as: sriracha, sweet Thai chili sauce, mirin, and hibiscus. The Asian influence to this classically Spanish dish worked beautifully, more than compensating for the fact that garlic and onion (which so often can overpower the other ingredients in a gazpacho) are not included in this recipe. As far as perfect dishes go on a hot summer’s day, Will’s chilled gazpacho has to be in the top 5. It is easy to multiply for group gatherings, and can be made ahead of time for a simple party appetizer. And you can even use the leftovers for a Bloody Mary. To learn how to make it at home, watch the video above and  click to download the recipe . Thank you, Will, for sharing your recipe with us!

Michael Scelfo was up next with his recipe for Torched Tuna with Radish & Raw Pea Salad, tossed in a Basil, Lemon & Anchovy Vinaigrette. Though the name is a mouthful, a single bite of this dish is not nearly enough. The sushi-quality Ahi tuna was just lightly seared with a blowtorch, and sat atop a refreshing, crisp salad. The basil, peas and lemon gave the recipe a light summer flare, while the total dish remained sophisticated yet simple. If you do not own a blowtorch, a quick, high-temperature pan-sear will work all the same, as long as the tuna stays on the raw side. For the recipe, just click here and watch the video at the bottom of this post. Thank you, Michael, for such a wonderful seasonal dish!

There were a few new ingredients at the market this week: Carrots, Beats, Turnips, and Callaloo. Callaloo is a dark leafy green most comparable to spinach, hence its nick-name, Jamaican Spinach. It is one of the healthiest things you can eat, with 1 cup of cooked callaloo having only 30 calories and containing almost a full day’s worth of Vitamins C and A, as well as a fair percentage of your daily folate and calcium. It can be cooked much the same way as a collard green–easily sauteed, steamed or in soups. If you’re looking for an alternative green to try, stop by Dick’s Farm table next week and get a bundle!

Join us for another double header coming up next Wednesday, July 14. At noon, Todd Winer of The Metropolitan Club will be doing a demonstration, followed by William Kovel of 28 Degrees at 1:00 PM. For a full calendar of our chef series, click here.

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In Season This Week at the Cambridge Center Farmers’ Market:
-Beans
-Broccoli
-Corn
-Cucumbers
-Peas
-Radishes
-Summer Squash
-Tomatoes

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We’re savoring strawberry season as it winds to a close. That’s why we enlisted the help of Peter McCarthy, chef/owner of EVOO Restaurant, to show how to make his strawberry gazpacho at the Farmer’s Market this week. This recipe  is the number one requested recipe from his menu —  and now we know why.

Peter began by pureeing some fresh strawberries with several other ingredients with orange juice, lime juice, vinegar, honey and some spices. To give the chilled liquid some additional texture, Peter combined cucumber, red onion, toasted almonds, cilantro, and more strawberries for the garnish. Onlookers gathered around to grab a bite of the sweet, crunchy, and refreshing soup—a combination so tasty, samples went as quickly as the strawberry season itself. If you missed the demo and would like to learn how to make Strawberry Gazpacho, here’s the recipe.  Thanks to Peter McCarthy for sharing his time and delicious recipe.

Of course when any season ends, it means it’s just the start of another. For us, it means it’s time to get excited for blueberries and raspberries. We were especially lucky to be situated next to Warner Farms yesterday because it meant we could enjoy their gorgeous golden raspberries which sold out of before 12:30!

Fruits are not the only thing new to the market this week. The first batch of beautiful corn was available. Though a little earlier than the typical corn season, we can assure you this is the corn you wait for all year — tender and sweet.

Coming soon – beef-steak tomatoes, hand-picked broccoli, and a plethora of summer squash!

Be sure to stop by the Cambridge Center Farmers’ Market next week for our first double header demo: Will Gilson of Garden at the Cellar will be cooking at noon, followed by Michael Scelfo of Russell House Tavern at 1pm. For a full list of the how2heroes lunchtime how2 cooking series, click here.