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With the how2heroes table positioned close to bundles of farm-fresh strawberries at the Cambridge Center Farmers’ Market, one could say we’ve had strawberries heavy on our mind. Vibrant in taste and color, we needed a true hero to curb our craving with the perfect dessert. That hero came in the form of Steve Johnson, chef/owner of Rendezvous in Cambridge, MA.

Steve joined us at the market to make a classic with a twist: Strawberry-Rhubarb Shortcake. If you’ve never tasted rhubarb before, this recipe is a good introduction, adding a nice tartness and even richer color than the strawberries alone. To cut the tang, Steve poured a home-made sweet cream over his grandmother’s biscuit recipe and paired that with the fruit. He then garnished with fragrant fresh mint. Whether you were or weren’t there, you can remake the magic with this recipe. Soon to come is the full-length how-to video featuring Steve and his signature dessert!

As usual, we were selling a sweet treat to help raise money for the Federation of Massachusetts Farmers’ Markets. For a dollar, you could purchase our Honey Almond Granola w/ Raisins & Cranberries. [View the video to make the crunchy and healthy snack at home.] Next week we’re thinking of shaking up a classic of our own – the lemonade stand.

If that’s not enough to tempt you, Jody Adams of Rialto and Bravo TV’s Top Chef Masters is coming by to do a live demo. The activity starts at 12:30pm, but come early to get a sample of what Jody will be cooking! For a full list of our live demo dates and chefs, check out the homepage.

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Yesterday was our second time setting up shop at the Cambridge Center Farmers’ Market, and we were so happy with the turnout. Not only was it another beautiful day (knock on wood), but the turnout at show-time had doubled from the previous week! We hope to keep that pace going as the upcoming weeks are stuffed with great chefs such as Steve Johnson of Rendezvous, who will be making strawberry rhubarb shortcake (and we hear he’s bringing enough to share).

If you have yet to stop by the Cambridge Center Farmers’ Market, consider this your official invitation.

But come early as the sandwiches, wraps, and rolls will be sold out from The Herb Lyceum at Gilson’s table.That is because Paul Callahan, Executive Chef, has created some masterful combinations that are hard to resist using freshly picked herbs from the four acre herb garden in Groton, MA.

The first to go, usually, are the fresh herbal spring rolls. Why? Because where else can you get something tender, crunchy, cool and refreshing on a hot day? Well, now you can make them yourself.

For his cooking demonstration, Chef Paul gave away some tips and techniques for how to work with the finicky rice paper wrapper that scares so many away from attempting this tasty treat. Stuffing them with cucumber, rice noodles, and plenty of fresh herbs, he then offered sample with some peanut sauce to drooling onlookers.

If you were one of the spectators at yesterday’s demonstration who didn’t get enough, or someone who just wants to know how to combine healthy and delicious, check out Paul’s how-to video above to go along with the recipe, which you can get by clicking here.

Join us next week when Steve Johnson creates his killer Strawberry Rhubarb Shortcake! For the rest of our live Lunchtime How-to Cooking Series chefs and dates, just click here!

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This past Wednesday, how2heroes kicked off its live Lunchtime How-to Cooking Series at the Cambridge Center Farmers’ Market. Legal Sea Foods’ chef Jeff Tenner was at the how2heroes table with his favorite late spring-early summer ingredient – asparagus — which he bought from the Sutherland, MA, farm right next to us. He also brought arugula from his home garden. The greens comprised the base salad of his dish, which would be topped with poached wild salmon, hard boiled egg, and a roasted tomato vinaigrette.

Jeff began his demo by explaining to the live audience how to make a poaching liquid, roast tomatoes, and balance elements on the plate, such as adding pickled red onion for some necessary tang alongside the salmon in this recipe. After everything was plated, he helped out the audience by fielding a Q&A regarding the dish, seasonal products and techniques. If you missed it, or want to check it out again, you’re in luck! You can watch the video here and download the recipe.

Yesterday was only day 1 of how2heroes at the market, where we will be every Wednesday for the rest of summer from 11:00am until 2:30pm. Not only was it 80 degrees and sunny, but the market was busy (despite its infancy) with people buying fresh baked goods, farm eggs, and other artisanal goods. As we took down the tent and packed up our cooking gear, we couldn’t help but be excited for next week’s live Lunchtime How-to Cooking Series with Chef Paul Callahan of The Herb Lyceum at Gilson’s. He will be making Herbed Spring Rolls. Please come and watch, learn, sample and enjoy!

Cambridge Center Farmers Market, Wednesdays, 11-6

how2heroes is excited to announce that starting tomorrow, June 2nd, you can find us every Wednesday at the Cambridge Center Farmers’ Market, right near the Kendall Square T stop in front of Legal Sea Foods (5 Cambridge Center). We are hosting a different chef every week at 12:30pm (*times are subject to change on days with two chefs) who will present live demos on how to prepare what’s in season. Our first guest is Jeff Tenner of Legal Sea Foods and the dish he will be demonstrating is Asparagus, Farm Egg & Arugula Salad with Cold Poached Salmon. We recommend you take a break from work for this!

Other chefs lined up for the summer listed below. Demos are at 12:30 unless there are 2 chefs scheduled in which case, the first one will be at Noon and the second one will be at 1pm.

Paul Callahan, The Herb Lyceum at Gilson’s (6/9/10)
Steve Johnson, Rendevous (6/16/10)
Jody Adams, Rialto (6/23/10)
Peter McCarthy, EVOO (6/30/10)
Will Gilson, Garden at the Cellar and Michael Scelfo, Russell House Tavern (7/7/10)
William Kovel, 28 degrees and Todd Winer, Metropolitan Club (7/14/10)
Robert Sisca, Bistro du Midi and Eric Brennan, Post 390 (7/21/10)
Marjorie Druker, New England Soup Factory and Jeff Potter, Author of Cooking for Geeks (7/28/10)
Chuck Draghi, Erbaluce (8/4/10)
Mary Dumont, Harvest (8/11/10)
Keith Poole, Bergamot (8/18/10)
Steve Brand and Susan Regis, Upstairs on the Square (8/25/10)

And there will be many more to come. Please come by and see us and enjoy learning how-to best utilize your farm-fresh ingredients. There are a great variety of farmers there selling everything from strawberries to steaks. Hope to see you there!

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how2heroes had the opportunity to interview Chefs Hector Santiago and Ashley Merriman from Top Chef Season 6 before the Top Chef Tour event started in Boston on Tuesday. Following are some highlights from the event as well as the video interviews with the chefs.

The Top Chef Tour rolled into Boston on Wednesday about mid-way through its 21-city tour and set up a working kitchen in the middle of City Hall Plaza. Chefs Hector Santiago and Ashley Merriman from Season 6 charmed the audience by sharing cooking tips as well as some good dirt about what goes on behind-the-scenes of the show. Did you know they take your wallet, keys, phones, search your luggage and don’t allow you to read the newspaper or watch television when you’re on the show? Even when you get eliminated! After you “pack your knives and go,” you move to another house where you have those same restrictions except you can at least watch TV. We were amazed to find that out. As far as their thoughts on the judges, let’s just say they’re not big fans of Padma.

There were 4 separate sessions at the Top Chef Tour. Each accommodated about 45 people. In the first one we attended, Chef Santiago did the cooking and Ashley chatted with him while he made Mussels with Smoked Herring and three kinds of garlic (raw, roasted & pickled) – not exactly date food, as he mentioned, but really delicious and simple. Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to see Chef Merriman make her homemade Ricotta but we hope to go to New York and film her at some point.

Chef Santiago owns Pura Vida in Atlanta – he serves tapas style food with his native Latin influence with the occasional molecular gastronomy technique thrown in just to keep things interesting. Check out his Tofu Ceviche recipe to see how he works molecular magic with Latin flavors. Chef Merriman is from New England originally and now resides in Brooklyn. She is the Chef de Cuisine at celebrity hotspot Butter in New York City where she works for celebrity chef and  Food Network’s “Chopped” Judge, Alex Guarnaschelli, who she considers to be her mentor.

The event was a lot of fun and gave Top Chef fans the opportunity to get up close and personal with the chefs. It also was the perfect opportunity for Bravo to announce that Season 7 of Top Chef begins in July. And we just found out that how2hero Angelo Sosa of Xie Xie in NYC is going to be one of the cheftestants!!  Watch him on how2heroes making one of the best sandwiches you will ever have, the Chaca La Vong fish sandwich with Onion Marmalade (SO good!) and Chili Mayo. Get ready to set your DVRs for some goooood television!

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how2heroes started the week with “Beekeeping 101″ instructed by personal chef and blogger Mary Reilly, followed by a fun visit to the animated Pallotta sisters at Nebo Ristorante in Boston’s North End. We also did a fair amount of product testing at the how2heroes headquarters – check out the photos of our sugar spectacular!

Mary Reilly checking the supers (hive inserts) for activity

Bees starting activity on the super at the beginning of the season

Mary Reilly, chef/owner of The Savory Kitchen, recently added beekeeping to her resume! The how2heroes crew ventured to Georgetown, Massachusetts, to get a “Beekeeping 101″ tutorial, and to capture hive activity at the start of the beekeeping season.

Bees are SUCH fascinating creatures! Mary showed the components of a hive, and explained the persnickety process of finagling the bees into the hive when starting (they are shipped in a mesh box of about 10,000 bees, and must be inverted from the box into the hive)!

Bees maintain their colony in a way similar to a medieval village – each member has a sole responsibility and ranking in the hive’s hierarchy. There are worker bees (to collect water, nectar and pollen and produce wax), the queen bee, and drones (mating bees). Mary explained that the larvae are fed according to the type of worker they need to produce. The bees know when the queen has become less productive, as her pheromone output decreases. They will start the process of creating a new queen by feeding royal jelly to larvae. Then, to get rid of the old queen, the bees will kill her by “cuddle death” – a group will form a circle around the queen, slowly moving in, to essentially smother and over-heat her until she dies. If a new queen is introduced while the other still reigns, there may be a fight to the death between the two,- like dueling knights!

Videographer Andrew, getting 'smoked' by Mary to shoo away a frisky bee

Beekeepers use smokers when a hive becomes irritated, as it makes the bees fear a threat of fire, and they will retract into the hive to protect the queen.

We only had two small incidents during filming. As predicted prior to the shoot, our accident-prone Director of Photography Jason Bacon (view link to see another Jason Bacon incident), was the only crew member stung by a bee. Videographer Andrew Zubatkin had a near-sting incident as a bee took residence on his head. Pictured above is Mary Reilly SMOKING Andrew’s head to shoo the bee away!

Watch for the Beekeeping video to go live on www.how2heroes.com in the coming weeks! We will be paying Mary another visit during honey extraction in mid-September to show the fruits of her labor.

Mise-en-place for Salted Honey Caramels

Bubbling caramel being brought just to the hardball stage (250º)

Mary shared a couple of favorite honey recipes on video (watch for these!). Here are the key ingredients for her ADDICTIVE Salted Honey Caramels! With a few basic pantry items (and a candy thermometer), these soft, melt-in-your-mouth treats are easy and delicious!

Salted Honey Caramels

Mary uses her own honey for these morsels, and sells the caramels at local farmers markets. The coarse sea salt sprinkled to finish gives them textural contrast, and intensifies the flavor of the honey. Wrap them in parchment and give them as gifts!

Mary Reilly and her Honeyed Eggplant Salad

Her next dish was a simple summer side, a Honeyed Eggplant Salad.  The salad is best at room temperature, and would be great to pack for a picnic or bring to a BBQ!

Delicious, fresh & flavorful salad

Watch for these videos to go live on www.how2heroes.com in the upcoming weeks. In the meantime, watch some of Mary’s other videos like the swimsuit-friendly Lentil Salad 3 Ways, or a refreshing Strawberry Agua Fresca!

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The Pallotta sisters' simple Classic Marinara

On Thursday, we revisited two of our heroes (who happen to be sisters), Carla & Christine Pallotta at Celtics and Bruins haunt Nebo Ristorante, in Boston’s North End. Celtics and Bruins players, actors and actresses are all fans of the sisters’ delicious & pure Italian cuisine.

Carla and Christine shared a Classic Marinara (also known as “gravy”), and used it in their coma-inducing 5-Cheese Lasagna (it has a turkey dinner l-tryptophan effect – you’ll need a nap after you indulge!).

Mise-en-place for 5-Cheese Lasagna

Layering fresh pasta, sauce & filling

Ricotta, Romano, fresh Mozzarella, Mascarpone and Burrata were the five cheeses used for the filling and for layering. Layer after layer of pasta, sauce, cheese and filling……

The final touch- decadent burrata cheese

….is topped off with the most indulgent of all cheeses, burrata. If you haven’t eaten burrata, you have not lived. Made with water buffalo milk, it resembles a ball of fresh mozzarella, but when sliced, reveals an oozy, thickened panna (cream).

Delicious 5-Cheese Lasagna

The Pallotta sisters’ 5-Cheese Lasagna and Classic Marinara will be live on how2hereos in the upcoming weeks! In the meantime, learn some of their other Italian classics:  Pizza Gana, Giambotta and Zucchini Carpaccio. Sign up for the how2hereos weekly newsletter to learn when 5-Cheese Lasagna and other videos launch on our site!

Ever tried Senegalese cuisine? We certainly hadn’t! how2heroes had the pleasure of spending the morning with the fabulous Marie-Claude Mendy of Teranga restaurant in Boston’s South End. What an educational segment- we had NO IDEA how many other prominent food cultures influenced Senegalese cuisine.

Marie-Claude Mendy, chef-owner of Teranga

Owner Marie-Claude Mendy was our host for the morning. She is an ambitious woman. Aside from running Teranga (meaning “hospitality” in Wolof), which is Boston’s first Senegalese restaurant,  Marie works full-time at a French asset management company. After our shoot, Marie was hopping straight to her job in finance, then planned on heading back to the restaurant for dinner service! That’s dedication.

Teranga's beautiful, Senegalese-inspired interior

  

Stuffing the Fataya dough with salmon filling

Marie-Claude made Fataya, a Senegalese street food favorite. Almost like an empanada, the Fataya is stuffed with salmon, tomato paste and spices, then fried. Marie-Claude noted that most major food cultures have a dish similar to the Fataya (i.e. Indian Samosas, Latin Empanadas).

Mise-en-place for Fataya Dip

Marie-Claude explained that the ingredients and flavors of Senegalese cuisine are due largely to French colonization of Senegal. In the early 20th century, Senegalese soldiers were sent to Vietnam (also colonized by the French), and some returned to Senegal with Vietnamese wives. The Fataya Dip (shown above) is composed of sriracha, mayonnaise, and seasonings. Not what you’d expect of African cuisine! Marie-Claude mentioned that most popular appetizers on the menu are Nems (small Vietnamese spring rolls).

Marie-Claude with the finished dish

Fataya with dip

To accompany the fabulous food, Marie-Claude concocted some fabulous juice beverages for the Teranga menu. The most interesting was a drink made with bouye juice, a fruit from the baobab tree. We tried the fruit in powdered form. It tasted acidic and unique, but looked like dried milk powder. Marie-Claude mixes the bouye with vanilla sugar, pineapple juice and orange flower water. She says that the bouye fruit has as more calcium than cow’s milk, and more vitamin C than orange juice! Hmmm…could this fruit be the next superfood craze?

Garlic paste, the base ingredient of many Senegalese dishes

Teranga's House Dressing, Balsamic & Garlic

Next Marie-Claude made Teranga’s House Dressing which is to die for! The key ingredient in this dressing (and many Senegalese dishes) is garlic paste, made simply from a pureé of garlic, scallions, onion, and sometimes bell pepper. The Balsamic & Garlic Dressing contains Dijon mustard, another example of French influence on Senegalese cuisine.

The crew, devouring Marie-Claude's fresh Fataya & Dip

We couldn’t wait to dive in and try Marie-Claude’s dishes (the most painful part of a shoot is waiting for the still photographer to finish photographing the final dish)! Watch for these videos to go live on how2heroes.com in the coming weeks! In the meantime, try a dish with a similar concept as the Fataya (but from another culture), in Epigmenio Guzman’s Plantain Empanadas from Tu Y Yo restaurant, featuring fine Mexican cuisine.

This morning the how2heroes crew ventured to Newton, MA, to visit Remon Karian of Fiorella’s to be schooled in the art of pizza making (you may remember Remon’s delicious Osso Bucco Milanese recipe from a few months back). Remon laid out the basics for a crispy-on-the-outside, chewy-on-the-inside pizza dough and simple tomato sauce. He showed techniques for stretching the dough, and gave the pizza the ol’ toss in the air (Remon claims that “it makes the pizza taste better”)!

Remon Karian of Fiorella's restaurant teaches dough-stretching techniques

Remon Karian demonstrated the upper body workout one can receive when kneading the pizza dough by hand, as opposed to using the dough hook attachment in a stand mixer. Don’t have a fancy wood-fire oven like Fiorella’s? Remon stresses the importance of using a pizza stone for baking, as a sheet pan or pizza round doesn’t properly allow the bottom of the crust to crisp. If you do not have a pizza stone, lower the oven temperature and raise the cooking time.

Remon Karian and his delicious brick oven pizzas

We had a fantastic time with Remon Karian – our office appreciated the leftovers! While waiting for these videos to go live, check out our fabulous selection of pizzas – Grilled Pizza by our own Jason Bacon, Reuben Flatbread Pizza by Rebecca Newell of the Beehive, and Pizza Topping & Baking Tips from Chris Parachini of Roberta’s Pizza in Brooklyn, NY. You can finish with a sweet dessert pizza- Jennifer Vieira’s Sugar Cookie & Fruit Pizza.

This week the how2heroes team paid a visit to a very special second grade classroom in Hubbardston, MA to learn the science of baking bread, combined with the art of fun, edible sculptures.

Making Bread Sculptures with the kids of Mrs. D's second grade class

The class had thoughtfully broken into three teams (as per the kids’ idea) so they could best highlight the three major steps to making delicious lamb bread sculptures. The first team “woke up the yeast” by feeding it warm water and sugar and explained to our crew that “the mixture would bubble because the process creates carbon dioxide.”

'Team One' explains the process of "waking up the yeast"

The second group was in charge of the dry ingredients, measuring out flour and building up muscles with their kneading techniques. The kids in group two formed the first lamb bread sculpture. Why a lamb? Because it is Spring, of course! Their teacher, Barbara Dietrich, (who has also filmed a tasty Turkey Divan video for how2heroes) had just discovered a baby lamb in her barn just the week before!  Barbara explained that this is a basic bread recipe that can easily be made into loaves as well (but the lambs are just SO CUTE!).

'Team Two' mixes the dry ingredients and creates the first lamb

Group three polished off the rest of the bread dough, creating another adorable lamb sculpture. The kids built the body, legs, a long tail (because baby lambs have surprisingly long tails), ears, fleece “curlies,” and face out of the bread dough, affixing the various parts to the body using just a touch of warm water.

'Team Three' with their lamb bread sculpture before baking

The flock of lambs were extremely cute, and the kids were fantastic! Not only was the class professional and insightful, but they treated our team to some serious hugs at the end of the day! We had a blast filming with them. A GREAT BIG thank you to the kids for their excellent behavior and spirit. Thanks to Barbara Dietrich for her patience and enthusiasm. Watch for the video next week, just in time for Easter baking.