NJ SPICE

The Montgomery Farmers Market is open on July 4, 9am to 1pm, in their usual place in the Village Shopper across from ShopRite on Route 206.  Come on out and stock up on local produce and other treats for your cookout.  This is a great activity for Independence Day - support your local farmers and producers, and the Montgomery Friends of Open Space.  Happy Fourth!

I’ve always loved artichokes stuffed with breadcrumbs, but have been to intimidated (or lazy?) to do it myself.  What was I waiting for?  Sure, it took a little time to scrape out the hairy choke at the beginning (with a serrated grapefruit spoon, as the recipe suggested), but really, it was done in just a couple of energetic minutes. 

Emboldened by an article in the New York Times this spring (I often like the dishes Melissa Clark writes about), I gave it a try, and was very pleased with my results.  I used a slightly stripped down version of the recipe in the article (no carrots), but I did use homemade breadcrumbs, since I keep them on hand (I am always buying more bread than I can use fresh, so I make dried crumbs).   Plus, I am partial to homemade’s varied texture.  The resulting dish was very good, and the pan juices were an unexpected treat in themselves.  Next time I won’t wait so long.

I love the wines of Alsace, so am all revved up about an upcoming wine dinner that CoolVines has arranged at Blue Point Grill, indubitably one of Princeton’s favorite restaurants.  This should be a match made in heaven, so if you are interested, make your reservation “PDQ,” as my mother used to say.  And guess what - for worknight wimps like me, there’s even an early seating at 6pm! (Followed by an 8pm seating, for the rest of you; limit of 30 at each.)

Here are the details:

CoolVines and Blue Point Grill announce a special evening of food and wine with Isabelle Boxler-Sipp of Domaine Agape. Chef Steven Murray of Blue Point Grill has created a custom 4 course tasting menu of fresh seafood specialties to pair with these small production wines from Alsace.

Summer Seafood Tasting Menu & Wines of Alsace, France

Tuesday July 7- $85 per person, all inclusive

Blue Point Grill, 258 Nassau St, Princeton, NJ

APERITIF UPON ARRIVAL:

Jumbo Lump Crab & Sweet Corn Tostado

Cremant d’Alsace, NV

FIRST COURSE:

Seared Scallop with Warm Goat Cheese Salad

Dry Riesling 2007

SECOND COURSE:

Grilled Icelandic Arctic Charr with Sauteed Asparagus

Pinot Blanc 2007

THIRD COURSE:

Seafood and Sausage Paella

Gewürztraminer 2007

FOURTH COURSE:

Grilled Chilean Seabass, Garlic Smashed Potatoes

Grand Cru Riesling Osterberg 2007

DESSERT:

Your choice of Ice Cream or Sorbet from The Bent Spoon

Reservations being accepted by phone: 609-924-0039, or email: events@coolvines.com

or at CoolVines 344 Nassau St., Princeton, NJ

It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it. I’m off to NYC Monday to attend the annual Fancy Food Show at the Javits Center.  I’ll bring back lots of tidbits (pun intended!) about what’s hot and what’s not in the world of specialty food.   Actually, they really frown on taking home samples, so I’ll do my taste-testing on the spot (being VERY careful about mixing sweet and savory!), and will bring home lots of information and ideas to share.

Wish me luck - the place gets so very hot and hectic, I can never stay as long as I’d like to, but it is a lot of fun to see what everyone’s doing, and I always run into some local people there, too.

I keep meaning to share this photo of a delicious entrée my friend had at Main Street European Bistro in the Princeton Shopping Center a few weeks ago.  It is roasted salmon on risotto, with spring pea puree, pea shoots, and pearl onions. It was fabulous, and at $20 a relative bargain.

The dish was on their May menu, but I see it again for June, along with the Gaucho steak which I enjoyed.  I also love Main Street’s appetizer (or small plate) of corn-crusted fried green tomatoes over frisée with warm bacon vinaigrette.  I wrote about those dishes last year, and am glad they’ve brought them back.

One lesson Main Street exemplifies - if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!  I think they know their customers so well at this point, it is as if they’ve gotten inside our minds and know just what will appeal to us.  Of course, good menu writing, an art in itself, comes into this, but I have found that they consistently deliver on the description when the plate hits the table.  Kudos!

Food and wine lovers, be sure to report for “tasting duty” this weekend at the East Coast Food & Wine Festival, at Hopewell Valley Vineyards.

This will be the premier food and wine tasting event in our area this summer, as many organizations have joined together to create two glorious days of top-knotch seminars, cooking demonstrations, and, of course, tastings. There’s even a Market with locally produced and grown foods on site, so you can stock up before going home.

All the details are on the website, and as it says there, “Come celebrate the wines, cuisine, music and lifestyle of the East Coast.”

Mrs. G’s Appliances’s First Annual Chef Challenge to benefit The United Way takes place Thursday (June 25), 5:30pm, at their Route 1 showroom.  That’s part of said showroom you see at left, sadly, not my kitchen!  My colleague Pat Tanner, one of the contest judges, previewed this event earlier this month in our Packet In The Kitchen column, along with a couple of tasty-sounding chicken recipes.

The challenge will include chefs from Salt Creek Grille, The Yardley Inn, Rat’s Restaurant and a special guest amateur chef, Randy Forrester, selected from Bucks Life magazine’s “Can you stand the heat!” contest.  Other judges are Frank Benowitz, Certified Hospitality Educator from MCCC, and Colin Marsh, restaurant critic for the Yardley News.  The event is free (but of course donations to the United Way will be welcome), and do please RSVP to RSVP@bucksmedia.com.

Can you tell I’ve made this lemon cake many times?  This stained and slightly burned card is a relic of my days in Cambridge (MA) in the late…well, I won’t tell you how many decades ago it was!

I realize now what I didn’t then, that it is basically a time-honored pound cake, but with a sugar-lemon glaze brushed over it while still warm.

The top would get slightly crunchy as the glaze hardened, and my friends and I gobbled the whole thing up within minutes it seemed.

I had not made this in years, but on yet a another rainy weekend day decided to make it and share it with my father for Father’s Day.

Will Mooney, Chef/owner of The Brothers Moon in Hopewell, tells me that his newly refurbished patio looks out over “Main Street America.”  An apt description for downtown Hopewell!  You can’t see it in the lovely nighttime picture here (from their website, and what I saw when I enjoyed dinner there a few months ago), but the patio offers comfortable chairs, nice iron tables, and shade from umbrellas. 

The Montgomery Market started up again last Saturday, and that’s where I took this pretty shot of some great Jersey Fresh goodies at the C&M Produce/Catalpa Farms table.

The market is held every Saturday, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the parking lot of the Village Shopper, Route 206, just north of Route 518 in Montgomery Township.  They are in the same shopping center as the Thomas Sweet Coffee/Ice Cream Shop - directly across the street from the Montgomery Cinema and ShopRite.

You’ll find other treats, too, such as NJ honey, popcorn, juice and salsa, plus Griggstown Quail Farm pies and products, and more produce, from Suydam Farms, Orchard Farm, and Treelicious Orchards (coming soon).  Website still not up, but if you want to get on their email list (or volunteer!), email krowe48483 at aol.com.