Food - Marblehead Current

25 Feb

FOOD 101: Last century’s chicken, revived

Submitted ContentColumns, Food, Opinion

By Linda Basset On winter weekends, I like to thumb through old cookbooks searching for old treasures. I might want to revive one of grandma’s recipes, renew it or tweak it for the present day. I just struck gold: Chicken Marbella. In the last two decades of the past century, home cooks made this a dinner party go-to. Kind of show-off-y, chicken is surprisingly combined with pitted prunes, green olives and capers in a roasting pan. Originally created at Manhattan’s Silver Palate food shop back…

11 Feb

FOOD 101: Bone broth makes cozy, winter meal

Submitted ContentColumns, Food, Opinion

By Linda Basset Deep in winter, we snuggle in to keep safe from storms and wind and flu symptoms. Fireplace, candles, wool blankets, thick books, soft flannel pajamas. A pot of bone broth on the stove. Brother is the new hot winter trend. CURRENT PHOTO / LINDA BASSETT A recent phenomenon, bone broth is the next step in the evolution of stock: meaty bones simmered with fresh herbs and vegetables, bolstered with a shot of that “fifth flavor” element umami, to cheer it on. Simmering…

22 Jan

FOOD 101: My first beef Wellington

Leigh BlanderColumns, Food, Opinion

I’ve never made beef Wellington. This refined entrée’s popularity rose and fell with the Gilded Age. Julia Child revived it in “Mastering the Art.” A whole generation of mid-century hostesses made it the core of fashionable dinner parties. Creating this showpiece is time-consuming, labor-intensive. And now it’s back. When Current editor Leigh Blander emailed a query about 2026 goals and resolutions, I’d already been mulling the culinary challenge. Just because it was there. (Like Kilimanjaro.) I analyzed recipes from Julia to James to Gordon. As…

14 Jan

FOOD 101: My first beef Wellington

Cheryl ByrneFood

I’ve never made beef Wellington. This refined entrée’s popularity rose and fell with the Gilded Age. Julia Child revived it in “Mastering the Art.” A whole generation of mid-century hostesses made it the core of fashionable dinner parties. Creating this showpiece is time-consuming, labor-intensive. And now it’s back. When Current editor Leigh Blander emailed a query about 2026 goals and resolutions, I’d already been mulling the culinary challenge. Just because it was there. (Like Kilimanjaro.) I analyzed recipes from Julia to James to Gordon. As…

12 Jan

A little sparkle in winter: Tiaras take over the tavern

Leigh BlanderArt, Food, Top Stories

It was quite the royal affair when the Marblehead Arts Association hosted its Tiaras in the Tavern supper club Monday evening, Jan. 5. The tavern, on the lower level of the Hooper Mansion, was filled with people sporting sparkly, bejeweled headbands while chatting and sharing dinner. “The first Monday of every month we want to make time to get together, socialize, exchange ideas,” said Alessandra Donovan, who chairs the MAA’s Membership Committee. MAA Executive Director Xhazzie Kindle surveys desserts at the Tiaras in the Tavern…

04 Jan

Who’s up for haggis? Burns Night returns

Leigh BlanderArt, Culture, Food, Local News

A Marblehead tradition for the last 18 years and a Scottish one since 1801, Burns Night will be celebrated again at The Landing Restaurant on Thursday, Jan. 15. Robert Burns, the Scottish poet, songwriter and music collector, lived in the second half of the 18th century and wrote more than 700 poems and songs in his short life. The first Burns Supper, an informal affair, was held in 1801 by nine of the poet’s closest friends in the same cottage in Alloway, Ayrshire, where he…

01 Jan

Turning the page to 2026: Resolutions from across Marblehead

Leigh BlanderAbbot Public Library, Art, Culture, Education, Entertainment, Environment, Food, Linda Bassett, Marblehead Public Schools, Public safety, Top Stories

The holiday celebrations may be over, but the spirit of renewal is just beginning in Marblehead. As 2026 unfolds, the Current spoke with town leaders, educators, artists and community members about the resolutions guiding their work, families and passions in the year ahead. Here’s a sampling of responses we received. Cynda Rohmer, Marblehead Arts Festival presidentDo you have any resolutions related to the Arts Festival? Stay organized! Advertise and talk up the new events in 2026. How about for yourself? Get back to the gym…

30 Dec

FOOD 101: Soup traditions, resolutions for the new year

Leigh BlanderColumns, Food, Opinion

Here we are just before “Resolution Day” again. As always, I look to different cultures that cook some type of beans as a wish for prosperity and good health in the upcoming year. Many rely on beans, once used as money. Beans and rice. Black-eyed peas. Lentils and sausage. Beans were often dried to sustain people throughout the harsh winter. They gave rise to culinary superstitions, through generations. One year, I combined a few. Eating lentils while walking up a staircase backward was hilarious. So…

10 Dec

FOOD 101: Chocolate holiday dessert — still in the making

Saoirse StallingsColumns, Food

Childhood memories are often chocolate-coated. My brother and I would save up our change to buy candy at the corner store on the walk home from school. He would choose a Milky Way; I would get a dark chocolate Mounds bar. He liked his chocolate light and sweet. I liked mine with a dark jolt. As I explored chocolate’s intensely deep flavor, a friend’s mom added a splash of coffee to hot cocoa drinks, sending me further along this direction. I sampled everything that came…

03 Dec

FOOD 101:The joy (?) of Brussels sprouts

Saoirse StallingsColumns, Food

How Brussels sprouts can be your next great holiday food tradition. CURRENT PHOTOS / LINDA BASSETT If one vegetable could be voted “most likely to be disliked” by the largest number of people, I would guess Brussels sprouts. Broccoli follows at a close second. But wait! Give the scorned tiny cabbage-lookalikes another chance. They need coddling — and not like an egg because then you’ll get sulfurous payback. When treated gently, they react positively. Let’s start with their backstory. In season right now, Brussels sprouts…