Food - Marblehead Current

09 Jun

FOOD 101: Berry delicious: Sweet ways to celebrate the season

Linda BassettColumns, Food, Opinion

New Englanders are “pick-your-own” enthusiasts. When autumn waves its glorious color, we drive to the nearest orchard carrying baskets to fill with sweet ripe apples. Late spring finds us wandering fields peeking under vines for red and blue treasure — blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries. Some of us with little proximity to fields pick these jewels at the weekend farmers’ market. While fresh berries are perfect eaten out of hand, cooks find myriad other ways to enhance them. Piled on homemade (or storebought) biscuits and dolloped…

18 May

NEWS IN BRIEF: Senior tax assistance, sewer rates, Coffin School and more…

Leigh BlanderCommunity Resources, Food, Local News, Municipal Matters, News in brief

The Current welcomes 150–200-word submissions to News in Brief. Send yours to info@marbleheadnews.org. Info session on Senior Tax Assistance programsCome Thursday, May 21, 1-3 p.m., to learn about Marblehead’s senior tax assistance programs.Representatives from the Assessor’s Office and Council on Aging will share resources about tax assistance options and discuss Marblehead’s newly enacted Means-Tested Senior Tax Property Exemption and the state’s Senior Circuit Breaker Tax Credit programs. Jacobi Community Center, 10 Humphrey St. RSVP by calling 781-631-6225. Town dodges larger hike in sewer ratesWhile some…

06 May

FOOD 101: Grilled cheese: The comfort food we all need right now

Linda BassettColumns, Food, Linda Bassett, Opinion

Was there ever a childhood comfort food to compare to a grilled cheese sandwich? Mom made it in a skillet or a grill press. At the diner or luncheonette, a cook slapped it on a well-greased grill top. Mom’s homemade sandwich was simple: two slices of American cheese — preferably orange — tucked between two slices of spongy grocery store bread. Gobs of butter heated and swirled in the skillet served to warm and melt the cheese and brown the bread. When cut, warm gooey…

13 Apr

FOOD 101: Shakshuka — Poached eggs with global flair

Linda BassettColumns, Food, Opinion

Back in the day, college students cooked up ghastly dinners of fast-boiling rice, beans and canned mixed vegetables that I suspect were scraps from the assembly line. We dumped grated Parmesan cheese from a green cardboard jar over it. “Survival food,” we called it. Linda Bassett / COURTESY PHOTO Today, students are more intentional, globally sophisticated. Recently, a grad student introduced me to the meal that sustained her and classmates: North African shakshuka, a skillet of eggs poached in tomatoes with peppers and onions, warmly…

26 Mar

FOOD 101: Frittata — a meal any time of day

Submitted ContentColumns, Food, Opinion

By Linda Bassett In Italian vernacular, the phrase “are una frittata” translates as “to make a mess.” But on the table, that mess becomes delectable. Quite different from a mess of grits or a mess of catfish, a frittata brings beaten eggs together with whatever the cook imagines for a quick meal — breakfast, lunch or dinner. Often likened to an omelet, a plain frittata happily doesn’t require risky flipping for perfection. It puffs up to golden glory and interior creaminess with a quick trip…

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…