Mozzarella Demonstration

Mozzarella Making with Fiore Di Nonno


On Wednesday November 10th Slow Foodies gathered in the Myles Dining Hall kitchen to watch Lourdes Smith, owner of Fiore Di Nonno Mozzarella, make mozzarella by hand. Lourdes talked about her family's history of mozzarrella-making, especially her grandfather. She also discussed the importance of using the fresh, local milk, which she buys from Shy Brother's Farm in Westport, MA.

Lourdes makes her mozzarella by hand in small batches using a wooden paddle. This is rare, even in Italy, because of government restriction on the use of wood in food production.


After slowly heating the curd with boiling water, Lourdes had prepared enough fresh mozzarella for everyone to try.

Thank you so much to everyone who came, especially Lourdes for a great demo and delicious mozzarella! Also, thank you Joyce Chan for the pictures!

Jamming Workshop

Jamming with Slow Food

Slow Food BU's Katie Enzer and Julia Sementelli demonstrated how to make and preserve cranberry jelly on Wednesday October 27th. Using local cranberries, honey, and pectin makes this recipe an easy way to preserve the fall harvest.



Orange and Ginger Spiced Cranberry Jelly
*Adapted from Pomona’s Universal Pectin Cranberry Jelly Recipe

Ingredients (makes about 35oz)
24oz fresh cranberries
3 cups water
1/2 cup lime juice
2 teaspoons calcium water
3 teaspoons pectin stirred into 1 cup honey
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons fresh orange zest (about 1/2 orange)

Instructions:
1. Wash jars and lids in hot, soapy water, then put them into a large pot of water. Bring water to a boil, then lower to simmering.
2. Rinse and drain cranberries. Add to a second large pot of water. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until cranberries burst and soften.
3. Meanwhile, prepare rest of ingredients:

a. Add pectin to honey
b. Juice limes
c. Zest orange
d. Peel and chop ginger

4. When cranberries are fully cooked, remove from heat and strain to remove skins.
5. Combine 4 cups of pulpy cranberry juice with calcium water and lime juice. Stir to combine and bring to a boil.
6. Add pectin/honey mixture, orange zest, and ginger. Stir immediately and vigorously for 1-2 minutes until pectin completely dissolves.
7. Add sugar. Stir to dissolve.
8. Bring mixture to a boil. Remove jars from boil water and fill with jam leaving 1/2 inch empty at the top. Wipe the rim of each jar with a wet paper towel, and quickly top with a lid (NOTE: be careful in this step because the jars will be very hot!).
9. When all jars have been filled, begin processing: Place jars in a large pot and fill with water to cover jars. Cover pot and boil for 10 minutes. Remove jars from pot with canning tongs.
10. Allow jars to sit and cool until the lids seal and the jam sets.





Local cranberries gave the jelly great flavor and color.


Slow foodies enjoyed samples of the jam on New England Night bread, filled with pecans and cranberries, from Clear Flour Bread.



Sterile and safe canning practices are important.

Thank you to everyone who attended the demonstration! Canning is a great way to enjoy seasonal produce year round. We encourage you to try this recipe while local cranberries are still available. Check out the Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets to find a place to buy cranberries or other local jamming produce.

Special thanks to Emily Jones for taking some great photos!

Taberna De Haro

Last week Slow Food BU had the pleasure of working with Deborah Hansen, chef and owner of Spanish restaurant Taberna de Haro. Hansen invited us into her kitchen to share a recipe for Tortilla Española, a staple of traditional Spanish diets, and discuss her start in the culinary world.

Hansen was smitten with Spain after a visit during her college years, and later returned to live in Madrid. During eight years living in the heart of Spain, Hansen opened a restaurant serving American food; however, her down time was spent mastering the rustic elegance of traditional Spanish cooking. Hansen took her education back to the United States where she opened Taberna de Haro. The restaurant has since become a sanctuary for anyone seeking comforting food, authentic cuisine, and local ingredients.

Hansen spoke with high esteem of the Massachusetts-based farmers who provide produce, seafood, meat, eggs, and more for her restaurant. In addition to sea salt and olive oil (two of Hansen’s few exceptions to her all-local ingredients rules), Hansen used potatoes from Swaz Farm in Hatfield, onions from Old Friends Farm in Amherst, and eggs from Country Hen, based in Hubbardston.

Tortilla Española, one of the most popular items on the menu at Taberna de Haro, is a great addition to any home cook’s repertoire. The five-ingredient recipe makes it an easy dish for any time of day.

Deborah Hansen's Tortilla Española Recipe:

4 large potatoes, any type except golden or red bliss, peeled and sliced thin

1 medium onion, peeled and sliced thin

2 cups cooking olive oil, preferably Spanish, “pure” grade (“puro” in Spanish or Italian)

5 free-range eggs

1 ½ Tbl. Sea salt

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the potatoes and fry on medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes to ensure even cooking. Add onions, stir, and continue to fry 10 more minutes. Meanwhile, set up a strainer or colander over a bowl for draining potatoes.

Whisk eggs and salt in a large bowl. When potatoes are cook thoroughly, spoon into strainer and allow oil to drain. Reserve a tablespoon of oil, and save the rest in refrigerator for another use. Add potatoes to eggs and stir thoroughly.

Heat a 9” non-stick pan with a bit of the used olive oil. Coat thoroughly. Add egg mixture and simmer on low to medium heat for 4 minutes. Cover with a plate and turn pan upside down to flip tortilla. Slide back into pan, smoothing edges with a spatula. Cook 3-4 more minutes. Turn out onto a plate.

Serve hot, warm, or cold.

Kombucha Demonstration and Potluck

Last week, we learned how to brew the fermented tea kombucha at our Kombucha Demonstration and Potluck co-sponsored by the Boston Localvores. The kombucha workshop was led by Annabelle Ho, an officer of Slow Food BU and author of Kombucha Fuel.

Thanks to everyone who attended, and read the recap of the event at the Urban Homesteaders' League, written by Annabelle:

"Last week there was a Kombucha Demonstration and Potluck put on by Slow Food BU, the Boston Localvores, and Kombucha Fuel, a blog of which I am the author. Thanks to the Urban Homesteaders’ League for supporting this event!

Kombucha, sometimes referred to as 'the elixir of immortality,' is a fermented tea traced back to Chinese origins to around 220 B.C. Various health benefits have been attributed to kombucha, which is said to have probiotic benefits and detoxifying effects. It’s been claimed that kombucha reduces blood pressure, boosts the immune system, and even cures cancer..."

Read the rest of the post here.

*Special thanks to Darry Madden of the Boston Localvores for taking some great photos of this event.*

Kombucha Demo and Campus Kitchens

Slow Foodies gathered together for a potluck and Kombucha Brewing Demonstration this past Tuesday. The menu included a beautiful vegan chocolate beet cake, curried chick peas, and vegan protein power bars. On the drinks list, there was fresh, lime, grapefruit, and chokecherry flavored kombucha.

The basics of brewing kombucha tea were explained. This fermented tea is made with a SCOBY, or a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. Also known as the "elixir of immortality, kombucha tea has been claimed to cure various ailments such as cancer, and is said to have detoxifying effects and probiotics, which are good for the digestive system. Read more about Kombucha tea and the demo here!

We also had two visitors from the Campus Kitchens Project! The CKP has various programs on college campuses, some of which take leftover food, prepare it, and serve it to those in need. They are hoping to start something up in the Boston area, and SF hopes to work with and support the CKP in the future.

Something else we're excited for: the 2^nd Annual NE Real Food Summit is this weekend! Look for a recap from us in the next week or so.

The Whole Hog: DEMO

Last Thursday night, SFBU (and others!) spent hours huddled together around a butcher block in the Myles basement kitchen to watch an incredible break-down.

Master-butcher, Adam Tiberio, systematically butchered a 150-pound locally raised, Yorkshire hog from start to finish, and spoke about each cut: what parts are traditionally used, why, how. Words like "cracklings," "lardo," and "trotters" became real terms we could identify, and recognize as food. We learned that the key to using the whole hog (and using meat in this way to constitute a sustainable diet) is to be resourceful in considering which parts to prepare. Most grocery stores, for example, only sell the "easy cuts:" ribs, tenderloin, the pork chop and the pot roast. Adam's demo showed us the underrepresented bits and pieces that are available to the creative cook. They're just as easy to incorporate into soups and main dishes, just as delicious (even better!) and definitely a shame to waste.


Adam's experience with the lost art of butchery comes from several years employed in various grocery meat departments, industrial slaughterhouses, and apprenticeships with local butchers. He's seen the dark side of what goes on in the industrial food chain, and uses his informed approach to do things differently. Adam currently works at an independent butcher-shop in Goffstown, NH.

“It used to be that there were five or six butchers in every neighborhood, and by butcher I mean a guy who knew how to take a whole animal and break it down into usable cuts. These days I’d be surprised if there were five or six guys in the whole city," says Jaime Lionette, co-owner of Lionette's Market in Boston's South End. There's a disconnect between producers, processors, and consumers in our food system, and we've got to take the time to re-teach ourselves how to procure, how to prepare, and how to eat to survive.

As the demo drew to a close, attendees divvied up the meat and cooked it as part of a series of simultaneous potlucks. Pulled pork, pot roast, soup stock, head cheese, pigs feet, sausage, and lardo were all made to great success! Big ups to Robert Flynn and everyone working in the Myles kitchen for letting us use their space. Thank you thank you to James and Adam for making it all the way out to Comm. Ave. with an entire pig in tow, and also to Kenji for posting this awesome review.