the Friday Feeding; VOL. 33

The slam of the screen door, the crunch of the ice scooped for endless iced coffees and the hum of insects at the front porch. It sounds like summer already.

There were a lot of firsts at the store this week…

Tasty new treats to beckon summer…no dyes, no corn syrup, no junk. Just good taste.

The place to be…

And the place to eat…

Click here for our new plan-ahead menu with next week’s food specials.

Click here to see our seasonal menu for daily prepared foods and bakery items.

This week-end…

• Friday June 7. Sour dough Pizza special. Triple pepper pizza. Italian long peppers, orange bell peppers and pepperoncini with mozzarella cheese and a balsamic vinegar drizzle. $15.95 Call ahead to order for pick-up.
• Wednesday June 12. Quinoa & fresh veg Salad with creamy olive oil dressing, topped with a crispy baked cheese & smoky candied pumpkin seed crumble. Serve warm or cold. Serves 2-4. $16.50. Out by 4:00.
• Wednesday June 12. Farmers Market made-on-the-spot pizza to-go and freshly squeezed lemonade.
• Thursday June 13. Chicken Parmesan. Tender oven-baked chicken breast in our own sour dough breading infused with parmesan cheese. Served over artisan pasta topped with house-made fresh herb marinara. $16.50. Out by 4:00

Cooking 101

Funny how interest runs in cycles. There were several inquiries this week about how to glaze food; Lois’s chicken, Fred’s carrots and others. The process was the same given to each person; just the ingredients varied. Here are the steps.

Step one:

In a skillet or pan, cook the food slightly on medium heat in a little oil or butter. In the case of chicken (or any meat), brown both sides; in the case of any vegetable, simply warm it up. SCIENCE TIP: heat and oil helps to release the flavor of food. Think of oil like a solvent that leaches those internal taste molecules from the food into your pan and heat allows the food to open up.

Step two:

Remove your food from the pan. Hopefully there will be a little bit of brown bits. Turn up the heat to medium/high and add a generous amount of liquid (flavor of your choice); this will lift any browned bits and all those flavor molecules. Simmer away, stirring a bit, until this is reduced by about half – then add a scoop flavor to your sauce – Tarragon Mustard for Lois’s chicken, Orange Marmalade for Fred’s carrots.

Step three:

Reduce the heat to low simmer and add the food back into the pan. Simmer until food is cooked and the saucy ingredients are reduced to a glazey, syrupy ooze turning the food in it to glaze it while it finishes cooking through. If the food is cooked but your pan sauce is too liquid, simply remove the food again and boil your liquid until it becomes syrup. Add food back into it to coat it. SCIENCE TIP: sugars (natural or otherwise) help to thicken sauces when heated.