Canterbury Country Store

the Friday Feeding; VOL. 24

It’s a good Friday indeed.

The Easter traditions of promise and renewal abound here at the store. The storm and the generator failure earlier this week fried our oven and melted all of our ice cream. BUT, like the lemony color of daffodils blooming underneath the snow, we made lemonade! This was an opportunity to bring in new kinds of ice cream and gelato and sorbet and stylish ice cream sandwiches (including dairy-free), all arriving today. Your beloved Walpole, Shains and Hersheys will follow per their delivery schedules sometime in the next 2 weeks. AND our ovens are being restored perhaps as early as today so call in to see if pizza night is on! 603-783-9933

Goodness indeed!

Free eggs! Also today, Friday, our customer Joya will be here at 11:00 to hand out free dozens of eggs to anyone who wants them. As part of her business plan, she is committed to supporting her favorite local businesses by purchasing items from them—eggs from us—and then handing them out. We will be handing out copies of the recipe at the bottom of this post for marbled deviled eggs.

The store is closed this year for Easter Sunday—and so is Market Basket—so scan your cupboards for any last minute item we can help you with. Don’t forget our large selection of flavored mustards for your Easter ham! Hope to see you at Shaker Village for sunrise service and enjoy the Easter breakfast at the church.

Do you know who Christina Tosi is? We first heard about her years ago. Serving cereal flavored milk in her nostalgic NY bakery brought her fame (doesn’t everybody like the milk slurped at the bottom of the bowl once you’ve eaten the cereal?!) She now makes ice cream flavored the same way! We thought it would be fun to try some.

Husband and wife southern chefs came up with these special ice cream sandwiches. Decadent 14% butterfat ice cream sandwiched between fresh baked brownies and cookies in sophisticated flavors. Kids have their Hershey sundaes and these are a little something just for us. But if I were a kid I would want to try one too!

And more…oh summer’s gonna be a good one!

We’re still having fun in the store….creativity abounds.

Upside-down Marbled Deviled Easter Eggs

Hard boil eggs. Let them cool then randomly crack the shells. Put the whole egg into a dye bath made from food coloring and water then let them sit over-night refrigerated.

Right before using, peel them and fill them with your favorite deviled egg recipe. Place them upside down place on a bed of snipped chives. Chives keep them from sticking to the dish and look like easter grass. Serve with a spoon to scoop them up. NOTE: if you peel them too soon before serving the crackled veining will blur.

Deviled Eggs with a twist! (for you Pam 🙂)

Remove the yolks of one dozen eggs. Mash with a folk and add:

1/4 – 1/3 cup mayonnaise
2T Blake Hill Botanical jam (any style)
1T horseradish
2T capers (optional)

Fill into egg whites and serve.

In case Friday night pizza is on, here is what we plan…

Friday night pizza, March 29 . Order ahead 12” organic sour dough pizzas to take out or sit down and eat here. $15.95. Call ahead to order and choose a pick-up time slot. 603-783-9933

Choose:

Pepperoni on red sauce.
Vegetable choice of mushrooms, green peppers, onions and pepperoncini on red sauce
Fig with gorgonzola and a honey drizzle over olive oil (no garlic)
Cheese only on red sauce always by request
SPECIAL: Margherita; basil, cherry tomatoes and fresh mozzarella cheese.

Have a happy Easter!

Jane and Dave

See our weekly menu by clicking here...

the Friday Feeding; VOL. 23

It’s Dave’s 60th birthday this week-end! Yep, your storekeeper has still got a lot of pep in him and a ways to go; we are all grateful for that! Help us celebrate him this week-end with specials and cake and a proper day off. Here’s what’s happening…

DAVE’S BIRTHDAY WEEK-END CELEBRATIONS

Order his own favorite pizza as our Friday Night special pizza ; Pepperoni, mushrooms and black olives on red sauce
Have a special Saturday Dave-Wich, his favorite sandwich; turkey, roast beef with good cheddar cheese on a baguette.
Come in to wish him a happy birthday then have a chunk of free birthday cake on Saturday/Sunday while it lasts…Dave’s two favorites Coconut and Carrot. We’re sending him home early so see him before 3.
Play our 60 Groceries Game this Friday, Saturday and Sunday and maybe win a $60 gift certificate to the store. See if you can find at least 60 items for sale in the store that are made in New Hampshire; we have well over 300!
If you can list 60 or more you will be entered into the drawing for the gift certificate. Download the form HERE or come into the store for a copy to work with. All forms must be turned in by 4:00 Sunday. Drawing will be held Monday morning.
We are giving Dave a proper WHOLE day off on Sunday. So instead of him coming in early to make breakfast wraps Jane is making her famous quiche, sold by the slice in classic bacon and swiss OR veggie broccoli and red pepper.

See our entire weekly menu, including all of the above, by CLICKING HERE.

This week at the store…

Molly Grant’s glove leather clutches for spring

And Gordon’s coffee cup experiment (leave it to an engineer)…

The cups hold up after many uses and with coffee sitting half full for over 24 hours with NO leaks. We like these…better than what we opened with!!!

In case you love Dave’s coconut birthday cake when you have some here on Saturday, let me share my recipe with you.

Dave’s Fav Coconut Cake

Prepare two 8″ cake pans. Trace around the bottom of a pan onto folded waxed paper using a knife or scissors then cut the tracing yielding two circles. Liberally grease the bottom and sides of the pan with unrefined coconut oil. Stick a round of waxed paper onto the bottom of each pan smoothing it out then grease over it. Sprinkle and shake flour around in each pan until it is evenly coated; shake out the excess. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350°

Sift together and set aside:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose wheat flour*
1 5/8 tsp baking powder
3/8 tsp salt

Mix together and set aside:

3/4 cup coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla

Separate then set aside:

3 eggs

In a stand mixer or with hand-held mixer mix until very creamy:

1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter that is room temperature and squishy soft

Add to the butter bit by bit mixing until it is light and fluffy:

1 cup + 2T granulated sugar

Add to this mixture one at a time until creamy:

3 egg yolks

Add reserved flour mixture alternating with milk mixture, one then the other in three batches, mixing very well after each, scraping down the sides of your mixer with a spatula.

Whip the egg whites with:

a heaping 1/8 tsp of cream of tartar.

When creamy and white, add bit by bit whipping until soft peaks form:

3T granulated sugar

Fold these whipped egg whites into cake mixture. Scoop into prepared pans and smooth. Drop pan firmly on counter to level batter and get rid of air bubbles. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let rest for 10 minutes in pan then run knife around edges to loosen and turn out onto a rack to cool. Peel off waxed paper. Let cool completely before frosting.

* Any flour will work but the taste of fresh wheat flour enhances the coconuttiness of the cake.

The back story on this recipe…Dave was traveling for work and was hungry and lonely one rainy night in Long Island. He stumbled into a diner and there on the counter was a mile high coconut cake loaded with flaked coconut. Of course he had a slice then called me to tell me how amazing it was. I went to work developing a recipe that could produce that taste memory and it was waiting for him when he got home. It’s now Dave’s Fav.

Its Friday Night pizza again.

Friday night pizza, March 22 . Order ahead 12” organic sour dough pizzas to take out or sit down and eat here. $15.95. Call ahead to order and choose a pick-up time slot. 603-783-9933

Choose:

Pepperoni on red sauce.
Vegetable choice of mushrooms, green peppers, onions and pepperoncini on red sauce
Fig with gorgonzola and a honey drizzle over olive oil (no garlic)
Cheese only on red sauce always by request
SPECIAL: Dave’s Fav, pepperoni, mushrooms and black olives on red sauce.

We appreciate you!

Jane and Dave

the Friday Feeding; VOL. 22

There’s been a lot happening this week around the store and even more this week-end; Town Meeting and…

…it’s the Irish-Sugar-Flower week-end! What?

It’s St.Patricks Day on Sunday, it’s maple sugaring week-end and Amber from Sunfox Sunflower Farm in Concord, NH will be here 11-1 on Saturday to tell us about and sample their healthy culinary sunflower seed oil. Learn about it’s nutritional benefits and we are doing some mash-up recipes using sunflower oil and maple. Come by for free samples and grab some great recipes to take home and try. There’s a lot going on!

Support our local sugar shacks around town this week-end–just look for the steam–then stop by the store for breakfast or lunch while you are out; Irish burritos, gooey maple treats, maple Irish soda bread muffins and more. See our entire menu for the week by CLICKING HERE.

Maple as a nutrient

We all love our maple; sticky sweet goodness to put in coffee or over yogurt or on pancakes. It’s uses are actually endless but did you know it has some health benefits too? Some of us use maple syrup as a replacement to refined sugar due to the fact that it brings about a lower glucose and insulin response in our bodies; less buzz, less let-down and less stress on our body’s internal systems. But besides that, maple syrup contains high levels of minerals and amino acids that support our bodies health, in addition to enzymes and dissolving compounds that break down the free-radical activity in our cells that can lead to early aging and disease. Whew.

It’s good stuff. Here are a few recipes using maple.

Maple syrup makes an excellent face mask. Yep. The enzymes it contains dissolve dead skin cells and it’s mineral content helps hydrate the skin. Spread on a thick layer while in the shower then rinse off in the end. Keep in place for up to 10 minutes if you can for best results.

Want a healthy blueberry syrup for your pancakes? Put one quart of maple syrup in a sauce pan then add 4 cups of blueberries, perhaps from your frozen stash picked last year at Hackleboro Orchards or Apple Hill Farm. Heat until boiling. Turn off the heat and put a lid on it. Let steep for 30 minutes then pour out the syrup straining the berries; refrigerate. Voila, real blueberry syrup. Save the discarded blueberries for sweetening yogurt or making jam.

Next time you are roasting some meat–or that easter ham–use maple syrup as a glaze. To each 1/2 cup of maple add: 2 T finely minced fresh rosemary, 1 tsp granulated garlic, 2 tsp kosher salt, 1/2 tsp ground black pepper. Jack it up even further with a 1/2 tsp Spanish smoked paprika for a deeper, smokier flavor. Brush the meat with the blended syrup before it goes in the oven then keep brushing the syrup on several times during roasting and it will give a dark caramelized crust. If you don’t eat meat, consider tossing this along with some olive oil into cut up vegetables and roast them as you would. It’s all very yum…

Friday night pizza, March 15 . Order ahead 12” organic sour dough pizzas to take out or sit down and eat here. $15.95. Call ahead to order and choose a pick-up time slot. 603-783-9933

Choose:

Pepperoni on red sauce.
Vegetable choice of mushrooms, green peppers, onions and pepperoncini on red sauce
Fig with gorgonzola and a honey drizzle over olive oil (no garlic)
Cheese only on red sauce always by request
SPECIAL: Bacon and cheese curds

We hope you have a really great week,

Jane and Dave

the Friday Feeding; VOL. 21

It’s throw-down week!

It started with great customer Alex telling David, “You know Dave, I think your pizzas are giving Jane’s scones a run for the money” [and that’s sayin’ somethin’ cuz he is a HUGE fan of our bakery cases].

“Take that!” said Dave to Jane.

“Game on!” said Jane to Dave.

So our throw-down commences!

Tonight’s pizza night includes a pizza headed towards Jane’s baking flavors and today you will find some scones heading towards Dave’s pizza flavors. Tonight’s PIZZA SPECIAL: Vermont Farmsteads Windsordale Blueberry Cheese and Smoke House bacon with olive oil. Todays SCONE SPECIAL: Margherita; tomato flavored with basil and mozzarella cheese.

Check out our menu for the week with all sorts of throw-down creations by CLICKING HERE.

The store has had all sorts of new arrivals this week.

The arrival of spring. Out the backdoor at the church.

What is delicious? Are you salty or sweet?

We humans do tend to settle into either of these camps. Salt and vinegar chips or brownies, peanuts or toffee, poppy seed salad dressing or a caesar…

But interestingly, those very best favorites on either side contain some of the other side to balance it out. Like politics? Like a great marriage? Reading the label will give you some clues as how to season your own cooking.

Just like Dave’s and my THROWN DOWN, his sweet-take always includes mostly his savory salty ingredients and even in my savory scones their is a hint of sweet to balance it out.

Here is a recipe for you to try and see if you like this mix-up.

Coconut Chicken or Fish Gratin

Butter four individual or one medium sized gratin dishes. Place into each individual or all into the medium gratin dish:

4 half fillets (2 full cut in ½) of haddock, cod, sole or other mild white fish*
OR 4 quarter chicken breasts (2 halves cut in half & pounded thin) *

Mix together and pour over the fish/chicken dividing evenly between the dishes:

½ cup coconut milk (unsweetened; look for pure milk that does not contain thickeners.)
Juice of ½ lemon
1/16 tsp ground pepper (preferably white)
1/8 tsp salt

Mix together and scatter over the top of the prepared chicken/fish:

3/4 cups bread crumbs
¼ cup melted butter
3 T. sweetened flaked coconut
The grated peel of a ½ lemon

Bake in a preheated 350’ oven for 20 – 25 minutes until crumb topping is browned and sauce has bubbled thick. Good served over rice.

Friday night pizza, March 8 . Order ahead 12” organic sour dough pizzas to take out or sit down and eat here. $15.95. Call ahead to order and choose a pick-up time slot. 603-783-9933

Choose:

Pepperoni on red sauce.
Vegetable choice of mushrooms, green peppers, onions and pepperoncini on red sauce
Fig with gorgonzola and a honey drizzle over olive oil (no garlic)
Cheese only on red sauce always by request
SPECIAL: Vermont Farmsteads Windsordale Blueberry Cheese and Smoke House bacon with olive oil.

We hope you have a really great week,

Jane and Dave

the Friday Feeding; VOL. 20

March is maple month and we are feeling sticky just thinking about it. Old-Man-of-the-Mountain slurps of fresh syrup and bourbon, caramely oozy maple pie and the smell in the air of maple steam coming from Canterbury’s sugar houses. The sap has been running in vast amounts this week we hear so it should be a good season. The sugar houses in Canterbury that we know of will be open the week-end of the 16th and 17th so you can watch them boil and taste some.

Here at the store we are happy to feature the end products from maple sugaring.

We are mounting the newest art show for the Feed Loft gallery today; “Bloom Where You Are Planted; A Visual Celebration of the Gardens in New Hampshire”. There are some wonderful things to grace our walls and much of it is for sale, if you are so inclined. Meet the artists, taste some wine and cheese from the store on Thursday night, March 7, 5-7.

We are sorry gang but no pizza tonight. Dave has a boo-boo and will be out today.

Check out our weeks menu by CLICKING HERE. Lots of maple surprises!

I wrote about this previously but it is a great reminder as we are all enjoying Sunnyfield Brick Oven bread delivered to us fresh every Tuesday and Thursday.

Artisan sour dough breads with a crisp oven-kissed crust like these should always be stored in paper. They sweat in plastic and the crust gets destroyed. But if they get too hard after a few days in your paper bag, spritz the crust with water and put in a 300 degree oven for 5 or 10 minutes to freshen it up; it tastes fresh baked. I enjoyed this bread last night even though it was baked last week.

We hope you have a great week,

Jane and Dave

the Friday Feeding; VOL. 19

Spring is coming we swear. Can you feel it? The longer days and slowly setting sun…even though we still get snow, it melts. When I am baking early in the morning I am actually seeing the sunrise through the trees now, streaking in light all over my floury surfaces. It has been still dark when I turned off the ovens these last few months so this early light is pure joy. Better than eating a scone! Almost.

In anticipation of spring and those of you who winter elsewhere coming back home to us, we are gearing up. We are bringing in new products, fine tuning our kitchen activity and preparing for our next phase of business. Stay tuned…

Our signature Mac n’ Curds always available now

What’s new this week…

We spent a Sunday afternoon tasting…so yummy and local!

Special orders.

Some of you have been brave enough to make requests for food just the way you like it. Like Brian’s turkey and roast beef wrap with no mayo and only plain mustard. Like Joyce’s Fig, cheese and doo-dads pizza, frozen please. And Jen’s group that she is sharing our baking with in abundance. And the dinner gatherings upstairs and lunch groups pre-ordering before they arrive… we welcome it all even though we have not made a big splash about it.

Now, Spring Board dive, BIG SPLASH…

…see our weekly menu by CLICKING HERE so you know what we make if you want to special order something and see our newest list of special order baked goods by CLICKING HERE. Specials of this coming week include GF meals, jazzy chicken burritos, pie and special order pesto chicken pizza tonight.

Cooking with Essential Oils. Huh?

We all hear & read about, and use, plant Essential Oils for health and wellness in our soaps and skincare—and even in our house care—but many of us don’t know that you can use them in your cooking. Not all of them, but those that come from plants we might eat are fair game. Those oils are simply distilled concentrates of their essential flavors.

The most common to use are citrus. Citrus essential oils are made by distilling their peels so instead of using grated zest, use a dab of oil. The fancy essence kits sold by high-end kitchen retailers are simply essential oils. Lavender, Black Pepper, Cinnamon and Cardamon are a few others that are fun to work with. Use caution when buying on line; buy from a reputable dealers and avoid those sold in craft stores…the quality is compromised and often not what they say they are.

We sell lemon and orange.

1/2 tsp essential oil of orange added to my scones along with the cream & eggs

Try adding lemon or orange to your soups and stews, trying 1/4 tsp at a time until it tastes just right. When flavors seem “heavy” citrus “brightens” them to lift the flavor profile. Try it in your own recipes for fun!

Friday night pizza, February 23 . Order ahead 12” organic sour dough pizzas to take out or sit down and eat here. $15.95. Call ahead to order and choose a pick-up time slot. 603-783-9933

Choose:

Pepperoni on red sauce.
Vegetable choice of mushrooms, green peppers, onions and pepperoncini on red sauce
Fig with gorgonzola and a honey drizzle over olive oil (no garlic)
Cheese only on red sauce always by request
SPECIAL: Chicken pesto with provolone cheese.

We hope you have a really great week,

Jane and Dave

the Friday Feeding; VOL. 18

February in New England?? Our bones are happy for this run-on-the-sun and the early sometimes “balmy” weather here, but it sure does make us wonder about how the flora and fauna that depend on consistency will fare. But it might bring an early run on Maple sap for sugaring season next month. Fingers crossed for our sugaring friends.

In this part of the country it seems like we are always looking ahead, planning for the seasonal changes. With good reason; something too early or something too late can make a hit to farmers, like the late April freeze last year that killed off the apple blossoms that had bloomed early.

The life of a storekeeper is no different. The hours we keep are the same as a farmer–up at 4am, to bed early–and we are always planning ahead, swinging with the inevitable changes that come from perishable people, places and things. You know what they say; the only thing constant is change.

Planning ahead… since many of our local jam makers are seasonal we are THRILLED to be carrying Blake Hill preserves. They are an English fruit preservatory in Vermont specializing in small batches. The cheese pairing flavors designed in conjunction with the awarding winning Jasper Hill Cheese company are out of this world.

Planning ahead…one of our CCS branded mixes needs dried purple basil and we ran out of our stash. So we started the basil plants in our basement green house to get an early crop. The mix will be back on the shelves soon.

Planning ahead…we are already ordering our summer/fall fruit and vegetable crops for the store with our personal local growers Ben, Al, Kathy and Andy.

And because you asked for organic fair-trade coffee, we’ve added a very local, very tasty variety to our shelves.

Valentines Day at the store…

Even storekeepers with long days take breaks…Dave and Buster.

Let’s cook.

If you like caramelized onions like we do, you know how long it takes to make really good ones. I use them in a soup or stew or my go-to favorite (when I need comfort food) is on a baked potato. A trick for planning ahead is to make huge batch then freeze little pods of them. I use a silicone molds that hold around a 1/3 cup then when they are frozen they pop out easy. Zip lock bag the little pods into the freezer for later use. Presto!

Caramelized onions in bulk for freezing

Quarter and slice thinly a bunch of yellow onions making 4 quarts.
Melt 2T unsalted butter with 2T olive oil. Add the onions to this.
On medium heat, stirring every 5 minutes, cook the onions for 30 minutes.
Reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes stirring frequently.
Reduce heat to very low/simmer and stir constantly for 15 more minutes. Onions should be clear brown and mushy. Makes around 4 cups.
Use immediately or freeze as above.

And we planned ahead for next week… see our weekly meals menu by CLICKING HERE:

Friday night pizza, February 16 . Order ahead 12” organic sour dough pizzas to take out or sit down and eat here. $15.95. Call ahead to order and choose a pick-up time slot. 603-783-9933

Choose:

Pepperoni on red sauce.
Vegetable choice of mushrooms, green peppers, onions and pepperoncini on red sauce
Fig with gorgonzola and a honey drizzle over olive oil (no garlic)
Cheese only on red sauce always by request
SPECIAL: BLT; bacon, cherry tomatoes and micro-greens

We hope you have a really great week,

Jane and Dave

PS. Our very own Emily needs a car. Working here at the store is her very first job and now she needs her very own car. If you have a good one you can sell her, let her know!

the Friday Feeding; VOL. 17

We love our job. Like we said last week we love cooking but what we love most about our job is you. We love the daily conversations and helping you have a more convenient life through our grocery and food offerings.

And we love who we get to work WITH. Chris in the post office who is our elbow buddy, Jim our accountant who has stood by our side from the beginning advising and directing, Kevin who continues to help us dial in the physical working structures of this business and our staff. Our staff who loves their job too mostly because of you.

We honored our staff this week with a party to celebrate them. A great time…a great meal. Warmed Harbison cheese with a drizzle of Pinecone Bud syrup and toasted pine nuts, seared sea scallops and sweet potatoes in lemon olive oil over couscous, chicken in red wine mole sauce over cheddar polenta, cider braised brussel sprouts and organic maple cheese cake. All ingredients from our store shelves here of course…

A bit about chocolate

We think a lot about chocolate during February, this month of love. The substance has a quite a reputation as an aphrodisiac and there is a good reason for that. It contains both stimulating alkaloids theophylline AND caffeine, the only plant to contain both. Tea contains theophylline and coffee contains caffeine but neither contain both.

No one really knows how the ancients figured out that the very bitter seeds inside of the sweet pulpy fruit pods of the cacao tree would roast up into the medicinal substance. Since fermenting is the first step in chocolate making, it is likely that fallen fruit rotting on the dank forest floor in the tropical heat left the seeds exposed and someone said, ah ha…lets make something out of that! The ultimate waste not, want not, recycle thinking.

But it’s more likely that someone observed the really wired, wild antics of monkeys that were eating the stuff and thought; hmmm, let’s do that!

Yes, this substance has been called the Food of Gods by British explorers to the Amazon basin but firstly by the Maya and Aztec peoples who used it as a bitter religious ceremonial beverage mixed with water & laced with chili and cinnamon—let’s get wired and have a worship frenzy. Archeologists have even found traces of the stuff in vessels dating as far back as the Olmec peoples 1500BC where it is thought that the cultivation of this originated.

With modern science we know that cocao contains antioxidants that help our bodies stay healthy and some even say that stimulants like caffeine and theophylline help ward off brain deterioration. But mixed with a little sugar like British originated in the 1800s, it is a wonderful treat that we all know and love.

You might enjoy this video of the making of chocolate from harvest to wrapped candy.

Cocoa dry-rub for roasting meats or vegetables

As written above, we know that cocoa has a bitter quality before sugar is added. To make a satisfying, well rounded dish, it is great to hit all the flavors profiles; salty, sour, sweet, bitter, umami. Unsweetened chocolate is a great way to add that bitter flavor.

Mix together:

1T + 1tsp dark cocoa powder
2 tsp granulated garlic powder
2 teaspoon dried epazote herb if you can find it. Otherwise dried oregano will work.
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp light brown sugar
1/8 tsp ground cayenne red pepper

Rub into meat before roasting or toss into vegetables along with a little olive oil before roasting.

Friday night pizza, February 9 . Order ahead 12” organic sour dough pizzas to take out or sit down and eat here. $15.95. Call ahead to order and choose a pick-up time slot. 603-783-9933

Choose:

Pepperoni on red sauce.
Vegetable choice of mushrooms, green peppers, onions and pepperoncini on red sauce
Fig with gorgonzola and a honey drizzle over olive oil (no garlic)
Cheese only on red sauce always by request
SPECIAL Buffalo Turkey sausage with white sauce.

CLICK HERE to see our weekly menu…

Have a happy heart day,

Jane and Dave

the Friday Feeding; VOL: 16

February is LOVE month but it doesn’t have to be a celebration of romantic human love [cue the violins]. Here at the Canterbury Country Store we are celebrating our love of food all month. That ‘other’ kind of love could (and sometimes does) get pretty disappointing but a steaming bowl of homemade goodness or an oozy chocolate brownie never does!

A few of our own Valentines Day offerings in the store right now…

Food as love.

Most people grew up with grandmothers. This writer did not. But what I did know about ‘Grandmothers’, gleaned through my school mates, was that they loved you through the food they made.

Over the years as a young woman I adopted Grandmothers and have had a rich life because of them. Agnes who lumbered across the field to teach me wood stove cooking, Helen who lived up the road and taught me canning and even a very distant step-grandmother (whom I only met face to face a few times) passed her Gourmet magazines on to me that took me to flavor places previously unknown.

Food is necessity but food can also be an expression of love.

We are cooking here at the Canterbury Country Store because we love to do it and because we want Canterbury to feel loved. Sounds corny we know, but nothing gives us greater pleasure than when you smile and say, “That tastes good”. See our menu for next week by clicking here..

Preorder your Valentines Day take-home meal for two, Wednesday 2/14. Served up warm as you pick up late afternoon…choose your time slot. 603-783-9933

Ruby Chicken; pomegranate glazed & grapefruit studded
Almond & rice pilaf
Butter braised brussel sprouts
Chocolate raspberry cream custard w/almond shortbread
Naturally gluten-free. $39.95 two dinners

Agnes said that as a girl she loved cooking on a wood stove because the heat built up and stayed up. Modern ovens did not suit her* but she did like electric ring stove tops because the rings stayed hot for a long while after being turned off.

*Side note: all electric ovens are calibrated so that the heating elements heat up to temperature then shut off then come back on again only when the temperature drops. They vary as much as 50º up and down during any baking period. This is why letting your oven heat for a long time before baking or roasting or pizza making yields a better result; more heat is accumulated evenly so the temperature is less likely to vary. Pizza or meat roast? Preheat one hour for best results. Scones? 30 minutes Roasted veggies or cookies? 30 minutes. And if your oven is on an outside wall like mine is, during winter you may need even longer.

Agnes’s Wood Stove Chicken

To mimic the idea of her wood stove she advised using a cast iron pot. We know this from baking bread, right? The seasoning on this is my own blend, thinking of and enjoying the flavors of this love month.

Preheat your oven to 400º. Place your cast iron pot in it for at least 5 minutes to heat up.

Meanwhile, remove a roasting chicken from its wrapper and remove the neck and gizzards from the cavities. Rinse the chicken with cold water then pat it very dry with paper towels. Set on a dish then rub 1 tsp olive oil over the entire bird.

When oven is preheated and pan is hot, carefully plop the chicken into the pan – sizzle! NOTE: I bend the wing tips forward and twist them underneath so they do not burn in the roasting process. Let roast like this uncovered for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare this rub so that it warms to room temperature. Mix together:

1/4 cup Blackwater Chocolate Stout mustard (any mustard will work but the final result will not taste the same) Available at the store
1T olive oil
1 tsp granulated garlic

After 30 minutes remove from oven, closing the door to keep in the heat, and spread half of the above mixture all over the chicken. Reduce the oven temperature to 350º. Put chicken back in the oven uncovered.

After 30 minutes remove chicken again as above and retrieve the drippings in the pan with a bulb baster, mix them with the remaining mixture and pour it over the chicken. Sprinkle the chicken with flaked sea salt. Continue roasting, basting every 20 minutes until chicken has reached 180º when a thermometer is inserted low between the leg and the body of the chicken. The breast meat will continue to cook as it sits out. Let rest for 20-30 minutes then slice and serve!

This week, Storm Central at the Canterbury Country Store…for our friends afar.

Friday night pizza, February 2 . Order ahead 12” organic sour dough pizzas to take out or sit down and eat here. $15.95. Call ahead to order and choose a pick-up time slot. 603-783-9933

Choose:

Pepperoni on red sauce.
Vegetable choice of mushrooms, green peppers, onions and pepperoncini on red sauce
Fig with gorgonzola and a honey drizzle over olive oil (no garlic)
Cheese only on red sauce always by request
SPECIAL Hawaiian with prosciutto ham, onions and pineapple.

Have a great week!

Jane and Dave

the Friday Feeding; VOL.15

It’s been a busy week at the store; January – the “slow month” – has still kept us hopping. Happy to report that. We had a swarm of hungry visitors on voting day followed by a snow day so we could cook a lot and refill the cases. All the while our newest staff members, along with Sue and Emily, have ‘owned’ this place making more special touches and taking care of you. WE LOVE THIS.

It is all about love right now, isn’t it? At least that is what Hallmark would say. But we have always liked the idea of finding moments of celebration in our calendar to mark the seasons and, right now, to help winter ease along. Yes, we have Heart-Day specific goods and will have many freshly house-made chocolates starting February 1; brownie assortment boxes including gluten-free and our own hand-poured chocolate bars. And watch the menu all February for chocolate centric foods too!

And because we love our staff we are planning a party in their honor. To do so we will be closing the store 1 hour early Sunday February 4. Open 9-3 (rather than 9-4)

We all heard that Marshall’s Flowers in Boscawen shut their doors after 80 years BUT they are continuing to bring us flowers! More love.

Soup; the original winter Smoothie

Smoothies, as we know them, were originated on the West coast in the early 1970’s as a health food in a region where it never really gets cold. And while drinking smoothies have their health benefits gained from concentrated nutrients, so does soup if made properly. And here on the East coast during winter, nothing nourishes quite like a mug of steaming soup.

According to old Farmers Wisdom and even eastern medicine, we should heat our body when it is cold to ward off illness, and likewise cool it down in the heat. Asking our chilly self to digest a cold slurry of food lowers our natural resistance for a moment while taking in cooked warmth when it is cold outside raises our immunity. Makes sense.

Soup is good food.

We are trying something new for the remainder of our cold months. To be served on Mondays and Tuesdays we will be making big batches of a vegetable-forward brothy soup condensing their nutrients and lacing in ginger, extracts and spices that will warm and rev up our bodies. In each cup rice noodles are added along with a clump of micro greens. This allows us pure in-the-moment cooking creativity but also allows us to stick with our commitment to a no-waste kitchen by using up any left over bits from the week-end and rotating through produce from our cases.

A new spin; the Canterbury Country Store Pho. ish

For those of you that missed our Meet the Artist’s reception with beer tasting and platter snacks last Sunday, here is one of the recipes we featured. Sounds weird but it is crazy good with a mixture of savory and sweet/tart that we could eat by the bowl-full.

Baked-Apple Chunky Dip

Peel 5-6 medium sized apples. Soft older apples are best.

Core them and cut into 1/2” chunks to equal 4 cups. Place in a medium sized bowl.

Grate 1 cup mild cheddar or other soft cheese and toss into apples.

Mix the following together and toss into the apples and cheese:

1/4 cup boiled cider
1 T sweet/hot mustard
1/8 tsp Harissa hot pepper paste (optional)

Place mixture into an oiled heavy shallow baking dish. Top the mixture with 1 cup of crushed Honey Bar B Que potato chips. Bake 375º for 40 minutes until liquid is bubbling and chips are very browned. Serve with potato chips for dipping.

Its Friday night pizza again….

Friday night pizza, January . Order ahead 12” organic sour dough pizzas to take out or sit down and eat here. $15.95. Call ahead to order and choose a pick-up time slot. 603-783-9933

Choose:

Pepperoni on red sauce.
Vegetable choice of mushrooms, green peppers, onions and pepperoncini on red sauce
Fig with gorgonzola and a honey drizzle over olive oil (no garlic)
Cheese only on red sauce always by request
SPECIAL Cheese Burger Pizza with ground beef, American cheese and onions (upon request.

CLICK HERE to see our weekly menu including gluten-free choices.

Have a good week, your storekeepers,

Jane and Dave

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