Pennypacker's And Their Porchetta

Months ago, I read about a new restaurant in Somerville's Magoun Square, right down the road from us. It's not the trendiest neighborhood, so it's a little unusual to hear about a new, cool restaurant opening in the area, and I'm really sorry that we dragged our feet before finally paying Pennypacker's a visit.

Pennypacker's, a little sandwich, soup, and salad shop, originated as a food truck and has now expanded into a brick and mortar restaurant. They are most famous for their porchetta, which as shown below is slow-roasted skin-on, cured, and marinated pork belly wrapped around pork shoulder. So while everything on their small, rotating menu sounded tempting, we had to go with the porchetta sandwich along with the Himalayan Red Rice Salad.

The salad was mixed to order, and it was outstanding. I loved the bright lemon vinaigrette tossed with the rice, herbs, peppery arugula, and crisp cucumber and red onion. But the sandwich is what really stole the show. It's rather unassuming on the plate and so simple: crusty bread around a thick slab of porchetta and a good drizzle of salsa verde. The pork is so tender and flavorful, and every now and then you bite into a perfectly crisp piece of pork rind that just puts it over the top.

If you're in the area, I highly recommend that you pay them a visit! I'm already trying to figure out when I can go back!

My 10 Favorite Things in May

They say that April showers bring May flowers, and that's certainly been true this spring -- though May has had its fair share of showers as well!  It's been an eventful month filled with new adventures, good friends, and happy memories. Best of all, summer is right around the corner! So without further ado, these were the highlights of the month:

1) May Flowers

One of my favorite things about Boston are the vast numbers of blooming trees, bushes, and flowers in the springtime. It's like a joyous celebration that winter is over, and summer is on its way!

2) Visiting Night Shift with Jane

I always love catching up with my beautiful friend Jane. Whenever we get together there's sure to be plenty of laughter. This month we met up at Night Shift Brewing for a flight of beer samples (our last trip to their old brewery, as last week they opened their shiny new brewery) followed by dinner at Tavern at the End of the World. 

3) This Warm Chicken and Rice Salad with Potatoes and Green Beans

Perfect for a light but filling spring lunch. And feta cheese is involved. Who doesn't like an excuse to eat more feta cheese?

4) Drinks at Drink with Kurt and Nina

Boy do we love these two people! And we always love an excuse to go to Drink. 

5) Making homemade Spanish Rice

Since we can't go out for good TexMex in Boston, we make it at home whenever the cravings strike. And you can't have TexMex without a good batch of Spanish Rice. This recipe from my brother is the best!

6) Date Night at B&G Oysters

My husband and I spent a beautiful evening out on the back patio eating fresh seafood and sipping wine. I love going out in the South End with its brick sidewalks and stately brownstones. It's an almost magical area that's quintessentially Boston.

7) Finally going to the Brimfield Antique Show

I still can't get over how much fun this was with antiques as far as the eye could see and treasures hidden in ever nook and cranny. I'm so glad we finally made the trek out to Brimfield. If only Mom, a professional antiquer, could have gone with us!

8) A Night Out with Friends

A couple weeks ago, we spent such a fun night on the town with some of our co-workers (I'm lucky to work with some really great folks)! We started at the Liberty Hotel, a prison that was renovated into a gorgeous, trendy hotel, for dinner at Clink and a drink at Alibi. Afterward, we trekked over to State Park for southern snacks and cocktails.  We loved the fried tobacco onions, fried pickled okra, fried catfish (there are a lot of fried options!), and the pitchers of Pimm's Cups and Tom Collins!

9) Memorial Day with Troy and Crystal

We met Troy and Crystal through the Longhorn Band at UT, and man were we excited when they relocated to New Hampshire a couple years ago. It's nice to have such good friends in driving distance, and we had the best time visiting them over the Memorial Day weekend.

10) Rose wine out in the backyard

One of my favorite ways to celebrate the transition from spring to summer is sitting out in the backyard in just the right balance of shade and warm sunshine sharing a bottle of rose with my husband.

BONUS: 11) Seeing George Strait in concert, a lifelong dream come true!

What a night! There are no words to describe how amazing it was to see King George in concert at long last as a part of his "Cowboy Rides Away" farewell tour. I'm pretty sure that he could sing the phone book and it would be a hit! 

Warm Chicken and Rice Salad with Potatoes and Green Beans

Sometimes for lunch I want something warm instead of another turkey sandwich (I get in a rut and eat a lot of turkey sandwiches). Enter this chicken and rice salad tossed with potatoes, green beans, tangy feta cheese, briny capers, and a bright red wine vinaigrette. It's warm and satisfying but not too heavy. It would also be perfect for a light summer dinner served on the back porch with a chilled bottle of rose wine. After all, most things are made better when served out on the back porch with a chilled bottle of rose! Here's to looking forward to the long summer evenings that are right around the corner!

Serves 4

Ingredients

1/2 cup rice or rice and red quinoa blend (I used Rice Select Royal Blend with light brown rice, red quinoa, and freekeh)
~2 cups water, divided
1 Tb butter

4-6 small multi-color new potatoes, washed and diced

1/4 lb green beans, ends trimmed and cut into 1" pieces

1 10 oz can chunk chicken breast in water, drained 
(feel free to substitute grilled chicken breast or rotisserie chicken)

1 1/2 Tb red wine vinegar

1 tsp whole grain dijon mustard

3 Tb olive oil

2 tsp capers, drained and roughly chopped

~3 oz feta cheese, crumbled

salt and pepper

Directions

In a saucepan, add 1 cup water, 1 Tb butter, and 1/2 cup Rice Select Royal Blend (or any rice or rice blend) along with a good pinch of salt. Bring the water to a boil, and give it a stir. Cover and reduce heat, and let the rice blend simmer for 18 minutes (for a different rice blend, cook according to package directions).

In a separate saucepan, add the diced potatoes, enough water to cover them by about 1/2 inch, and about 1 tsp salt, and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, reduce to a low boil and let cook for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes can be easily pierced with a knife. About 5 minutes into the cooking process, toss in the green beans. Drain when done.

While the rice and vegetables cook, whisk together the red wine vinegar, the dijon mustard, and a pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper until the salt is dissolved. Slowly drizzle the olive oil into the vinegar and mustard mixture, whisking continuously to emulsify. Finally, stir in the capers. 

When the rice, potatoes, and green beans are cooked, toss them with the chunk chicken meat, the vinaigrette, and the feta cheese. Serve immediately, and enjoy!

Memorial Day in Vermont

How was everyone's Memorial Day weekend? We spent ours with our good friends and newlyweds, Crystal and Troy. They are fellow Longhorns who have also relocated to New England. We drove up to their home in New Hampshire on Saturday morning and kicked off the festivities with a feast of homemade pasta by Chef Crystal. There was pesto pasta salad, spinach angel hair pasta and fettuccine with bolognese sauce, cheese and mushroom stuffed ravioli, salad, sauteed shrimp, and a fruit and cheese spread. And wine of course! I think I'm going to write my own thank you note to whoever bought them a pasta maker for their wedding!

After lunch, we drove to Quechee, Vermont (home of the gorgeous Quechee Gorge) and shopped for Vermont-y wares like maple syrup, Cabot cheese, maple cream, local honey, Green Mountain Coffee, etc at the Cabot Quechee Store and homemade soaps and candles at Whisper Hill Bath and Body. If you pay them a visit, don't miss out on the Vermont Toy Museum located upstairs of the Cabot Quechee Store!

After driving through adorable Woodstock with its cute shops, restaurants, and Gillingham & Sons general store along Central Street, our next stop was for a beer flight at Long Trail Brewing in Bridgewater. We grabbed a table out on their back patio, alongside the swiftly flowing Ottauquechee River. We snacked on complimentary popcorn, sipped our beers (the favorite was the Berliner-Weisse, their newest Brown Bag Series), and enjoyed the view.

Us at Long Trail Brewing! Cheers!

For dinner that evening, we popped into Elixir Restaurant, a cute local spot in a renovated Freight House right off the train tracks in White River Junction. Small town Vermont prices are so much better than Boston prices, and even more importantly, the food was very good. We loved the coconut-red curry mussels, the truffle fries, and  the filet mignon! But even better than the food and drink was the company!

Sunday morning, we made the beautiful drive to Norwich, Vermont for their Memorial Day Parade. Crystal and Troy are both members of the Upper Valley Community Band and were esteemed parade participants! While they warmed up with the band, my husband and I explored the tiny, adorable town. From swinging in front of the elementary school to walking along the shaded streets to exploring Dan and Whit's General Store, we loved this little community.

Eventually, we plopped down our chairs along Main Street with the local folks and families and waited for the parade to go by. Children were eating popsicles and waving American flags. Parents were chatting and waving at friends. Puppies played in the grass. Eventually the parade began, local military service members, boy scouts, the band, all trailed by the local fire truck. Small town life at its best!

After the parade, we headed over to Jasper Murdoch's Alehouse at the Norwich Inn for lunch. It's such a pretty inn, and Jasper Murdoch's offers some pretty good brews and food. If you stop in for a meal, give the eggplant fries a shot. Delicious!

After lunch, we made our final stop in Vermont: King Arthur Flour. Located right outside Norwich, this is truly a baker's paradise. On site, they have their own bakery and cafe, they offer all kinds of baking classes, and they have a kitchen store that I practically had to be dragged out of. There are more baking ingredients than you could imagine and a ridiculous amount of cute kitchen accessories: pie pans, kitchen towels, aprons, spatulas, cupcake liners, you name it. What I wouldn't give to have this store around the corner from me, though it's probably better for my wallet that it's not. It was a real treat to pay them a visit.

Sunday afternoon we bid Crystal and Troy farewell and made the trek back down to Boston, the back of the car noticeably more full with all of the spoils from our trip. Now to put everything to good use!

Broiled Salmon with Avocado Tzatziki

Last week I bought some salmon filets for my husband to cook out on the grill. Well, I should have checked the weather, because that evening, it was pouring down rain. Instead of scrapping our plans and ordering pizza, I decided to use the broiler instead. Just like the grill, it was quick, and cleanup was a cinch (thanks to a foil-lined baking sheet). I topped the salmon with a squeeze of broiled lemon and a generous dollop of avocado tzatziki, which while probably inauthentic was quite delicious. The creamy and cool avocado, greek yogurt, and sour cream is incredibly flavorful thanks to the jalapeno, lemon, and cilantro, and the cucumber adds some nice crunch.  It's perfect with the salmon, but I bet it would also be great with grilled chicken, spread onto a sandwich, or even as a dip with pita wedges or pita chips. Enjoy!

Serves 4

Ingredients

~1.5 lb salmon, cut into 4 filets

1 avocado, peeled and diced

6 oz greek yogurt

1/4 cup sour cream

1/2 - 1 jalapeno, seeded and roughly chopped

2 lemons, 1 zested and juiced, 1 halved

2 mini cucumbers, diced

1/4 - 1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped

salt and pepper

olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven broiler to high.

In the bowl of a food processor, add avocado, greek yogurt, sour cream, jalapeno, and zest and juice of 1 lemon. Puree until smooth and completely blended, scraping down the sides of the bowl at least once if necessary. 

Scrape the avocado yogurt mixture into a bowl, and stir in diced cucumber, cilantro, and salt and pepper to taste. Chill for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Rub the salmon filets with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and place skin side down on a foil lined baking sheet. Rub two lemon halves with olive oil and place alongside the salmon on the baking sheet.

Place the baking sheet under the broiler for 4 minutes. Remove and flip the salmon skin side up using a spatula. Return the baking sheet to the broiler for another 5 minutes. 

Remove the baking sheet and return the salmon to skin side down. The fish should be flaky and done. Squeeze the broiled lemon over the filets, and serve topped with a dollop of the avocado tzatziki.