Hiroko Shimbo has been teaching Japanese cooking in her native Tokyo, New York, Spain, and England for 15 years, which has given her new opportunities in the restaurant industry as Americans become ever more captivated with the food of her culture. She was the culinary consultant for Taneko Japanese Tavern , which opened earlier this …
Read moreWESTFORD — Louise Donahue looks for an empty cake rack on her kitchen table, brimming with baked goods. “We’ve already had one disaster today,” she says as she sets down the hot pan of butterscotch bars her 10-year-old son, Greg, has prepared for the 51st annual Middlesex County 4-H Fair. The bars go next to …
Read moreTOKYO — The passion in Japanese souls is never more evident than at a “matsuri” — a festival that is part Mardi Gras, part history lesson, and part food festival. From local neighborhood fetes to large-scale city events, matsuri celebrate everything from rites of passage to changing seasons to local culture. They even are used …
Read moreMENFI, Italy — We weave our way out of the densely packed city of Palermo at rush hour and drive south through western Sicily. The road slices through a valley surrounded by huge rocky outcroppings. The sky is a deep blue and green fields stretch ahead like a velvet patchwork bordered by a riot of …
Read morePALERMO, Italy — Nestled among the faded gray and peeling concrete buildings, some still cratered by World War II bombings, sits one of the liveliest markets in Sicily. Bright red and blue awnings cover hundreds of stalls in the colorful Ballarò, the most extensive of many markets in this charming, chaotic city. I traverse the …
Read moreTOKYO — Pass the neighborhood shrine, pass the smell of charcoal-roasted fish, pass the sushi shop, pass a noodle spot. Then comes a surprise: The unmistakable aroma of grilled burgers and fries from a restaurant a few doors down. In Tokyo, anything culinary is a possibility. Yes, there is American fast food here — McDonald’s …
Read moreWatching a chef create individual pieces of sushi at lightning speed is quite a sight. Rice is compressed into a perfect oval in a slightly cupped palm and topped with a thin slice of fish. Artistry and skill and many years of practice are in evidence. But without any training or experience at a sushi …
Read moreLEXINGTON — Deep green, earthy spirals wound as tight as coils, fiddleheads burst into the spring produce bin for a few weeks. They’re shoots, and they’re at their best when tightly coiled. They grow into graceful ostrich ferns — but alas, the pretty ferns are no longer edible. Fiddleheads’ spiral shape gives rise to their …
Read moreSOMERVILLE — Paper bunnies and decorated eggs adorn the picture windows at La Contessa Bakery Cafe here. Huge chocolate Easter eggs wrapped in colorful cellophane hang above the counter waiting for excited children. On a top shelf, along with a statue of St. Anthony, are boxes of sweet Italian bread baked in the shape of …
Read moreIn the family of Japanese one-pot wonders — sukiyaki among them — the standout dinner is yosenabe, a mixture of seafood, chicken, tofu, glass noodles, and vegetables. Diners use their chopsticks to dip into a communal earthenware pot on a portable burner. Inside the pot is a simmering broth filled with the seafood, vegetables, and …
Read moreTwo great frozen desserts are granitas, which are coarse-grained Italian ices, and sorbets, which have a creamy texture even when they’re not made with milk. For both, begin by pureeing the fruit that is in abundance now. Add super-fine sugar and fresh citrus juice for a tart twist that adds depth to the fruit flavor. …
Read moreSushi rice is short-grain white rice that is cooked and mixed with rice vinegar and sugar. This, of course, is the rice you’re biting into when you sit down to a plateful of sushi. What you put on or in the rice determines the kind of sushi. But there are other dishes — which don’t …
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