This Week's Food

PUTTING THE "FUN" IN FUNGI

(If you're wondering if I spent a significant amount of time yesterday googling mushroom puns, wonder no more. Guilty as charged.)

One of our favorite things is when a farmer calls us mid-week to tell us about a huge harvest. Elizabeth from Fat Moon Farm called to say they had a bounty of beautiful oysters and other varieties and asked if we were interested. Holy Shiitake are we ever! (Ok, I'll stop.)

We absolutely love saying yes to these questions. It helps us get a diversity of beautiful products in your shares, helps support our local farmers and eliminates waste. All of which are really core to our mission at Family Dinner. 

On-demand eating and groceries arriving at your house in 30 seconds by rabid drones may be convenient, but it's not great for farmers or the environment and certainly doesn't address the issue of waste. 

When you place your weekly order with us on Mondays, it takes us a full week to fill your shares.  During that time we are scurrying around to different farms and bakeries; picking up produce, tasting new cheeses, having conversations with growers; and yes, cleaning hundreds and hundreds of bags. It takes us time because we want to get it right.  We want to curate a share where the ingredients marry well together, where there is diversity in the products and where we can support this distributed network of local growers like Elizabeth. 

We take the time because we love the process and because we have so mushroom in our hearts for all of you!

Thanks for being part of this process!

Good Morning !

DON'T FEAR THE REAPER

In Beyonce's transformative work, Formation, she tells the world: "I got Hot Sauce in my bag".

Beyonce is obviously a genius and I would do anything she tells me but I'm not one to carry a purse. If I did, it would certainly have a bottle of Sweet Reaper sauce in it.  Sweet Reaper is the spicy sweet creation of Chef Nathan Gould, Chef at O Ya, Boston's mind-blowingly delicious sushi restaurant. Almost a year ago Chef Nathan told us about this sauce and gave us a bottle to try. We have been pestering him for more ever since. 

"Sweet Reaper began in a hot kitchen on the small island of St. John, USVI. A firey hot pepper sauce blended with sweet white onions, garlic, and vinegar can be found on most Carribean tables. After falling in love with this style of hot sauce, the Sweet Reaper recipe was born.

For almost a decade now Sweet Reaper has been made for kitchen staff only, making its way into family meals, late night pizza or raw bar, the cooler for day-off boat trips, and occasionally the hands of staff sneaking bottles home."

We are excited to have bottles in our whole and double shares this week. If the taste leaves you clamoring for more, check out his site and stock up for your purse, fanny pack or truck center console. You will never want to be without this.

LOVELY LEAFIES

Lettuce shouldn't be scary. It's just greens after all.  But this year the Center for Disease Control put its solemn kibosh on greens coming from the Salinas Valley in California due to reports of E.Coli being linked to greens from this region. This wouldn't sound so frightening if Salinas weren't a major producer of the lettuce we consume throughout the country. 

This part of the state is so fertile that it earned the nickname "The Nation's Salad Bowl" which, when we're talking about an E.Coli outbreak, is just super gross. And hey, I've had E.Coli and I can tell you from experience it's not all that fun. (If you ever have an hour to kill ask me about the time I ate an ill-advised pork sandwich at a train station in Poland. It's a riveting tale.)

To make matters less appetizing, these greens travel over 3,000 miles to get to you plate. Which brings up more than a few questions about freshness, food miles and CO2 emissions. What the heck would Greta Thunberg have to say about that? ( I just LOVE her. Did you know her middle name is Tintin?)

There is, of course, a better solution. Beautiful Local lettuces are being grown year round in New England  by our friends at Clark Farm (Carlisle, MA), LEF Farms (Loudon, NH) and Generation Farm (Concord, NH) and Queen's Greens (Amherst, MA).  We try to get you a variety week to week; spinach, salad mix; baby kale and micro greens to safely and deliciously brighten up your winter plates. 

Harvested within a day of delivery, sent from the farm to Family Dinner and delivered right to your door. We hope you love 'em.

BALLERS OF FAMILY DINNER

Let's talk Sports! 

Wait, wait! - don't go away just yet. I'm not talking about the corporate juggernaut that is about to land in Miami with its pithy beer commercials, questionable ethics and scantily clad cheerleaders. 

No. This weekend, while every television station and news outlet is laser focused on the Superbowl we want to dedicate our humble soapbox to Women's Sports and some of the local Super Stars who also just happen to be Family Dinner members. (And yes, we do take credit for all of their successes. You can't win Championships without a balanced diet of local food.)

Boston is a city that is no stranger to Championships and that tradition of excellence is extended by two teams who are dear to us:

KITCHEN YODA

We'll admit to having way too many cookbooks. From Indian to Classic French Pastry our shelves are full of them, crammed with beautiful glossy photos and slightly complicated recipes. 

But, to be honest, most don't see every day use. Frankly, I don't always have time to sous-vide a tomato before passing it through a centrifuge and applying it, using a microscope, with tweezers to my plate at 7pm on a weeknight. I'm just not that motivated.

One book that I turn to over and over is Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden. (Obligatory note: we get nothing out of this commercially or otherwise- we just love the heck out of this and want to share it with you!)

This book is a wall-to-wall love letter to seasonal vegetables penned by the Master. Vegetables are venerated on center stage and highlighted using normal ingredients and approachable preparations. 

It's the perfect company for your weekly Family Dinner share. Think Winter Squash and Leek Risotto, Smashed Rutabaga with Apples and Ham or Grated Carrot Salad with Walnuts and Burrata (hello!).

Of the book Chef Dan Barber of Blue Hill says it best: "This is not a cookbook for coffee tables or artfully curated bookshelves. Its recipes demand to be tasted until the pages are dog-eared and sauce-splattered and stick together." 

So if you're looking to up your veggie game, without having to use CRISPR on your cabbage, this is might be the book for you.

(And yes, I just made a CRISPR joke in a food blog. We're that nerdy.)

Good Morning! 

Just a reminder about the "In Season Dinner" series, a collaboration between Forge and Family Dinner.  This year we are kicking off with the famed Pizza and Beer night.  There will be tasty brews from Idle Hands and pizza from the magicians at Forge.

It all takes place on January 30th, 6:30 pm at Forge Baking Co in Somerville.  Tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite - we would love to see you there!

Also: CALLING ALL BAGS!  if you have a treasure trove of Family Dinner bags or ice packs - maybe you're taking them on vacation or letting your kids built a fort of out them that looks like Hogwarts (if so, send pics!) - we would love them back!  You can leave them out for your driver or exchange them in person for a high five!

Thanks!!

Erin + Tim

A TRIP ACROSS THE POND

Today we are headed to see these wonderful people at Heron Pond to pick up Sweet Potatoes (400#- that's a lot of spuds!) for the shares and Cranberries to bring to Forge for their new pastry special. Heron Pond is in South Hampton, NH, right over the border.

From their site: Heron Pond Farm is owned and operated by Greg Balog and Andre Cantelmo. Friends from college where they studied soil science, they have been a team for twenty years. Heron Pond is a four season farm that grows over 250 varieties of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. Farming year-round has allowed us to grow and maintain an incredibly skilled and experienced staff whose passion brings higher yields, quality, and flavor to our food all year long.

It's a beautiful drive through Amesbury and down the long winding road that leads to the farm; no matter the weather I have the windows down and the music up.  It's a classic rock kind of a drive, if you know what I mean.  There's a real joy in meeting the people who grow the food we love to bring you; knowing their passion and trusting their process. Whether it's talking with Tad about meat or visiting Sarah at Vinal to pick up hundreds of her perfect English Muffins, its like being part of a big happy food Family. 

And so we'll spend this frigid New England day driving around in a truck full of hundreds of pounds of potatoes, hundreds of heads of lettuce drinking perfectly roasted Tandem coffee and cranking Queen's greatest hits with the windows down - all to bring you another week of delicious food from this wonderful Family. That's the dream right there.

Howdy! 

It is that time of year again, time to humble brag about our awesome collaboration with Forge Baking Co to bring you the "In Season Dinner" series.  This year we are kicking off with the famed Pizza and Beer night.  Idle Hands Brewing will provide the suds and Forge will provide the alchemy that turns flour and water into the most perfectly doughy, chewy crust imaginable. And it will all be topped with locally sourced goodies from your friends (us!) at Family Dinner.

It all takes place on January 30th, 6:30 pm at Forge Baking Co in Somerville.  Tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite - we would love to see you there!

With Pizza and Love,

Erin + Tim

Happy 2020 Folks!

It's been another great year at Family Dinner! We have been expanding - more cities and towns, more drivers, more wonderful members and more Farms and Producers that make the incredible food we are honored to bring you every week.

And it's been a year of growth and new horizons for us as well. Erin left MIT after 11 years to be fully at the Family Dinner helm, Tim has been focusing more on optimizing and streamlining processes - we even promoted Frank to CDO status - Chief Dog Officer. It's been a whirlwind.

We are incredibly grateful to everyone's support, love, patience and feedback as we continue this journey into 2020.

Love,

Erin, Tim + Frank

* And speaking of growing the Family, we have a promo going for 50% off new customers' first order with the code 2020 at checkout. Is your brother interested in grass fed meats? Are your co-workers always reading these emails over your shoulder? Is the town librarian an aspiring locavore? Spread the word and give them some love. And thank you!

... I say "let's make BLTs!!!"  Oh wait. That doesn't rhyme at all. 

Anyway, today we are headed out to Hadley, MA to visit Five College Farms and pick up a truck full of tomatoes for the shares this week! (spoiler alert: there's also Bacon from Tad!)

A bit about them:

 "Five College Farms is a USDA certified organic farm nestled in Hadley, in the verdant Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts. We are a 72 acre farm with  2 acres farmed  under roof in our greenhouses. We’re all about growing some of the healthiest produce.  Currently, we grow several varieties of certified organic tomatoes. Our organic tomatoes are vine ripened and harvested by hand at peak ripeness. All of our tomatoes are grown in greenhouses, which means that you can enjoy healthy and locally grown produce year round." 

Hence, the indescribable joy of a perfectly delicious tomato for your perfect BLT in the dead of Winter. It's like magic.

We are really looking forward to picking these gems out today. Who knows, maybe Erin will even relive her undergrad days at UMass and drink some terrible beer, eat a whole pizza by herself while throwing a frisbee into the wind and listening to Ani DiFranco on repeat.  Ah, the Zoo.

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and is enjoying a Happy Hanukkah.

Cheers,

Erin + Tim

Hello!

They say it's the most wonderful time of the year and we totally agree. It's the time of year when you can wear foolish jammies, put brandy in all of your warm beverages and watch Love Actually AND Die Hard on repeat. What's not to love? 

This week we have a few reminders:

-We are selling amazing meats for your Holiday table. Holiday Roasts will be delivered on 12/24, just in time. Choose from Prime Rib, Pork Shoulder Roasts, Whole Chickens and More! Add on Bacon, Eggs for brunch left overs!

-We still have Gift Cards! Give the good gift of Food.

We hope you enjoy everything the season has to offer. Have an extra slice of pie, ogle at Bruce Willis a little longer and hug the folks you love just a little tighter.

Much Love,

Erin + Tim

FLOUR POWER:

For this week's grain we turned to Noah and Sophie (pictured, photo by Paul Carey Goldberg) from Aprilla Farm in Essex, MA. Aprilla is a beautiful place, nuzzled by the Castle Neck and Essex River estuaries. They milled Wheat Flour for Family Dinner just this week, to order.  You may be saying to yourself: Grains? In Massachusetts? What the Holy Heck are you talking about?

At Aprilla they explain it this way:

"As farmers in the 19th century pushed west, it’s not hard to understand how big stretches of flat prairie were enticingly able to pump out a huge amount of shelf-stable, shippable, commodity calories. Subsequently, the small, regionally-adapted New England grain varieties, and the knowledge, threshing, milling, and baking infrastructure that accompanied them slowly died out in the Northeast.
 
And yet, at Alprilla, we’ve made a significant push to try our hand at growing wheat, flint corn, barley, and beans. Our reasons are both intellectual and practical. As Noah says, the Local Food Movement can’t be just a Produce Movement; We need beer and bread, too."

Beer and Bread. Sounds like supper is ready. 

Enjoy!

In Mariah Carey's breathy rendition of the classic holiday jam, she croons:

"I don't want a lot for Christmas, there is just one thing I need...

Make my wish come truuuuue... All I want for Christmas is youuuuuu"

We think this dazzling Diva has it all wrong. At Family Dinner we're going with the slight but essential edit of :

" All I want for Christmas (Hanukkah/Kwanza/Festivus/Finish Independence Day) is FOOOOOOOOOOOOOD"

That's right folks; this year skip the footed jammies, the Frozen 2 Electric Toothbrush set and the stuffed armadillo. This year give folks a gift they will really love - a Family Dinner Gift Certificate! They come in Veggie Only, Half, Whole and Double Share sizes. 

Hello!

Welcome back, we missed you! We thank you for your patience with us as we took the past week off to spend time with family and give our amazing team a moment to breathe.

We hope you enjoyed the holiday with delicious provisions and passable time with Family with minimal quarrels about sports and politics. 

We also want to send a nod and some love to folks for whom the holidays, these in particular, are a time marbled with joy and sadness. Maybe the missing of someone, the sadness of time passing have you not feeling so joyful.  We started taking this week off when my father passed two years ago when Family Dinner was just a baby. It's been a bittersweet season since and we appreciate the time and space to reflect, to be sad and to let food and laughter heal what ails us.

All that said, we have some fun goods in store for this week. Steak from Tad, tomatoes to make you dream of summer and a soapbox sermon about the merits of cast iron pans. 

We hope you enjoy.

Erin, Tim and Frank the Dog

NOTE: 

The snow is making driveways/pathways a little more complicated. If you're not home, please make sure your cooler is somewhere accessible! Our drivers appreciate it!

One Pan to Rule Them All:

Yes. We are making a culinary Lord of the Rings Reference. Yes, we are nerds. And yes you are correct...no one invited us to Prom.

I digress.

The world is full of fancy kitchen crap you don't actually need. The avocado peelers and melon ballers are just as well served by the sharp knives and dull spoons you already have. But if Cast Iron pans are in a different category.

If you love to cook and don't have a cast iron, it might be time to dive in. I cook everything except scrambled eggs in ours. That includes meat, fish, fried rice, frittata and fresh baked bread. 

We prefer Lodge pans and have a slew of them. The basics are under $30, you can buy them anywhere and treated correctly you will have them until Hell freezes over. (Which, given Climate Change, may be before the 2020 elections).

They're great Christmas Gifts, cool Yankee Swaps and amazing weapons of self-defense in the unlikely event of a burglary.