Red Lion Inn chef Brian Alberg and his Berkshire cohorts will be bringing the best of the Berkshires once again to the James Beard House in New York.

Local Chefs Travel to NYC
For Berkshire Pilgrimage Dinner

Wednesday, Nov. 4
Reception at 7, seated 6-course tasting menu dinner at 8 p.m.

On Wednesday evening, Berkshire fine dining activist Brian Alberg, executive chef of The Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge and Eat on North in Hotel on North in Pittsfield, will be taking six Berkshire chefs and a sommelier to New York to present the best the Berkshires has to offer in farm-to-table dining.

The chefs are Alberg; Adam Brassard, chef de cuisine of The Red Lion Inn; Sean Corcoran, chef de cuisine of Eat on North; Daire Rooney, chef of Mezze Catering & Events based in Williamstown; Dan Smith, chef-owner of John Andrews Farmhouse Restaurant in South Egremont; and Adam Zieminski, chef-owner of Café Adam in Great Barrington.

Dan Thomas, sommelier at The Red Lion Inn, will be presenting one of the inn's signature house ales and select Italian wines to accompany the reception and six-course dinner.

This will be the sixth dinner at the James Beard House that Alberg has created with a group of Berkshire chefs and his own 12th visit there to showcase Berkshire cuisine.

Tickets to events at the James Beard House, 167 West 12 St., New York City, are for the food and the experience. Alcoholic beverages are complimentary and are not part of the price of dinner. The price is $130 for James Beard Foundation members; $170 for the general public. For reservations or more information, 212-627-2308.

Menu

Hors d'oeuvres
Country gentleman sweet corn purée with pickled pepper mignonette
Silver fox rabbit bratwursts with Burgundian mustard
Smoked Rouen ducks with Eye of the Goat bean purée
Grilled heirloom carrots and beets with arugula and white balsamic
Patrick Piuze Val de Mar Crémant d'Bourgogne non non-dosé NV
Big Elm Brewing Lion's Ale

Dinner

Nantucket Bay scallop crudo with Berry Patch Sweet Lightning squash, Lakeview Orchard grapes and hazelnuts
Abbazia di Novacella Kerner 2014

Pork and beans and Raven & Boar pork kielbasawith slow-cooked Tongue of Fire beans, Hosta Hill sauerkraut and smoked horseradish mustard
Wieninger Wiener Gemischter Satz 2014

Climbing Tree Farm goose confit with Berry Patch Hubbard squash cake, stewed Farm Girl Farm Collards and Ioka Valley Farm hot maple butter
Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso 2013

Braised Lila's Mountain Lamb with Berry Patch Farm late-season cabbage, MX Morningstar Farm butternut squash, crispy oats, foraged Hen of the Woods mushrooms, and pickled Farm Girl Farm red pepper relish
Bedrock Wine Co. Evangelho Vineyard Heritage 2013

MX Morningstar Farm Kabocha squash cake with High Lawn Farm hazelnut praline ice cream and Turner Farms maple butter
Fattoria del Cerro Antonio da SanGallo Vin Santo di Montepulciano 2008

Cooking at The Chef's Shop Series
November Classes in Great Barrington

Thursday, Nov. 5; 5 to 7 p.m.
 

Michael Ballon's chicken with Cortland apples and cider sauce.

The Cooking at The Chef's Shop series continues this week with a class on Thursday about cooking chicken three ways – none of them roasting or deep-frying – taught by Michael Ballon, owner and chef of Castle Street Café in Great Barrington.

In addition to being the hands-on, in-the-kitchen-at-the-stove chef at his restaurant, Ballon also writes monthly food and recipe columns for Berkshire Home Style magazine and Berkshires' Best. He is also the author of two books, "Castle Street Café Cookbook" with lots of easy-to-follow recipes and some commentary; and a chefly memoir-with-recipes, "A Chef's Life: Farm-to-Table Cooking in the Berkshires."

Ballon says his teaching style is a combination of demonstration and hands on.

"Chopping things up, stirring pots ...  I'm sure I'll have some of them do that," he concluded.

He sent his three chicken recipes to Berkshire Tidbits for interested readers.

There is 10-percent discount on purchases made by students class day. Cost is $60 per person for a single class, $150 for a series of three. Payment is required in advance with a 48-hour cancellation policy. For more details or to reserve a place in any classes, 1-800-237-5284, 413-528-0135 or Email@TheChefsShop.com.

Here is Berkshire Tidbits adaptation of one of the chicken recipes Ballon will be cooking in this class. Perfect for the season with fresh fall apples and cider.

Chicken with Cortland Apples and Cider Sauce

2 Cortland apples

4 8 to 10-ounce French breasts of bone-in, skin-on chicken with the wing drumette attached

Salt and pepper

Butter or vegetable oil

2 tablespoons minced shallots

Dash nutmeg

2 cups apple cider

1/2 cup heavy cream

minced parsley for garnish

Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Warm four dinner plates.

Slice the apples into quarters. Remove the core and seeds. Cut into thin slices. Set aside.

Season chicken breasts all over with salt and pepper.

In a large skillet, over medium-high heat, heat a little butter or vegetable oil. When hot, add the chicken skin side down. Brown for 2 to 3 minutes. Turn the chicken over.

Add the shallots and sliced apples to the pan. Brown for 2 more minutes.

Add a dash of nutmeg, then the cider. Cover the skillet with a cover. Place in the preheated oven for 5 to 7 minutes.

Remove the skillet from the oven. Remove cover.

Place the skillet on a medium-high burner. Cook for another 2 minutes until the liquid reduces by almost half.

Add the cream. Cook for one more minute.

Place a chicken breast in the center of each warmed plate with the Frenched drumette pointing up. Arrange apple slices around breasts. Spoon cider sauce over top. Sprinkle with minced parsley. Serves 4.

'Manger! Boire! Eat! Drink!'
Weekly Cooking Demonstration

Thursday, Nov. 5; 6:30 p.m.

Yes! They are beginning this Thursday, Nov. 5. "Manger! Boire! Eat! Drink" is the weekly cooking class and casual wine pairing dinners Rachel Portnoy and Franck Tessier have manifested in their Chez Nous French Bistro, 150 Main St., in Lee, during fall and winter for the last six years.

Chez Nous this Thursday will be making ballottines including a salmon ballotine exactly like this.

"'Manger! Boire!' is much more casual than our formal wine dinners," Portnoy said.

"We pair two or three wines with the whole dinner which is more about the theme, more about the food. Then we find some wines that we have or get some through our distributor."

Each dinner has a theme carried out in the cooking demonstrations and the meal. Most evenings feature two courses demonstrated by Tessier plus dessert made by pastry chef Portnoy, who always creates recipe sheets, including one for her dessert, for diners to take home.

She said the dinners might follow the traditional appetizer, entrée, dessert pattern, "But, not always. It depends on the theme. It is however, always a full meal, with wines we have chosen to complement the whole meal."

The theme might be Basque foods – potato tortilla and Basque fish stew – with a pairing of Southwestern French wines and gâteau Basque/Basque cake for dessert. It could be risottos with Tessier demonstrating two different types and methods, one with the classic Arborio rice, one made with orzo pasta, followed by Portnoy's chocolate, pecan and prune Armagnac torte paired with an Italian white and a French red. Or how to use salt cod in an appetizer and an entrée paired with a California white and a Washington state red with a fruit cobbler to finish.

The theme for this Thursday will be ballottines.

"A salmon ballottine similar to what we just served at our wine dinner last Saturday, and one made with chicken," Portnoy said.

"I do not have the dessert, yet. But, for the wines, we are featuring organic wines from Europe in new packaging. In Tetra Paks. Cardboard cartons. Wines which are shockingly delicious!"

"Manger! Boire!" continues through mid-February when the couple and their family take a break and a vacation until spring.

The understandably popular meal is by reservation only and costs $35 plus tax and gratuity. Contact Chez Nous at 413-243-6397 or via the website for information and to make reservations.


Yoked Parish of Becket
Sets Free Community Dinner

Friday, Nov. 6; 5 to 7 p.m.

The Yoked Parish of Becket presents its free monthly pasta dinner this Friday. All are welcome.

Parish minister, the Rev. Kevin Smail said the meal includes a pasta dish, salad, Italian or garlic bread, beverages and an assortment of mostly homemade desserts.

The purpose of the regular meals is to build community, he said.

The free dinner will be at the parish house of the Becket Federated Church, 413-623-5217, 3381 Main St., across from the Becket Washington elementary school, just past the intersection with Route 8 in North Becket.



Macrobiotic Chef Chris Jenkins
Teaching Healthy Holiday Classes

Saturday, Nov. 7
Holiday desserts: 9:30 to 12:30
Holiday dinner: 2:30 to 5:30

Experienced macrobiotic chef Chris Jenkins is well known in our area and has quite a following. He will be at Kushi Institute in Becket this Saturday to teach a class on how to make healthy and delicious – not incompatible for Jenkins – holiday foods.

He will start the day with a baking class featuring sweets including dairy-free pumpkin pie with candied pecans, ginger cookies and chocolate truffles. His afternoon class will cover festive entrées: filet of sole stuffed with sourdough bread and, for vegans, stuffed winter squash with mushroom gravy. And plenty more dishes.

A single class costs $50 per person. The two cost $90.

The Kushi Institute is at 198 Leland Road, up the hill/High Street behind the Becket General Store on State Road/Route 8. Call 413-623-5741 or 800-975-8744 for more information or to register for a class.



Permaculture Expert to Speak
on 'Gardening to Save the World'

Saturday, Nov. 7; 7 p.m.

This coming Saturday, Berkshire Co-op Market and the Great Barrington Agricultural Commission will present Hudson Valley ecological designer, holistic farm planner, and educator Connor Stedman at the Mahaiwe Theater, 14 Castle St., in Great Barrington, to speak about how backyard gardens, woodlands and local farms can help slow climate change, restore the environment and build a resilient economy.

As a designer, educator, seed saver and naturalist, Steadman works with private citizens and large ecological and conservation organizations across the Northeast to restore properties from backyards to 300 acre farms to forests into healthy, living environments. Among other positions, he is lead faculty for the Omega Institute's Ecological Literacy Immersion Program.

Berkshire Co-op Market's annual meeting of co-op owners precedes Steadman's talk and starts at 5:30.

The talk is free to anyone who wants to attend. Members who attend the annual meeting will get priority seating. Seating is open to others at 6:50 on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information: community@berkshire.coop.

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