At EVOO, we always had big buckets full of dill pickles. At lunch, we served them as a side on our sandwich plates; we also used them in whatever recipes called for dill pickles, such as roasted pepper-pickle relish, which we sometimes served with grilled meats. I also remember an olive-pickle compote that paired very well with grilled striped bass. Another favorite is potato-pickle salad, which I still make regularly. Of course, we would use these delicious dills in tartar sauce. We would also serve them as an accompaniment to many of our homemade charcuterie items, such as smoked bluefish pate, country pate, and liver mousse.
I miss these pickles.
That’s why I decided it was about time to make them at home.
I figured if I bought about 8 lbs, that would be sufficient to get me through until next year’s harvest.
Once again, I headed off to my local farmers’ market; the Arlington Market is my go-to on Wednesdays. I picked through the bin of pickling cucumbers; I favor the small to medium-sized firm cucumbers. In my opinion, they make the best pickles. If they’re too big, they tend to be soft and seedy. I like to pick cucumbers all around the same size, so that they all pickle evenly.
The first thing that I did was to trim the blossom end off of the cucumbers. There are some enzymes in the blossom end that will soften the pickles; I like firm, crisp pickles.
Be sure to rinse the cucumbers thoroughly under cold water.
All the ingredients are divided into 2 each 8 quart containers. Well, almost all the ingredients are in there; I still need to add a couple of grape leaves to each container. The grape leaves are tannic and will also help keep the pickles crisp and firm.
The Pickles are all set to be placed in the back of my refrigerator for at least a month before I give them a try; this I am looking forward to.
An added bonus to this recipe is that the onions and garlic are delicious pickles in their own right. At EVOO, we often batter and fry the pickled onion rings. I also recall making pickled garlic aioli that we used on several different dishes, including on a few versions of our “Burger of the Week” as well as an accompaniment to fried seafood. The pickled garlic is also great sliced thin and put on salads; the pickling takes the hot bite out of the garlic, leaving a nice crisp, flavorful garlic pickle.
Go to your local farmers’ market. Do it this week before it’s too late; the season will be over before you know it. Make it happen, grab several ears of corn, and process them. It’s just too easy not to do it. A little bit of effort provides you with delicious local corn throughout the year.
Corn from my local farmers’ market.
Here’s what I do: I shuck the corn, discard the husks, and wipe away the silk. Then, using a large, sharp knife, I cut the kernels off the cobs, making sure to cut as close to the cob as possible without cutting too deep; you don’t want hard bits of cob in with the kernels.
Shucked.
You could stop there, bag and freeze the kernels, and be done. However, I add a couple more steps to preserve even more corn flavor.
Corn cobs and kernels separated.
First, using the back side of the same large knife, I scrape the cobs, releasing the germ and some corn pulp that I will add to soup or risotto for a deeper corn flavor.
Scraped cobs for that little bit extra.
The other thing that I do is bag and freeze the cobs; I will use them to make the corn stock that I will use for soup and risotto.
The scraping do add up.
Another thing that I have done in the past is dry the cobs and use them in my smoker, adding a nice sweet smoke flavor to whatever I am smoking; this works best with fish and pork.
Cobs, kernels and scrapings bagged and ready for the freezer.
At EVOO, we did this every summer to smoke bluefish for our very popular Cob Smoked Bluefish Fillet with Corn Risotto, Grilled Zucchini, Tomato-Basil Relish and Spiced Popcorn.
EVOO’s bluefish with corn 3 ways.
Keep in mind that when the local corn season ends, Za’s very popular Corn Za will also be done until sometime next July. Get it while you can!
I love poblanos! Their mild earthy bitter pepper flavor is something I look forward to every summer. Every so often you may find one that is quite spicy, however that is not the norm.
For many years, at the height of the season, late summer, I have bought several pounds of poblanos to process them for use throughout the year.
Red and green poblanos on the grill.
Here’s what I do: on my outdoor gas grill set to high heat, I char the peppers, blistering the skins, which loosens the skin so that I can peel them, as well as cooks the peppers. After charring them, I let them sit covered, at room temperature, this step steams them a bit, which also helps loosen the skin for easier peeling. I then peel, de-stem and de-seed the peppers. From there I separate them onto small ziplock bags and freeze them for later use.
Separated into small bags and frozen poblanos
They are quite versatile, and I use them in several ways; this year, I have already made a batch of corn-poblano chowder. Throughout the year, I will use them in salsas, on salads, as a topping for baked potatoes, in enchiladas, and in chili. I also pick the nicest, most intact ones to use for making rellenos; for this dish I leave the peppers whole, making a slit from the stem to the tip, so that I can remove the seeds. I then stuff the pepper with whatever filling I choose at the time; chicken, beef, roasted butternut squash, and cheese are some of my favorites.
A blast from the past, a dish that was on EVOO’s autumn menu back in 2021: Poblano Chili Relleno with creamed corn and fresh tomato salsa.
With not too much effort, poblanos can be a year round staple in your local kitchen too.
Once again, it’s that time of year; where did the summer go? It’s time to preserve the summer’s local bounty, starting with canning tomatoes.
Here is a pictorial of how I canned more than 2 cases, about 50 pounds of local tomatoes. 40 pounds came from Verrill Farm in Concord, MA; the remaining 10 pounds were from my backyard garden.
First, using a small sharp knife, I cut the core out and put a shallow X, just through the skin on the opposite side of each tomato. I then blanched the tomatoes, in several batches, in simmering water for not more than 30 seconds, then I placed them in an ice bath before removing and discarding the skins.A bucket full of peeled tomatoes.I then cut all the tomatoes in half along the equatorial line.I then gently squeezed out the seeds, reserving and straining them, pouring some of the strained liquid into the pot with the peeled and seeded tomatoes. I wanted to have some liquid in the pot for when I started to cook the tomatoes; this will cut down on the possibility of burning the tomatoes before they break down from the heat in the pan.50 pounds is a lot of tomatoes! This 4-gallon pot is almost full and all set to be cooked.The tomatoes are on the heat and are starting to break down.After about 45 minutes on medium-high heat, the tomatoes were fully cooked and mostly mushy. At this point, I ran them through the coarse die of a food mill.Hot milled tomatoes are ready to be placed in mason jars.All jarred up, in a simmering water bath for 15 minutes.50 pounds of tomatoes worked down to 13 quart jars.Jars are dated only with the year. I won’t be doing more tomatoes this year, so the year is the only date that I need.Put-up in the cellar for use throughout the following year.
This winter was tough on our old worn out awnings.
Worn and torn.
In 2004, the year we opened for business, we had the original awnings installed, in 2006 a truck backed into the awning on Milton Street, requiring us to replace that awning and to place a planter on the sidewalk to prevent future truck mishaps.
An older photo showing the original awnings
The awning on Milton Street, gets the most sun and wind and had the most damage done to it this winter. It was completely torn apart. The other awnings had various amounts of wear and tear happening, none of them seemed like they would be able to withstand another rough winter, so we decided it was time to replace them all.
After a few unanswered calls and emails to the company that originally manufactured and installed the awnings, I figured the awnings lasted 20 plus years, the company did a good job and deserved my long awaited repeat business. However, their lack of follow up led me to the internet in search of a highly reputed awning company. A very quick search led me to the Google 5 star rated local company Lafuente Sign and Awning. I emailed them and Andrew, the owner called, me back within an hour. He came by later the same day did some measurements and sent me a quote the next day.
We were quickly put on their schedule, his crew came by and removed the old awnings and took them to their shop where they would clean, seal and paint the frames before adding the new fabric and graphics.
Pre-painting.
I took advantage of the awnings being down by painting the exterior walls behind where the awnings would hang, I also rewired and repositioned our outdoor speakers, which hadn’t worked in a couple of years.
Post-painting.
All and all it was a quick seamless process with good communication from Andrew and his crew. A couple of weeks after the awnings were removed the new ones were put in place and are looking better than ever.
At Za we have always made our own desserts. We almost always have some sort of cheesecake on our menu; our most recent version is this salted caramel one. Salted caramel seems to be everywhere these days- candies, cookies, sauce, coffee flavoring, I’ve even seen it as a whiskey flavor; there is a simple reason for that…It’s delicious.
Cheesecake is easy to make, it just takes a bit of time. You have to have the correct pan, a 9 or 10 inch springform pan. And you need to plan ahead, you can’t decide at 4pm that your going to make a cheesecake for that nights dinner party. This cheesecake recipe calls for you to bake it for an hour and a half and then it needs to set, preferably overnight, before it can be cut and enjoyed.
So, if you have a springform pan and the time to prepare this recipe, you wont be disappointed.
At Za we serve this cheesecake with some homemade chocolate sauce, freshly whipped cream and cashew – coconut crunch.
Don’t worry if you don’t have the time, or desire, to make it for yourself, we will be happy to make it for you.
In 2022 the extended McCarthy family took another vacation. This one to Portugal, 18 of us spent a week holed up in a luxurious newly built villa the Algarve followed by 4 days in a large, very hot, air-conditionless, downtown Lisbon townhouse.
In true McCarthy fashion while in the Algarve we had a blast, whether we were hiking on top of cliffs overlooking the Atlantic, riding on some highly powered R.I.B.s (Rigid Inflatable Boats) looking up at and entering caves under those same cliffs, swimming in one of the villas two pools or at the near by beach, it was nonstop fun.
We also ate and drank very well, there were many beachside restaurants serving classic Portuguese favorites like bacalao and sardines. With 2 professional chefs and several aspiring way-better-than-most-home-cooks amongst our ranks we did not suffer when we did our own cooking. As far as drinking, the local Portuguese wine was inexpensive and plentiful, the beer was crisp, cold and also cheap. Several of the teenager McCarthy’s took advantage of the lower and laxer drinking age requirements (hello Shane).
After the week at the beach we headed to Lisbon for a few days. I do love this kind of vacation, chilling at the beach followed by exploring in the city. Lisbon and our day trip to the small, mountainous town of Sentra were great, we jammed so many memories into such a short period of time.
This photo was not one that I had much time to think about, we, some of us, not all 18 of us, were walking near the rented townhouse and I saw the streetcar coming down the street. It stopped a few feet in front of us and I looked up thinking that it would be a good photo. I had just enough time to dig my phone out and take quick photo before the street car stared moving again heading directly towards me. I got lucky, the photo came out great and whenever I see it it conjures up some cool memories, the photo hangs in Za’s women’s restroom. Because of its location I do not see this photo everyday, when I do it always congers up some great memories.
Here’s a few more photos from our family’s 2022 Portuguese adventure.
This recipe is not my best, nor my favorite, it’s not even a recipe that I have ever used at any restaurant that I’ve owned or worked in.
It’s my #1 because it’s the one that I have made and still make the most, almost every week, sometimes twice a week. There is never a long period of time in which I go without making this recipe and I eat at least 80% of it myself. My daughter tells me that I am addicted, I am not denying her.
This recipe is based on a recipe that I got from my good friend and brother-in-law Dan. I have adapted it into my own, trying different variations, liking most of them. However, I have settled on the variation I like best.
Dan found this recipe online about 25 years ago, it is called “Restaurant Style Salsa”. It is very simple to make, as is my version, really just chop a bunch of ingredients in a food processer for less than a minute and your done.
A photo of the “Restaurant Style Salsa” recipe that Dan passed along to me.
I’ve tried substituting canned fire roasted tomatoes for the canned whole peeled tomatoes, which totally changed the salsa, giving it a strong roasted somewhat smoky flavor, which is nice for a change. I’ve even done half fire roasted and half not, also good.
Another time or two I have substituted chipotle pepper (canned in adobo sauce) for the jalapeno; the chipotles added some nice leathery smoke. If used in a batch that also contained the fire roasted tomatoes the chipotles brought the salsa to another level; very good, but still not my favorite variation.
In addition to those substitutions, I have, at times tried adding grilled/roasted peppers, roasted garlic and/or grilled/caramelized onions to this recipe and it’s top-notch. However, the recipe goes from whirling some stuff in a food processor to having to grill, roast and caramelize. Which can be time consuming endeavors. However, if I were to have one or more of these ingredients ready to go in my fridge, I’d add some, though I probably wouldn’t prep them specifically for this salsa recipe.
The brand of tomatoes also makes a difference, be sure not to use tomatoes packed with basil or San Marzano tomatoes; some brands are packed with heavy puree, don’t use these either, the results are too tomatoey and too thick. One of my favorite brands, especially because it’s local, is Pastene, I don’t use it for my salsa though, it falls under the too tomatoey and too thick category. I do, however, use Pastene for Italian style tomato sauces. I’ve found that the cheap store brands of whole peeled tomatoes, organic or not, are usually best for this recipe.
For me I want to be able to make, and clean up after making this recipe in less than 10 minutes. This is more than doable, I’ve done it in less than 7, and yes I have timed myself.
My “go to” version of this recipe is the recipe that Dan gave me all pumped up. I double the amount of onion and garlic called for in the original recipe. I’ve also at least quadrupled the amounts of all of the spices. And I’ve also added a few ingredients to my version including a very generous amount of freshly ground black pepper, some finely grated carrot, which I love in this recipe, it adds color, texture, sweetness and earthy carrot-ness. On top of that I’ve also added smoked paprika, this adds some deep background smokiness without overpowering the other ingredients.
My pumped-up salsa recipe.
Whether you follow Dan’s “Restaurant Style” or my pumped-up version, the end result will be far superior to any store bought national brand salsa. I find most of them to be too sweet, too cooked, too starchy, too mushy, too cloying and lacking in texture as well as depth of flavor. Overall I think they kind of suck.
Don’t limit your taste enjoyment of this salsa to just a dip for corn chips. It also is great baked with flakey white fish such as cod, haddock, hake or pollack. All you have to do is generously slather the fish with the salsa and bake in a 375 degree oven until the fish is cooked through; depending on the thickness of the fish it could be as quick as 5 minutes or as long as 15 minutes.
It’s also great as a sauce for grilled chicken or pork; I have been known to spoon on top of cooked white rice. It’s a delicious, easy to make addition to anyone’s culinary repertoire.
I’m taking the same approach with the beer we serve as I do with the food we serve. “Keep it Local” this has been one of our mantras since we opened.
It used to be, a restaurant’s beer list had to be exclusively mass marketed beers, not necessarily good beer. Often times these beer lists were written by your beer distributor. These beers typically included mega brands such as Budweiser, Heineken (YUCK!), Miller Lite etc.. If you were really daring you would include such obscure brands such as Corona or even Amstel.
Then it became okay to add a “craft” brew or 2, Sam Adams did start a revolution, but you still had to offer the staples.
About 15 years ago, you could get away with not offering the national mega brands, however, you had to be prepared for the backlash. “WTF no Budweiser, I’ll just have water” was a common response and not the one we wanted, after all we are in the business of selling beer.
Going forward a few more years we were able to get to the point that we were just serving regional craft beers; New England and New York, which was a big step in the right direction. Enough restaurants were doing the same thing, costumers began to expect a good beer list. And with such a great selection of beers to choose from it was an easy transition. The hardest part was just deciding which great regional beers you wanted to try next.
Now, I am trying to make our beer list as local as possible. One of the hurdles for me is that people expect to see several different breweries on a list, not just a couple. My thought is if you go to a brewery, and most of them are busy, you are only offered that breweries beers. No one complains about that. Also traveling in Europe most restaurants offer just one breweries beers; I’m sure that they are receive financial benefits for doing so. That said, I wanted to make our list as local as possible.
Currently our 12 beer list consist of only beer from within greater Boston with the vast majority coming from the Arlington Brewing Co. and the Medford Brewing Co. If I could get all our beer offerings from these 2 breweries I would, I’m working on it.
These are 2 breweries where I have a personal relationship with the them, I know the people and I want to support them.
One of the Arlington Brewing Co. main people is the father of 2 former Za employees, one of which was a schoolmate of my son. One of their delivery people is another one of my son’s former classmates. These are my neighbors, people that are regular Za customers, they support us, we support them.
As for the Medford Brewing Co. it’s less than 2 miles from Za and the it’s place I go to for a beer with friends, it’s my local. When I place my orders it’s with one of the breweries 2 owners, and the other owner makes the deliveries. This is the type of business that I want to support. Also, on Sunday late morning’s the brewery sponsors a run, it’s casual, not a race. You go at your own pace and decide your own distance. Most people chose between 3, 5 or 7 mile, predetermined routes that all start and finish at the brewery. Nick, one of the brewery’s owners is often running along with us.
By limiting the number of breweries, we are not sacrificing quality. Both the selection and quality of the beers these breweries offer are top notch.
So, the next time you dine at Za, have a beer, most likely it will be from one of these 2 breweries.
Drink a beer or 2, and help us support our local business partners.
This photo is another that I took while I was out for a run. I was in Cuba with my dad, I went for a run along Havana’s ocean front walkway and seawall called El Malecón. The image I saw before taking this photo is one of those that I could completely imagine as a great photo. I initially ran right on by before it clicked in that I had to go back, it was only about 20 yards before I turned back to capture this moment. The fisherman in the forefront in complete shadow with the waves breaking onto him, the bright sun and the Havana skyline behind him, I had to have it.
The link below is a blog post that I published soon after returning from Cuba. The post will tell you all about our trip, why and where we went, it also has a number of other photos that you may enjoy.
