Winter is a time for comfort. Whether you’re celebrating with friends and family for the holidays or looking for a respite from the cold and wet, there’s no better comfort than a home-cooked meal. Fill your kitchen with inviting smells and impress your guests with these unique takes on time-honored dishes—created by chef, recipe developer, and food photographer Derek Bissonnette and inspired by in-season winter ingredients that can be found at the Maine co-op nearest you.
Bissonnette leaves the winter greens up to you in his Winter Greens Salad Bar, but he strongly recommends you decorate your leafy selection with his herbed goat cheese roulade, roasted root vegetables, and a garnish of roasted concord grapes and honey pecans. Each item, with its distinctive flavor, is highlighted and unified by the caramelization of roasting.
You may not consider celery to be anything special, but Bissonnette would disagree. This root vegetable, which tends to be in season until early winter, can be cooked, simmered, and pureed into a creamy, flavorful bisque. Bissonnette’s recipe adds an unexpected twist with beer-battered celery hearts.
For the main dish, a roasted pork loin is in order. This dish will take some planning, as it needs to sit in an apple cider brine for 12 hours, but the result is well worth the preparation. If you don’t plan to cook the loin right away after removing it from the brine, says Bissonnette, just rinse, wrap, and refrigerate it until you’re ready.
Last but not least, Bissonnette’s Apple Tart Tatin is anything but your average apple pie. His recipe uses a store-bought puff pastry to save you some time, but feel free to make your own! While this caramel-sweet treat does need to cool for two hours before being eaten, you can use that time to make your salted caramel sauce and whipped cream.
Don’t forget to top it all off with a scoop of local ice cream and to thank your farmers, delivery drivers, and clerks at your hometown co-op for playing a role in Your Local Dish!
