Vermont's Edenesque Cuisine by Ruth Paget

Vermont’s Edenesque Cuisine by Ruth Paget 

Vermont is justly famous for its artisanal cheese, but the state’s contribution to American cuisine also comes from using French cooking techniques with organic produce. 

These French cooking techniques are part of Vermont’s culture as it shares a border with Canada’s French province of Quebec in the north. Gratins, puréeing vegetable soups to thicken them without other thickeners like flour, quiches, and ground nut cakes can all be found in Vermont’s cuisine as in French cuisine. 

Using French techniques to make dishes is not as difficult as you would think when you read through the cookbook Dishing Up Vermont: 145 Authentic Recipes from the Green Mountain State by Tracey Medeiros. 

The following recipes give a sample of dishes that really shine when you use organic produce: 

-grated celeriac and green apple salad 

-cream of garlic soup 

-butternut squash bisque 

-creamy Vermont winter pumpkin soup 

-roasted summer vegetables 

-cheddar mashed potatoes 

-squash casserole 

-apple-butternut squash soup 

-strawberry soup 

-cheese scones 

-cheddar cheese quiche 

-root vegetable chowder 

-winter squash gratin 

-Normandy chicken with apples and cream 

-cranberry

-almond squares 

-maple-walnut cake 

As a former sub-zero weather resident of Detroit (Michigan), I know that many of these recipes can be made during the fall harvest when prices are low and frozen to be eaten during the winter months to save money. (The French do this, too.)  For that reason alone, I would recommend purchasing Dishing Up Vermont: 145 Authentic Recipes from the Green Mountain State by Tracey Medeiros. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Visiting Vermont and New Hampshire by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting Vermont and New Hampshire by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

When my husband Laurent attended the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) in Boston, we decided to do a weekend trip to Vermont and New Hampshire; these two states together are the size of Monterey County California where we are from.

Our ultimate destination was Middlebury College, the world famous institution for teaching foreign languages.  One of Laurent’s degrees is from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MATFL – Master’s of Teaching Foreign Languages) in Monterey, California.  We were paying homage to the mother ship in Vermont.

Middlebury helps its students achieve language fluency through immersion summer courses where they sign contracts to do everything in their chosen language during summer.  These effective courses have been expanded to high school age students through the K12 program according to Middlebury’s website.

To get to Middlebury College in Vermont, you have to drive through New Hampshire and leave Boston via hairpin turns on flat land.

“Are the British still coming?” I asked myself as we zigzagged out of Massachusetts into New Hampshire.

Once in New Hampshire, I noticed that all the libraries and many town halls had short Ionian columns along their porches overlooking Main Streets.

Ionian columns were created in the Ionian Island chain off the coast of western Greece.  While most of Greece was under Ottoman (Turkish) rule, the Venetians took over the Ionian Islands till the end of the mid 19^th century and formed local nobility that was Italian not Greek.  I liked the scroll- topped columns on these small rural libraries.

When we arrived in hilly Middlebury (Vermont), it seemed like there were three bakeries on every block selling different kinds of cakes and cookies from around the world.  I guessed that students practiced ordering and asking what cookie ingredients were in immersion languages spoken by the different bakeries.

Humor aside, language house programs at Stanford and the University of Wisconsin – Madison may be been inspired by the success of Middlebury’s immersion classes.

I smiled at the laidback winter dress in town – pajamas, parkas, and expensive boots worn by students going to bakeries.

We went to a restaurant for lunch and ate fish and chips, several choices of Vermont cheese, and chocolate cake for dessert.  Snowflakes began falling during our meal, which made me feel snug inside.

We left, though, to beat the snow back to Boston.  Bells began to chime in the crisp winter air for a carillion concert as we walked up the main hill towards the church and our car.

New England embodies that meal, the snow, the music, and higher education goals for me.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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