Cooking on the Common with Chef Barbara Lynch

Donning a crisp white chef coat, on Saturday, August 28. Her assistant busily prepared a creamy looking soup on an adjacent table behind her.

Promptly at 11 a.m. Lynch began her presentation.

"We have a chilled corn soup and a harvest salad, which is good for any season – winter, spring, summer, fall," Lynch told the crowd.

She moved over to the main table and pointed to a plate of pre-cut vegetables to her right, and held up a kitchen tool. 

"Does everyone know what a mandolin is?" she questioned.

Agreeing sounds and nods came from the members of the audience. 

The audience watched Lynch explain that you can slice most any vegetable on the mandolin for the harvest salad. While preparing the vegetables, she mentioned a few that she likes using red carrots and turnips, both root vegetables.

"I like to marinate the vegetables in white balsamic vinegar," Lynch further explained.

She plated the sliced vegetables, and then discussed the egg garnish.

"To shock an egg you drop it in cold water after cooking it, and it stops the cooking process.  The yolk should be soft."

Barbara placed half of the shocked egg at the top of the harvest salad, and indeed, the yolk was slightly runny.

As a side note, Barbara mentioned, "If you have left over vegetables from the salad, the next day I like to puree them in the blender.  You can get two meals out of this."

Moving quickly from the freshly sliced summer root vegetables to her chilled corn soup garnishes, Barbara explained the chilled corn soup.

"We use shallots, olive oil, and corn right off the cob.  You can serve this hot or cold," she began.

Her assistant had already spooned the garnish into the soup, which consisted of seared chanterelle mushrooms, a handful of shallots, corn from the cob, and sliced scallions.

Audience members were invited to try a sample of the soup.

Lucie, a Winchester resident, said the soup was, "Spectacular.  Rich, but light."

Her friend Virginia noted that it was, "Fresh and well-balanced."

Lynch then made her way to the book-signing table, where she sold copies of her new cookbook Stir: Mixing It Up in the Italian Tradition. While there, she left out chocolate cookies for the audience to try.

Jackie Barry Hamilton, an onlooker said, "The cookies are my breakfast. They are fabulous."

"They are not too sweet and wonderfully chocolatey," said Susan Kincaid.

Lynch's cooking satisfied, and left many patrons wanting more.

Lynch owns many restaurants in the Boston area, including No. 9 Park, B&G Oysters, Sportello, and Mention. She also owns The Butcher Shop, a wine bar and butchery, and Drink, a cocktail bar. Lynch opened Stir, where she offers cooking classes, sells domestic and international cookbooks.