Almond and Fennel Biscotti

A Traditional Flavor for a Traditional Italian Espresso ALMOND AND FENNEL BISCOTTI

BY BAKER JOSEPH BERCOVICI PHOTO BY CASSIE TAM

Mile Square Coff ee Roastery believes in good coff ee, specifi cally carefully prepared specialty coff ee, which is similar to fi ne wine or craft beer and should complement your culinary experience. Th is is why Mile Square now features baked items artfully crafted to pair with their handcrafted coff ees. Items such as this Almond and Fennel Biscotti can be purchased on the Mile Square Cafe Mobile, a coff ee food truck.

Almond and Fennel Biscotti

Yields 60 mini cookies

2 tablespoons fennel seeds, toasted and ground 1 pinch salt 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 cup almond meal or almond fl our 3 cups all-purpose fl our (approximately) 1½ sticks butter 1⅓ cups sugar 3 eggs Preheat oven to 350°F.

Toast fennel in oven with pinch of salt on baking sheet for 5 minutes. Set aside.

Mix together dry ingredients saving ½ cup of fl our for later. Set aside.

Th oroughly cream butter and sugar in standing mixer. Add eggs 1 at a time, incorporating completely. Combine dry ingredients and butter mixture until just blended, adding enough of the fl our set aside earlier to create a dough you can handle easily.

Equally divide the dough and form each piece into four smooth balls. Refrigerate for ½ hour. Remove dough from fridge and roll into even cylinders about 12 inches long. Add a small amount of fl our if needed to roll the dough.

Bake dough cylinders on a cookie sheet until lightly brown, approximately 30 minutes.

Allow dough cylinders, which are now loaves, to cool completely. Cut loaves into thin slices with a serrated knife.

Turn down the oven to 300° and lay the biscotti cookies on baking sheets in a single layer and toast them in the oven for 15–20 minutes, until they achieve a golden color. Cool and serve.

Follow Mile Square Coff ee Roastery on Twitter @mscoff eeroaster to fi nd Cafe Mobile downtown Indianapolis.

Joseph Bercovici is a cook, baker and classical pianist living in the Indianapolis area. He began baking bread in 2007 and has continued learning about the craft ever since, which includes developing his own sourdough starter. Contact him at indybakerJB@gmail.com.

Increasing Access to Healthy Food for All People

BY KYLEE WIERKS PHOTOGRAPHY BY JENNIFER RUBENSTEIN AND MOTHER HUBBARD’S CUPBOARD

Food insecurity is one of the leading public health challenges in Indiana, and it is especially prevalent in Monroe County. According to the annual Map the Meal Gap study presented by Feeding America, the percentage of people who need food assistance in Monroe County has steadily grown. In 2010, 15.9% of residents suffered from food insecurity, but that number grew to 17.9% in 2012.

Among the local organizations helping to combat this problem is Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard. Since its establishment in 1998, MHC has grown from a mere food pantry into a complete food resource center for the community.

MHC President and CEO Amanda Nickey explained their mission: “We are working to increase access to healthy, fresh food for anyone who needs it. And we work to do those things in ways that help people keep their dignity and in ways that encourage self-suffi ciency and self-reliance and build community.”

Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard works to fulfi ll this mission through several diff erent ways, including their food pantry, community gardens, educational classes and a tool share program. Th e food pantry is at the core of Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard’s mission.

At the pantry, in an eff ort to help empower and respect their patrons, they operate on Patron’s Choice and the honor system. Th e way Patron’s Choice works is that the pantry is set up like a grocery store and patrons go through and pick the things they need. No one tells them what they have to take, and this way MHC reduces waste. Th e honor system means that MHC doesn’t check IDs, proof of income, etc. If someone says they need assistance, they can use the food pantry.

“One of my favorite things to do is answer the phone and have someone call and say ‘I need to use the food pantry, but I don’t know what to bring.’ And you get to tell them ‘Oh, you don’t have to bring anything.’ And you can feel the sense of relief,” Nickey said.

Another large part of the organization is its community gardens. “Everyone who comes to the food pantry experiences the community garden,” she said. “These patrons are either receiving the produce that’s coming from the garden in the pantry or they’re going and harvesting it themselves. Last year we grew about 3,400 pounds of produce in our gardens total.”

Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard has one onsite garden and three offsite gardens in the community. One of the offsite gardens is located in the largest Section 8 housing neighborhood in Monroe County, Crestmont. The Crestmont garden is open for community members to harvest anytime they want, and MHC encourages community members to help tend to it. Nickey says there are a lot of people in that neighborhood who are homebound or have disabilities and can’t get down to the garden, so they have a bike cart MHC workers use to deliver produce to anyone who wants it.

In collaboration with the food pantry and gardens, MHC offers a variety of educational opportunities including nutrition and gardening education programs as well as cooking classes ranging from food preservation to bread- and pie-making. The classes are all very hands on and ingredients and instructional pamphlets are provided.

The tool share program is their newest program, and as far as Nickey has heard “it’s the only one of its kind in the country.” Patrons sign up much like they would at a public library and they can check out cooking and gardening tools. MHC offers things like food dehydrators, canning equipment, shovels, a tiller and a variety of other tools. Since its creation last year, 95 people have signed up and they’ve had over 300 loans.

Monroe County still has a long way to go in decreasing the percentage of people who suffer from food insecurity. But through MHC’s gardening and nutrition education, as well as their emergency food services, they hope to help the long-term sustainability in the community.

To help, donate or volunteer at Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard visit MHCFoodPantry.org or call 812.355.6843. They are located at 1100 W. Allen, Ste. A, Bloomington.

Kylee Wierks is an assistant managing editor intern for Edible Indy. She also works at CBS4 and Fox59 in Indianapolis, and writes a cooking blog called Kylee’s Kitchen.

Nourishing the Neighborhood PARAMOUNT SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE

BY SARA CROFT

Food deserts are alive and real in Indianapolis. The Near Eastside is the most densely populated ZIP code (46201) in the city, yet it has only one grocery store, two specialty stores and seven convenience stores.The ability of a family there to find fresh produce is next to none. It’s not a choice between broccoli or Swiss chard for dinner, but between boxed macaroni and cheese or freezedried mashed potatoes.

Studies have shown that children who grow up without fresh fruits and vegetables in their diet are more likely to become obese, develop diabetes or have a multitude of other health problems, not to mention how it affects their ability to learn and grow.

Established in this neighborhood in 2010, the Paramount School of Excellence’s goal is to serve its students in two ways: with an unparalleled educational approach and through active leadership and ongoing outreach.

When Tommy Reddicks, a former music teacher and assistant principal from Denver, moved to Indianapolis to help start this charter school, he knew nothing of this particular neighborhood. He began by knocking on doors to discuss the school he was so passionate about creating with potential parents and students.

His approach to education is not about sitting behind a desk or computer each day, but instead can be seen inside and outside of the school, through neighborhood association meetings and a constant presence within the community. This removes the barrier of the walls of the school allowing the parents and students to feel more comfortable.

“Myself and my staff attend neighborhood association meetings, and we volunteer to clean up the neighborhood often. When I go see a parent at their home, I know I have cleaned their alley, and I start to build that person’s trust,” Reddicks says. This approach has been vital to gaining support in Paramount’s mission.

“We knew from experience that we would hold PTO meetings and few would come, so instead we’ve decided to go to the parents,” Reddicks says.

Part of the school’s outreach is being a catalyst for health and sustainability in the urban corridor. Most of Paramount’s K-8 students come from this neighborhood, and 90% of them qualify for free or reduced-price lunches because their family income is below the poverty line. Having this ongoing foundation of more than 400 families means the school is able to provide a continual impact on the nutrition, quality and access to healthier eating options for the 581 students and their families.

Built on 5.5 acres at 3020 Nowland Avenue in Indianapolis, the Paramount School of Excellence has taken advantage of the opportunity to offer education about farms, food, health and environment to

all of their students. Egg-producing hens, four dairy goats (milked daily at 7am), vegetable and herb gardens, a three-hive apiary, a water cistern system and a community hoop greenhouse are maintained by three staff members in addition to the students. “The staff help navigate the journey to ensure that nothing dies on the vine, so our produce ends up on someone’s table or pantry or restaurant, allowing us to sustain our community,” Reddicks says. “It took three years for Paramount to get to this point. The consistency of the school’s farm-to-school-to-community involvement is establishing an expansive pathway for healthy habits to take root and have a lifelong impact on students’ lifestyle choices.”

Four focus areas of farms, food, health and environment will further come together with the inaugural TURN (Transforming URban Neighborhoods) Festival on Saturday, September 12. The Paramount School of Excellence will host this event on its property and in Brookside Park to bring kids, parents and community members together to attend workshops, visit exhibits and participate in demonstrations.

“Nobody has tried to bridge those four concepts together before,” Reddicks says. “It’s not just about urban farms, it’s about transforming urban neighborhoods. TURN organizations support TURN practices, such as sustainability. We want to celebrate the TURN practices and create a beautiful spider web of a movement.”

Presented by Community Health Network and Paramount School, the TURN Festival is a natural outgrowth of the work being done at the school in urban farming, ecology, green initiatives and community involvement. Advocates of urban homesteading, slow food and farm-to-table movements will exhibit at the event and offer workshops throughout the oneday festival. In addition to the Saturday event, the festival will host a fundraising dinner the night before with a high-profile national healthy lifestyle advocate that is soon to be announced.

For information about exhibitors, workshops, volunteer opportunities and sponsorship, visit TURNFestival.com. For information on the Paramount School of Excellence, visit ParamountIndy.org.

Sara Croft enjoys eating and drinking her way through Indianapolis. She shares these adventures through VisitIndy.com and her website, SolidGoldEats.com. She also develops recipes for local businesses and The Indianapolis Star. In her spare time, she enjoys hanging out with the local craft beer drinking group Girls’ Pint Out, playing with her two pups, volunteering for local nonprofits and getting lost in a really good book.

Edible Destination

Three incredibly local spots in Chicago Live Like a Local

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY JENNIFER RUBENSTEIN

Just three hours north of Indianapolis lies the Windy City, peppered with must-sees like the Magnificent Mile, Wrigley Field, Grant Park, Garrett’s Popcorn and world class chef, Rick Bayless. It’s a city filled with international delights and some of the most delicious food in the world. Whether one journeys there for the day or an overnight stay, living like a local should be in the cards. While Downtown Chicago is always a popular option while visiting, neighborhoods surrounding the downtown area revel in old world architecture, dabble in cultural worlds near and afar and awaken gastronomic senses. As an adjoining state, Indiana is woven into many elements in Chicago, especially within local artisan establishments. From Goose the Market to Gunthrop Farms, Upland Brewing Company to Traders Point Creamery, Indiana is well represented. Try your hand at living like a local with these three picks in two great neighborhoods— Andersonville and Lincoln Park.

Perennial Virant, a Paul Virant Restaurant, Lincoln Park

Attached to Hotel Lincoln, this gem has done more than create a buzz. The simplistic and timeless setting is by design. Shelves lined with preserved vegetables, fruits, vinegars and the aroma of food being prepared, tickle every sense. Paul Virant, 2013 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef, Great Lakes Finalist, is the creator and mastermind behind this restaurant along with Vie located in Western Springs, Illinois and his most recent restaurant, Vistro, located in Hinsdale, Illinois.

The restaurant’s namesake, Paul Virant has said, “The soul of my kitchen isn’t in my kitchen at all.” This is evident in the Perennial Virant’s basement where there are shelves upon shelves of pickled

Saturday and Sunday Brunch is one of Paul Virant Restaurant’s most popular dining times.