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Monica Cashin is an accomplished baker. She grew up in a family where the scents of rising dough and baking cookies were as much a part of her indoor landscape as the maples and pines were of the outdoor landscape in rural North Newport, New Hampshire. Both of Monica's grandmothers were bakers by avocation, and Monica's father baked bread frequently while she was growing up. She learned to bake -and love baking - from her family. You might say baking is in her genes.
Later Monica and her mom opened and operated The Old Courthouse Restaurant in Newport and Monica created all the desserts. These days in addition to working full time as a special education teacher, she bakes assorted biscotti for Three Tomatoes Trattoria in Lebanon.
I met recently with Monica and her husband Bill Howard who, coincidentally, is the chef at the Lebanon Three Tomatoes. I asked Monica how she happened to take on this baking assignment while working full time. She explained that she has been making biscotti for many years and when Bill needed some biscotti for a special wine pairing dinner she agreed to help out and make a big batch. Bill - and everyone there at the dinner - raved about them. So now she does it regularly.
 
To me, biscotti look like little slices of an airplane wing. They vary in size, but all are twice baked, dry, crunchy and somewhat brittle. Their raison d'être is dipping. Dip them in coffee, cocoa or even a sweet Italian dessert wine. Properly made, biscotti do not go mushy in a hot drink or fall apart. They absorb liquid, but hold together. They have been made for centuries, traveling with Roman soldiers who carried them along as they conquered their world. I've carried them while hiking and they travel well - they don't get stale and don't fall apart in a knapsack.
Monica also blogs about food. Her blog, "www.inthekitchenwithmonica.blogspot.com" is a cheerful food blog that combines reminiscing about growing up in a baking/cooking-from-scratch family with some recipes that sound just great. In her blog entry for the beginning of January she will have a recipe for one of her signature biscotti. Other entries include everything from bruschetta with pear and apricot chutney to Christmas cookies to blinis.
I asked Monica if she worried about giving out her recipes. Couldn't other cooks steal them? She's not worried, she said. A recipe is, after all, just a starting point. The directions might say to chop the ginger or almonds finely. But how fine is that? A good baker or a good chef will have a feel for that, and that is what distinguishes a good cook, she and Bill agreed. According to Bill Howard, "Cookbooks are full of lousy recipes."
Bill and Monica enjoy sharing some of the dessert-making for the Lebanon Threes Tomatoes. Monica makes the biscotti, while Bill does most of the others. He told me that he prefers to make most desserts himself. "If I let someone else do it ... " He shook his head. "I know the sheen, the time to pull it out of the oven. You can't teach someone to be a chef, they have to discover it."
In 2013 Chef Bill plans to have the dessert menu more varied, with less emphasis on chocolate. Six to eight good desserts to choose from is all Bill feels a restaurant needs. But each has to be perfect. I appreciate that Bill does not over-utilize sugar in desserts, allowing the ingredients to strut their unique flavors. "I want to get to the point, with sugar, where it is just (barely) a dessert, Bill told me.
So next time you visit the Lebanon Three Tomatoes Trattoria, check out the dessert tray. I know I am trying to cut down on calories after the holidays, but a little something after dinner makes it all that much more enjoyable a meal. And those biscotti of Monica's aren't very big or very sweet and really shouldn't count as a dessert at all. Happy New Year!
Henry Homeyer's web site is www.Gardening-guy.com. Check out Henry's new children's book,
Wobar and the Quest for the Magic Calumet. | 
