Choosing Healthy Foods

with campus executive chef Tom Barton Have you been to Xhibition Kitchen lately? Or have you ever been? Whenever I ask I am always amazed that there are many students who still do not know about the amazing Xhibition Kitchen, or "XK" as we like to call it. The XK is located at 11 Speare Place inside Stetson West Eatery and is a state of the art demonstration kitchen - which is currently in full swing! We host many cookbook authors, and local and nationally acclaimed chefs. Sometimes our guests stop by because they are in the area and they have heard about what an amazing space it is. Inside the kitchen itself we can seat approximately 60 people with additional seating in the outside room. How cool is it to be watching a demonstration up close and personal to many of the areas most recognized chefs? One of the best parts of my job is that I get to meet these chefs and authors as we prepare their mise en place (all their prep). I cannot even begin to tell you how many wonderful...

There are only a few days left of Spring Break which means it is almost time for the final stretch of spring semester. With final papers and group projects looming, it is bound to be a stressful time of the year. But even if you have just an hour, don't forget to take some time to have fun! Here are five upcoming dining services events to relieve some stress from the end of your semester. Wednesday, March 18 Global Eats with Northeastern Global Officer Caitlin Morelli As one of President Aoun's first Global Officers , Caitlin Morelli is currently traveling the world for her co-op and building opportunities for the Northeastern community. Besides her love for travel, Caitlin is passionate about trying new foods and varieties of tea. She learned how to cook a variety of traditional dishes after taking a class in Chiang Mai, Thailand and during her one week back on campus she wants to share her culinary experience with you! She is excited to tell her story, share new foods, and t...

Happy New Year Huskies! John from the Northeastern Dining marketing team here with an update on some of the exciting things we have planned for you this year. If this is your first time visiting our blog – welcome! – but if you are a repeat reader, you may have noticed this fancy new layout that not only looks great but is adaptive to any device size. This is just one example of our marketing team trying to stay on the cutting edge of technology. From designing unique, eye-catching advertisements for our digital screens across campus to introducing new social media channels to our portfolio, we are always looking to stay in touch with you in new ways. And speaking of new social media, you can now follow "nudining" on Snapchat ! We’ll be having some fun showing you emoji-filled exclusive looks at Northeastern Dining – and maybe throwing in a contest here and there (…but you didn’t hear that from me). When it comes to events, spring semester is always a busy one for us. We are...

A look back at 2014 and the events that made it special. - -  November & December  - - The New England Kitchen by Jeremy Sewall To kick off our November lineup, the Xhibition Kitchen welcomed acclaimed Boston chef Jeremy Sewall of Lineage, Eastern Standard, Island Creek Oyster Bar, and Row 34 restaurants. Chef Sewall shared one of the delectable recipes from his new cookbook, The New England Kitchen. With the help of Chef Sewall the audience explored contemporary New England fare by sampling Seared Sea Scallops with Creamy Turnip Puree & Crisp Shiitake Mushrooms. For Jeremy, cooking is in his blood. "It's exciting to introduce my favorite seasonal recipes for people to cook at home," explains Chef Sewall. "Writing and producing The New England Kitchen has been a true labor of love, and my hope is that that sentiment comes through in its pages." With the exciting celebration of local cuisine, it was the prefect National Food Day event! Five lucky audience...

A look back at 2014 and the events that made it special. - -  September & October  - - Man Made Meals by Steven Raichlen To kick off our 10th anniversary season the Xhibition Kitchen welcomed master griller Steven Raichlen to campus. He captivated the audience with his professional talent for cooking and demonstrating how to cook. Steven made use of our magic oven and fridge joking that these wings only took four minutes and they multiplied in quantity! The audience’s mouths and eyes watered with excitement for a chance to taste Raichlen’s famous Fire eater chicken wings. Only those willingly to “man up” tried these spicy spicy wings, tackling a feat of strength. Steven’s Lemon soy London broil was a huge hit, these perfectly cooked juicy pieces of lean meat were decadent and beautiful to boot. The audience was left wanting more. Inspired by the display of local produce on the counter Steven decided to showcase a simple recipe from his other cookbook, asparagus rafts; taki...

A look back at 2014 and the events that made it special. - -  March & April  - - Cocinar con Gusto with Guest Chef Marcos Sanchez The Latino/a Student Cultural Center and Northeastern Dining welcomed Chef of Tres Gatos, Marcos Sanchez, to the Xhibition Kitchen. Tres Gatos is the first full-service restaurant/ book and music store in Boston. The audience learned more about Chef Sanchez, Latino recipes and his cooking styles. Chef Sanchez dished up some delicious Fideua de camarones (Shrimp Noodles). Two lucky students in the room won gift certificates to Tres Gatos. Lobstah Night For the first time ever Northeastern Dining brought “Lobstah Night” to campus on Tuesday, March 25, 2014. More than 1,000 students gathered in the line at Stetson West Eatery, which led out the door, around the corner, and up to the next block, just to be the first to get inside. As students entered the dining room, they were presented with “Keep Calm and Lobstah On” t-shirts. With a high demand fo...

A look back at 2014 and the events that made it special. - - January & February - - café716 Renovation Northeastern University’s 716 Columbus Place is a major administrative building on campus that houses an array of university departments. For years, the only food and drink offered within the six-story building was a small café in the first floor lobby, discernible only by an unmarked doorway in one corner of the space. During the fall of 2013, an opportunity to renovate the building lobby included plans to significantly expand the café’s presence and the new, rebranded café716 opened in January 2014. Many of the building’s employees were counting down the days until café716’s reopening and their patience was rewarded with complimentary sampling events in the days leading up to launch. Chocolicious Valentine's Day Desserts with Guest Chef Amie Smith, Northeastern Alumnae '87 For the love of cooking we welcomed owner of Lulue’s Patisserie and NU Alumnae Amie Smith back to ...

2014 marks the 10th anniversary of Northeastern Dining's Xhibition Kitchen, or "XK," and as the signature dish of the semester-long celebration we welcomed Food & Wine Magazine editor-​in-​chief Dana Cowin along with three nationally-​renowned Boston chefs: Joanne Chang, the chef/​owner of four Boston-​area Flour Bakery loca­tions; Ming Tsai, an Emmy Award-​winning TV per­son­ality and chef/​owner of Blue Ginger and Blue Dragon; and Kristen Kish, the winner of Bravo’s Top Chef Season 10, to Blackman Auditorium. The Homecoming Red & Black Day event, held on Thursday, November 13, 2014, featured a private Meet & Eat with culinary icons, free signed copies of Mastering My Mistakes in the Kitchen , a live cooking demonstration, and cookbook signing. Since the Xhibition Kitchen cannot hold the type of crowd that was drawn to watch these four culinary icons cook together, Northeastern Dining decided to instead use the space to hold a private "Meet & Eat....

The creator of the wildly popular blog  How Sweet It Is , Jessica Merchant, was welcomed to the Xhibition Kitchen by her large following of "invisible internet friends." By the huge crowd in attendance, it was clear her friends were quite real and not invisible. Jessica showed the audience how to prepare two incredible recipes: Whipped Goat Cheese with Warm Vanilla Berries; Amaretto Butternut Squash Soup. These recipes are featured in  Seriously Delish  along with 148 other imaginative recipes that are tasty and original and bring readers to a place where cooking becomes adventurous and food becomes fun. Five lucky audience members won signed copies after correctly answering what recipe Jessica posted in her blog the previous day. The audience enjoyed Jessica’s White Cheddar Apple Crisp while waiting in a line that wrapped around the room, all just to get their book personally signed. Jessica certainly made our Friday "Seriously Delish!"

A rainy day in Boston was brightened up by Claudia Lucero, whose inviting presence which filled the Xhibition Kitchen with warmth and the sweet smells of fall. She welcomed the crowd proclaiming “Do It Yourself cheese is a great rainy day activity”. Claudia is the entrepreneur behind UrbanCheesecraft.com and DIY Cheese Kits, which she used as inspiration for her cookbook. Claudia demonstrated Chevre French Kisses, infused with Herbes de Provence this cheese is layered with flavor. She taught us how easy it can be to be creative noting “Cheese makers are creative people, there is a lot to discover by accident. Many of my accidents ended up being some of my best recipes”. Claudia never imagined that she would be the one to write the ideal cheese book, which five lucky audience members won.

Welcome back Huskies! After a summer of co-ops, internships, or just time relaxing at home - and a summer of event planning and new construction for us (but more on those shortly!) - we're happy to have you all back on campus. With a week and half officially on-campus, we hope that you've been finding your way back to all your favorite dining locations as well as trying something different to find some new favorites. Here's a look at what we've been up to all summer and what we have cooking for this semester. Tuesday, September 3 was the first anniversary for the renovated Curry Student Center and what would a birthday be without a present? Food Management Magazine recently named the Curry Student Center the Best Renovation in its 2013 Best Concepts Awards and we could not be prouder of this national recognition. Everyone involved this past year - from the architects to the cashiers - played an important role in receiving this distinction and we look forward to bringi...

by Campus Executive Chef Tom Barton Well it's finally here -- the final Cooking 101 class. As promised, next week's final session will be the student chefs' chance to utilize the tips and techniques they have learned during the past eight weeks to prepare a complete three course dinner for their invited guests. In this past Tuesday's class, our chefs were busy practicing the surprise menu. Chef Tom going over the menu with our student chefs Follow Northeastern Dining on Instagram! Just before the start of class, each student was presented with a very special personalized Xhibition Kitchen chef coat that they will wear proudly next week -- well actually, some couldn't wait and wore them this week too! The group was split into two separate teams and the students got busy chopping, pounding, sautéing, braising, whipping and folding. Timing the food to come out at the same time proved to be a bit of a challenge but everyone overcame the cramped quarters behind the count...

by Campus Executive Chef Tom Barton Last night was week seven of our Cooking 101 class in the Xhibition Kitchen and after learning about knife skills, cold preparations, and entrées over the past few weeks we had finally reached most everyone's favorite area of the kitchen: dessert! We brought in a heavy hitter, Ritz-Carlton Boston Common pastry chef Bouchaib Errafiy , to work with us and show us the finer points of several desserts. Chef Errafiy spoke about the various differences between all of the flours and sugars that we see these days at our favorite market. The discussion was very lively but I could tell everyone was ready to start making (and tasting!) some great desserts. First off -- cheesecake . We learned one of the secrets to a great cheesecake is in the creaming of the cream cheese and sugar. We spoke about the technique of creaming and its importance in many dessert recipes. We then moved onto the classic recipe of profiteroles au chocolate . The nice thing about ...

by Chris Jennings, Northeastern Dining Quality Assurance Manager Braising – Sauteing – Pan Frying – Steaming. These were just some of the cooking techniques demonstrated this week in the latest segment of Cooking 101. The main topic of focus were dry and moist heat cooking methods. Follow NUDining on Instagram! Dry heat refers to cooking foods where the heat transfers to the food without any moisture and typically involves temperatures of 300ºF or higher. Examples would be sautéing, roasting, baking, grilling and deep frying to name a few. And yes, despite initial hesitations, deep frying and pan frying are in fact dry heat cooking methods since you are submerging the food in hot liquid fat and not relying on a water-based moisture. Moist heat refers to cooking foods with a water-based moisture, be it water, steam, stock, wine, etc. Cooking temperatures typically range from 140ºF-212ºF and examples include braising, stewing, poaching, simmering, boiling and steaming. Our student chef...

by Campus Executive Chef Tom Barton Hi everyone! Last night we had the fifth week of our Cooking 101 class and we had a great time talking with all of our student chefs about the oh so popular subject of side dishes. While it can be a bland topic, we instead focused on some of the more nontraditional, but increasingly popular, starches and vegetables available at your local market. Follow us on Instagram! It's easy to pick a great vegetable side dish in the summer when produce is at its peak...but how about in the dead of winter? Our class participants made and tasted things like lemon scented multigrain pilaf, wild mushroom risotto , smoky cider braised greens, and roasted spiced winter squash. We also spoke about various potatoes and what their best uses are. People are very particular about their mashed potatoes so we tried to settle some important mashed potato debates, such as lumps or no lumps and skins on or off? To spice things up a little we used the knife skills learned i...

by Northeastern Dining Quality Assurance Manager Chris Jennings We dove right into stocks and sauces this week. Chef Tom had a beautiful chicken stock already simmering before class started. The aroma filtered thru the XK and set the tone for a stimulating experience on how to create your own stocks and sauces. Once we covered the different types of stocks and how to create them thru many variations, we figured we would transform some of them into sauces. Most sauces require a thickening agent and the type of thickening agent used depends on the desired texture, flavor and appearance of the sauce you want. Many were discussed but the class tried their hand at it with a roux, corn starch, beurre manié and a liaison. Quite a bit of whisking, tempering, and straining was involved but the end results were very nice. The goal was achieved. We transformed chicken stock into chicken velouté; a Béchamel sauce became a Mornay sauce; but the highlight was the hollandaise. Chef Andy and Chef Jenn...

Hi everyone! Chef Barton here with our weekly Cooking 101 recap. After a week off last Tuesday so everyone could enjoy Mardi Gras , we got back on schedule last night with session three of our Cooking 101 series. This week featured the " Garde Manger ," or cold section of the kitchen. We talked about strategies for putting together great looking contemporary cheese boards, crudité platters, fruit platters, and antipasto displays. We also prepared several dressings from scratch and everyone got to try their hand at making their own vinaigrette. The ranch dressing I made with homemade mayo came out a little thin but tasty - I think I got carried away with our housemade buttermilk! We also tasted many different salad greens to showcase the wide differences there are of greens there are to choose from. We saw some different salad presentations with "bowls" made from baked parmesan cheese, or frico , and also created a thinly sliced cucumber round just large enough to ho...

Chris Jennings - Northeastern Dining Quality Assurance Manager We rolled right into Session II of the Cooking 101 series last evening in the XK. Before you start cooking your food, it is generally a good idea to cut it to your needs; so we worked on knife skills. Chef Tom helped us identify some different types of knives from a French Knife to a Slicer to a Boning Knife and what applications they are best suited for. In order to make sure that our knives where not dull, a honing demonstration needed to make the sharp edges keener. After some quick safety tips and discussion on potential cross contamination we started to rock - our knives that is! With fingers tucked in and knife tip on the board the cutting began. Everyone started by trying their hand at dicing and chopping. By the end of the evening we had some great brunoise onion, julienne carrot, and paysanne potato to name a few. It was a job well done by everyone. The best part of the evening was that no one cut themselves (phew!...

Hi everyone! Campus Executive Chef Tom Barton here. Last night we had the first session of our nine week Cooking 101 class -- and we had a blast! Our ten lucky students joined Northeastern Dining's Nutritionist Christine Clark, Quality Assurance Manager Chris Jennings, and myself for a lot of great interactive discussions. Our first class was a bit of an introduction to the course - just as most first classes are - but we did have some lively discussions about nutrition, building your pantry, and menu planning. We also compared a few store brand products with national brands and showed that a well-known brand name (with brand name pricing) doesn't necessarily mean you can't find the same, or better, flavor from a store brand. I also really enjoyed the initial discussion we had about building flavors and plate design. Christine gave us some very useful tips on reading food labels and some great things to think about when menu planning and shopping. Many thanks to Christine a...

For the twelve consecutive year, Northeastern Dining provided students with a much needed respite from studying for their upcoming week of final exams with the Gingerbread House Construction Contest. More than 300 student teams entered online via nudining.com for the chance to be one of the lucky teams chosen to participate in this year's contest. After the success of the previous eleven years, the number of teams swelled to sixty-four this year leading to the decision to move this year’s contest from Stetson East to the Stetson West Eatery. The change comes after many students ran out of room to decorate their houses in the atrium of Levine Marketplace. While Northeastern Dining provided more than 700 pounds of gingerbread, 1,200 pounds of icing, and 2,000 pounds of candy to students, some teams took it upon themselves to bring their own edible supplies to make their house unique. This year's designs featured everything from Rice Krispies Treats to potatoes built into and ont...