Foraged Mushrooms: The Essence of Local, Seasonal Terroir This article is featured on Local in Season. “Better food is the reason.” Right Food for the Season – Late Fall Written by Steve Johnson As a professional chef I’ve been working with New England farmers and fishermen for over 20 years sourcing seasonal, local fruits, vegetables, [...]

Mixed Berry Shortcakes on how2heros! Rendezvous chef/owner Steve Johnson won us over with these individual shortcakes. Topped with cream and sugar just before baking, these little wonders come out golden brown with an incredibly flaky texture and crispy top. Fresh berries gently tossed with sugar create their own delicious syrup. And Steve gives a shout-out [...]

Steve joins Heather Atwood, Food Columnist at the Gloucester Daily Times, to show you how to prepare his near perfect pork and veal meatballs. His culinary influences are mainly from the Mediterranean areas of Southern France and Italy as well as North Africa.

This cake was originally adapted from Julia Child’s “Queen of Sheba” from her iconic work, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”, and has become the signature chocolate dessert at Rendezvous.† Steve first started making this recipe in 1985, if you can believe that — some of the young cooks here weren’t even born then! Among [...]

Harissa is a North African pepper paste that is usually fiery hot and used as a tableside condiment for spicing up the broth in stews and tagines.† At Rendezvous, we make a milder version using ancho peppers.† It still has a bit of a kick, but is moderate enough to use as a sauce for [...]

Garbure is a stew of cabbage, beans and bacon from the old Gascony region of southwestern France.† This is the region where the Three Musketeers came from and where duck is KING! We make this stew at the restaurant as the basis for our signature Gascon-Style Duck 3 Ways, featuring seared breast, confit leg and [...]

This recipe is for the vinaigrette that we use to dress one of our customer-favorite salads: Boston Bibb Lettuce with Sliced Gala Apples, Vermont Cheddar, Spiced Pecans and Dried Cranberries.† You’ll notice that the recipe includes a little fresh apple cider that gives the vinaigrette a touch of sweetness. Chef’s Note:† this recipe is restaurant-size [...]

Here’s an easy recipe for the Candied Kumquats that accompanied the Buttermilk Panna Cotta last year. 2C†† sugar 1C†† water 1/2C lime juice 1/4C orange brandy 4C†† sliced kumquats, seeds removed In a small saucepan, lightly caramelize the sugar, then add the water very carefully and stir in to thin it out.† Then add the [...]

Here is the mix for Steve’s Roast Chicken with Moroccan Spices. We serve this chicken on Sunday at the restaurant as part of our special Prix Fixe Menu.