Salisbury’s new Country Bistro

The first thing you notice when you walk in the door is the smell, almost overwhelmingly enticing, of baked goods: pie, cakes, cookies, foccaccia. Butter. Apples cooked in sugar.

Then, subtly, like the flute in a composition by Mozart, the scent of vinaigrette wafts its way into your consciousness and you realize that, in addition to a case full of lavishly decorated cupcakes and fat round cookies, the new Country Bistro offers salads, artisanal pizzas and sandwiches that range from an all-American BLT to the more sophisticated hreb-roasted flank seak and “lunch in Paris” (a baguette with ham or pate, cornichons and butter).

The scents are courtesy of a trio of chefs, including the mother-daughter team who own the Academy Street eatery (formerly home to the Harvest Bakery and then Timan’s Harvest).

The restaurant is owned by mother Jacqueline Heriteau Hubbard and daughter Holly Hunter Stonehill, who have written several cookbooks together, including titles dedicated to soup and to garden-grown edibles. The pastries are courtesy of itinerant baker Peggy McEnroe, who also supplies goodies to Irving Farm in Millerton.

Country Bistro had its official opening on Saturday (although diners had a chance to break in the new wait staff and chefs beginning on Tuesday, May 1) and the owners promise an “in town” restaurant with food in a range of prices, from the affordable wraps (1/2 wrap, $4.50) and soups (12 oz. to go, $3.95) to pricier special items, which will rotate depending on what’s available and what catches the fancy of the cooks.

For these are ladies who take great pleasure in taking fresh, seasonal ingredients and converting them to breakfasts, lunches and, eventually, hors d’ouevres (to be called “sundowners,” which can be ordered in the early evening on the restaurant’s two terraces).

Soups will be a specialty of the house, in part because Heriteau is the author of “A Feast of Soups,” which continues to sell well after 20 years. Her emphasis in this and other books she has done (including “Grow it, Cook it,” inspired by a garden installed at her home in Vermont many years ago by her father, Marcel Heriteau, a well-known chef and the founder of the Escoffier Society in Montreal).

On the unofficial opening day, May 1, Stonehill and her staff rushed around the kitchen, trying to ensure that orders were filled and supplies of fresh foccaccia weren’t depleted. Heriteau oversaw production with aplomb, and shared her recipe for wild mushroom soup, which is listed in her cookbook as “Favorite Mushroom Soup.”

Mushrooms may seem like the iceberg lettuce of the food world, there just for texture and color, but in fact they offer significant amounts of fiber, B vitamins, selenium and potassium. They also are endowed with more antioxidants than more obvious choices such as carrots and tomatoes, according to some studies. For maximum health benefits, buy portobellos and creminis.

Wild Mushroom Soup
Heriteau writes in her introduction to this recipe that “I use 8-ounce bottles of clam juice to make this (you never taste the clam, by the way) and the cleanest mushrooms I can find so all I have to do to prepare them is wipe them quickly.”
Serves 4
1/2 pound mushrooms, chopped
3 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups bottled clam juice
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup heavy cream, whipped

In a saucepan over medium heat, saute the mushrooms in the butter, stirring, about four minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Lower heat and stir in the flour. It will make a gummy roll. Cook another two minutes. Then, beating constantly, add the clam juice, stirring until well blended, one to two minutes. Cover and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in the cream and remove from heat.
To serve, ladle into bowls and garnish with whipped cream.
This soup is wonderful reheated with a little milk. If you’re cooking it ahead of time, don’t add the cream until just before serving.

Country Bistro is at 10 Academy St. in Salisbury and is open Monday to Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.