Medford feast

The last time I had a meal in Medford, Mass., it was at the Carmichael dining hall at Tufts University, an all-you-care-to-eat affair that most likely involved pizza, lasagna and soft-serve ice cream memorable more for the quantity than the presentations or flavors. Needless to say, the feast prepared by our friends Randi and Jeff the other night made me feel like I may have grown up a bit after all.


The vegetable soup was garnished by sage, oregano and parsley plucked from their Medford garden; the peas in the baby spinach and goat cheese salad, grown at Verrill Farm in Concord, Mass., had that energizing crunchiness their frozen cousins simply can't deliver; the ricotta ravioli, served alongside roasted asparagus, tomatoes and black olives from Whole Foods (Rt. 16, Medford), was baked at Bella Ravioli (369 Main Street, Medford).




The ground sole, served with a homemade Parmesan and pine nut pesto, swam in from Captain Boston Fish (377 Main St., Medford). (I wish I could say the bananas in the bananas foster, halved atop heaping portions of vanilla bean-flecked ice cream, also grew in a Medford backyard rather than Honduras, and you know what, maybe they did. Randi and Jeff would not disclose the secret recipe!)