Chefs’ $30 Challenge: Barbara Lynch

The Butcher Shop & Plum Produce • Boston

Total: $30
Creamy Broccoli Soup with Cheddar Crisps ($4), Spicy Chicken Cacciatore ($11), Farro Risotto ($8), Brandied Prunes Jubilee ($7)

Since 1998, Boston native Barbara Lynch has served exquisite seasonal food at No. 9 Park, a restaurant in Beacon Hill. A stint as a clerk at Filene’s Basement in her teens put her off retail for a while. But she got over it enough to open two fantastic food markets, the Butcher Shop and Plum Produce, where shoppers can purchase grass-fed beef, truffles and house-made jams.

Bargain Shopping Know-how

Barbara Lynch: “For less expensive meats that still have plenty of flavor, I love hanger steak and any shoulder: pork, lamb, veal. They are all amazing braised.”

Published February 2008