Kismet Inn Blog "Cooking"

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012
The second week of summer which is the end of June and beginning of July one can find strawberries everywhere in Maine. There are strawberry stands practically on every road, the farms are busy picking and selling them and most farms have ‘U Pick’ for a dollar less than if you buy it picked. I hardly ever have time to go strawberry picking so I usually end up paying quite a bit for them specially since I want to make sure it is all organic and often ‘MOFGA’ ~ ‘Maine Organic Farmers Gardeners Association’ which is a long, long process of certification. When I say long, I mean long, it takes 5-7 years to detox the soil and serious maintenance in order to get a farm or gardens certified organic. Also not all the certified organics taste as good hence, I try them all and buy only the one I believe is the tastiest and best.

On Saturday, I had to go pick up halloumi cheese from ‘Townhouse Farm’ in Whitefield because Beth whom I get the cheese from, mother is not feeling good. While visiting Beth to pick up the cheese she told me to go and visit an art center which also is a farm so I did. The art center well, it wasn’t much of one, I really didn’t see any artwork instead there was a lovely local natural store with lots of fresh strawberries that were picked right there on the farm. I just couldn’t resist the smell and color of them, they were deep red, big and smelled fabulous so I decided to buy two flats.

It was about 40 minutes drive from the Kismet Inn Bed and breakfast so I made sure to get back soon to make sure to keep the freshness which I did. I cleaned them and removed the ends, put them in my copper pot specially for jams and compotes, sprinkled it with sugar, cardamom and let it juice on very low heat. Once that was done I removed the strawberries, poured the juice in another pot and put another batch of strawberries till I was done making the compote.

For jam, I cut up the strawberries to small pieces, put them in a different copper pot and let it simmer on low heat once it juiced itself I removed it from the heat, drained the strawberries put them back in the pot with some candied ginger let it heat a bit more then bottled it.

I had two pots of juice to which I added a few leaves of spearmint from the garden and a tiny bit of vanilla bean let it simmer for a short while then bottled it to make sherbet for the coming guests. I hope to see you at the Kismet Inn bed and breakfast so I can serve you some of this delicious compote, jam and sherbet ~

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010
It was raining on Tuesday here in Bath, Maine so I decided to make blueberry jam for Kismet Inn Bed and Breakfast’s guest since I have only one more bottle left. I try to add a different taste to the jams I make so it doesn’t have the generic taste of all the jams that are made out there.

The ingredients are:

1. 7 pounds of Blueberry – wild Maine blueberries which are MOFGA certified (Maine organic farmers gardeners association)

2. 3 pounds Sugar

3. 1 cup full cardamom coarsely grounded with mortar and pastel, the peel/skin removed.

4. 2 Tablespoon Arrowroot

Put the blueberries in a good pot such as Le Creuset add the sugar – absolutely no water. Once the sugar has melted there will be plenty of juice, take a bowl pour some of the juice into the bowl mix the arrow root then pour it back in the pot, add the cardamom. Let it cook on medium heat for 20 minutes.

Sterilize the jars by putting them in a pot and boiling the water … remove one jar at a time, pour the blueberry jam then put the lid on tighten it and store it.

I usually buy my fish from Plant’s Sea Food on ‘High Street’ in Bath, Maine which is only a few miles away from Kismet Inn. I went to get some sword fish on Friday later in the day they had sold out so I went on Saturday morning around 9 and got some sword fish. It was sparkling white. I also go some haddock as well. I will post some writings about the haddock for now here is what I did with the sword fish.

Rinse it under cold water. Warm up the pan add coconut butter, put the fish in the pan, add salt and pepper, a spoonful of saffron infused ghee let it simmer for a few minutes. Turn it over, do the same with this side.

In the meantime, clean and wash fiddle heads, add a cup of water, salt bring it to boil the turn it down let it cook for 5 minutes, add some fresh crushed ginger.

To serve:
Put the fish on the plate, put the fiddle heads over the fish et voila ready to present it to the guest to eat.

The guest loved it and finished every bite of it.

Monday, April 12th, 2010
Here at the Kismet Inn Bed and Breakfast, I make sure to make different kinds of breakfast specially for guests with longer stay. I often get guests who stay for a week seeking a place to respite with an organic way of life. And that is what I offer at the Kismet Inn Bed and Breakfast, an all organic, local, natural place to stay.

One of my breakfasts is ‘Wild Mushroom’ Omelet. The mushrooms are from ‘Oyster Creek Farm’ in Damariscotta, Maine. They grow their own mushrooms, have a mix called ‘Maine Wild Mix’ There is seven different kinds of mushrooms in the mix which are oyster, Matsutake, Shiitake, Chanterelles, Black Trumpet, Boletes, Lobster and Morels. The eggs are from ‘Sparrow Farm’ all organic and free range eggs.

The Recipe for two people:
A handful of ‘Oyster Creek Farm, Wild Maine Mix Mushrooms’
4 Eggs
Salt, Pepper, Masala Spice
1/4 of small onion
Ghee (Clarified Butter)

1. Soak the mushroom mix in boiled water an hour before making it.
2. Warm up a saucepan, put a big tablespoon of ghee in the saucepan.
3. Chop the onions add to the ghee let it brown.
4. Add the mushroom mix, let it saute for couple of minutes, add the salt, pepper and masala spice.
5. Add the water in which mushroom mix was soaked let it come to boil turn the heat down, let it cook for a few minutes.
6. Crack the eggs over the mushrooms, sprinkle some salt over the eggs, put a lid over the saucepan let the eggs cook for couple of minutes on low heat. I usually let the white cook completely and the yolk cook slightly.. be runny a little. I don’t like the yolk well done. I think if I wanted it well done then I should have made boiled egg.

The taste is incredible, mushrooms are earthy with different textures, the eggs are great cracked over the mushrooms because you can taste the white and the yolk, the onions fried in ghee add the extra special aroma.
Warm up the saucepan, put one table

Enjoy it and if you have any question please email me at stay@kismetinnmaine.com

The information for Oyster Creek Farm:
Oyster Creek Farm
Damariscotta, Maine 04543
Telephone: 207-563-1076
Website: http://oystercreekmushroom.com/

Saturday, April 10th, 2010
I love baking all of the goodies at the Kismet Inn Bed and Breakfast. I try to make cookies that are more on the uncommon side such as raisin cookies. I just want to have my guests taste something different. Here is the recipe for the raisin cookies.

2 cups unsalted organic butter
4 eggs
1&3/4 cups sugar
2 cups raisins
2&1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cardamom

All the ingredients I use are organic (non-industrialized organic) I get my ingredients through small coops, local venders. This way I can be quite sure nothing has been sitting on the shelf for a long time and it is really organic, no cheating goes into it.

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter the cookie sheet.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine melted butter, eggs, butter, and sugar. Mix well until creamy.
3. Add raisins.
4. Gradually add flour and mix with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms.
5. Drop teaspoonfuls of batter on the cookie sheet, leaving about 2 inches in between each spoonful.
6. Place the cookie cheet in the center of the oven and bake 10-15 minutes, or until slightly golden.
7. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool Gently lift the cookies off the cookie sheet.

These cookies are great with tea. That is how I serve them here at the Kismet Inn bed and breakfast and my guests without exception love them.

44 Summer Street, Bath Maine 04530 / (207) 443-3399 / stay@kismetinnmaine.com
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