Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Cracker Recipe
Crackers:
4 Liters Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
¾ Liter Shortening
1 1/3 Liter Milk
Mix flour, baking powder and shortening
Add milk
Roll out to ¼ inch thickness
Season with salt and pepper
Prick with fork
Cut to size with knife
Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes
Chowder Recipe
Clam Chowder:
Render ¼ slab of bacon
Add 2 stalks leeks
Add 4 stalks celery
Add 2 Onions, chopped
Add 1 head garlic, chopped
Add 2 cups White Wine
Reduce
Add 2 Liters cream
Add 2 Liters milk
Add 1 Liter clam juice
Reduce
Blend
Add to Order:
Parsley
Chives
Potato Rounds (boiled fingerlings, peeled and cut to dime sized portions)
Bacon, rendered
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Herbapalooza!
A wonderful list of herbs we used during Sunday's herbology class:
Lavender
Parts Used: Flowers
A wonderful plant for the nervous system, lavender helps alleviate stress, nervousness,
insomnia, muscle tension, headaches and depression. It has the ability to relieve muscle
spasms, thus helpful in treated muscle aches and cramps, both menstrual and abdominal.
When applied externally, it helps relieve sunburns, inflammation and wounds, such as
insect bites.
Rosemary
Parts Used: Leaves
Rosemary is one of the plants most praised for its effect on the circulatory system. It
helps stimulate circulation, which is beneficial to the entire body. Helping the body stay
warm, rosemary is an ideal plant to take in the winter months, especially for those who
often have cold extremities or are suffering from respiratory congestion. It helps the
mind stay focused and helps the memory because it increases circulation to the brain. It
stimulates hair growth and helps relieve muscle pain.
Peppermint
Parts Used: Leaves and flowers
Peppermint has a beautifully refreshing effect and is typically used to treat the digestive
system. It also has a wonderful effect on the respiratory system and is used in cases of
colds, bronchitis, sinusitis or asthma. Peppermint, as well as other members of the mint
family, is rich in vitamin C, beta-carotene and chlorophyll. The oil can be used to relieve
sore muscles and skin disorders, such as rashes.
Lemon balm
Parts Used: Leaves and flowers
Lemon balm is a plant that helps balance moods and emotions. It helps people go with
the flow, bringing a positive outlook on life. Lemon balm is often used to treat tension,
stress, depression, anxiety, mental fatigue, PMS and insomnia. As a member of the mint
family, lemon balm also helps in treating digestive disorders.
Basil
Parts Used: Leaves, stems and flowers
Basil is a popular herb to use in the kitchen but many don’t know that it has strong
antispasmodic properties, making it a great remedy for digestive disorders. It has a
particular affinity to both the digestive and nervous system, especially when there are
digestive problems caused by stress or headaches/migraines caused by digestive issues.
Fennel
Parts Used: Primarily the seeds, but the root can be used as well.
A wonderful digestive aid, fennel treats abdominal cramps, indigestion, nausea,
flatulence and helps stimulate the appetite. It helps increase breast milk for nursing
mothers and is an excellent remedy to relieve colic in babies.
Thyme
Parts Used: Leaves, stems and flowers
Thyme helps boost the immune system by stimulating the thymus gland. It is extremely
helpful in treating lung problems and convulsive coughs because of its antispasmodic
properties. Its antiseptic and antibacterial properties make it a good choice for treating
sore throats and head colds. It also helps the digestive system in cases of gas and bloating
due to poor absorption of foods.
Nasturtiums
Parts Used: Flowers, leaves and seeds
Nasturtium has fantastic antiseptic properties, making it an effective herb for treating
infections. It has such strong antibacterial actions that it can be qualified as a natural
antibiotic. Nasturtium helps stimulate circulation and has a particular affinity with the
respiratory system and is useful in treating allergies colds, bronchitis and pneumonia. The
flowers and leaves help digestion and the seeds can be used to treat constipation.
Oregano
Parts Used: Leaves and stems
Because of its antiviral and antibacterial properties, oregano has the ability to fight
infections, whether they are related to the respiratory system (bronchitis, laryngitis
and sinusitis) or the skin. Oil of oregano is particularly effective in treating infections.
Oregano also helps treat digestive and muscle spasms.
Chives
Parts Used: Stems
Chives have similar properties as garlic but are less potent. They have antiseptic
properties and help digestion and help treat the respiratory system.
Cumin seeds
Parts Used: Seeds
Cumin seeds help improve digestion by stimulating digestive enzymes. Its carminative
properties help treat and prevent abdominal gas. The seeds can be chewed after meals to
promote digestion.
Hot peppers (Cayenne)
Parts Used: The fruit
Cayenne is a powerful stimulant for the circulatory system and a wonderful tonic for
the heart. It also improves digestion and treats the respiratory system due to its antiviral
and antibacterial properties. Cayenne has the ability to stop bleeding both internally
and externally. It helps stimulate the immune system and can be used externally to treat
arthritis and muscle pains.
Parsley
Parts Used: Whole plant
Parsley is a very nourishing herb as it is high in iron, beta-carotene and chlorophyll. It
is a diuretic (increases urination) therefore it is a crucial herb for treating bladder and
kidney problems. Because parsley is high in iron, it’s great for treating anemia and
fatigue.
Lavender
Parts Used: Flowers
A wonderful plant for the nervous system, lavender helps alleviate stress, nervousness,
insomnia, muscle tension, headaches and depression. It has the ability to relieve muscle
spasms, thus helpful in treated muscle aches and cramps, both menstrual and abdominal.
When applied externally, it helps relieve sunburns, inflammation and wounds, such as
insect bites.
Rosemary
Parts Used: Leaves
Rosemary is one of the plants most praised for its effect on the circulatory system. It
helps stimulate circulation, which is beneficial to the entire body. Helping the body stay
warm, rosemary is an ideal plant to take in the winter months, especially for those who
often have cold extremities or are suffering from respiratory congestion. It helps the
mind stay focused and helps the memory because it increases circulation to the brain. It
stimulates hair growth and helps relieve muscle pain.
Peppermint
Parts Used: Leaves and flowers
Peppermint has a beautifully refreshing effect and is typically used to treat the digestive
system. It also has a wonderful effect on the respiratory system and is used in cases of
colds, bronchitis, sinusitis or asthma. Peppermint, as well as other members of the mint
family, is rich in vitamin C, beta-carotene and chlorophyll. The oil can be used to relieve
sore muscles and skin disorders, such as rashes.
Lemon balm
Parts Used: Leaves and flowers
Lemon balm is a plant that helps balance moods and emotions. It helps people go with
the flow, bringing a positive outlook on life. Lemon balm is often used to treat tension,
stress, depression, anxiety, mental fatigue, PMS and insomnia. As a member of the mint
family, lemon balm also helps in treating digestive disorders.
Basil
Parts Used: Leaves, stems and flowers
Basil is a popular herb to use in the kitchen but many don’t know that it has strong
antispasmodic properties, making it a great remedy for digestive disorders. It has a
particular affinity to both the digestive and nervous system, especially when there are
digestive problems caused by stress or headaches/migraines caused by digestive issues.
Fennel
Parts Used: Primarily the seeds, but the root can be used as well.
A wonderful digestive aid, fennel treats abdominal cramps, indigestion, nausea,
flatulence and helps stimulate the appetite. It helps increase breast milk for nursing
mothers and is an excellent remedy to relieve colic in babies.
Thyme
Parts Used: Leaves, stems and flowers
Thyme helps boost the immune system by stimulating the thymus gland. It is extremely
helpful in treating lung problems and convulsive coughs because of its antispasmodic
properties. Its antiseptic and antibacterial properties make it a good choice for treating
sore throats and head colds. It also helps the digestive system in cases of gas and bloating
due to poor absorption of foods.
Nasturtiums
Parts Used: Flowers, leaves and seeds
Nasturtium has fantastic antiseptic properties, making it an effective herb for treating
infections. It has such strong antibacterial actions that it can be qualified as a natural
antibiotic. Nasturtium helps stimulate circulation and has a particular affinity with the
respiratory system and is useful in treating allergies colds, bronchitis and pneumonia. The
flowers and leaves help digestion and the seeds can be used to treat constipation.
Oregano
Parts Used: Leaves and stems
Because of its antiviral and antibacterial properties, oregano has the ability to fight
infections, whether they are related to the respiratory system (bronchitis, laryngitis
and sinusitis) or the skin. Oil of oregano is particularly effective in treating infections.
Oregano also helps treat digestive and muscle spasms.
Chives
Parts Used: Stems
Chives have similar properties as garlic but are less potent. They have antiseptic
properties and help digestion and help treat the respiratory system.
Cumin seeds
Parts Used: Seeds
Cumin seeds help improve digestion by stimulating digestive enzymes. Its carminative
properties help treat and prevent abdominal gas. The seeds can be chewed after meals to
promote digestion.
Hot peppers (Cayenne)
Parts Used: The fruit
Cayenne is a powerful stimulant for the circulatory system and a wonderful tonic for
the heart. It also improves digestion and treats the respiratory system due to its antiviral
and antibacterial properties. Cayenne has the ability to stop bleeding both internally
and externally. It helps stimulate the immune system and can be used externally to treat
arthritis and muscle pains.
Parsley
Parts Used: Whole plant
Parsley is a very nourishing herb as it is high in iron, beta-carotene and chlorophyll. It
is a diuretic (increases urination) therefore it is a crucial herb for treating bladder and
kidney problems. Because parsley is high in iron, it’s great for treating anemia and
fatigue.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Down on the farm...
It's been pure chaos recently, and the best kind of friends to have when things get tough...farm friends. Turkey Hill Farm is a beautiful piece of land, complete with alpacas, an attack duck, rows and rows of vegetables and a wood fired oven.
Sharing delicious beer, home made pizza dough and garden fresh toppings, it was beautiful, relaxing and inspiring.
I'm thinking that sometime this autumn would be a wonderful time to teach a cooking class at the farm...you would be hard pressed to do better than that! Take that farm to table movement...we're bringing our table to the farm!
Sharing delicious beer, home made pizza dough and garden fresh toppings, it was beautiful, relaxing and inspiring.
I'm thinking that sometime this autumn would be a wonderful time to teach a cooking class at the farm...you would be hard pressed to do better than that! Take that farm to table movement...we're bringing our table to the farm!
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Herbology Menu!
Variety of Flavored Waters to Start
cucumber peppermint, lavender lime, and rosemary peach
cucumber peppermint, lavender lime, and rosemary peach
Herbal Booze
Gin, Lavender Mead
Each table can get two herbal oils and a compound butter, served with seeded fougasse
basil, thyme, rosemary and oregano oil
fennel seed olive oil
cilantro butter
chive butter
Each table can get marinated cheese:
feta in rosemary, thyme and hot peppers
Two salads will be served:
rocket, tomato, mint, fennel with a lemon vinaigrette
rocket, spinach, spring onion, and nasturtium with "green godess" buttermilk dressing
Two appetizers:
Shrimp with basil pesto
Herb crusted pork tenderloin served cold with tapenade
Main Courses:
Goat cheese and herb stuffed calamari with lentils in a tomato vinaigrette
Herb Roasted Chicken with Rosemary potatoes
Each table will get an After Dinner Seed Chew
sesame seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds
Dessert:
Lavender fruit salad with peaches, nectarines, blueberries
and
Olive oil cake with mint honey and sweetened yogurt
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
These are the emails I love to wake up to...
Hi Cole, As we were talking about how awesome pork is, I made some lo mai gai (lotus leaf wraps) tonight. They're basically Chinese tamales--glutinous rice, mung beans, chestnuts, Chinese sausage, hard boiled egg, pork belly braised in garlic, ginger, and oyster sauce with some soy sauce and sugar, and shittake mushrooms, all wrapped up in lotus leaves and steamed. Mmmmm.....porky pork. L2 P.S. Ironically, except for the pork belly, all other ingredients came from me trying to clean out my pantry/fridge! |
Monday, August 1, 2011
August Events Calendar!
| AUGUST Decadent Maine Cooking Class Series Come in! Learn Something! Eat Something! | ||||||
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
| General Classes are Sundays 12:00-2:00pm Wednesdays 6:00-8:00pm | 1 | 2 | 3 Chilled Seafood Summer Supper with Raspberry and White Chocolate Mascarpone Parfait | 4 Chef Cole led Maine Foodie Trolley Tours 1:00pm-4:30pm | 5 Chef Cole led Maine Foodie Trolley Tours 1:00pm-4:30pm | 6 Chef Cole led Maine Foodie Trolley Tours 1:00pm-4:30pm |
| 7 Chef Cole’s Bacon Based Clam Chowder | 8 Pairing Wine and Cheese! Guest Speaker Jess Perrie of Silvery Moon Creamery 5:30 - 7:00pm | 9 | 10 Chef Cole’s Bacon Based Clam Chowder | 11 Chef Cole led Maine Foodie Trolley Tours 1:00pm-4:30pm | 12 Chef Cole led Maine Foodie Trolley Tours 1:00pm-4:30pm | 13 Chef Cole led Maine Foodie TrolleyTours 1:00pm-4:30pm |
| 14 Flora Medicina with Herbologist Sarah Bromby Learning how to incorporate medicinal herbs in your diet! 12-2:00pm | 15 | 16 | 17 Chef Cole’s Lobster Pot Pie Wine Tasting at Old Port Wine Merchant Featuring paired amuse bouche from Chef Cole 5:00-8:00pm | 18 Chef Cole led Maine Foodie Trolley Tours 1:00pm-4:30pm | 19 Chef Cole led Maine Foodie Trolley Tours 1:00pm-4:30pm | 20 Chef Cole led Maine Foodie Trolley Tours 1:00pm-4:30pm |
| 21 Clam Dip with Homemade Maine Potato Chips | 22 | 23 | 24 Clam Dip with Homemade Maine Potato Chips | 25 Chef Cole led Maine Foodie Trolley Tours 1:00pm-4:30pm | 26 Chef Cole led Maine Foodie Trolley Tours 1:00pm-4:30pm | 27 Chef Cole led Maine Foodie Trolley Tours 1:00pm-4:30pm |
| 28 Fried Maine Oyster Rockefeller Stew Olive Oil Cake with Wild Maine Blueberry Lavender Anglaise | 29 | 30 | 31 Fried Maine Oyster Rockefeller Stew Olive Oil Cake with Wild Maine Blueberry Lavender Anglaise | | | Private cooking classes also available upon request! |
A group that fries together....
Yesterday's cooking class was a true pleasure, spicy lobster soup with crispy lobster wontons, a light salad and aleppo peach parfait with mascarpone and almonds...
The above photo's don't feature any of the treats we made, but when you give your boyfriend the camera, he's on his own to take "artistic shots"...none of which included the actual food, just some awkward head shots of me, and empty plates. I can only assume the photos were only of plates based on the speed at which people ate the food.
|
Friday, July 29, 2011
Lucky Duck Walking Tour
In an effort to promote the classes, we've started preparing little treats for customers of the foodie walking tour. Today's treat is one of my favorite amuse bouche presentations, it's fairly straight forward and always beautiful. The spring roll...today's filling has nappa cabbage, red onion, whole basil and coriander leaves, pickled shiitakes, and of course...lobster!!! The translucent nature of the spring roll wrapper really adds an elegant nature to an asian inspired lobster salad making for a refreshing treat on a hot day. A simple recipe, that looks complicated. Most certainly one of my favorite tricks!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Uh Oh! It's A Pantry Raid!
Have you ever found yourself staring into the abyss that is your cupboards, or pantry? Your boyfriend walks in and you're just staring, he asks "are you memorizing what we have?" you reply, "I'm making dinner", he responds "making dinner looks a lot like "reading dinner"", you storm off, only to come back and stare in the pantry, you're grocery shopping tomorrow, but what do you make today?!
I'd like to add a new interactive feature to the blog...let me know what's in your pantry, on those nights when your brain is tired from work, friends, family and you're at a total loss as to how to answer that age old question "what's for dinner?" I'll send you some ideas, I promise to keep the recipes simple, and I'll give you a couple options, so you can pick and choose.
Sure I know there's an App for this, but sometimes human interaction is nice...
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Herbs and Cheese and Friends OH MY!
I've spent all day working on promote my dear friends and colleagues in the expansive world of food. Decadent Maine is proud to welcome Jess Perrie to present her favorites in the local Maine Cheese scene! From Jasper Hill to Hahn's End to Seal Cove...a workshop discussing perfect pairings with cheese, from wines to nuts to compotes! It's sure to be educational, and entertaining, Jess brings such a wonderful dedicated and enthusiastic spirit to everything she does from skiing to all things cheese!Follow along on her cheese journey at http://jess-thecheeseplate.blogspot.com/
Soon after Jess joins us, we are lucky enough to get the beautiful Herbologist Sarah Bromby from Montreal. Growing up in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, she fell in love with our natural world. Having traveled all over the world, she began studying the variety of healing plants. She has continued her studies of Flora Medicina in Montreal, as well as working with a correspondence course with the School of Natural Healing in Utah. She now enjoys making her own herbal remedies, tinctures, teas, oils, salves, syrups and natural cosmetics. Personally I'm dying to find out how she makes her own cosmetics, but in our workshop we'll be working on healing teas and oils. A true study in the simplest and most natural of ingredients we can use to heal.Jess Perrie will be presenting Monday August 8, 2011 from 5h30-7h00pm
Sarah will be presenting Sunday August 14, 12h00-2h00pm
To sign up for either (or both) classes purchase your tickets at https://vervacious.com/Vervacious.html
Monday, July 25, 2011
Simple and Elegant Chilled Summer Seafood
Sunday's class enjoyed a four course tasting menu featuring chilled local seafood from oyster champagne shooters to chilled lobster salad with pickled shiitakes.
The dog days of summer have a way of ruining appetites, few things sound as good as sticking your head in the freezer for a popsicle, and maybe you linger in the freezer for a moment, or two or three...or the rest of the day. I may or may not have threatened to crawl into my friend's ice box. Can you blame me?
Sunday's class featured simple preparations for the hottest of summer nights!
Oyster Champagne Shooters made for an elegant starter.
Scallop Ceviche in a horseradish and lobster vinaigrette was the perfect follow up, allowing the acids in the lemon juice to cook the scallops without using any heat source at all!
Next we had a beautiful Lobster Salad with pickled shiitakes, spicy mustard greens, mint and basil leaves and a simple honey ginger vinaigrette. Not a stove turned on, not an oven in site!
We ended our meal with a lovely white chocolate mascarpone and raspberry parfait, garnished with pistachios and chocolate balsamic.
That's how we kept cool...what was your trick?!
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