A Sunday in Bar Harbor

Rain was predicted for today but in the end it held out until the evening, and it was a beautiful Sunday on Mount Desert Island. Instead of families with young kids Bar Harbor was visited by people from D.C. leveraging a recent windfall in extra vacation. Unfortunately, Acadia was closed.






Morning Glory Bakery, Bar Harbor

Harvest muffins with kuri squash, Swiss chard and feta (GF)

It was time to make muffins again, savory muffins, to take to work when the hunger strikes. I tried a new combination of an old favorite, the spinach butternut squash and feta muffins. This time I used winter chard, roasted kuri squash, fire-roasted red bell pepper, kalamata olives and feta. The theme was ‘Greek muffin’. The baby spinach is best option for this muffin, it holds its texture and adds a nice subtle flavor, but if you are out of baby spinach, kale and and Swiss chard will do.

Swiss chard, squash and feta muffins (gluten-free)

• cooking spray (or butter for the muffin pan) (makes ca 16-18 muffins)
• 1 TM of olive oil
• 255g cubed kuri/sunshine winter squash, cut 1/2-inch cubes
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4-6 large Swiss chard  leaves, chopped (stems discarded)
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds kernels, roasted, unsalted
• 1/4 cup kalamata olives, chopped
• 1 roasted sweet red bell pepper, cut into small dice
• 100g  cubed sheep milk feta (full-fat)
• 2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard
• 1 TB chopped fresh oregano (or 1/2 TB dried)
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 180 ml non-flavored almond milk
• 2 cups gluten-free all purpose baking mix (or regular all-purpose flour)
• 4 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder
• 1 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 405F / 200C, with rack in the top third. Grease 2 12-hole muffin pans and set aside.
2. Arrange raw cubed kuri squash in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with aluminium foil, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and bake for 15 - 25 minutes so that the squash is mostly cooked, but not mushy or dry. Set aside to cool.
3. In a bowl beat the eggs and almond milk together, and add the mustard. (Tip: instead of salt, I often add 1 TB of feta brine).
4. In another bowl, mix the flour and baking powder, add in some salt and a generous dose of freshly ground black pepper,
5. Add flour to the egg liquid and mix until smooth.
6. Gently fold in the Swiss chard, sunflower seeds, olives, red bell pepper, and  feta. At last, fold in the baked squash.

1. Spoon the mixture into the muffin prepared pan, filling each hole 3/4 full.
2. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the tops and sides of the muffins are golden, and the muffins have set up completely. Let cool for a couple minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack. 

Curried hummus

This morning started out with rain, and plenty of stuff to do around the kitchen. First of all, the chickpeas cooked all day on low in the slow cooker yesterday needed to be converted into hummus. This time I used a farmers market inspiration of curried hummus and created my own version. – A classic hummus recipe but with a dash of curry and a tablespoon of maple syrup. Delight!

Curried hummus (ca 2 cups)

• 2 cups cooked chickpeas, liquid reserved 
• 1/2 tsp fleur de sel (or kosher salt), or to taste
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup tahini  (sesame paste)
• 2 Tbsp reserved chickpea liquid (or water)
• a few drops of Tabasco sauce, to taste
• 1/2 – 1  teaspoon curry powder (start with less)
• 1 TB maple syrup

Place all ingredients into a food processor (except the salt) and process until the hummus is finely pureed. Scoop into a bowl and drizzle with a good quality olive oil and serve.  

The annual hippie fest

Swiss Plum Tart

Today I finally managed to bake an authentic Swiss “Waehe”, a plum tart with a very thin dough crust, fresh ground hazelnuts (filberts), Italian plums, and a custard made with eggs, cream, milk and some vanilla and sugar. – Delight!

Swiss Plum Tart (“Zwetschgenwaehe”)

Regular 9 inch size tart pan, or a smaller and 2 mini ones.

• homemade or store-bought short pastry or puff pastry (I used a frozen store-bought pie dough)
• 1 pound Italian plums (or apricots, apples, or cherries), pitted and cut in quarters
• 3-4 tablespoon of ground hazelnuts or almonds
• 2 eggs
• 100 ml milk
• 100 ml whipping cream
• 2 teapsoons of flour
• 1-3 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 425F degrees (220C).

Layer a pie tin with thin short pastry or puff pastry, sprinkle the base slightly with ground hazelnuts or almonds. baked in the oven for 7 min to give the crust some stability.

Mix the prepared plums with 1 TB sugar. Once the pie crust is prebaked, remove it from the oven, and arrange the plum slices in a round pattern.  Add 1 TB sugar sprinkled over the fruit and bake in the oven on the lower part for 10 minutes

Meanwhile mix eggs with the milk, whipping cream and flour, add 2 more tablespoons of sugar. Season with vanilla extract. Pour the custard mix over the fruitcake and bake for another 20 minutes. Let it set for 10 min before serving taking it out of the pan. Serve with some whipped cream.

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Italian plums, pie dough with hazelnuts, and sugared plums.

Arranged plums in pre-baked crust. Custard added to prebaked fruit.

Baking!

 

Setting for 10 minutes.

Bon appetite!

Holbrook Sanctuary

Brooksville Harbor, ME



 

A day on the lake

Boothbay Botanical Gardens

Taking home the lobster shells for broth..