Kismet Granola Bar

Many of my guests have asked for the granola I offer at breakfast and here it is.

First I would like to note that I don't offer granola on the side daily with breakfast, I offer it as breakfast if you are staying more than one day.  The other point I would like to make is that 'Kismet Granola Bar' evolved into what it is and it has become favorite of many of the guests.

When I had opened the inn, I would mix all the ingredients with yogurt which I some guests were able to finish and some not.  I felt bad wasting the food when a guest couldn't finish it so I decided to mix the dry ingredients and have the guests mix the amount they want with the yogurt.  This turned out to be kind of hard as well because some guests were allergic to seeds or some to coconut ~ finally, I decided to server each ingredient in a small separate bowl and have the guests make their own granola.

The most important part about the 'Kismet Granola Bar' is that the yogurt is homemade which means there are no additives like the store bought one.  Sadly even the organic ones have sugar added to them which I find very strange.  I make my own yogurts with milk purchased from 'Balfour Farm' at 'Bath or Brunswick Farmers Market' the yogurt is often thick and creamy with cream on top.  I use whole m ilk so it forms really good cream on top which I mix in with the rest of the yogurt.

I also cook the oats with my homemade ghee then add a little bit of cinnamon to it, sometimes I might add an apple, sometimes I might add coconut butter instead of ghee.

The fresh fruit like apples, pears are always sauteed in ghee and cinnamon sometimes I will add blueberries to it.

Here is the list of the bowls ~

Homemade Yogurt
Oats cooked with water then add pinch of salt, ghee, cinnamon.
Dried Fruit ~ all the fruits are organic without any additives i.e no sugar or anything else is added, it is simply the fruit grown organically and dried ~      mango, pineapple, California and Turkish apricots, apples,
Seeds ~ raw organic sesame, flax, sunflower which I roast again I don't add any salt, honey just roast them.
Seasonal fresh fruit ~ if it is berries I just serve them in a bowl without if it is pears, apples I will saute them in ghee with some cinnamon.
Dried coconut
Homemade jam ~ carrot, strawberry, raspberry, blueberry ~ one kind only.

I serve different kinds of teas specially during summer time I will make fresh mint or other herbal teas from the garden.

 

« Saffron Rice

Carrot Juice

Here at the Kismet Inn, Bed and Breakfast, Spa, Wellness, I make everything from scratch because I believe if I want to serve my guests the highest quality of food, the ingredients must be of highest quality.  By making everything from scratch, buying ingredients from Farmers Market, local, making sure they are organic and ‘MOFGA’ ‘Maine Organic Farmers Gardeners Association, I am able to do just that.

Here is a glass of carrot juice ~ the carrots are from ‘Fish Bowl Farm’ in Bowdoinham, Maine.

Saffron Rice

This recipe is how to make simple Saffron Rice ~ no measurements are given because no matter how many cups of rice you make it is all the same.  There are a few important factors to note ~

1. The rice must be organic Indian Basmati rice.  It cannot be California, Texan or any other kind simply because none of them elongate as well as Indian Basmati rice where the Basmati rice originates from.

2.  Use high quality pot, the more rice the bigger the pot must be.

Preparation and cooking ~
1. Soak the rice in cold, salt water for a few hours.
2. Boil water, add the soaked rice once the water is boiled.
3. Let the water come to boil with the rice rising to the top, taste it to make sure it is not cooked just al dente then sieve it in a mesh colander.  If the colander has big holes you will lose a lot of the grains.
4. Put the pot back on the stove add ghee or butter, saffron if you want potato, sweet potato, lavash bread or nothing just the ghee and saffron then add the rice from the colander.
5.  In a very small saucepan bring some water to boil, add ghee and saffron ~ I usually make this while the rice is coming to boil then.
6.  Add the boiled water, ghee and saffron to the rice.
7. Traditionally you wrap the lid around a clean, cotton cloth then put it on the pot to absorb all the moisture to prevent the rice from being soggy however, I don't do it and the rice is never soggy.
8.  Put the stove on the lowest temperature/flame you can.
9.  Depending on the size of the pot and the amount of the rice you can cook it anywhere between 30-60 minutes.
10.  Serve it on a platter.

This rice can be eaten with many different kinds of stews.  If cooked with the right and high ingredients, it is extremely aromatic.  Enjoy it ~

Monk Fish

Kismet Inn Maine After a busy day last night I had John and Dominique over for dinner and I had promised them to make a prune, carrot, spinach dish that I remember my aunt use to make except she would make it with chicken in stew form and serve it with rice. Rice seems to be served with everything in my native land along with many different kinds of stew. I often take the ingredients from my childhood dishes and mix them with the dishes I have had at the many different places I have lived. In this case, I decided to use fish instead of kitchen, sweet potato instead of rice and not make it in the form of stew.

At farmers market we have 'Port Clyde Co-op' fishers who bring along their map showing where they catch the fish... the fish is fresh and incredibly tasty. I had bought halibut last weekend which was excellent so I planned to get halibut this weekend but she didn't have any instead she recommended monk fish so I got some monk fish.

First I sauteed some onions in teaspoon of ghee then sliced carrots added it to the onion with a tiny bit of salt and pepper, let it simmer for a few minutes. I sauteed onions in 1/2 teaspoon of ghee added spinach, salt & pepper turned off the stove put the lid on the pot let the spinach cook for couple of minutes with the turned off burner's heat.

I cooked the sweet potato separately for 20 minutes.

I put a teaspoon of ghee in a frying pan, washed the monk fish put it in the pan, added salt, pepper, masala spice let it simmer for 5 minutes then turned it over added more masala spice let it cook for another 5 minutes, squeezed 1/2 fresh lemon juice let it cook for 2 minutes. It was ready to serve.

For salad I picked some fresh greens and herbs from the garden added just olive oil and squeezed half a lemon.

For Cheese I got two kinds of goat cheese from Caitlin 'appleton creamery'
John and Dominique brought a bottle of red wine (sorry can't remember the name of the wine) I am terrible in remembering names.

The fish turned out excellent mixed with prune, carrots and sweet potato, the spinach was just as good. If you cook spinach with just the warmth of the turned off burner it will still have that wonderful green taste. The greens from the garden were so fresh that I didn't need to put any salt or pepper just the olive oil and the lemon and the cheese is always good. The whole dinner took about 45 minutes to make. A note -- I do things very slowly!

Rhubarb Jam

Here at the Kismet Inn Bed and Breakfast I never buy any industrialized, supermarket or even homemade jams from the Farmers Market where I get most of my food ingredients. I make all of my jams with fresh, organic and local ingredients. Couple of weekends ago I decided to make rhubarb jam without looking up any recipes. I thought the best recipe is what I put together in my head. The simple truth for any kind of jam is sugar and the fruit or vegetable.

For this rhubarb jam I used:
Rhubarb - 8 cups of rhubarb
Cane Juice Organic Sugar - 2 cups
Arrow root - 2 tablespoons
Raisins - 1 cup
Toasted Walnuts - 2 cups
Toasted Coconuts - 1 cup
Cardamom pods - 1 cup

Wash and cut the rhubarbs into small bits, put it in a pot, add the sugar let the sugar melt while the burner is on low heat - about 30-45 minutes. Take a little bit of the juice mix the arrow root in the juice add it to the pot and stir so it gets mixed up with the entire rhubarb. Toast the walnuts add it to the pot, toast the raisins add to the pot, toast the coconut add to the pot, ground with pestle and mortar, the shell removed the pods added to the pot. Stir all the ingredients then let the jam cook under low heat for another 20 minutes. By now it should have a good thick texture.

Put about 10 4 oz mason jar in boiling water to sterilize, fill the jars tighten the lids. Since I don't cook the jams for long hours even though I sterilize the jars I still store them in the refrigerator till I use them. Once I open a jar I leave it outside the fridge till it is finished.

I served the jam to the guests over the Memorial Day Weekend and the guests loved it. The taste is not too sweet, you can taste each ingredient, the tartness of the rhubarb, the toastiness of the walnuts and the coconut and the raisins each have their distinct flavor. By adding the coconut and raisin you can add less sugar and by adding the arrow root you add the thickness to the jam. Enjoy it ... if you find it difficult to make, please come to the Kismet Inn Bed and Breakfast to enjoy it here either for breakfast as stay over guest or with scones for afternoon tea as non-stay over guests.

Please, contact Shadi at 207-443-3399 or email stay@kismetinnmaine.com

Blueberry Jam

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.

Beet Green Quiche

As a child I remember my family would make so many different kinds of quiches. My favorite one was the spinach one mixed with herbs. As I was thinking of those wonderful days I thought of making a quiche with beet greens right here at the Kismet Inn bed and breakfast.

The ingredients:
Beet Greens
Eggs
Roasted Walnuts
Barberries
Onion, garlic, salt, pepper, masala spice

Fry the onions then add garlic let them fry till they become crispy.
In a big bowl whip up the eggs with a hand whipper, add the the beet greens, roasted walnuts, barberries, the fried/crispy onions and garlic, salt, pepper and masala spice. Mix all the ingredients, whipping them by hand turn it into a big frying pan (use ghee) put a lid on it let it cook over low heat for 30 minutes!

Then let it cool cutting it into triangles after it has cooled. Serve it with salad as brunch, lunch, dinner or even breakfast just by itself. It is healthy and easy to make.