Raisin Cookies

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.

Eggs, Eggs, Eggs

Eggs, Eggs, Eggs. First a A few Very Important Notations About Eggs!

Here, at Kismet Inn Bed and Breakfast, I make sure to get eggs from Farmers Market, the smaller the vendor the better because I don't want them producing so much that they are able to deliver to the supermarkets or even small health food stores. Once that becomes the case then it all chan...ges. My belief is to stick to small local food places unless it is something that can't be grown in the area.

The eggs I get -- the yolks are deep dark yellow/orange not pale yellow like the ones from supermarkets. These hens are graced by the suns rays, shining on them giving them all the necessary nutrients they need to be healthy thus, to produce incredible eggs. The yolk also stands up, I really mean that, it stands up, it is well rounded, bumpy and smiles. It is not like the ones from supermarkets --- the poor hens are cooped up in dark, small cages, never see the sun, live miserably, never get to roam the free grass and be happy. Have you noticed these yolks are so pale yellow sometimes it is like beige, cream color.... even the free range, organic ones in the supermarket cannot compare to the free range, organic small, local farms.
The grains the small local, organic farms feed them are just so much better too. So whenever you are buying eggs just make sure you get them from a small, local, organic farm or even your neighbor will be better than a supermarket. If you have no choice but to get it from a supermarket just make sure they are free range, organic certified eggs.

Having noted the kind of eggs I use, now I absolutely love eggs. I love them fried, boiled, poached, scrambled is my least liked because I can't get to taste the yolk that much. In my native land, we make so many different egg dishes, mix them with all sorts of vegetables, crack them over all sorts of vegetables or mix them with meat, have it raw mixed with rice and ghee, make a yogurt soup that is yogurt, fried onions and eggs with spices, it is heavenly. I don't know if I could live without them!

Wild Mushroom Omelet

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/

Organic, Grass fed Hamburger

At Kismet Inn Bed and Breakfast, I try to use only grass fed meat as much as I can. I don't like using any kind of meat if it is not as natural as possible, by natural I don't mean just the fact that the animal is raised free range, or not injected all sorts of antibiotics. By natural I mean to make sure animals such as cows are not fed any kind of grains even organic grains, to make sure they are free range, graze on grass, roam around on land without being crowded, see the sun, the sun shines on them gracing them with its vitamins and have a stress free life.

The beef I use is from 'Kelley Bros. Farm Stand' which is located along the east side of the Kennebec River Pittston, Maine. The farm is currently owned and operated by Pete and Tammy Kelley along with their boys Billy and Cody, their farm was founded in 1873 by William E. and his son A. Leonard Kelley and passed down through four generations. Originally the farm was a working Dairy Farm until the main barn burnt in a fire in 1967. The farm was home to many pulling horses who also worked in the woods. They currently have added a new facility and a farm stand to sell their products. They also offer for sale their own organic hay that they process each year and hot to add natural compost for the summer. They do not sell in any stores or super markets, only at Farmers Markets and their own stand.

Today, I made a hamburger with their ground beef. I served it with just celeriac, no bread. My guest thought it was the best hamburger she had had in her life. I added salt, pepper and some sumac, fried quarter of an onion then put the hamburger in the pan let it fry for 5 minutes turned it over let it fry for another 10 minutes served it with celeriac root, green tea and honey. It was simple, delicious and nutritious.

Here is the information for Kelley Bro. Farm... they have no website, are not on FB, don't have a blog... they just do farming. They have email address and phone number.
Email: tlkell@aol.com
Phone: 207-242-8818
Cell: 207-2428818

Juicing

I try very hard to keep away not just from industrialized food but also industrialized organic food whether it be juice, broth, paste, dough, whatever it maybe, I try to make it from scratch. The other day I had gotten 5 lbs of cranberry from 'Sparrow Farm' which is MOFGA (Maine organic farmers gardeners association) Cranberries are one of the juicing I do by soaking them for a day so they are not so dry then juice them. Usually the bottle keeps for at least 10-12 days. I make cranberry tea by boiling water, add a little bit of the juice, a teaspoon raw, organic honey, drink it in the morning or late afternoon. It is incredibly delicious and well, you all know healthy AND a thousand times better than the industrialized, bottled cranberry juices that sit on the shelf.

Country Sourdough

Sour Dough Bread:
Over the weekend I had two sets of guests both of which had requested dinner, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Since I make everything from scratch, I decided to make my own sour dough bread making Kismet Inn Bed and Breakfast stay a rare experience. I got the recipe from a 'Le Cordon Bleu' book. I offered different kind of bread on their second day of breakfast but both wanted to have Kismet Inn's home made sour dough bread. It did taste quite good, the aroma was the part that I really loved, it was sweet and a slight smell of beer which was part of the starter. Here is the recipe for it.

Country Sourdough

Prolonged yeast fermentation gives the characteristic taste to this sourdough loaf. The starter needs to begin fermenting about two days before the loaf is made.

Preparation time 30 minutes plus rising (two days in advance for starter and three hours thirty minutes for rising) Total cooking time 55 minutes.
Makes two 1-1b loaves

Starter
1 cup bread flour (I used the flour I had - white flour)
1 teaspoon fresh yeast or 1/2 teaspoon dried yeast
1 cup buttermilk or beer (I used beer)

Sponge
1 teaspoon fresh yeast or 1/2 teaspoon dried yeast
1 cup bread flour
2 teaspoons fresh yeast or 1 teaspoon dried yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
4 tablespoons butter, softened
5 cups white bread flour
1 egg, beaten, to glaze

I used the same flour throughout, fresh yeast all three times and beer for starter.

One To make the starter, begin two days before you want to make the bread. Sift the flour into a large bowl and crumble the yeast over the surface. Heat the beer until lukewarm and mix into the flour using a wooden spoon and leave for 8-12 hours (I left it for 12 hours) at room temperature, or until the starter begins bubbling a little.

Two Prepare the sponge. Add the yeast and 1 cup lukewarm water to the starter and beat with a wooden spoon until the yeast has dissolved. Stir in the flour until smooth, scrape down the sides of the bowl, cover and leave at room temperature for 8-12 hours.

Three On the day you want to bake the bread, place the fermenting starter into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. I didn't do any of that, I did it all manually. Add the last amount of yeast, the salt, sugar, butter and a quarter of the flour, and beat until a smooth paste is formed. Add the remaining flour in three stages, beating well between them. You should have a soft dough. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 15 minutes or until smooth and elastic.

Four Return the dough to a clean, lightly oiled bowl and turn once to coat the surface in oil. Cover with a clean damp kitchen towel and allow the dough to rise at room temperature until it has doubled in size (the rising time will depend on the temperature of your kitchen.)

Five Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and then divide in half and knead gently for 5 minutes until smooth. Shape the two pieces of dough into round loaves. Dust a baking sheet with flour, lift the loaves onto the sheet and brush them with the beaten egg. Use a very sharp knife to cut a pattern like loaves. cover the dough with a damp kitchen towel and let it rise again until nearly doubled in size. I let it rise over night. Towards the end of this time, preheat the oven to 375F degrees.

Six Bake the risen loaves for 45-50 minutes, or until deep golden with a good crust. Remove from the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack.

Cut a piece while it is warm, put a dab of butter on it and some carrot jam. It is heavenly.

Carrot Jam

How to make Carrot Jam:
Carrot jam is quite easy to make it just needs some patience to do the preparation manually and cook slowly. It is also important that all the ingredients be organic. I bought the carrots from a local farm called 'Fish Bowl Farm' I made my own vanilla from organic vanilla beans which I bought from a local organic spice merchant called 'Gryffon Ridge' These were organic Tahitian beans which I marinated in plain vodka for about 6 weeks. Cardamom pods and organic cane juice sugar.
For this batch I used 25 big, fat carrots, 2 teaspoon vanilla, 4 cups sugar, handful cardamom pods.
Wash the carrots.
Peel them.
Grate them manually.
Put a layer of carrots, then sugar, sprinkle some cardamom, repeat till the pot is full, add 2 teaspoonful of vanilla.
Put the lid on, turn the heat on very low to dissolve the sugar.
Once sugar is dissolved, mix it with wooden spoon.
Let it cook under low heat till all the liquid has evaporated.
Set the jars the carrot is going to be used for inside the sink, pour boiling water in the jars then take one jar at a time pouring the water out, putting it on a cloth to get the water out, then fill it up with the jam then put the lid on and tighten it then turn the jar upside down leave over night.
I serve carrot jam to my guests most of whom - kind of all say, they have never had carrot jam before and without exception everyone loves it. The last batch was finished by a guest from Florida to whom I will be sending 5 bottles next week. You can also have it with lentil rice, yogurt even snow. I have a brother who absolutely loves carrot jam, once when it had snowed he took a plate filled it up with snow, put some carrot jam on it and ate it. This was 40 something years ago when the world was less polluted. Enjoy making it or better yet, come over to the Kismet Inn enjoy it for breakfast or afternoon tea.