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December 20, 2011

Holiday Subscripton Offer 2011

What’s the perfect gift for… the foodie on your list? The relative or friend who is currently a Mainer in exile, longing for a taste of their home state? The person who has everything? Yourself?

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It’s not too late to order the gift of Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine, a gift that will continue giving all year long with great recipes, local chef profiles, in-depth articles, and stunning photography.

Give the gift of Maine’s original food magazine, and make someone smile this holiday season. We’ll send the recipient a gift letter stating this gift is from you. Subscribe today for yourself or someone special on your holiday list!

Happy Holidays to you and those you love!

Melanie Hyatt & Jim Bazin

October 27, 2011

Lobster 3 Ways

This lobster dish was submitted to the 2011 Maine Lobster Chef of the Year competition by Chef Ryan Campbell of Lake Parlin Lodge and Cabins. His finalist entry was Maine Lobster Cake served with Mango Chutney Lobster Spring Roll, with Roasted Sweet Onions, Napa Cabbage, Avocado Cream Roasted Lobster Claw, Wild Mushroom Ragout, and Crispy Sweet Corn Fritter, Apple Smoked Bacon.

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image from Maine Lobster Promotion Council

Continue reading “Lobster 3 Ways” »

October 26, 2011

Trio of Maine Lobster Rolls

Classic Maine Lobster Roll; Asian Lobster Roll with Wasabi Mayonnaise; South American Lobster Roll with Corn & Chili Relish. These recipes were submitted for this year’s Lobster Chef of the Year competition by Finalist Kristian Burrin, Executive Chef of the Seasons of Stonington Restaurant.


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image from Maine Lobster Promotion Council

Trio of Maine Lobster Rolls
Click here for WCSH6/207 video of Executive Chef Kristian Burrin, Seasons of Stonington Restaurant

Trio of Lobster Rolls
-Classic Maine Lobster Roll
-Asian Lobster Roll with Wasabi Mayonnaise
-South American Lobster Roll with Corn & Chili Relish

For this recipe you will need 24 ounces of cooked lobster meat which is around four 1 to 1.5 pound lobsters.

Classic Brioche lobster roll – Preparation Time 5-7 minutes
2 large broiche rolls
8 ounces cooked lobster meat
2 Tablespoons mayonnaise (homemade if you can)
Pinch of celery salt
Lemon zest to garnish
1 ounce melted butter

Chop the cooked lobster into ¼ inch pieces and mix with the mayonnaise adding the pinch of celery salt and set to the side. Melt the butter and brush the outside of the brioche roll and grill on medium heat till you have nice grill lines on all sides. Cut the brioche rolls in half and fill with 2 ounces of the lobster mayonnaise; place in the fridge till needed for plating.

Asian Lobster Roll  – Preparation Time 10-15 minutes

For this recipe you will need a fryer and a 1 inch diameter metal cylinder.

3 sheets spring roll pastry or egg roll wrappers
1 egg white beaten
8 ounces cooked lobster meat
3 Tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon sriracha chili sauce
1 Tablespoon chopped cilantro (save one leaf for garnish)
Juice & zest of ½ lime
1 teaspoon very finely chopped ginger
1 teaspoon ready made wasabi

Heat the fryer to 300º. Take your spring roll pastry and cut it in half, lay it out, and brush the whole sheet with the beaten egg white. Roll one half round the metal cylinder as tight as you can.

Place the cylinder in the fryer basket and cook till nice golden brown. Remove from the basket and place on kitchen towel. After 2-3 minutes, pick up the cylinder with a cloth and carefully remove fried pastry. Repeat the steps till all six pastries are fried, leaving them on the towel to drain.

Take 2 Tablespoons of mayonnaise and mix in the ginger, chili sauce, lime juice and zest, and cilantro. Chop the cooked lobster into very small pieces and mix into the mayo. Carefully fill the pastry cylinders and place in fridge till need.
To make the wasabi mayonnaise, take 1 Tablespoon of mayonnaise and mix together with the wasabi.

South American Lobster Roll – Preparation Time 25 minutes
1 large sheet of puff pastry
8 ounces cooked lobster meat
4 ounces grated Gruyère cheese grated (try to use a good imported aged one)
1 egg beaten for brushing
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
1 fresh corn cob
4 ounces cherry tomatoes cut into quarters
1 fresh red chili finely sliced (de-seeded if you don’t want it too hot)
1 Tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon finely chopped cilantro

Preheat oven to 350º, cut the puff pastry into four 3 inch by 4 inch rectangles, and lay out on a baking tray with parchment paper. Chop the lobster into ½ inch pieces and place in the middle of the pastry, then divide the grated cheese between them putting it on top of lobster.

Brush round the edge of the pastry with the egg and then fold over to make a roll, making sure that the join is together. Then turn over so the seam is on the bottom. Brush the top of the pastry with egg and let dry for a few minutes, then repeat the brushing and sprinkle the cumin seed over the top. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes till it is nice and golden brown.

To make the relish, cut the corn off the cob and place in small pan; add the cherry tomatoes, chili, sugar, and vinegar and bring to boil. When the relish has boiled, reduce the heat and simmer for around 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool. When it has cooled, add the chopped cilantro.

To plate the dish, place the classic lobster roll at one end of the plate, put some wasabi mayonnaise in the middle, and run a spoon through it to make a streak and place the Asian lobster rolls on top. At the other end of the plate, place the South American lobster roll and put some corn relish on the corners, then impress and enjoy!

Yields 4 servings.

October 25, 2011

Slow Poached Maine Lobster Tail Nipponese

This lobster dish took top honors in the 2011 Maine Lobster Chef of the Year competition. The creation of Personal Chef Thomas Reagan of Kennebunk, it consists of a lobster tail poached in lemon butter sauce served atop a black and white sesame seed coated rice cake with an orange miso coleslaw garnish. Congratulations, Chef Thomas Reagan!

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image from Maine Lobster Promotion Council

Continue reading “Slow Poached Maine Lobster Tail Nipponese” »

September 23, 2011

Great American Seafood Cook Off 2011: Part 2

This recipe, entered into this year’s Great American Seafood Cook Off Contest by Chef Margaret McLellan, showcases the best of Maine ingredients.

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Maine Lobster Mac and Cheese with Wild Blueberry Spiked Greens
Chef Margaret Salt McLellan, 2008 Maine Lobster Chef of the Year

Mac and Cheese
1 pound of high quality dry pasta –(Rigorosa Vesuvio if available is the best) or other shape that will hold sauce well such as mafalda or orzo
8 ounces of mascarpone
4 ounces of creamy goat cheese
Pinch of ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon sea salt
Pinch of white pepper
2 ounces of heavy cream
1 ounce of minced black truffles
3 black winter truffles (sliced paper thin)
Set out all ingredients at room temperature 1 hour before preparing

Bring 2 gallons of salted water to a rolling boil. Cook pasta till al dente. Strain and return to pot. Keep warm.

Stir in mascarpone, goat cheese, and heavy cream. Add seasonings and minced truffles gently. Do not over stir or mix. Cover and keep warm. Reserve sliced truffle for plating time.

Butter poached Maine lobster meat
1½ pounds of fresh cooked Maine lobster meat (claw and knuckle or combination of claw, knuckle, and tail)
1 pound of salted butter
1 Tablespoon of water

Step 1

Beurre Monte (Bur Mahn-tay)
Cut butter into 1 inch chunks. Hold at room temperature up to one hour.

Bring 1 Tablespoon of water to a boil in heavy deep sauté pan. Reduce heat to low. Add butter one or two chunks at a time, whisking to create an emulsion. Once this emulsifies, all the butter may be added. Turn heat to low.

Step 2

Adding Maine lobster meat: If using CK, add meat to beurre monte. Do not chop or cut. If using tail meat, cut tails into one inch medallions. Gently incorporate into butter. Cover and hold at low heat.

Blueberry spiked micro greens
4 ounces of Wild Maine Blueberry Vinaigrette
8 ounces of micro green blend

Wild Maine Blueberry Vinaigrette
1 pint of fresh Maine blueberries
16 ounces of water
4 ounces of sugar
4 ounces rice wine vinegar
12 ounces canola oil
¼ teaspoon lemon juice

Step 1

In heavy large sauce pan bring water to boil. Add cleaned blueberries and sugar. Reduce heat to medium. Cook down till this becomes a thick sauce. Stir often. Remove from heat. Cool to room temperature. Purée in blender.

Step 2

Add rice wine vinegar and lemon juice, pulse to incorporate. Set blender to “blend” setting and slowly add oil through pour spout until this emulsifies. Keeps about two weeks in refrigeration.

Assembly

Step 1

Spoon 4-6 ounces of mac and cheese into center of a pasta bowl or slope sided plate. A ring mold may be used also. Fan 3 slices of paper thin truffles on top.

Step 2

Arrange 3 ounces of Maine lobster meat on top and on side of the mac and cheese. Use equal amounts of claw, knuckle and tail meat. Ladle 1-2 ounces of butter sauce over the meat.

Step 3

Toss greens in 4 ounces of vinaigrette. Using tongs, place in equal portions on top of Lobster Mac and Cheese.

Step 4

Garnish-optional

ENJOY!

Serves 8.

September 22, 2011

Great American Seafood Cook Off 2011: Part 1

It’s late July and I get mail from the Louisiana Seafood folks:

“Are you coming this year?”

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Margaret Salt McLellan and Joe Ndungu plating up at this year’s Great American Seafood Cook Off.

Continue reading “Great American Seafood Cook Off 2011: Part 1″ »

February 14, 2011

Ocean Escargot Hasn’t Conched Out Yet

Anyone who has been to the Bahamas, the Turks, and Caicos or even Key West knows the word Conch. Pronounced “konk,” the name has become widely popular thanks to Jimmy Buffet songs and wild crazy Key West visits. Residents of Key West (known as the Conch Republic) are called conchs, the streets are lined with conch houses, and tourists can ride the conch train. Go further south into the Bahamas where the term “conchy joe” is used to refer to Bahamians of mixed race.

All the slang aside, this beautiful and delicious marine mollusk has gone through a roller coaster of existence over the last 20 or so years.

In my early 20s, fresh out of culinary and looking for adventure, I took a job charter boat cooking in the Virgin Islands. What great fun it was to dive off the boat for conch, filling up a net bag with as many as we could before our lungs exploded, surfacing to hear the ooh’s and ahh’s of the guests onboard at the sight of these magnificent conch!

Learning from the locals that rather than smash a shell for the meat, an hour or so in the freezer was most effective at driving the conch out, leaving a fully intact shell for someone to take home as a souvenir. Running this tough hunk of muscle through a hand crank meat grinder produced a perfect textured meat for creating my version of some local dishes.

Conch incidentally is higher in protein than most seafood and second to salmon in omega-3 fatty acids. It’s pretty much a “perfect seafood.” On a trip to St. Thomas a couple years back, I was told that diving for conch would be nothing more than an exercise in holding my breath. They are few and far between in those waters.

The queen conch (the one in that beautiful big white shell with the pale pink interior) is most commonly used in all conch recipes from conch fritters to conch chowder. In the early ’80s, the queen conch population was starting to collapse. Florida banned its harvest and it was banned from the Bahamas down to Haiti and Honduras. It was being seriously overfished and facing depletion. The industrious Bahamians sanctioned a 176 square mile area of Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park as a no-take fishery zone. Since then the park has become a major source for the replenishment of queen conch. Florida jumped on the wagon and began operating a conch hatchery in the Keys in 1991 to help conch stocks recover.

As recently as 2005, there was only one commercial conch farm in the world. Owned by an American on the Island of Provo in the Turks and Caicos, this underwater pasture of 260 acres raises millions of conch annually for export. Conch is gaining its place in the seafood repertoire of some of this country’s top chefs. My interest in conch sparked further research which is now leading to partnering with a group in the Bahamas to set up a small manufacturing facility to produce (you guessed it) value added conch products for export. From Lobster Stew to Conch Chowder—here we go!

The following recipe was given to me by my good friend McKenzie, a true Bahamian gentleman.

ConchChowder

Continue reading “Ocean Escargot Hasn’t Conched Out Yet” »

November 2, 2010

Lobster Chef of the Year 2010 Finalist: Chef William Clifford

Chef William Clifford of the Portland Harbor Hotel, Finalist for this year’s Lobster Chef of the Year competition, shares his wonderful recipe, which he says is a great make-ahead meal for family get-togethers. See his video here, and recipe below.

Continue reading “Lobster Chef of the Year 2010 Finalist: Chef William Clifford” »

October 28, 2010

Lobster Chef of the Year 2010: Azure Café’s Kelly Patrick Farrin

This year’s Maine Lobster Chef of the Year top honors went to Kelly Patrick Farrin, Sous Chef at Freeport’s Azure Café. Here is his outstanding, prize-winning recipe.

Lobster Chef 2010 Winner

image: Maine Lobster Promotion Council

Continue reading “Lobster Chef of the Year 2010: Azure Café’s Kelly Patrick Farrin” »

November 18, 2009

Butternut-Mascarpone Lobster Ravioli, Balsamic Pomegranate Spinach Salad

Another great Lobster Chef of the Year Finalist Recipe. Beautifully Plated Up!

Butternut-Mascarpone Lobster Ravioli, Balsamic Pomegranate Spinach Salad
Rick Skoglund, Samoset Resort

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Continue reading “Butternut-Mascarpone Lobster Ravioli, Balsamic Pomegranate Spinach Salad” »

November 12, 2009

The Belly of the Beast: Conclusion

The young chefs were still cooking when I went to bed. I heard them leave for WCSH TV studio before 6 am. Mac was scheduled to present a plate on the morning show then off to SMCC kitchens to finish up his cooking for the competition. Once at Harvest on the Harbor event center, Mac, Dylan, and James busied themselves setting up for the show. The two chefs who presented before Mac did a superb job. I know how nerve wracking competition can be. You stand up there in front of a hungry audience feeling almost naked. Continue reading “The Belly of the Beast: Conclusion” »

November 11, 2009

The Belly of the Beast: Part 1

Those are words my son, MacKenzie Arrington used in his cover letter to prospective employers recently. In describing his life of growing up in the culinary world, he said “having Margaret Salt McLellan for a mother was like living in the “belly of the beast.” Interesting compliment! Continue reading “The Belly of the Beast: Part 1″ »

November 3, 2009

Lobster Tail on Braised Cabbage and Cornbread

Congratulations to newly crowned Maine Lobster Chef of the Year, MacKenzie Arrington! Here is his prizewinning recipe.

Lobster Tail on Braised Cabbage and Cornbread
MacKenzie Arrington, 2009 Maine Lobster Chef of the Year

Arrington

Equipment Needed
·   1 large cast iron skillet
·   1 large sauce pot
·   Plastic Wrap
·   1 large sauté pan or a grill top
·   1 small sauté pan
·   2 medium metal bowl

Continue reading “Lobster Tail on Braised Cabbage and Cornbread” »

October 29, 2009

Maine Lobster Chef of the Year 2009: MacKenzie Arrington

A hearty congratulations to Maine Lobster Chef of the Year 2008, Margaret Salt McLellan and her son, the newly crowned Maine Lobster Chef of the Year 2009 MacKenzie Arrington!! MacKenzie won with his Roasted Maine Lobster Tail on Braised Cabbage and Cornbread.

It’s the beginning of a new Lobster Dynasty, as mother and son share a piece of Maine history. Maine Food & Lifestyle was proud to be there to cover Margaret Salt McLellan’s 2008 win at the Blaine House, and we are happy to announce the good news of her son’s win with you here in 2009.

Best Wishes to you both!

he who must be saluted

MacKenzie Arrington accepts Lobster Chef of the Year Award.

June 23, 2009

Maine Lobster Chef McLellan: “Bring It On!” (Conclusion)

Day Two: The five finalists were announced. Among them, Texas, Maryland, and of course the favored son of New Orleans, who was now representing Mississippi, John Currence. Chef Currence, on day one, had sauntered in wearing ripped jeans, cowboy boots, and a seriously wrinkled chef jacket. Day two, he at least wore an ironed jacket but I somehow knew he was not be underestimated.

Continue reading “Maine Lobster Chef McLellan: “Bring It On!” (Conclusion)” »

June 22, 2009

Maine Lobster Chef McLellan: “Bring it On!” (Part 2)

Night One: Our information packet gave us directions to the Arts District where we were treated to an amazing sampling of local cuisine prepared by chefs of New Orleans. One could not turn around without bumping into a bartender. (I am not complaining here.) From there we were loaded onto an air conditioned tour bus and escorted to the next stop, by far the best looking Harley riding big bald police officers imaginable. Lights flashing, sirens blaring, cars pulling out of the way. It was something!

Continue reading “Maine Lobster Chef McLellan: “Bring it On!” (Part 2)” »

June 21, 2009

Maine Lobster Chef McLellan: “Bring It On!” (Part 1)

If you can’t take the heat, get back in the kitchen.

Culinary competition. Ask any chef how they feel about it and you will get one response or the other. Terrifying or exhilarating. I happen to be of the latter school.

Continue reading “Maine Lobster Chef McLellan: “Bring It On!” (Part 1)” »

May 6, 2009

Actor Gary Merrill (Conclusion) and Irish Lobster Pie

“Raspberry pie, lots of sugar, and the most elegant crust of flour,
cider vinegar, and lard for the shipwrecked. “ I had learned the love
of cooking at this early age under the unconventional instruction of
Miss Ada. (Nana could not cook a bit nor did she ever try to, but she
could dance and sing and swim.) Ada’s dishes were a delightful
hodgepodge of Jamaican, Irish, typical Maine fare, and a new found
flair for Italian. With the resources of the barn, coops,
slaughterhouse, and lavish gardens up at the “Big House”, meals were
always a well orchestrated event. Ada had recently learned to make
pasta from one of Grandsir’s card buddies, Rome Cabone, a local store
owner and native Sicilian. For a couple of weeks, long strands of pasta
hung over a wooden clothes-drying rack. Her favorite way of preparing
it was with  Campbell’s Tomato soup. (That recipe needed some work!)

Continue reading “Actor Gary Merrill (Conclusion) and Irish Lobster Pie” »

Actor Gary Merrill Puts Yacht Aground in Back River (Part 1)

I lived a charmed life as a child in Boothbay. My grandparents’ home on Murphy’s Point sprawled from the formal and elegant big house (and I mean “big”) down through the fields abundant with blueberry bushes and rustic (wine grape) arbors, to the shore via the well worn dirt road. My grandfather, who was in his 70’s when I was born (my grandmother was 30 years younger~a story for another time), had lived his life, amassed his wealth, and took pleasure in creating fun for his family. At the shore he had built a summer cottage to resemble the home he had grown up in on the Irish coast.

Continue reading “Actor Gary Merrill Puts Yacht Aground in Back River (Part 1)” »

April 26, 2009

Linda Bean’s Perfect Maine to Extend Beyond the Border

We already know that Maine Lobster Chef of the Year, Margaret Salt McLellan, was named Executive Chef of Linda Bean's product brand. Details are now out on exactly where people will be able to sample some of the LBPM edibles — starting with eight kiosk locations expected to be open by this summer, including two in Freeport, and ones in Rockland, Searsport, Camden, Port Clyde and possibly Portland, as well as Del Ray Beach, Fla.

What's next? Possibly selling franchises across the U.S. and into international airports. Will I see a Linda Bean's Perfect Maine Lobster Roll — with its quarter-pound of lightly-herbed lobster meat and a hint of mayo on a Kate's
Maine Butter
-toasted "hot-dog style bun" at DCA soon? One can only hope.

Jessica Strelitz is a contributing writer to Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine.