Onion Apricot Pasta

This is a fast, weeknight dish, but intense and satisfying. I had seen a recipe for Pasta with Rosemary and Onion-Orange Marmalade and although I liked the recipe as is, I of course wanted to change it up to suit my tastes. Like virtually all my pasta dishes (except stuffed and baked ones), the sauce takes either the amount of time or less as it does to bring a pot of water to boil and cook the pasta.

This makes enough for two people (as do most of my recipes).

Start, of course, by boiling water for pasta. The two short and stubby pastas I like to keep around are Campanelle and Farfalle. I like the Campanelle because its little "cone" picks up pieces of even chunky, non-tomato sauces, and the Farfalle is great because all sorts of sauces stick to its "wings". I use about 6 oz. dry of either for this dish. I also add my salt to the water when it comes to a boil because I believe the science behind the pitting of pots if you add the salt when the water is cold.

Now, the original recipe calls for pancetta, which I used the first time I made this. And last night I used a couple slices of bacon I had kicking around in the fridge, but drained off the fat almost entirely before adding olive oil to cook the onions in. Usually I make this recipe without the pancetta or bacon, this way it is more of a "pantry meal" and is also healthier (and makes it vegetarian).

So, if you want to, use a couple ounces of pancetta, cut it up into a large dice, and render it in a non-stick sauce pan over medium high heat until browned. Drain off fat, add a couple TBS of olive oil. If you aren't using the pancetta, just heat the olive oil until shimmering.

Next, add one onion, sliced 1/4" thick and a TBS of roughly chopped fresh oregano (or a tsp of dried). Cover pan and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until browned and tender. Add a couple TBS of apricot marmalade. I use Whole Foods 365 brand Apricot fruit spread. It has three ingredients: apricots, white grape juice, and pectin. I think if a sugar-based fruit spread was used, especially something with evil high-fructose corn-syrup, that would make this dish cloying and not savory.

After stirring marmalade into onion mixture, turn off heat. When water boils (if it hasn't already), add pasta. Cook to al dente. When pasta is close to done cooking, ladle about a 1/4 cup of water into the sauce pan, and stir around.

Drain pasta, put back into pot, toss with sauce and a few grinds of black pepper (not tons, just a touch). Serve with lots and lots of grated parmigiano or grana. If you didn't use bacon, a nice way to add a richness to the mouth feel and taste of the dish is with toasted pine nuts. Or add them even if you used bacon for a super-decadent dish.

Bar Harbor Beer and Beer Brats

Our Beer Adventures in Bar Harbor were successful and frequent. From our first night at West Street Cafe and with a pint of Bar Harbor Real Ale to our last night at Lompoc Cafe with multiple pints of other beers made by Atlantic Brewing Company...we drank varied styles of beer, but all of good quality. Matt's favorite is the Coal Porter by Atlantic Brewing Company which he says is roasty and chocolaty. My favorite is the Bar Harbor Real Ale made by the same which is malty, but with a nice mellow hint of hops, but not too bitter. I also really enjoyed the Thunder Hole Ale made by Bar Harbor Brewing Company. Although not a Bar Harbor-brewed beverage, Matt enjoyed a couple different Peak Organic Beers at Mache Bistro (that was a night of two glasses of Spanish bubbly for me).

We brought home so much beer. Aside from a few six packs and bombers currently making their way from the fridge to our stomachs, we brought home a few beers that need time. Like a fine wine, these beers will become better with age. Amongst them is a bottle of a braggert from Atlantic Brewing Company. A braggert is a half-breed of a beer and a mead. Made with 2000 pounds of honey put in along with the grain bill, it is sweet, but not cloying or syrupy like I find most meads to be. Just sweet enough, but with an edge that makes it perfect for sipping. I'm thinking a little apple pie or creme brulee to pair. Although drinkable now, we are going to wait at least a year before opening this exquisite libation.

Last night I made some beer brats with homemade beer and Raye's Bar Harbor Real Ale Mustard. Paired with Bar Harbor Real Ale, they were quite amazing. I steamed the brats (okay, I used Irish Style Pork Bangers from Whole Foods, but the ingredients are quite similar) in a steamer basket for 20 minutes over about 8 ounces of homemade saison. The brats were then grilled in my grill pan over medium high heat for 10 minutes, with lots of turning. I then made beer-melized onions, also with the saison. Into a roll with a lot of mustard, wash it down with some Bar Harbor Real Ale, and it's perfect for watching a Red Sox game on an early fall evening.

Since we returned home with a finite amount of Real Ale, we didn't want to sacrifice a bottle for cooking. However, we decided that if the beer brats and mustard were so amazingly good with a mismatch of beer for cooking and condiment/drinking...we're going to dedicate a bottle of the Real Ale next time to discover what is truly the taste of nirvana.

Bar Harbor Food

Day One Lunch.
Mid way up the coast to Bar Harbor we made a lunch stop at Gritty McDuff's in Freeport, ME. We had been there last spring and all summer had been looking forward to a certain dish there. It sounds crazy, but is so fantastically good. Sweet Pork Fries. They take sweet potato fries, and then cover them with BBQ pulled pork and a melted jack cheese blend. Of course, we shared this dish, which is on their menu as an appetizer, but is a meal within itself. It comes with a maple sour cream for dipping. I would love to make these at home sometime, but they'd be pretty labor intensive for the home kitchen. I don't have a restaurant kitchen with extra pulled pork and extra fries at the ready...which I'm sure was how this dish was created by some line cook looking for a late night snack from leftovers and fell upon something amazing.

Day One Dinner
After checking in and then a little sunset kayaking, we had a classic downeast dinner at West St. Cafe, but pointless dessert. This was a three course meal included in our hotel package, so I was a little nervous. Yet, it was wonderful. Due to my allergy to clams and therefore the included clam chowder in the package, I had a divine lobster bisque to start (although they did charge me $3 for the substitution). Pure essence of lobster and cream, and silky smooth. The main event was as it should be, perfectly succulent lobster ready to be hunted for through cracking, and a half cob of perfectly sweet corn on the side (we didn't bother to take up room in our stomachs with the potatoes or rice). Dessert was a blueberry pie with a decent filling, but sadly a pasty crust reminiscent of cardboard and glue. Luckily I was too full of the good food in the rest of the meal to care, and chose not to eat it.

Day Two Dinner
I loved Mache Bistro. I wish a similar place was near home. A fine meal, perfect service, with real glassware in a beautifully decorated space (wood! red paint accents! tasteful art!) where we wore jeans and sneakers. Heaven. The seeded and herbed focaccia is house made, chewy with a good crust, but light as a feather. To start we shared an antipasti plate. The requisite roasted red peppers, pepperoncini, and olives where good examples of their sort. Where this dish hit a homerun was with thick slices of nutty asiago and the locally made soppressata. Continuing on, I had crispy duck spring rolls with a balanced ponzu dipping sauce, tart from vinegar, but balanced and citrusy. Matt had chicken skewers with an indulgently thick peanut sauce with a touch of spicy heat, cilantro, and lime. All of the ingredients were exquisitely fresh and of the highest quality. Finishing off this perfect meal was a rich and sweet apple tart tatin. The browned sugar was elegantly cut by a locally made almond ice cream, which was the taste of almonds and cream, not sugar. Perfect.

Day Three Dinner
Wish we had a place like Lompoc Cafe nearby as well. Brewpup with a totally relaxed vibe and bocce court out back. It was tight match and went back and forth, but Matt was the victor in an 11-9 contest. The food was simple and satisfying, which was enhanced by the enjoyment of eating outside on a perfect late summer night after hiking the Gorham Mountain Trail. To start we split a lobster quesadilla with avocado, which was creamy and rich, but not heavy. The accompanying salsa was fresh and bright. The complementary flavors abounded. We than split a pizza with chicken chorizo, chipotle, and the holy trinity of tomatoes, onions and green chiles. A firm crust, sturdy and crispy, but super thin and light.

Our other meals during the few days we were up there were also good, with good service. Although Jordan's was a satisfactory breakfast, it wasn't terribly exciting and is like every other basic town breakfast place. Its prices however are the same as other places in town, such as Cafe This Way with a much better breakfast with more interesting dishes that wouldn't necessarily be the same at your diner back home. On a day trip to Yarmouth, NS we had a good meal at Rudder's.

Beer post is coming!

Bar Harbor

Sorry for the lack of posts everyone, but here's a big one to compensate. I took a few days off while in Bar Harbor. Although I have vague memories of a visit when I was a kid, this was Matt and my first visit to Bar Harbor. We fell in love with the town, the park, the island. Hospitality Aveneger did not need to put her cape on once, so that was wonderful. However, I do have one gripe, and it is one that I've experienced in every tourist town I've been to, and was evident here.

It's called a sideWALK people. Not a side-stand-in-one-place or a side-stop-abruptly. Also, if the sidewalk is only wide enough for two people, it is courteous that when seeing people coming towards you to go into single file. I do not appreciate being squished against doors or run off into the street. Is this really so hard???!!!???

Coming up are two posts about the food and beer we had on vacation. And here's a photo from atop the Gorham Mountain Trail.

Antipasti Panini

This panino came about when a fridge cleaning was taking place. I still had some smoked baby swiss left from its original panini usage, and some roasted red peppers and marinated artichoke hearts left from a pizza night, and a stub of some onion from various uses.

Ecco....Antipasti Panini.
I chopped up the red pepper and artichoke hearts, then blotted them thoroughly with a paper towel (in my experience so far, panini do not like super-moist ingredients). A few slices of the smoked baby swiss, some sliced onion, and black pepper finish off this panino. So far, in all of my panini, I have used butter on the outside of the bread. For this panino I chose to brush some olive oil on the bread instead because I thought it would be lighter in two ways: flavor-wise and health-wise.

Turns out the olive oil is the way to go. I'm not using butter again for panini. The olive oil indeed was lighter in taste and of course healthier. However, more importantly, it created a crisper and more "grilled" essence on the bread. Sticking to the press was a bit more of an issue, but that's why God created spatulas.