Hartstone Inn Blog

Winter Menus

Hartstone Inn — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:29:55 +0000

This winter we are offering a number of specialty dining experiences to excite your palate.
Lighter Fare - Monday & Tuesday Evenings - “Bistro” nights are back! We are going to change things up a little this year by alternating our weekly menus between French Bistro and Italian Trattoria fare. Available every Monday and Tuesday evening all winter long.
Save the Airfare! - Travel to foreign lands this winter without ever leaving Camden. Join us for our series of specialty “ethnic” five-course dinners featuring some of our favorite foods from a variety of exciting destinations.
In the Kitchen Dinner Series - Join Chef Michael Salmon and his team in the kitchen at the Inn for an evening of mingling, beverage pairings or tastings and plenty of great food. Click here to read more.
Upcoming Holiday Menus - Review upcoming Holiday menus here.

Black Trumpet Mushrooms

Hartstone Inn — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:06:54 +0000

A few weeks ago I went out with a group of mushroom enthusiasts and we came across a patch of beautiful black trumpet mushrooms (Craterellus fallax) also known as “black chanterelles.” Black trumpets can be very difficult to see, since they grow on the floor of hardwood forests and they blend in beautifully with the dried leaves that blanket the ground. Once you find one, and your eyes know what to look for, you are bound to find many more. Black trumpets are very thin and fragile so it takes quite a few to amount to anything, but WOW, do they pack in an enormous amount of flavor. If you are fortunate enough to find some, I recommend you saute some finely minced shallots in a hot pan with a little butter until translucent, add the cleaned black trumpets and saute for a few minutes (you always want to cook wild mushrooms thoroughly) to cook through. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy.

Mushroom Hunt

Hartstone Inn — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:24:53 +0000

My friend Sharon and I went foraging for mushrooms last Saturday and she has written about our adventure on her blog “delicious musings.” It’s a nice story with some great pictures from our exploration of the Maine forest.

Click here to read about our mushroom hike on her blog.

Car Restoration Update I

Hartstone Inn — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:37:26 +0000

Work is progressing on my 1962 Daimler SP250. Last week I finally finished assembling the front and rear suspension, installed the brake calipers and slid on the wire wheels. So the chassis is ready for the engine and transmission, and this is where all of my effort is now focused. I picked up my engine from a well established shop that specializes in engine cleaning, camshaft, crankshaft and valve work. They did a beautiful job on the engine and it is now in another shop having the new camshaft bearings line bored. Technical stuff! This week I hope to begin putting the engine back together. The transmission has a few issues that are also being worked on, all rather minor, thank God. The body is off to Walter and is being sanded, sanded, sanded, sanded and then he will sand it. Lots of detailed work to fill the pinholes in the fiberglass body and then sand it smooth. Walter calls it his “Winter Project.” Instruments just came back from being detailed, twin SU carburetors are still in Brooklyn, NY being rebuilt, I have a few parts being sandblasted in Rockland, ME and the interior (carpets, leather seats and dash) is on it’s way from a Jaguar shop in Ohio. It’s like a big jigsaw puzzle!

Island Offerings

Hartstone Inn — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:29:29 +0000

Mary Jo and I recently took a weekend trip aboard our sailboat into Penobscot Bay and did a little island and shoreline foraging. On shore we collected wild blueberries, chanterelle mushrooms and raspberries. We waded along the shoreline at low tide and collected mussels and sea urchins. Dinner that evening started with sea urchin roe, followed by steamed mussels, seared New York strip steaks with sauteed Chanterelle mushrooms and vanilla ice cream with island berries.

Chef’s Down Time

Hartstone Inn — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 02:00:33 +0000

If I’m not in the kitchen at the Inn, then there is a pretty good chance you can find me in my garage, working diligently at restoring a 1962 Daimler SP250. I purchased the car in May of this year and have been taking it apart completely, restoring each part (or replacing it), and eventually (as of last week) I am putting it back together again. It has always been a goal of mine to restore an old red convertible and the opportunity came along this spring. Mary Jo says I bought a “car in a box” off from Ebay…not far from the truth, I guess! This is my first try at restoring a car, actually, come to think of it, I have never even changed my own oil. I’m a quick learner! Only 2600 +/- of these babies made, so they are quite rare. My goal is to get it on the road next spring. Wish me luck.

Wild Mushroom Crêpe Recipe

Hartstone Inn — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:39:03 +0000

serves 6

6 crêpes (recipe below)

1 whole duckling

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

1/2 cup chopped yellow onions

1 pound wild mushrooms (porcini, oyster, chanterelles, morels, etc.) or use portabella mushrooms, roughly cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/4 cup dry sherry

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 batch béchamel sauce (recipe below)

1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese

1 teaspoon chopped Italian parsley

Make the crêpes and reserve.
Wash duck and pat dry inside and out. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Place on rack in roasting pan. Roast in a preheated 350° oven for 30 to 35 minutes per pound. Remove from the oven and cool enough to handle. Remove all the meat from the duck and shred the meat into bite-sized pieces. Reserve.
Place the butter in a large saucepan and place over medium heat. When the butter melts, add the onions and sweat for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes.
Remove the mushrooms from the pan (allow them to cool) and return the pan to high heat. Deglaze with the dry sherry and reduce till nearly dry. Add the heavy cream and reduce by half. Remove the pan from the stove and whisk in the soft butter. Season with salt and white pepper.
When the mushrooms are cool, stir in the shredded duck, béchamel sauce and Swiss cheese. Mix.
Spread the mixture between the crêpes and spread it out evenly. Fold the crêpes in quarters and place on a buttered baking sheet.
Bake the stuffed crêpes in a preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Serve with the warm dry-sherry cream and a sprinkling of parsley.

Crêpe Batter

2 large eggs

1/2 cup cold water

1/4 cup whole milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

canola oil for frying pan

In a blender, combine the eggs, water, milk and salt. Blend briefly at medium speed to combine. Add the flour and blend. After the flour has been thoroughly incorporated, with the blender still going at medium speed, add the melted butter in a slow stream, and blend until combined. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
To make the crepes, you can either use a crepe pan (follow the instructions that came with the pan) or a plain 10-inch nonstick skillet. Heat the pan on medium heat and add a small splash of oil. Ladle 2 ounces (1/4 cup) of batter into the pan and tip the pan to spread the batter evenly across the bottom of the pan in a thin layer. Cook briefly on this side until it lightly browns and then flip it over (you can use a rubber spatula to assist with this) to cook the other side for 30 seconds.
Remove from pan and layer on a plate, repeating with the remaining batter and a little oil in the pan. Recipe makes about ten 8-inch crepes. Keep covered with plastic until needed.

Bechamel Sauce

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 Tablespoons flour
1 1/4 cups whole milk
Salt and white pepper

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes.
Add the milk and continue to stir as the sauce thickens. Bring the sauce to a boil and season with salt and white pepper to taste. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, stirring for 2 to 3 minutes more.

Then and Now - Paris

Hartstone Inn — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:23:53 +0000

Then and Now” is a series of photographs and stories we have created in our blog to allow guests to see the progress we have made here at the Inn since we took over in May of 1998.

Our first three installments in this series focused on the French Thyme Suite , the Dining Porch at the Hartstone Inn and the Garden Suite. This, our fourth entry in the series focuses on Paris, a room that has been transformed numerous times since 1998. When we purchased the Inn, Paris was known as “Room 3″ which we promptly changed to Magnolia (as we had just planted a magnolia tree in the front garden which the room overlooks). Last winter, the magnolia wallpaper came down and Mary Jo came up with a more modern “hip” design for the room with rich brown and gold tones that “evoke the classic style of Paris.” We couldn’t be more happy with the transformation. It was my first experience in painting stripes (no it’s not wallpaper) and the new green “Frog” tape works wonders. The picture to the right was taken in October of 1997, seven months before we bought the Inn.

Mushroom Foraging in Maine

Hartstone Inn — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 11:20:02 +0000

As a foodie, I have an avid fascination for mushrooms. Local foragers ring my doorbell several times a week to tempt me with the forests latest offerings which often make their way onto the nightly menu and generate conversation and rave reviews from our guests.

I have been foraging mushrooms in the Maine woods for many years for what a mycologist (a biologist that studies fungi) would consider “choice edible” mushrooms. Choice edible mushrooms are those that are most sought after by chefs and are somewhat easily identifiable such as: morels, chanterelles, hen of the woods, black trumpets, puff balls, chicken of the woods and oyster mushrooms. Beyond this list of edible mushrooms, I have difficulty identifying anything else I find in the woods, which is a shame since there is a whole world of edible mushrooms out there that I should be part of. Thus, I have signed up for a mushroom identification class “Mushrooming for the Serious Enthusiast” with local mushroom expert Greg Marley. Now, into my third class, I am feeling more comfortable with my fungi friends and learning the proper techniques to positively identify mushrooms. This is the cardinal rule of edible mushrooms - “Never eat a mushroom unless it is positively identified as edible” (source: Edible Wild Mushrooms of North America) or you could get very sick and even die. So stick to the mushrooms you know, or educate yourself if you would like to dive into the unknown.

In the next few months I will be blogging about my mushroom experiences, sharing information about different species and sharing recipes, techniques and tips on preparing mushrooms. So stay tuned and happy (and safe) foraging. Also, Greg Marley publishes a great mushroom email newsletter so Email him and request to be put on his list.

Maine Outdoor Recreation and Culinary Getaways

Hartstone Inn — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:33:52 +0000

photo by Hal Hagy - Lucky Dog Gallery

A short drive from our Camden Maine bed and breakfast is scenic Lake Megunticook. Think cold, crystal clear waters and numerous boulder islands rising up from the depths. Roll up your pants and dip in your feet - that will be enough to cool you on a hot Maine day. Then hop in a canoe or kayak and head out for a day of exploration and discovery. Be sure to bring a picnic, fishing poles, warm clothes, and your camera. If you are not experienced handling a canoe or kayak, please hug the shore as winds can rise suddenly out in Lake Megunticook, and that water is cold. Swimmers should paddle to adjacent Norton pond, which is usually quite warm in the summer months.

Camden Hills, Maiden Cliffs, and Mount Megunticook encircle Lake Megunticook. If you prefer to look at water from a distance rather than float upon it, nearby Camden State Park offers lovely views of Megunticook Lake and the surrounding area.

A day of hiking or kayaking is a perfect accompaniment to a culinary getaway at our Camden inn. Stimulate the appetite with a day of fresh air and activity and then spend the following afternoon in the kitchen with Chef Michael in private cooking classes. You will work side by side with the chef and help prepare dishes for dinner that evening in our Camden Maine restaurant. Although you are not obliged, we hope you will join us for dinner that evening, to taste the creations you help prepare.