Big Messy Salad

Head over to Boston Twins to read about an old favorite of ours - the Big Messy Salad.

Welcome to Boston Twins!

We have a pretty good reason why our posts have been so few and far between these days – morning sickness! Or should I say all-day sickness..? Yes, we at Boston Chef are pleased to announce that we are now also Boston Twins!

That’s right, our little comfy twosome will be doubling by year’s end, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. Aside from ravioli, nothing was appetizing to me for the first few weeks, but I’ve hopefully crossed into at state of just being hungry all the time. M still needs to prepare the raw meats for me, because raw meat is pretty gross.

For anyone going through morning sickness, some of the things that helped alleviate the nausea for me were saltines, ginger ale, carbonated water and ginger snaps. I keep crackers on my nightstand due to the fact that I will wake up in the middle of the night with a pit of hunger in my stomach! I'll post some more morning sickness remedies in the near future.

I am already putting on some weight but hopefully I won’t get too Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man-y, and instead I’ll have nice thick long hair, perfect nails, a healthy glow and will look super-cute in a sundress. I’m already measuring 16 weeks plus even though I’m just 12 weeks, hence none of my clothes fit. It’s a shopaholic’s dream to have to buy a whole new wardrobe, yet remain on a budget! Also more on maternity clothes - and shopping - soon...

And for the important part, here’s a picture of our last ultrasound taken at 11 weeks!

Poached Brook Trout and Fiddleheads - Caribou, Maine

We headed North for our yearly Memorial Day trip to Caribou, Maine to visit with family, help around the house, and do some Aroostook River trout fishing.

After a cool and rainy Saturday of fishing, the weather cleared and was absolutely beautiful on Sunday. We spent the morning and again later in the evening on the riverside; walking around in our waders in the water, hunting fiddleheads for photos, seeing otters jump in the water beside us, and fishing for trout around the currents and inlets feeding the vast, swollen river.







All fish were safely released, save for this 16-inch, 1.75-pound, absolute beauty of a Brook Trout - which we kept for dinner.



We cleaned the trout by removing the head, making a slit up it's belly and removing the guts, scoring and scraping out the blood vessel on the underside of the spine, and rinsing inside and out really well.



After drying with a paper towel, we rubbed a thin layer of olive oil inside and out, followed by a Lemon Pepper seasoning mix. A few lemon slices and chopped chives in the cavity, and we folded it all up in an aluminum foil pouch, leaving one end open. Into that open end we poured about a 1/3-cup of white wine, then we sealed it up tightly.



That beautiful trout poached on a medium-high grill for what should have been 10-12 minutes (we went too long by accident, 10-12 minutes is the right time). Then, remove carefully and slide that fresh trout meat right off the little bones. So fresh and delicious - on the table just an hour after it was caught.



With our wonderful local Brook Trout, we had locally harvested, riverbed-grown Fiddleheads - par-boiled for 10 minutes and then sauteed with butter until soft and delicious. A very local meal, thanks to the Aroostook.



We had a great trip and can't wait to head up again in September for some end-of-the-season trout fishing.

Sweet Potato Chips

We sure do love our Sweet Potatoes!

We've grilled them, we've roasted them, we've mashed them, and we've baked them. But up until now, we haven't "fried" them!

Well, we hadn't in a long time, at least. We decided to revisit this old favorite when the oven was occupied (at too low a temp) and the grill was covered in the rain. How could we cook our sweet potatoes? Thinly sliced and fried in canola oil!

So we brought a thin layer - about 1/3 of an inch - of canola oil up to about 350 degrees in a big pan and we peeled a nice-sized sweet potato. Then we sliced it up as thinly as possible. The thinner the better - thin slices crisp up nice and evenly when frying, while thicker slices will still be a little mushy in the middle (which isn't bad, either!). Using a mandolin might help here...



Into the oil they go in batches - leave plenty of room! Depending on their thickness they'll go 5-7 minutes total, turning once or twice, or until they are just getting a nice tan color and begin to stiffen up. Don't go TOO long, they'll crisp up as they dry. Use your first batch as a test batch (trust us, they'll be eaten well before dinner, anyway).



When the batch is ready to come out, lay them down on some paper towels and dab dry the top with some more towels, then immediately season. We went with some kosher salt and cajun seasoning - but you could go any direction here: parsley and herbs, salt and pepper, garlic and onion, parmesan, or even go sweet with some cinnamon.

These came out great! At least 1/2 of them didn't even make it til dinner time - you have to test for doneness, yaknow!