In Memory

We are very sad to learn that one of our favorite food bloggers, Sher at What Did You Eat?, has passed away.

Sher had a great blog and we loved to read about her adventures with food and small animals - two things we also love. We would regularily visit her blog to read her updates and find out what she was up to...

Sher would leave many encouraging comments on our posts that we always looked forward to and enjoyed receiving.

Our thoughts are with her family and we hope she rests in peace.

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.

Catching Up

Catching up with a few things while wondering what could be better than the crispy wing tips off a just-roasted chicken...

The beautifully roasted chicken seen here came out perfectly - VERY juicy white meat, buttery dark meat, and yummy crispy skin. We are on the constant hunt for recipes that turn out the perfect roast chicken - as you can see from all our previous attempts. The latest recipe we tried - with much success - was this one from... Molecular Solutions? The recipe is from 1967 Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child and it involved cooking the chicken on it's sides - which I still can't figure out. However, as they say on their site, if you follow the recipe "the chicken will, indeed, be perfect."

WE WON! WE WON! We won the Cool Beans contest over at Just Braise! We beat the 1-in-8 odds (a 12.5% chance!) and received our prize of a shipment of Cool Beans Dips at our doorstep this week! As you might expect, these were opened immediately and enjoyed with some chips and crackers. These blended, flavored Northern Beans-and-olive oil dips are delicious, they taste just like something we'd blend up in the food processor ourselves. The Hot and Spicy was just that - with a nice spicy kick. The Roasted Garlic had a great mellow roasted garlic and a little salt and lemon flavor - we had this spread on a ham sandwich with yummy results. The Carmelized Onion is the only one we've yet to crack - I don't think we'll hold out long. THANKS to Stacey at Just Braise and the Cool Beans Guys. We see that you can get them at our old grocery store - Foodie's Urban Market - in the South End of Boston on Washington, in addition to many other locations...

We received an email from old friend Jaye at Butta Buns letting us know that there is a Dessert Tasting Fundraiser being held on Saturday, March 29th at the Vietnamese American Community Center in Fields Corner, Dorchester. How can you go wrong when you're raising funds AND having dessert??? Check out her Attention Boston Area Bakers and Dessert Lovers post for more details - we may have to take the T over for some of those Bacon Peanut Butter Muffins she's making!

Finally, we were away for a while in Sunny Rochester, NY visiting with the Brother and Sister-in-Law of Boston Chef. While there, Brother Chef made a yummy Texas-style (no beans!) chili that had great smokey ancho flavor - which we ate over some cornbread. He ALSO made a very nice shrimp-and-chicken pad thai...

But the REAL reason we went was to hang out with our little nephews! Jack made a visit to Boston back in May of 2006, but - as you can see below - he's grown up a little since then. Here he is enjoying his 3rd Birthday Cake!


Plus, he's got a new little brother who ALSO enjoys cake - perhaps even moreso!!!


Happy Birthday, Jack!

2007 Year in Review

Another year gone, a new one to dawn. We had an interesting 2007... some ups and downs, a great summer, more camping and fishing, visits with family, a new nephew, and lots of cooking. There is no doubt that 2008 will be a much more interesting year on many fronts - including in the kitchen.

We did a Year in Review last year with each of our Top 5 blog posts, so we thought we'd do it again!

Stacey's Top Five!

5. Butternut Spinach Gratin
We love butternut squash - and this was a delicious, inventive use for it!

4. Pickled Pink Eggs
These were awesome - if you like pickled beets, you'd love this.

3. Beer Can Chicken
Our juiciest, most smokey, most tender, most flavorful chicken yet!

2. Enchiladas with Cuke Salsa
Delicious with mole sauce and the fresh veggies - great leftovers...
And, with video!

1. Blended Soups!
Green Soup, Carrot Soup, Butternut Squash Soup, Black Bean Soup - we love delicious fall soups made with our new handblender! Can't wait to try more...

Mike's Top Five

5. Fiddleheads and Fishing
My top five are of posts that remind me of things I enjoy in life - this post reminds me of fishing!

4. Corned Beef and Cabbage
St. Patrick's Day in Boston is one of our favorites... this corned beef was delicious.

3. Boston's South End Restaurants
I enjoyed putting this post together - it reminds me of our old apartment in the South End. Now I'm craving some B&G Oysters!

2. Mojitos and Fish Tacos
The quintessential summer time meal, reminds me of long days in the sun on the back deck, relaxing after playing a game of tennis.

1. Cucumber Salad
This recipe and this post reminds me of my youth and my family... plus the cuke salad is delicious!

We are thankful for another year and looking forward to more posts in 2008. Have a Great New Year and happy eating! See you then...

Boston Chef

Cucumber Salad at Grandma's House

Grandma's House

I remember eating dinners in the small kitchen in Lisbon Falls, Maine - six of us around the table in the middle of the room, my Brother and my Father sitting across from my Mom and I, Grandma at one end and Grandpa at the other. The kitchen often smelled like fresh baked bread back then - Grandma was still baking her own in the antique oven - and the old, white cabinets and light linoleum floor and table made the kitchen relatively bright in the otherwise dark, small home.

My Dad grew up in that house and we'd visit twice a year, in the summer to go with the whole family down to Old Orchard Beach, and in the autumn to visit for Thanksgiving. My Brother and I would play with my dad's old vibrating football game or bang tunelessly on the piano in the living room as the adults watched the old television set in the family room. It was a long drive, but we liked going up there... the house had a mysterious quality to it that made it feel adventurous for my brother and me.

Those dinners were a highlight. Typical New England boiled dinner - meat, potatoes, carrots, celery, onions - all boiled until they were all the same soft consistency. My Dad would take all of those items and mash them up together in his bowl until they became "mush" while my brother and I laughed at him goofing around. Grandpa Andy, eating quietly and deliberately at the end of the table, was not as amused.

But our favorite part of dinner may have been the accompaniment of our Grandfather's favorite side dish - cucumber salad. The memory of this concoction has stayed with us years later, and my brother and I have recently breathed new life into the recipe by starting to make it again - just like it used to be made:

Very thinly-sliced cuke rounds single-layered in the bottom of a big glass bowl, salted heavily, then topped with 1/4" sliced white onion rings to seperate from the second layer of thinly-sliced cuke rounds, heavily salted, layer of onion, cukes, salted... Maybe three layers from 2-3 cukes works well.



That bowl sits covered at room temperature for an hour for those salt crystals to go to work breaking down the cellular structure of the fresh veggies (I don't know if Grandpa knew that was what was happening - but I know he liked it). After an hour, the cukes and onions are limp and have given off alot of water. We dumped that water out and gave them a rinse or two, then took handfuls of the cukes/onions and squeeeeeeezed all the water out that we could - adding the then-squeezed handfuls to a new bowl, and repeating with another handful until all were drained of their water.



A big TBLS of sugar, ground black pepper, and a couple of splashes of apple cider vinegar are then added - and just a enough water (not much) so all the cukes are barely immersed. Stir and taste the liquid and make sure you like the flavor, then pop them in the fridge until you are ready to eat them. Tastes great right then, even better the next day.

As I took the cuke salad out of the fridge to plate with a grilled piece of salmon with some dilled sour cream over top and a little couscous on the side, I caught the smell of the cukes and onions and sugar and vinegar - such a unique scent! It whisked me back to that small kitchen in Maine and to that dinner table where we'd sit and eat and laugh before Grandma washed all the dishes by hand as we ate dessert.

Grandpa died over 20 years ago and Grandma still lives in that same house in Lisbon Falls. We try to visit her once or twice a year - she doesn't cook anymore so we'll pick up a pizza from down the street and eat it at that small table in the middle of the kitchen and we'll talk and laugh.

Fiddleheads and Fishing

UPDATE to our last post...! We made a trek up to Northern Maine to visit the Boston Chef parents over Memorial Day Weekend, and we decided to do some fishing along the Aroostook River. Lo and behold, what was growing wild along the banks of the river, but... fiddleheads!



We didn't catch much more than some little guys, but we had fun out there!

Boston's South End Restaurants

Boston's South End was our home for many wonderful years and, although we relocated just over a year ago, the South End will always hold a place in our hearts - and stomachs. We especially loved the many restaurants of the South End that were available just a short walk away. To be honest, many of the restaurants in this neighborhood are certainly NOT cheap eats these days, so we'd try to only go out on special occasions... but it was always nice to know they were there! Lots and lots of people are coming to Boston this upcoming weekend for the Boston Marathon, and the South End is perfect for a visit - just south of Boylston Street, which is the main finish line area - so we thought we'd help out with our own little guided tour!

Here is a quick Boston primer - the major neighborhoods of Boston Proper (not including Roxbury, East Boston, or Dorchester in this pic):

• North End - Great Italian Restaurants! Old North Church! Pizzeria Regina is a must for a big, flat, crispy, brick-oven-cooked pizza...
  
• Back Bay - Newbury Street shopping - and the bistros - are the place to see-and-be-seen in Boston. Tapeo on Newbury is GREAT for tapas... but we usually end up in the bars and steakhouses on Boylston Street!
  
• Beacon Hill - this beautiful old section is the home to the Capital and all the government buildings... Sevens for home-brewed beer, Grotto for a romantic Italian dinner, and Silvertone near Boston Common for great upscale comfort food.
  
• Theater District/Chinatown - world-class shows early, certainly good for an adventure later... stay in groups down here late at night and you'll have fun! Penang is good and Shabu Zen for shabu-shabu!
  
• Financial District - most bustling during Happy Hours, more bars opening all the time... Lots of great sandwich shops (the Mediterranean) here during the day and lots of trouble to get into down here at night!
  
• Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market - big tourist destination, not really a "neighborhood" but I had to include it in here. You can find anything along the row of booths in the Quincy Market Food Colonnade - also a great place for a St. Patrick's Day pub crawl!
  
• Cambridge - where 1/2 of us work... MIT, Harvard, great Squares with fun restaurants to visit along the Red Line of the T (Boston's subway). The 2nd Street Sandwich shop has killer sandwiches and the Similans for awesome Thai food.
  
• BU Allston/Brighton - a fun neighborhood for the young and young at heart, great place to find a beer and some grub (Sunrise Grill)!
  
• South Boston - more great bars and restaurants are popping up there, certainly lots to do in Southie! Salsa's is one of our favorite Mexican restaurants.
  
• The Fens - Fenway Park, obviously... this area is a sports-lover's dream with the new Game On and the re-done Cask and Flagon, as well as Boston Beer Works.
  
• Charlestown - where the other 1/2 of us work... Old Ironsides and Todd English's Olives, plus great boatyards and views of Boston.

And finally, the South End. Historic brick rowhouses that run along avenues and tiny side streets, a diverse population of all ages walking the uneven brick sidewalks, and many, many great restaurants. We cannot lie - the price point of many of these is high. Again, we were only going to these great places on special occasions... but - as we are known to do - don't be afraid to treat yourself, you're only alive but for a blink. Wikipedia says: "The South End is one of Boston's main restaurant districts offering a diverse mix of cuisines, many at a relatively high price point. Tremont Street is often called "Restaurant Row." The South End's range of restaurants include American southern "Low Country", French, Ethiopian, Brazilian, Indian, Italian, Korean, Greek, Middle Eastern, Cuban, Thai, and Japanese among others."

So on to those restaurants... this list contains but a small selection and we're leaving off GREAT places like Ethiopian food at Addis Red Sea, hot dogs and ice cream at Code 10, Mike's Diner for breakfast (THE best - period.), the romantic South End Dish, Bob the Chef's for bbq and jazz, Icarus and Masa over by Bay Village, Mistral, Sibling Rivalry, Jae's, Flour, South End Buttery, Tremont 647 and Sister Sorel... on and on and on - can you tell there are alot of restaurants? Additionally, cheese shops, bakeries, butchers, and other fun places to find - all within walking distance.


(this map doesn't represent the ENTIRE area of the South End, and that top, left corner above Columbus is Back Bay - but you get the idea...)

1. Hamersley's (these are in no particular order) - famous chicken, oxtail, great cheaper bar menu, wonderful location in the BCA plaza, very expensive. $$$$$
   
2. B&G Oysters - great place for.. go on, guess.. oysters! Local and West Coast Oysters available, plus some great other seafood dishes like HUGE lobster rolls and fresh-made seafood stew. Fun to sit at the bar and watch the open kitchen. $$$$
   
3. The Butcher Shop - sister restaurant to B&G (both by Chef Barbara Lynch), this place has a full case of meat available to buy and take home along with a great menu to eat in the store/restaurant. They also have a great butcher block table where they are always doing something fun. $$$$
   
4. Aquitaine - classic French bistro and wine bar, we've spent St. Valentine's Day here. $$$$
   
5. Metropolis - Another great place along Tremont Street, upscale comfort food but known for brunch. $$$
   
6. Franklin Cafe - very small but very fun place for drinks and dining, almost impossible to get into as the night goes on. $$$
   
7. Union - Very upscale new restaurant, great to treat yourself. The 10K Tuna is perfect. And you get cornbread in it's cast-iron skillet at the table - yum! $$$$$
   
8. Pho Republique - our old Friday Night haunt! A great place for a martini or a drink off of their menu - or share a scorpion bowl - and some traditional Pho, or something more non-traditional. Very hip and the bar becomes more and more crowded as the night goes on. $$$
   
9. Stella - a little more off the beaten path, wonderful Italian food. $$$$
   
10. The Red Fez - traditional Middle Eastern food like hummus plates, meat pies, and chicken livers. Big place can pack in alot of people, service (and the food, frankly) can be hit-or-miss. $$$
    
11. Anchovies - wonderful cheap Italian food with beer and wine, BIG plates in this old divey joint. $$
    
12. Clery's - just like many, many other Irish bars in Boston... can be fun, can be crowded, can be rowdy, and certainly worth a visit. Try to get in here after the Marathon this weekend, I dare ya! $$$

Like we said, this list comprises just a fraction of the available bars and restaurants in the area. The perfect Friday evening for us to eat our way through the South End would be to get off at the Back Bay T stop (circled on the map) and walk South down Dartmouth on the brick sidewalks. Take a detour across our favorite street, Appleton Street (if anyone knows of 2-bed, 2-bath all-new condo with a roof deck and parking on Appleton for, say... $400K - let us know! hahaha) over to Clarendon and down to B&G Oysters for an appetizer of a couple of local oysters and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

After that, a quick walk over to Franklin Cafe to sit either at the bar or a cozy booth for dinner and one of their beers on tap (after a quick stop by Formaggio, the cheese store right next door, to drool). Follow dinner with a stroll southwest to Washington Street to get a martini or other fun dessert beverage at Pho Republique (and to talk to Peter or Big Mike behind the bar). Finally, if we are still up for it, stop by to meet a few friends at Clery's for a pint and some late-night pub grub before taking the T (or a cab) back home.

Certainly let us know if you have any questions, suggestions, or comments on the restaurants in our adopted home of the South End, and if you're coming to Boston to visit, don't miss this wonderfully historic and gastric neighborhood!

A Tour of Our Kitchen

The view across the island to the sink/prep/cooking area, you can see the deck right outside those windows...

When we bought this place over a year ago, an obvious selling point was the kitchen. We were cooking more and more and knew that we liked spending time in the kitchen, so we wanted a comfortable, warm place with room to sit and eat and as much counterspace as we could fit. That's a tall order in Boston, but we definitely got what we wanted in our Orange Kitchen - where we spend most of our non-sleeping hours while at home. And, in the spirit of other bloggers showing their kitchens, here are some pics of our kitchen!

So, how to explain how we're watching football in the kitchen all day...? Knowing how much time we like to spend in the kitchen - and knowing the amount of sports/cooking shows/nature shows/home improvement shows we like to have on WHILE cooking - we decided to hang a television on one wall across from the sitting area of the kitchen. We used a cantilever to hang the TV and we can swivel it over towards any area of the kitchen. Here's the view across the kitchen towards the TV:



Here's Stacey in the sitting area, working on the laptop - our blogging center!


So that's where all the magic happens! Back soon with more!

Penzey's Fox Point Seasoning

Let's be clear right from the beginning - we have no money invested in Penzey's, Penzey's LLC, PenzCorp, Penzelino's Importing and Exporting... or whatever the company is called. We are not being paid by PenCo., Mr. Penzey, or the P.B.B. (Penzey Boosters of Boston). We are merely fans and customers of Penzey's spices, so please know that our intentions are completely pure and unsolicited!

We learned about Penzey's through other food blogs (Kalyn's Kitchen, specifically) and knew we needed to update our old spice rack with some newly-bought essentials from a well-known and somewhat reputable source.

Well, Santa came through this year (Stacey's Parents, actually) with a great gift box containing several Penzey's containers and bags full of spices! Mexican Oregano, ground cumin, sea salt, etc. Plus a bunch of pre-mixed blends, including:

Fox Point Seasoning INGREDIENTS: salt, shallots, chives, garlic, onion and green peppercorns. It is very garlic-and-chivey with certain saltiness, it includes freeze-dried shallots, chives, and scallions, making it fresh-tasting and light, and very green. It probably most resembles a dry vegetable dip packet - indeed they've got a recipe for a vegetable dip right on the container.

We made a different version of the dip for our Ulitmate Veggie Platter at our New Year's Eve Party - 1 Cup sour cream with about/almost/not quite 3/4 cup mayo, a bunch of fresh chives and fresh parsley chopped up real good, and many, many shakes of Fox Point. After a couple hours in the fridge, it came out nicely seasoned and very fresh.

But that's just the beginning... we've put it on turkey sandwiches, as a chili topper, on nachos, in salads, part of the seasoning for burgers, etc. It is great on anything on the light side, but also works with more heavy, meaty stuff if bolstered with some ground black pepper and other spices.

One of our favorite applications is Scrambled Eggs: 4 eggs beaten up and a few splashes of milk, then many, many shakes of Fox Point, and mix again. Start a medium-sized pan on medium heat and add a little butter and, after a minute, some shredded deli-sliced ham - preferably smoked. After a few minutes head start for the ham, in goes the egg mixture and stir/fold gently until the eggs start to come together and they are about 50% of the way there.

Add a handful of shredded cheddar cheese and continue to fold. Take the eggs out as soon as they're ready for you and eat with whole wheat toast - delicious! The Fox Point acts as all the seasoning and the eggs come out great.

ENJOY! And if Mr. Penzey reads this - SEND MORE SPICES, PLEASE!

Happy New Year!

We had a great New Year's party here at the House of the Boston Chef... about 13 people in all came over to help us ring in 2007. As you can imagine, we had lots of food!

We had a half spiral ham that we heated out on the grill and finished with an Orange Juice Glaze (1/2 cup OJ, 1/2 cup light brown sugar, some big tablespoons of honey... simmered down to a thick syrup). We had Peas with Proscuitto that we stole from a Giada/Everyday Italian recipe. We also made an easy dip for our Ultimate Veggie Platter (1 cup sour cream, little over 1/2 cup mayonaise, fresh chives and parsley diced up, and our new Penzey's Fox Point seasoning. Chilled for a few hours, came out fresh and tasty). The Ultimate Veggie Platter included celery, red bell pepper, baby carrots, pumpernickel bread, seasame crackers, pepperoncinis, those prosciutto/moz stuffed cherry peppers you can get at the store (love those!), dip, etc..

We had Stacey's Famous Twice-Baked Cauliflower: Boil a bunch (two bags) of frozen cauliflower for about 15 minutes. Strain, then return it to the hot/dry pan to evaporate the last of the water. Add a scoop of margarine and a scoop of sour cream and some salt and pepper and mash until it's a nice, "mashed" consistency. Spread it out evenly in a baking dish, sprinkle a layer of shredded cheddar cheese and some bacon bits over the top, and bake at 400 for about 10 minutes - until the cheese melts.

Our guests brought food too - a delicious baked mac and cheese with breadcrumb topping, some seafood-stuffed mushroom caps with asiago cheese that we melted in the oven, some big freshwater shrimp that we doused in Penzey's cajun seasoning and olive oil and threw on the grill, an eggnog cake dessert (was really good! tasted like eggnog!), crab dip and lots and lots of chips.

Along with a seemingly-unlimited supply of beer, wine, orange vodka, punch, and champagne at midnight - a good time was had by all.

As a gag gift, we received these "anonymous" sunglasses that make it look like you've been censored out of photos when you're wearing them... and they produced many hilarious pictures throughout the night. For example:



Who were those girls?!?!?!? Happy New Year!

Our Year in Review

As we close out 2006, we look back on the year we've had at Boston Chef. We have many things to be thankful for - and many things to look forward to in the next year.

We started this blog in January of this year after moving into our new house - with our new kitchen. Moving from a somewhat run-down, old-stoved, tiny-fridged, no-dishwasher-havin', little-counterspaced kitchen to our new, spacious, all-amenity kitchen has really let our cooking abilities improve and blossom. It's amazing how much more you're willing to do when you know you don't have to wash ALL the dishes and silverware by hand at the end of the day!

As usual, we learn alot from Food Network programs and various recipe sites - but we probably learned the most about cooking this year from all of the food blogs out there that we love and mine for ideas!

We camped more this year and caught and ate our first outdoor fish and did some cooking over an open fire - and plan on more camping in 2007. We bought our grill for our new back deck - adding another dimension to our cooking that we weren't able to do before (holy crap, the grill was so clean back then!).

We'll be kicking off 2007 with a BANG, as we're having a New Year's Party here at Casa del Cocinero de Boston - featuring a whole ham on the grill, ultimate veggie platter, peas with prosciutto, famous baked mac and cheese, crab stuffed mushrooms, beer, wine, and champagne, and much more!

We read through all of our posts from this past year and decided to put together a Top 5 list. Two Top 5 lists, actually... one from Stacey and one from Michael - with action photos!!!

Stacey's Top Five:

5. Beef and Vegetable Stew - great leftovers, too!
4. (Tie) Paella - an oldie but still a goodie!
4. (Tie) Peppermint Bark - love this easy holiday recipe, we put some in old cookie tins which made great gifts for Grandmas!
3. Sausage and Bean Soup - a pleasant surprise on the list, the dark horse in the race!
2. Stuffed Acorn Squash/Eggplant Parm (both using Our Meat Sauce) - any use of Our Meat Sauce is good!

And Stacey's #1 for 2006...

1. Brined Chicken! - a new technique which we now use when cooking any poultry, we applied it to grilled drumsticks, broiled chicken legs, more grilled chicken, roasted whole chicken... basically anything with wings!

Michael's Top Five:

5. Who We Are! - our introductory post, can't believe it was almost a year ago...
4. Pork Fried Rice - this came out really, really good!
3. Our Visitor - ok, one non-cooking post on the list... our visit from nephew Jack!
2. Our Meat Sauce - looks like we have a consensus at #2 in our Ragu.

And Michael's #1 for 2006...

1. Grilled Whole Trout! - maybe our most famous post, certainly our most commented on - and definitely delicious!

Happy New Year! See you in 2007!

Love,

The Boston Chef

August & the End of Summer

As you can probably tell, we are once again ramping up our food blog posts now that summer is coming to an end. Although we've been cooking plenty all summer long, the hot, late days are not exactly conducive to writing about cooking. We are on our fourth tank of propane for the Weber on the deck for this summer, and we no plans to stop firing up that grill this fall. We'll have lots more pics and posts come football season (go Pats!) and autumn - probably our favorite time of year. A preview of grilled drumsticks from a recent cook-out we had with friends at our house:



After a rainy start to the summer, August was beautiful in New England and we took advantage by spending time outdoors, playing tennis, cooking out, and CAMPING. We went for two long weekends of camping in August, once just the two of us and another time with three other couples - friends of Michael's from high school. Both times we went to New Hampshire - it is easy for us to get up there and they have a wonderful state parks system.

First we camped at Pawtuckaway State Park, just east of Manchester New Hampshire. Pawtuckaway was very nice, the sites were secluded and the terrain was varied, making the sites even more interesting and different from one another. Many of the sites are on an island called Horse Island and most of the sites on that island border right up to the lake. The only problems with Pawtuckaway is that they allow motorcraft on the lake! We could hear motorboats cruising around well into the very late night and during the day there are jetskis cruising around. Not exactly relaxing to be on a canoe with jetskis flying past... Also, the beach area was way overcrowded when we checked it out - people were packed in, it looked like a refugee camp! Luckily, the beach was far away from the camp areas and the campsites are for campers only - so it was much quieter. Here is a map of the camp sites:



Here is the view from Site 19... right on the water:



This area was beautiful and we went on a great hike and cooked some good food - pre-marinated steak tips, pasta salad, sandwiches, even bacon-and-eggs for breakfast. When camping, we bring a carton of egg beaters along for a variety of reasons - no broken eggs, no mixing eggs in a bowl, etc. We start the grill up - we have a little propane grill that we use for breakfast and other quick cooking and a charcoal setup that we use for dinner when we're winding down at the end of the day - and get a pan going on the grill with the bacon. On the other side of the grill, we start grilling up our wheat toast. When the bacon is done, we wipe out the pan and then start with a pat of butter. Melt that and in go the egg beaters and a little salt and pepper. Stirring, we add some american cheese at the end. Voila - bacon and cheesy scrambled eggs with toast - perfect camping breakfast.

Pawtuckaway was a preview of our next camping trip to Bear Brook State Park with our friends. We had a great setup at Bear Brook - a much more remote campsite right on two ponds - Beaver Pond and Spruce Pond. The sites are ok, they are somewhat packed together which is surprising given the 10,000 acres (and 40 miles of hiking trails) in this amazing park. The ponds are beautiful and we got some great canoing and fishing in!



We caught mostly perch and some big sunfish - Stacey caught two big perch (8"+) that we ended up bringing back to the campsite in our 5-gallon bucket and scraficing to the camping gods (quickly cutting off their heads). We then gutted and filleted them as best as possible and immediately sauteed up the results in butter, salt and pepper. They were very good! As they say, perch are the tastiest fish in the lake.

Additionally, we had some great steak tips (a camping staple!), bbq chicken, honey chicken, lots of burgers and hot dogs, a few pounds of bacon, lots of sandwiches and cereal and snacks and many, many beers! We ate very well for being "desolate" in the woods...

Michael getting the charcoal going:



Here is the whole group at our communal site, left to right in the back: Jimmy, Brian, Scott, Mike. The girls: Kylene, Sarah, Traci, and Stacey. And in the front, the very well behaved camping mascot/dog, Roxy.



We had a great time throughout August and while we are sad to see it go, we will hold on to our great memories. Autumn is in the air and we are excited to get back to cooking in our kitchen, trying new things on the grill, and taking lots of pics for posts...

Hope you had a great summer too and see you soon.

~Boston Chef

Grilled Whole Trout

Please also see our 2008 Trout Post!
We like to go camping in New Hampshire later in the summer - set up the tent, blow up the air mattress (a necessity!), start the fire, and - surprise! - cook outside all weekend. When we go, we rent a canoe and go fishing for trout and perch... it's so peaceful to be out on the lake in the late afternoon's setting sun, just floating and pulling in a few fish.

On the shore of White Lake, New Hampshire:


Stacey throwing in from the shore - doesn't work too well in glacial lakes, but made for a nice picture!!


Here's a nice-sized perch that Stacey pulled in:


While we wait to go again in August and September, we've begun to crave those lake fish. They had a few fresh-looking trout, dressed, at Stop and Shop so we thought we'd give the whole fish a shot on our new grill.

The victims:


When I was a kid, my brother and father and I would catch trout while camping and memories of bacon-wrapped trout on the grill resound in my mind. I couldn't resist including bacon with the trout! So we rinsed and patted-dry the trout, then massaged a light layer of olive oil inside and out. We salt-and-peppered the inside, then placed garlic, lemon slices, and a big bunch of rosemary and thyme (fresh from the back deck) in the cavity. We then wrapped bacon slices around the fish and - holding the fish closed - toothpicked the bacon on to hold everything together.


These guys went on a very hot grill - covered and maintained at about 425-degrees - for 10 minutes per side.


The bacon fat acted as a self-baster and although it caused a few flare-ups, they were quick and harmless. The end result:


Delicious! Trout isn't exactly the MOST flavorful fish (edit: it's pretty darn delicious), but with the lemon and herbs and bacon, we coaxed the most out of it... doneness was perfect, the flesh slid right off those little, translucent bones. With the trout, we had a spinach salad with feta cheese, olives, and capers. We also threw some thick tomato slices on the grill for a few minutes.


Can't wait to go camping later this summer and get REAL fresh fish! If anyone knows of good camping and fishing spots in New Hampshire/Maine, let us know!!!