Kismet Inn Organic Kitchen

Making Halva

2009-07-15T07:59:00.001-07:00

Halva is mostly known in the West made with sesame. This is totally different. The ingredients are flour, ghee, syrup made with saffron, rose water, cardamom, sugar. I become creative and add roasted slivered almonds or coconut or blueberries and always ginger, it all depends on my mood and availability. It is very aromatic and tasty, it is best served with tea. Enjoy the photos.

Lima bean Quinoa Pasta

2009-07-03T07:09:00.000-07:00

Kismet Inn Maine Picked some garlic scapes from my garden, i.e., Kismet Inn bed and breakfast spa, fried them with a few garlic cloves that I had put in oil, added lima beans, sumac, turmeric, cumin, curry, my own home made tomato paste (I always make everything from scratch) then cooked it in yogurt whey. You will see photos of the yogurt whey if you scroll down they are in jars. I make my own Greek Style yogurt and preserve the yogurt in jars for a week the most add it to different recipes. Then I Cooked some quinoa pasta in yogurt whey as well, added it to the beans, added broccoli served it with some spicy leaves salad. My oh, my, it is delicious. You should come and try it.

Bath Farmers Market By the Kennebec River

2009-06-27T19:54:00.000-07:00

Today, it was a sunny day after days of rain so I thought I should take some photos of the Farmers Market in Bath. It use to have only 7-8 venders in 2004 when I first purchased the house and turned it into Kismet Inn Bed and Breakfast, Spa, but now there are over 20 from pig farms to spinning farms. Today, we even had live music, 3 different groups playing on the grass by the water and a solo guitarist on the other side of the street. It was a lovely sunny day with clear blue water, the market felt simply good.
Here are some photos for you to enjoy.

Making Yogurt

2009-06-20T12:32:00.000-07:00

Some instructions from Shadi the owner of Kismet Inn bed and breakfast on how to make yogurt.

I love making yogurt from scratch without any gadgets i.e., the yogurt makers. Recently I have been experimenting different kinds of yogurts. The other day I made Greek style yogurt. As Kelli my most recent guest said, my yogurt making is kind of romantic because I don't rely on any gadgets. I simply warm the organic, raw milk in a pot on low heat till it is really hot which takes at least half an hour for a full gallon of milk then I let it cool so that when I put my finger in the milk it feels warm but not hot.. lukewarm toward warmer side than colder. I take a blanket or just couple of winter coats put the pot in the center, mix in 3-4 spoons of yogurt in the milk, wrap the lid around a clean cloth then put it over the pot and cover the pot with the blanket for 7-8 hours. Then put the pot in the fridge over night which will make the yogurt nice and thick then bottle it and it keeps for weeks without the taste changing.

This is the base for making my yogurts as for Greek style what I did was after the yogurt was made, i.e., refrigerated, etc., I put the yogurt in bag and let it hang for several hours till all the juice/whey of the yogurt was drained. It actually took a whole day. The yogurt tasted creamy and delicious and I was able to keep it for couple of weeks without the taste changing.

Today I tried saffron & cardamom yogurt by adding some saffron and cardamom to the starter yogurt. I have to see how it comes out. I hope some day you can come to the Kismet Inn Bed and Breakfast Spa to taste my yogurts.

Sheep milk from Ells Farm in Maine

Warming the milk

Notice how low the heat is

Saffron... this is the highest quality saffron from Iran which saffron actually originates from and the saffron is superior to the Spanish saffron. I never use any other saffron but Iranian saffron.

Saffron diluted in hot water.

Cardamom wholes crushed in a pestle & mortar

Diluted saffron mixed with yogurt

Cardamom, saffron mixed with yogurt

The saffron and cardamom completely mixed with yogurt

The milk is covered to form the yogurt.

The yogurt after being refrigerated in the same pot is now poured into the bag to drain the whey and become Greek style yogurt.

2007-07-31T18:56:00.000-07:00

All the meals will include salad - entree and desert.

The salad dressing is all made by the InnKeeper, Shadi Towfighi ---- fresh ginger, garlic, roasted seeds such as flax, pumpkin, sunflower, sesame .. I roast the seeds myself, balsamic vinegar, fresh lemon, olive oil.

The desert will be some kind of pie using in season fruit with ice cream.

Entree can be your choice of:

Quinoa Pasta Rogue.... different vegetables such as brussels sprouts, asparagus, red and green pepper, tomato..... $60

Lentil Rice... white or brown basmati rice with lentils, wild mushroom and raisins --- $60

Green bean rice.... white or brown basmati rice with green beans, wild mushrooms, tomato sauce or fresh tomatoes........... $60

Dill weed with lima bean rice - either brown or white rice. This can be served with either chicken or lamb.... $65

Jewel Rice....... Made with white Indian Basmati rice, slivered pistachio, almonds, raisins, julienne carrots, barberries, orange peel, lots of saffron. Served with lamb or chicken made with saffron............. $85

Sour cherry rice with lamb....... this is made with white Indian basmati rice.

Pomegranate sauce with walnut and chicken stew (sauce) served with white or brown Indian basmati rice........$75

Lamb stew with eggplant, yellow split peas, tomato paste and tamarind served with rice and saffron.....$65

Tamarind Fish Stew served with White Indian basmati rice. Ingredients of the stew are: tamarind, fresh ginger, fresh garlic, onion, roasted flour, saffron, cardamom, cinnamon, cumin..... $75

All the ingredients are fresh, organic, natural, seasonal and local except for ingredients such as pomegranate paste, spices, rice, etc.,

Saffron is used in all the rice dishes.
I make my own gee (clarified butter) from organic, raw butter that comes from a horse powered farm, called Post Family.
The produce comes from the local organic farms.
I also use organic coconut oil, sometimes canola and grapeseed oil but I use gee most of the time.
I take great care in making sure the ingredients are of highest quality and prepare everything from scratch. I make my own yogurts, jams, fruit spreads, pickles, everything. I might occasionally buy tomato paste and that will be organic in a bottle. I try to stay away from cans and plastics.

Food For Celebrating Jim's Life

2006-12-19T01:38:00.000-08:00

The photos are of the food made for Celebrating Jim Vitelli's life.
There is different two different kind of halva, one made with ginger and the other no ginger both made with butter, all purpose flour, saffron, cain juice sugar. Spread on top pistachio and coconut.
Sholeh zard meaning yello flame made with saffron, rose water, cardamom, rice, caine juice sugar. Spread on top cinnamon.
Kuku sabzi made with spinach, cilantro, parsley, leek, green onions, dill, walnuts, barberry and eggs.
Kuku made with sweet potato, anise, onion, walnut, barberry, saffron.
All ingredients are natural and organic. The food was scrumtiously delicious.

Heart of Kismet Inn

2006-11-12T18:42:00.000-08:00

Kismet Inn’s Kitchen is located in the center of the inn where guests see me, Shadi, The InnKeeper preparing and cooking the food. It is indeed the heart of the inn. You see the Kitchen as you enter the inn. The Kitchen is not hidden somewhere in the back area where guests don't see what is cooking. Our Kitchen thus, our food is very important for us.

All ingredients are fresh, natural, organic and locally provided. If certain foods such as nuts and fruits like pomegranate are used in the preparation of the food it is purchased from a source that is trustable and not shelved for ever nor put in containers and sent across oceans.

The dairy product is purchased from local farms so is the meat and poultry as is the produce. Some produce that is purchased from local farms is frozen for the colder months especially since Maine gets really cold during winter months and Shadi’s cooking depends a lot on produce.

I make lots of hearty soups and rice dishes with vegetables. Soon I will post the dishes I make.

Some Photos of Kismet Inn's Kitchen

2006-11-12T16:44:00.000-08:00

A view of the Kitchen as you enter the house.

Closer views of the Island of the Kitchen as you enter the house.

The Cook Top is at the Center of the Island with a view of the Park and the Hallway/ Main Entry to the House.

A view of the Screen Porch from the Kitchen

Our Dinning Room through the Arch in the Kitchen