Cooking Inn style> Blue Hill Inn featured on PBS Show

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For TV cooking maven Gail Greco, lauding the gustatory pleasures of country lodgings such as the Blue Hill Inn could give the term “G-spot” a whole new meaning.

The Maryland-based country inn expert has made it her business to expose the edible delights of such bed-and-breakfast purveyors nationwide, a message that has tweaked a salivary nerve among the apparently sensory-starved American viewing public.

Last year, in its premiere season, the PBS show, “Country Inn Cooking with Gail Greco,” was award nominated beside the likes of shows hosted by veteran chefs such as Martin Yen, and won a bronze award at a world-class competition in Charleston. Producer Melissa Martin says Greco’s passion for her topic has proven the show’s piece de resistance.

“I’m just an average cook, but my background taught me the essence of enjoying food,” Greco says simply. “I don’t know of any better experience in life than to sit at a table enjoying a good meal.”

This past weekend, the host brought her Midas touch to the Blue Hill Inn, one of 26 B&B lodgings chosen to be featured in her show’s second season, as well as in the show’s companion cookbook, “More Country Inn Cooking with Gail Greco,” due out this fall.

There’s no better way to see America than to stay at a country inn, soaking up an area’s flavor, says Greco, who sees Blue Hill’s Mary and Don Hartley and their counterparts as heroic preservers of the nation’s past.

“With all due respect to Martha Stewart, these people are doing this every day. They aren’t earning a fortune, they’re preserving a lifestyle,” says Greco, herself the author of 16 books on food, decorating and gardening.

The Hartleys say their 1830 hostelry built by blacksmith Varnum Stevens is one of 76 such sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The antique-filled Union Street establishment offers 11 guest rooms with private baths, and serves full breakfasts and multi-course single-sitting dinners featuring fresh, organically raised produce and herbs, locally raised meats and fowl, and fresh Maine seafood.

Lest it all sound too utopian to be true, Greco insists the purpose of her show is not to purvey infomercial-type hype, but to offer her viewers ideas and a bit of entertainment. “I don’t focus in on luxury or large vs. small. I’m objective,” she says, describing her work as “culinary journalism.”

As such, Greco says her work over the years has documented major shifts in consciousness in the B&B industry. For instance, in deference to popular preference, many inns no longer put phones in each room, but instead provide phone jacks for those wishing to preserve contact with the outside world.

Describing herself as perhaps the nation’s most frequent visitor to B&Bs, Greco says the rise in overall quality at such establishments means one can’t help but have some outstanding experiences, especially foodwise.

“Life is short,” she says, glancing about the inn’s airy, elegantly appointed dining room. “As a 19th-century gourmand put it, the discovery of a new dish means more to the happiness of mankind than the discovery of a new star. I think that’s what happens on our show.”

The show’s local episode, expected to be aired as soon as October, will feature the inn’s chef, Andre Strong, preparing regular selections from the Blue Hill Inn menu, reflecting his French ancestry on his mother’s side.

A former vice-president of Strong, Inc., an Ellsworth manufacturing firm, the Penobscot resident says he learned everything he knows about cooking from his mother. Chef at the Blue Hill Inn for the past four years, he says he left his high-pressure business career behind to pursue interests in food and photography.

Strong and his brother, Matthew, once owned a catering business and were well known for the eggrolls and other food items they sold at festivals and fairs. Strong also has worked at Jonathan’s in Blue Hill, and in other area restaurants.

A serious photographer whose aesthetic leans toward the abstract, Strong says his approach to cooking is anything but stuffy.

“The idea of dining is to have fun — that’s also my philosophy of working. It’s not a competition to see who can get his souffle to rise higher,” he says.

Here are the recipes for the three dishes Strong prepared for the show’s taping:

Monkfish Medallions with Spinach

3 pound of monkfish fillet, skin and membranes removed

2 tablespoons of clarified butter (from 4 tablespoon unsalted butter)

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 pounds fresh spinach washed, removed stems

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 1/2 pound leeks white and light green (weigh after dark green is cut off)

3/4 cup water

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/2 pound and 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

3 ounces shallots chopped medium

1 cup dry white wine

3 tablespoons champagne vinegar

2 teaspoons medium hot curry powder

3 tablespoons fresh parsley or cilantro finely chopped

Cut fish into 12 1-inch thick medallions and spread out on a baking sheet for flouring. Mix flour, curry powder and salt and dust lightly through a sieve onto fish, turn over fish and repeat.

Steam spinach in a covered steamer for one minute after water boils, turn off heat, leave lid on and add 1 tablespoon butter, salt and pepper to taste.

Wash the sand out of the leeks. Cut into 3-inch pieces and fine julienne. Saute in 1 tablespoon butter until wilted. Add 3/4 cup water and simmer, stirring occasionally until liquid is gone (approximately 15 minutes).

Cut the 1/2 lb of butter into 16 pieces and refrigerate. In medium size, non-reactive, heavy bottom saute pan, saute the chopped shallots in additional tablespoon of butter over medium heat until translucent but not golden. Add wine and vinegar, turn heat to high and reduce liquid to 1 tablespoon liquid, reduce heat. When you start getting close so as not to burn, turn heat to lowest setting. With heat off, put in one piece of butter at a time. After 3 or 4 pieces put back on stove on lowest heat. Whisk in rest of butter piece by piece. Add curry powder, strain into small sauce pan, add salt and pepper, keep warm on lowest setting or on double boiler.

In a large 14-inch nonstick frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon clarified butter over high heat. Add monkfish medallions. Don’t crowd the pan, do this in at least two batches. Cook for 2 minutes on each side or until just cooked through and golden.

Preheat serving plates. Put 1/2 cup of basmati rice in center of plate, flatten into circle. Cover rice with a layer of spinach leaves then a layer of leeks. Arrange 6 pieces of fish as the top layer and nap with 2 tablespoons sauce, sprinkle with parsley or cilantro.

Basmati Rice with Saffron

2 cups basmati rice

3 cups water

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 big pinch saffron threads

2 tablespoons butter

Soak rice in cold water for 15 minutes. Boil water, salt, saffron and butter in heavy bottomed 2-quart pan. Add rice. Stir. Reduce heat to low and cook 20 minutes in covered pot.

Fiddlehead and Lobster Souffle

(serves 8)

1 1/2 pounds fiddleheads to yield 1 pound

2-1 1/4 or 1 1/2 lb live lobsters

4 tablespoons coarse sea salt

2 cups whole milk

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

5 large eggs separated

5 additional large egg whites

butter and flour to coat souffle dishes

Lobsters (2-6 hours before serving)

Bring to boil 3 quarts of water and 3 tablespoons of coarse sea salt over high heat in a large covered stockpot. Put lobsters in pot immediately from the refrigerator, cover and cook 5 minutes after water returns to a boil. Drain and rinse lobsters under cold water. Pick out the meat and chop into 1/2-inch dice. Refrigerate in a covered bowl over ice. This should yield 3/4- to 1-lb of lobster meat.

Souffle Mixture (2-4 hours before service)

Soak fiddleheads in cold water to clean. Take off brown leaves and discard. Drain, dry and trim off tough ends (trimmed yield 1 lb). Bring 6 quarts of water and 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt to boil in a 12-quart stockpot. Add fiddleheads, cover pot and boil for 8 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water. Puree in a food processor with a steel blade for 2 minutes, pausing twice to scrape sides down with a spatula. With processor on, gradually add 2 cups of milk and process for another 2 minutes or until smooth. Put mixture in a heavy bottomed 6-quart sauce pan over very low heat. Add salt and pepper and melted butter. Whisk in egg yolks one at a time, until thoroughly combined. Continue to whisk occasionally until mixture thickens slightly and starts to steam, do not let mixture simmer or boil. This will take 15 minutes to half an hour, depending on how low your heat is. This can also be done in a double boiler. Let cool to room temperature. If more than 1 hour to service, refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before the next step.

One hour before service — preheat oven to 425 degrees. Butter and flour 8- 8 ounce porcelain souffle ramekins.

Half an hour before service — rub a clean dry 8-quart stainless steel bowl with a half a lemon. Add 10 egg whites and beat with a high speed mixture until stiff but not dry. In a 12-quart stainless bowl, put the room temperature fiddlehead mixture. Add 1/3 egg whites and fold in with a spatula until incorporated. Add the remaining egg whites and fold in until well mixed but not beaten down. Fill ramekins half full with mixture, sprinkle each with 1/8 lobster pieces, and fill ramekins with more fiddlehead mixture. Put ramekins in oven. Cook 20 minutes or until fully risen and partially browned on top. Remove with large tongs and serve immediately.

Notes: Fiddleheads are a delicacy in Maine and available in the spring. If fiddleheads are not in season, blanched frozen ones can be used, or substitute asparagus. The only secret to success is that the eggs must be large and very fresh. The souffles should be taken to the table quickly before they fall but diners should be warned that the souffles and ramekins are very hot, and they should wait a few minutes before eating.

Wolffish in Potato Crust with Fresh Chervil Sauce

(serves 8)

1-2 tablespoons unsalted butter for buttering pan

2 tablespoons coarse sea salt

3 pounds of skinless, boneless wolffish fillets cut into 6 ounce pieces

3 pounds firm fleshed potatoes (yukon gold, red pontiac, etc)

3 ounces clarified butter (from 5 ounces unsalted butter)

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh chervil

2 1/2 cups heavy or whipping cream (not ultra pasteurized)

2 cups fresh chervil lightly packed with tough stems removed

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Butter stainless steel baking pan, 3-by-12-by-18 inches. Boil 2-3 gallons water with 2 tablespoons coarse sea salt. Peel (if necessary) and wash potatoes. Thin skinned potatoes can just be washed.

Slice into very thin rounds (1/16th or less) on a mandolin or other slicing device. Add potato rounds to boiling water and cook for 1 minute. Strain. Place into a large mixing bowl.

To clarify butter, melt 5 ounces unsalted butter over very low heat. Skim off foam, pour off clear liquid and discard milky solids from bottom of pan. Measure off 3 ounces of liquid and save remainder for other uses.

Add clarified butter, salt, pepper and 2 tablespoons of chervil to potatoes. Mix thoroughly with fingers. Dealing like cards, carefully cover the bottom of the baking pan with overlapping layers of potato rounds in rows. Place fish pieces equidistant in pan. Cover each piece of fish with overlapping potato rounds.

Bake fish in preheated over for 30-40 minutes, depending upon thickness of fillets, until fish is just opaque. Brown potato crust under broiler before serving.

While fish is baking, place cream in a heavy 2-quart pan, and reduce over moderately high heat and reduce until thick, to about 1 cup, stirring often (don’t burn it).

Finely chop chervil and 2 tablespoons water in cuisinart with steel blade. Add to reduced cream and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

For serving, cut fish and potatoes into fillet size sandwiches. Place one portion on warmed plate and surround each serving with 2 tablespoons of sauce.