Rockland Christmas tree

The Christmas tree in Rockland, Maine is the largest tree made from 152 lobster traps. 

White Christmas!

How amazing it is to wake up to a beautiful white Christmas! We decided to take a nice walk to the water, only 5 minutes away. It's so quiet and peaceful here.

 

 

 

It's also a bonus to come home to some delicious homemade eggnog. Most of the stuff you buy from the store has corn syrup in it, so we just do like we usually do and make it from raw ingredients. Add some LOVE and it makes deliciousness.

We hope everyone has a great holiday season. It's the first time in a while that Chanukah and Christmas overlap. Be MERRY!

Gnocchi with pesto

Pesto panelle

Spinach pesto

Pesto panelle sandwich with homemade mozzarella 

Our Kickstarter campaign!!!

We finally did it! To help us get started in our business, we are asking for donations with the exchange of rewards from us. We would appreciate if you checked it out:

The website is http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1806679795/panelle-food-cart. If you can't donate, we would just love the support! Thank you so much.

House Party

We're finally settled in our house in Maine and decided to invite all of our new neighbors for a house party. Good Times! Here are the 8 dishes we made:

Homemade baked potato chips

Quinoa salad with vegetables

Baked pasta with romesco

Salmon cakes with horseradish and tomato

 Deviled eggs: potato and cheddar and pesto

Bruschetta with white bean puree

Panelle with shrimp and oregano

Polenta with roasted tomato sauce topped with parmesan

This morning in Maine

We got a beautiful surprise this morning when we looked out the window. Big, fluffy SNOW!

Deviled eggs and stuffed pepper

We continue to experiment with food and this is what we have come up with...

Deviled eggs, 3 ways:

Pesto

Potato and cheddar

Classic

Stuffed pasilla pepper with polenta, caramelized onions, and cheddar

Salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, beet chips, smoked trout, and a mustard vinaigrette

Best home cooked meal ever

Even though we have been focusing on the panelle, we haven't really spent a lot of time on  our home cooking that much. Tonight we changed all of that. We made an awesome dinner that would have cost over $100 in a restaurant, but being Jewish and Italian, we found a way to have quality and quantity meal at a low cost. One of us being a professional chef doesn't hurt.

The sauces: melted butter with rosemary, extra virgin olive oil with oregano, and homemade ketchup with horseradish

Glazed carrots

 

 Roasted potatoes

 

 Polenta

All of it together!

Stuffed fresh pasta

Fresh pasta stuffed with ricotta, parsnip and spinach

Shrimp dish

Even though we are completely focused on our panelle stand project, we still strive to make new delicious dishes every day. Tonight, we even shocked ourselves at how tasty this dish was. Props to Matt for a new inventive way to use homemade pasta.

Sauteed shrimp with a parsnip, ginger, apple puree and crispy pasta.

Ravioli

Asparagus and tomato ravioli with panelle

The sauce is within the pasta rather than outside. The panelle was cut into pieces and baked until super crispy. It adds a nice crunch, giving great texture to the dish.

Salmon

Pan seared wild salmon, parsnip quinoa, sauteed asparagus and crispy salmon skin

Pesto pappardelle for Bob

We finally got settled into the house and had Bob, our neighbor, over for dinner. Salad and sauteed shrimp, homemade pappardelle with pesto made from spinach and peanuts.

This is the super awesome mortar and pestle we used to make the pesto. It weighs like 10 pounds and now smells of garlic and peanuts. Yum.

We moved to Maine!

We decided to take our panelle sandwich idea and buy a custom made food cart to start our own business. We'll be our own bosses, make our own hours, and totally run the show. People will see our passion, knowledge and dedication. We aim to create the most delicious and locally sourced product.

This river is a 5 minute walk from our house. Steve, our neighbor owns the island we're standing on. It's amazing to go at different times and see the tide ebb and flow. All you can hear is the water and leaves in the wind. We can definitely get used to this.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Arugula salad with apples, pickled red onion, cucumbers, toasted garlic, homemade croutons, shaved parmesan and apple cider vinaigrette 

Seared scallops with brussels sprouts, yellow squash and carrot, apple, ginger puree; Roasted jalapeno vinaigrette

Pasta

Semolina and chickpea pasta ribbons with tomato, spinach and pecorino

Acorn squash ravioli

Acorn squash ravioli with red chili flakes and parmesan

Bread salad and shrimp

Salad of cucumber, tomato, onion, carrots and homemade bread. Olive oil and vinegar

 Shrimp with oregano and spinach over panelle

Lobster Panelle!

Oregano marinated Lobster panelle with sauteed spinach, garlic and horseradish

Mini rigatoni

Mini Rigatoni with beets, panelle and pecorino

Dinner for Shannon and Andy

Arugula with pickled turnips, sunflower seeds, avocado, homemade croutons, shaved pecorino and a roasted garlic jalapeno vinaigrette

Homemade tarragon pesto and shrimp with crispy potatoes

 Homemade tap root ravioli with a beet and red wine sauce

Panelle with oven roasted cherry tomatoes, red wine and garlic

Our claim to fame

Panelle sandwich with caramelized onion and arugula on homemade bread

Panelle sandwich with oven roasted tomatoes and pecorino

This is what it looks like on the inside. Delicious!