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An enchanting bed and breakfast in the heart of Camden village that Fodor’s considers “An elegant and sophisticated retreat and culinary destination,” this Mansard style Victorian built in 1835 offers a unique experience in pampered luxury.
Archive for the ‘Chocolate’ Category
Monday, February 15th, 2010
 We hope you had as much fun on Valentine’s Day as we did here at the Inn. The weekend was bustling with activity from private “Chef for a Day” cooking classes on Friday and Sunday to a chocolate cooking class for 14 people on Saturday with Kate Shaffer from Black Dinah Chocolates. We made chocolate truffles: white chocolate filled with a Key lime ganache and dark chocolate filled with a raspberry ganache. There were heart shaped sugar cookies with tea in the afternoon and a full dining room for dinner each evening. It was great welcoming back returning guests and meeting new guests.
Last night we served our Roasted Sweet Potato, Rutabaga and Green Apple Soup and one of the guests requested the recipe (which is in my second cookbook), so here it is. s recipe serves six.
 Roasted Sweet Potato, Rutabaga and Green Apple Soup with a Maple Cream
1 large sweet potato
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup (8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter
1 cup chopped yellow onions
1 cup peeled, diced rutabaga
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and diced
1 quart chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 Tablespoons Maine maple syrup
Kosher salt and white pepper to taste
Maple Cream (recipe below)
1/4 cup croutons
1 Tablespoon sliced scallions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Peel the sweet potato, slice into 1/2-inch-thick slices and lay on a foil-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with the olive oil and season with kosher salt and white pepper. Roast in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
- Place the butter in a large saucepan and place over medium heat. When the butter melts, add the onions and sweat for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the rutabaga and Granny Smith apple and continue to cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken stock and the roasted sweet potatoes and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and blend the soup with either a handheld immersion blender or in a regular household blender until smooth. Add the cream, maple syrup and season with salt and white pepper. Bring back to a simmer and serve with a dollop of whipped maple cream, croutons and finely sliced scallions.
Maple Cream
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 Tablespoon pure Maine maple syrup
Small pinch of white pepper
Large pinch of kosher salt
1. Place the heavy cream in a cold mixing bowl and whisk on high speed until stiff. Add the maple syrup, salt and white pepper and whisk to combine.
Posted in Chocolate, Cooking School, Fun for Foodies, Holidays, Recipe | No Comments »
Monday, April 20th, 2009
 I am happy to announce that Kate Shaffer of Black Dinah Chocolatiers will be teaching another cooking class here at the Hartstone Inn this coming weekend, April 25th & 26th. Class openings are still available on both Saturday and Sunday and the course runs from 1-3 p.m. Cost is $45 per person. Kate recently blogged about the class on her website’s blog and I have included an excerpt here:
“I plan to cover various hand-tempering techniques, “shell” and figurine moulding, and the making of chocolate decorations, including the use of colored cocoa butter and transfer sheets. This is a hands-on course, and though some of the techniques are quite advanced, all that’s required of participants is a willingness to have fun and get your hands a little chocolate-y. We’ll taste our creations at the end of class and you will be able to take a box of your handmade chocolates home with you.”
Call for reservations: 207.236.4259. Hope to see you in the class.
Posted in Chocolate, Cooking School, Things to do in Camden | No Comments »
Saturday, March 21st, 2009
Join us on Easter, Sunday, April 12th for our Easter Brunch at 11:00 am or for our Easter Dinner at 5:00 pm. Chef Michael has created some holiday menus and will be displaying some of his antique Easter chocolate molds, complete with chocolate eggs and bunnies.
Easter Brunch Menu
Mango and Passion Fruit Smoothie
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Baked Bosc Pear with a Raspberry-Star Anise Sauce and Lemon-Almond Biscuit
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Hartstone Benedict with either House Smoked Salmon or Prosciutto
or
Shrimp and Mushroom Quiche with Gruyere Cheese and tossed Greens
or
Grilled Atlantic Salmon with wilted Spinach Walnut Dressing
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Assorted Tarts and Petite Fours
$23.95 per person
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Easter Dinner Menu
Maine Seafood Tartlet with a Chive Custard
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Sweet Potato, Rutabaga and Green Apple Soup with a Maple Cream
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Maine Blueberry Sorbet
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Braised Lamb Shanks “En Croute” with a Celeriac Puree and Grilled Vegetables
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White Chocolate Soufflé with a Pistachio-Crème Anglaise
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Easter Candies and Chocolates
$45.00 per person plus taxes and gratuity
Posted in Chef Michael Salmon, Chocolate, Dining at the Inn, Holidays | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
 This past weekend the Hartstone Inn featured a chocolate cooking class with Kate Shaffer of Black Dinah Chocolatiers. Both Saturday’s and Sunday’s classes were sold out and the response was very positive. Kate started the class with an introduction of herself and her business. She then discussed the basics of chocolate from the difference between types of chocolates (bittersweet, semisweet, milk and white  chocolate) to the proper way to melt chocolate.
Next, we made two ganache fillings, perfectly selected for the upcoming holidays. First came a Gingerbread-Dark Chocolate Ganache, followed by a White C  hocolate-Eggnog Ganache, my personal favorite. We then formed and cut the ganache and coated them with everything from walnuts and cocoa powder to dark chocolate and decorative transfer paper. Kate then showed the class how to dress strawberries with chocolate tuxedos and we made bark with various types of chocolates, nuts and dried fruits.
Finally, Kate discussed packaging options, we tasted the results and packaged up some samples for the students to take home with them. Thank you Kate! We look forward to your follow up class (title and class description to follow) on April 25th and 26th, 2009.
Posted in Chocolate, Cooking School, Fun for Foodies, Holidays, Things to do in Camden | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
 Mary Jo and I are excited to announce a new series of cooking classes at the Hartstone Inn with Artisan Chocolatier Kate Shaffer of Black Dinah Chocolatiers. If you are not familiar with her chocolates, you are in for a real treat. Kate’s beautiful hand-crafted chocolates are made here in Maine (on the small island of Isle au Haut) and are inspired by fresh, local ingredients and her love of flavors from the tiny corners of the world.
The first class in the series, “Artisan Chocolate Making for the Holidays,” will be held on Saturday, December 6th, from 2:30-4:30 p.m. or Sunday, December 7th, from 1-3 p.m. in the kitchen at the Hartstone Inn.
Following is a brief outline of the course:
What chocolate should I use? A real quick primer on how to choose chocolate that you like and how to figure out what you like.
¨ tasting chocolate
¨ what’s with those percentages? 
¨ bittersweet, semisweet, milk and white—what’s the dif?
¨ what makes chocolate “real?”
¨ reading and understanding labels
Working with chocolate in the home kitchen
¨ like water for chocolate: how to avoid ruining chocolate and what to do when you do.
¨ using the refrigerator
¨ storing chocolate
What the heck is ganache?
¨ What does it take to be a truffle?
¨ Making ganache and understanding emulsions 
Making holiday chocolate confections
¨ truffles
¨ nut clusters
¨ bark
¨ strawberry tuxedos
¨ cups and bowls
Finishing
¨ packaging and storing
Visit the Black Dinah Chocolatiers online shop on her website for details on her chocolates and to order gifts for the holidays. I guarantee you will be very impressed with her product and presentation. Other classes in the Chocolate Series with Kate will be scheduled soon on our cooking class page on the Hartstone Inn website. Space is limited in each class so sign up soon by calling 1-800-788-4823 or email us at info@hartstoneinn.com.
Posted in Chocolate, Cooking School, Fun for Foodies, Holidays, Things to do in Camden | No Comments »
Friday, April 25th, 2008
On April 25th and 26th I taught a cooking class at the Hartstone Inn and the topic was “pasta.” My blog entry on the 25th of April details the course and includes a recipe for basic egg pasta dough. Two of the “star” students from the class (actually everyone was shining that day – perspiration from kneading pasta dough) have gone on to write blogs on their experience in the class.
 The first student and blog author is Lani Temple who happens to own the Megunticook Market here in Camden. In addition to running the market, Lani keeps busy as a regular guest on 207 WCSH NBC Portland, ME and is a columnist for Maine Food & Lifestyle. Lani’s blog is titled “Food Finds, From  Camden’s Country Market” and her blog post includes some of her photos from the class.
The second student and blog author is Kate Shaffer who owns and operates Black Dinah Chocolatiers on the tiny off shore island of Isle au Haut, Maine. Kate makes terrific artisan truffles and candies completely by hand and my belly will attest to it. Kate has agreed to come to the Inn to conduct some chocolate cooking classes (I am reserving a space for myself) and I will be writing about her chocolates soon in an upcoming blog post. Stay tuned. Here is the link to her blog post on the pasta cooking class.
Posted in Chef Michael Salmon, Chocolate, Cooking School, Things to do in Camden | No Comments »
Friday, February 8th, 2008
 Chef Michael appeared on WCSH (channel 6) on Valentine’s day (Thursday, February 14, 2008) at 7:00 p.m. with “207″ host Rob Caldwell. Michael displayed some of his antique chocolate molds, discussed their history and demonstrated how to use them.
During the month of February, Michael displays his chocolate molds and a selection of chocolate figures in the dining room of the Inn for his guests to see. Come by the Hartstone Inn and he’ll give you a personal tour. Michael’s second cookbook contains an article on his chocolate mold collection that outlines the use of antique chocolate molds from tempering the chocolate to molding the forms. For more information and techniques see “In the Kitchen with Michael Salmon”, pages 198 – 201.
Further information on Michael’s chocolate molds is available in this blog, just click on the “Chocolate” label below.
Posted in Chef Michael Salmon, Chocolate, Holidays, Press | 3 Comments »
Monday, December 24th, 2007
 When I was in my early twenties, I came across my first bunny chocolate mold at an antique store and I realized that I had found my niche. Whenever I traveled from that point on, I would search out antique shows and markets, purchasing every chocolate mold I happened upon. After years of collecting, my eye for old and unusual molds became more discerning, and I passed over the more common pieces. Easter and Christmas were the big holidays for chocolate molds, so you will find molds of Easter bunnies, eggs, chicks, Santa Claus and Father Christmas quite often. These holidays do, however, offer up some unusual molds  like the bunny riding a motorcycle or Santa riding a donkey. A trip to Belgium back in 1999 led me to a gentleman who’s father had purchased all of the tin chocolate molds from several chocolate factories when they switched to the more efficient plastic molds. That was an overwhelming experience, looking through a shop with thousands upon thousands of unique chocolate molds. After many hours, Mary Jo was ready to see more of Brussels than just the inside of that one store, while I could have spent the whole day.
My second cookbook contains an article on my chocolate mold collection that outlines the use of antique chocolate molds from tempering the chocolate to molding the forms. For more information and techniques see “In the Kitchen with Michael Salmon”, pages 198 – 201.
Posted in Chef Michael Salmon, Chocolate, Holidays | No Comments »
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