Restaurant Review - Cacciatore's in Fairfield

     What do the enterprising food bloggers do on Christmas Eve?  Go and do their shopping of course because they're too damn lazy or forgetful or have too much other stuff going on that they didn't get it done before then!  And what else do they do? Go eat lunch at one of their favorite restaurants in Waterville (Now Fairfield), Cacciatore's.

     Cacciatore's is an Italian restaurant that started in a strip mall on Kennedy Memorial Drive in Waterville, at least that's where we originally found and fell in love with it.  They have since moved into a building in Fairfield, and are still putting out amazing food.  This place is one of those places that more people should know about.

     We stopped for lunch on our way home from Christmas shopping and I decided to try a cheeseburger.  I know, I know "But Steve, you're raving on about how great an Italian place this is, and your order a Cheeseburger?  What the Hell is wrong with you?"  Well, I know about their Italian food thank you very much, and I know its fantastic, I don't need to eat it again to know that.  A burger, on the other hand, is easy to screw up and hard to do well, and I like to use them as a measuring stick.  And man did they do well.  The burger came out with onions UNDER the cheese, so the cheese melted and held the onions on firmly, LOVE that, and they didn't use a burger bun, they used a length of garlic bread instead.  And not just the bread they use to make their garlic bread, the actual garlic bread, which gave more layers of flavor to the burger.  The fries were hand cut and also excellent, there just weren't enough of them.

     Service has always been great, very friendly and comfortable.  They don't hover like some places do, but they certainly don't forget about you either.  You don't quite feel like family, but you feel pretty damn welcome.  Cacciatore's deserves more attention than they're getting.  I'd hate to see a great place sink because not enough people knew them or their food.  If you are in the Waterville area, find them, and eat their food.  They could use the business, and I sincerely hope we can give them a bump here.  My rating of Cacciatore's is a solid 4.75 out of 5 stars in my opinion.  Go find these folks.  They really are great.

I really hate to break the flow of Steve's review, so I'm putting my comments at the end. This is a great little place that serves some very nice food. I kinda got spoiled living in New Jersey because of the very hardcore Italian food I could get there, but for Central Maine, this is easily the best Italian food I've had. 


I also had the French Onion soup, which I love, and Insalada Caprase. I know that the caprase is out of season, but I wanted to see what they would do with it. I was surprised at how good it was. Both the tomato and basil tasted very fresh which was a pleasant surprise. 

I'm going to give the food a 4 and the service a 5. Please try this place, I think you'll enjoy it.   

Easy Chicken Wings by Steve

     I love love love chicken wings.  I just do.  I've always thought that chickens were incredibly polite to evolve with little handles for the food they provide us.  Living in Buffalo for over 6 years provided me an appreciation for not just hot food but chicken wings.  Methods of cooking vary, but almost all include deep frying, which imparts a lot of extra fat into the wings.  Taking directly from Alton Brown, I decided to bake them.  Now, this allows for a vast selection of seasonings that you can't use when deep frying, so you can develop a wide variety of wings without having to drown them in sauce to impart flavor.  Baking also allows for crispiness, which I love in wings.  I personally order wings "so crispy I can drive nails with them".  That usually ensures I get them close to crispy enough.  So, all that being said, go get some wings, experiment with flavor profiles, and above all, have fun!

                                 

Baked Chicken Wings

2lb. Chicken Wings, separated or not, doesn't matter

Seasonings of your choice

     Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.  Liberally season the wings with the seasonings of your choice and lay out wings on parchment paper in a single layer.  Bake the wings for 45 minutes.  Remove wings from oven, flip wings over, and bake for an additional hour.  Remove wings from oven, put them in a bowl and toss with sauce if desired.  Enjoy crispy wings!

Drunken Noodles by Jody

 I love Thai food, and this is one of the dishes that is a standard go-to dish when I try a new restaurant. I've found a recipe that I like and have made some adaptations to it, so this is a rough idea of my Drunken Noodles.

6 ounces of rice noodles
8 ounces of pork (you can use ground pork or pork strips, both are good)
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 large hot green chili, chopped
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 red pepper, diced
2 tbls kaffir lime leaves ( I use bottled, since fresh is almost impossible to find in Maine)
2 tbls soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tomato, cut into wedges
2 tbsp fresh basil, shredded (I had to leave this out last time because I couldn't find any)

Cook the rice noodles according to the instructions on the noodles. If using pork strips, salt & pepper them, then stir fry for a couple minutes until they are just cooked. If using ground pork, stir fry the onions, garlic and chilis for about a minute before adding the pork and stir fry for an additional minute before adding the bell pepper. Stir fry about 2 minutes, then add the lime leaves, soy sauce and sugar. Lastly, add the drained noodles and tomatoes and stir to cover the noodles. Sprinkle with basil. Serve.

I've made this before and love it every time. This time, I added way too many noodles and it ended up not quite as good. So learn from my mistake and don't add too many noodles. Of course, that just means I'll have to make it again soon, and make it right the next time.

Pasta Carbonara - by Jody

This is one of my favorite dishes. Pasta, bacon, cheese, what's not to like. When I first started making this I used a totally different technique but I've since discovered that this works well as a skillet dish. I'm sure it has about a million calories, but I really don't care.

1/3 pound bacon
1/2 diced onion
Butter
1/2 cup chicken stock
Pasta
6 egg yokes
Cream
Parmesan Cheese
Basil
Pepper
Salt

Put some butter in a large skillet, add bacon, onion & some pepper. Cook until bacon is crisp but not overdone.  Do not drain the bacon fat.
Boil pasta while cooking bacon. When pasta is done, drain and then add directly to the skillet.
Add chicken stock & toss.
Combine egg yoke & cream, lightly beat to break up the yokes.
Take skillet off heat, add the yoke & cream and toss to coat.
Salt & Pepper to taste (this should be a peppery dish)
Sprinkle fresh basil and cheese on top.

You might have noticed that I add spinach to a lot of dishes. I'm a big fan of chopping up a cup or 2 and adding it for some extra nutrition with negligible calories. I chopped up about 2 cups of spinach and added it to the bacon & onions about 3 minutes before I put in the pasta. It wilts quickly so don't add it too early.

This dish doesn't take long to make, and once the pasta is added to the skillet, it comes together very quickly. The whole thing takes about 20 minutes to make so it's a favorite to both cook and eat. 

Thai Spring Rolls - by Jody

I love Thai food. Drunken Noodles, coconut milk based curry, seafood soups, and spring rolls. I love them all. This is my take on vegetarian spring rolls.

Since this was just for us, and not for company, I made about 8 rolls, but I like them stuffed full, so your mileage many vary.

1 package egg roll skins
2 oz fine rice noodles. I use Thai Kitchen.
Oil for frying
2 cloves glarlic
1/2 tsp grated ginger
2-3 scallions, sliced
1/2 cup spinach. Alternately you can use alfalfa or bean sprouts.
1 carrot, shreaded
1 tbls soy sauce
1 tbls rice wine
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tbls cilantro, chopped
1 tbls mint, chopped

Cook noodles according to the package. Drain.
Fry garlic, ginger, scallion, spinach & carrot for about a minute. Stir in soy sauce, rice wine, pepper cilantro & mint. Stir in noodles and toss with the mixture. Take off heat and let cool a little.

Roll in the egg roll skins. Demos of the different techniques can be found on line, but here are pictures of my method. Use cornstarch & water to help the skins stick together and keep the rolls from falling apart.
Fry for about a minute on each side, or until golden brown. I eat them with sweet chili sauce, but you can use your favorite.

Meatloaf - by Steve

     I have always loved meatloaf.  My Dad has always been my inspiration for the stuff, he has always made a great one.  Ever since I started cooking seriously, I wanted to recreate the meatloaf he would make.  I've never been able to replicate it, so I made the conscious decision to never try again.  Instead, I would use meatloaf as a test bed, as it were.  I have since done numerous things with it, from stuffing it with prosciutto and cheese to wrapping it in bacon.  This time, since Jody had picked up a pound of hot Italian sausage for me (organic no less) at the Belfast CoOp, I thought how cool it would be to embed a couple links of sausage IN the meatloaf itself.  So, here is the process and the result.  Jody couldn't stop raving about it, so I must have done something right.

Ingredients:

1lb. ground pork

1lb. ground meatloaf blend (something our local market sells, pork, beef, I think veal, etc)

2 links hot Italian sausage

2 eggs

2/3 cup bread crumbs, your preference in type

1/2 medium yellow onion, diced small

4-5 oz. spinach, chopped fine

5 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped

salt

pepper

onion powder

garlic powder

dry mustard

sage

barbecue sauce for glazing, again your preference in brand

     Preheat your oven to 400.  In a large mixing bowl, combine all your ingredients, thoroughly mixing with your hands.  Make sure everything is completely integrated together before moving on.  Take a standard bread loaf pan, preferably non stick, and fill it halfway with the mixture, pressing in firmly.  Lay the two sausage links in lengthwise, press them into the meatloaf mix a little bit to get them secure.  Fill with the rest of the meatloaf mix and firmly press into place to completely cover and secure the sausages.  Once your pan is filled and pressed, toss it in the oven for at least 45 minutes.  Check your temp after that, and let it go for another half hour if need be.  I cooked mine to about 145-150 and it was spot on.    Pull, let it sit for five minutes to finish, glaze and cut to serve.  I cut mine right in the pan, but there's no reason you couldn't dump it out and cut it on a board.  I added a little extra barbecue sauce after I served mine and it really sang.

Chili - by Jody

I've made chili for decades, and each one is different depending on my mood and audience. This time I made it bean-less, but my basic recipe includes beans & beer. I can't tell you how many this feeds, but I'd say 10 easily.

3-4 large cans Contadina spaghetti sauce
3-4 small cans of Goya beans. I use black beans, but you can use your favorite.
2 large cans of crushed tomatoes
2 pounds of meat. I usually use one pound ground beef or pork and one pound Italian sausage
1 package Morningstar Farms veggie crumbles. You can replace all the meat with this for a veggie chili
1 large onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups spinach, chopped
Salt & Pepper to taste
Chili powder & cumin. I usually just start adding these until it tastes right. You can also use some of Auntie Arwen's spice mixes. Tonight I used Fiesta Dog because she has discontinued my favorite, which was Turkish Delight.
3 bottles Guinnesse. You can also use red wine instead of beer.

Top with cheese, diced onion and/or tortilla chips.