Grinders

I spent large parts of my childhood in Stonington, CT, as we owned a house on Water Street. I won't tell you the number but last time I checked, the historically salmon colored door was now blue. One of my favorite memories was to be sent down to Camacho's to pick up our order of grinders and spend $1.00 on penny candy. The grinders were amazing and we ate them everywhere - at home, at the beach, at the point, at the light house, or at the Wad Club. Sadly, Camacho's is no more (now a jewelry store), and I have never been able to find a replacement in all my searching. Then we moved to Maine and when I asked for a grinder, I was handed a pepper grinder. Back to the drawing board it was. I finally gave up looking and decided to make up my own close-as-I-could-get version. It's still not the original, but it satisfies the craving. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

A baguette or two, or a loaf of French bread or even Italian (the bread is the hardest part to match)

Mayonnaise (always use Hellmann's)

Italian Dressing (Originally it was a red wine vinaigrette but I haven't found a close match yet)

Iceberg lettuce, shaved thin

Tomatoes, sliced thin

Provolone cheese slices

Genoa salami slices

Mortadella slices (if they don't have it use Capricola)

Ham slices

Process

1. Cut bread in half lengthwise. 

2. Coat top half with generous amounts of mayo. 

3. Coat the bottom half entirely with Italian dressing. 

4. Start layering your meats and the cheese. 

5. Top with tomatoes and the thinly shaved lettuce. 

6. Close the sandwich and press together. 

7. Carefully slice into needed sizes. 

Enjoy!

Fish Fritters

 Once again, this recipe has beautiful ancient script handwriting that has to be Baba or even her mother, and is another recipe without measurements or proportions. All the fish recipes, including the upcoming "famous" ones come directly from the Sewall side of the family. Marcia Sewall (aka Baba) and her mother Marcia are both descended from the Sewall ship builders on the shores of Merrymeeting Bay in Bath, Maine. Somewhere along the way, they moved to CT and established Merrymeeting Farm in Stonington, CT. This blog is named after the farm and the bay. Stonington is where we were married (on Elihu Island), where Hi-Ho is buried, where my parents were married and where my father currently resides.

Ingredients

Cold cooked fish

1 onion

mashed potatoes

1 egg beaten

Process

1. Pound the fish and add peeled onion (I can only assume and chopped!) and pound with the fish. 

2. Add salt and pepper. 

3. Add equal bulk (as fish) mashed potatoes. 

4. Mix and make into paste with egg. 

5. Roll the mixture. 

6. Cur in pieces 3 inches across. 

7. Fry

8. Serve with a sauce (not specified but tartar sounds good to me!)