A Trip to Chase’s

By Lori Powell

If you ever find yourself passing through Belfast, Maine, stop by Chase’s Daily (vegetarian farm fresh) restaurant on Main Street, a fixture in Belfast since 2000. You get a triple hit of gorgeous-looking, delicious food… cooked, baked and fresh.

The front part of the space is the restaurant with wood floors, exposed brick walls, wood tables and chairs. Halfway through the large space is a lunch counter in the middle of the room, overlooking the shelves loaded with baked goods and the open kitchen. The back part is a veritable green market with lots of baskets and galvanized steel tubs and bins holding fresh produce from Chase’s 35-year-old farm in Friendship, Maine.

This is a family affair where they do everything from running the farm to cooking and baking at the restaurant. At this time of the year, they were chock full of the most stunning produce I have ever seen, simply presented with signs made from slender pieces of wood. The signs are hand printed with the name and price per pound of each item.

I ordered more than it was possible to eat, which is generally what happens when I am excited about a place and only have two chances to eat there. So on my first visit I had a simple green bean, tomato and corn salad dressed in an herbed vinaigrette, which will most likely be in my next blog post, and then had the most amazing curried egg salad with green olives.

Here is my adaptation of the egg salad. Use the same recipe to make deviled eggs or simply serve it as a spread with toast points or as a dip for fresh vegetables. Or use it to stuff vine-ripened tomatoes, which are so plentiful in the Northeast at this time of the year.

I have way too many photographs to share. Posted is just a handful of what you will find at Chase’s at this time of year. As I’ve mentioned before, this is MY kind of candy shop.

To get the recipe and shopping list on your smartphone (iPhone, BlackBerry, Android device) or PC, click here.

Curried Caper/Olive Egg Salad
Makes 2 to 3 sandwiches

1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 tablespoon low fat sour cream
2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil leaves, optional
3/4 teaspoon good quality curry powder
Pinch sugar
4 hard boiled large eggs, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped pitted green olives or 2 teaspoons rinsed capers
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Sliced sourdough or whole grain bread, lightly toasted
Lettuce leaves
Prepared coleslaw, optional
Sliced garden tomatoes, optional

1. Stir together mayonnaise, sour cream, basil, curry powder and sugar in a medium bowl until combined well. Fold in eggs and olives and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Chill for at least 30 minutes for flavors to marry.
2. Sandwich egg salad and lettuce leaves between bread slices. Serve with coleslaw and sliced tomatoes if desired.

Note: for coleslaw, go to my recipe for Corn Festival Coleslaw.

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