Harvest Brunch at Portland Maine’s Danforth Inn, featuring Chef Carmen Gonzalez

Sunday September 25, 2009 was Harvest Brunch at Portland, Maine’s Danforth Inn.

Harvest on the Harbor is Maine’s preimer food and wine experience; a weekend event showcasing chefs and sustainable ingredients from Maine’s farmers, food artisans and fisherman, pulled together by talented chefs.

Chef Carmen Gonzalez of New York was sponsored by Danforth Inn and headlined Saturday evening’s Harvest on the Harbor’s Harvest Uncorked. Chef Carmen is known for her award winning Latin cuisine. Here for Harvest on the Harbor, she combined her love of Maine seafood with her Latin style, sending our taste buds off to cha cha cha.

At Harvest Brunch on Sunday, Chef Carmen started the event with a local Maine sparkling wine paired with her Lobster and Avocado Relish on Tostones and a Guisado of Crab and Plantain. We then sat down at individual tables with baskets of a trio of fried root chips served with a smoked haddock spread. Then the apple and mango fritters…can I please have two dozen of these sweet and airy morsels of fried dough?

Next we were treated to three delectable dishes: Maine Cod Eggs Benedict, Sausage, Oyster and Roasted Tomato Casserole and Pulled Pork and Braised Pork Belly with Quail Egg, (to be honest, I was too quick to eat the oyster and tomato dish that I forgot to photograph it!). Each course was paired with a wine.

And to finish, we indulged in a trio of sweets: Silver Dollar Pancakes with Warm Green Papaya, Crispy Churros dusted with Cinnamon Sugar and a Warm Chocolate Drizzle and Torrejas (similar to French Toast) with Fresh Maine Pears and Requeson (a type of cheese).

This was an epicurean event that I was fortunate enough to attend. Thank you, Chef Carmen.