For Roger Vire, it's become a ritual. Every Sunday morning, he and his wife, Patti, make an expedition from their home in Freeport to Benoit's Bakery & Wine Cellar in Lisbon to pick up a bag of fresh doughnuts to take on their weekly visit to his parents' house in Old Orchard Beach. The detour to Benoit's takes them an hour out of their way, but they wouldn't have it any other way. The doughnuts are that good.
Pastry chef Jennifer Best decorates a fall-themed cake at Benoit's Bakery in Lisbon.
Benoit's Bakery staff are, from left, John Frost, Jennifer Best, owner Nick Benoit, Lisa Pare and Greg Hird.
Open house wine-tasting event
In celebration of Benoit's Bakery & Wine Cellar's one-year anniversary, owner Nick Benoit is inviting the public to a free wine tasting from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 1. Samples of some of the bakery's offerings will also be available, as well as live musical entertainment.
The store is located at 72 Lisbon Road in Lisbon, just past the Lewiston town line. Current hours are 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. The phone number is 353-7552.
The adjacent farm stand operation has closed for the winter, but Benoit will soon be adding cafe seating in that area to turn it into a coffee shop, allowing customers to relax and enjoy the bakery's offerings on premise.
Pumpkin Chipotle Soup
The staff at Benoit's Bakery & Wine Cellar has just added this spicy autumn offering to their revolving soup menu.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 chipotle pepper, chopped (2, for an extra spicy kick); available canned in adobo in your supermarket's cooking/spices aisle
8 cups chopped pumpkin (one 2-pound cooking pumpkin will yield approximately 8 cups or you may substitute three 15-ounce cans of canned pumpkin; sweet potato may be used in place of pumpkin)
4 to 6 cups chicken stock, depending on desired thickness (use vegetable stock for vegetarian option or substitute water for some of the stock)
1 teaspoon dried flaked oregano (or 1/2 teaspoon ground oregano)
2 teaspoons salt, or more to taste
2 tablespoons lime juice
Method:
Heat oil in a large pot (8-quart) on medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for 3-4 minutes, until softened. Add the garlic, cumin and chipotle; cook for 1 minute more.
Add the pumpkin, chicken stock, oregano and salt. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, partially covered.
Remove the soup from heat. Puree the soup in batches of 2 cups each, starting on a slow speed; hold down the lid of your blender tightly while pureeing. Return the pureed soup to the pot.
Add lime juice. Adjust seasonings to taste, adding more salt, cumin, oregano or chipotle if desired. If the soup is too thick, add more stock or water to desired consistency.
Yield: Makes 2 to 2 1/2 quarts.
Suggested toppings: chopped cilantro, creme fraiche (or the Mexican version, crema fresca) or toasted pumpkin seeds. To toast pumpkin seeds, spread them out in an even layer in a frying pan on medium-high heat. Stir with a wooden spoon while toasting, until the pumpkin seeds are fragrant and lightly browned.
Apple Clams
Tender apples are tucked into a puff pasty in this succulent dessert made by Benoit's pastry chef Jennifer Best.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 cups water
4 northern spy or cortland apples — peeled, cored and sliced
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
1 (17.25-ounce) package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Method:
Combine the lemon and 4 cups water in a large bowl. Place the sliced apples in the water to keep them from browning.
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Drain water from apples, and place them into the hot skillet. Cook and stir for about 2 minutes. Add brown sugar and cinnamon, and cook, stirring, for 2 more minutes. Stir together cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water. Pour into the skillet and mix well. Cook for another minute or until sauce has thickened. Remove from heat to cool slightly.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Unfold puff pastry sheets and repair any cracks by pressing them back together. Trim each sheet into a square. Then cut each larger square into 4 smaller squares. Spoon apples onto the center of each square. Fold over from corner to corner into a triangle shape and press edges together to seal. Place turnovers on a baking sheet, leaving about 1 inch between them.
Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven until turnovers are puffed and lightly browned. Cool completely before glazing.
To make the glaze, mix together the confectioners sugar, milk and vanilla in a small bowl. Adjust the thickness by adding more sugar or milk if necessary. Drizzle glaze over the cooled turnovers.
Yield: Makes 12-16 "clams," depending on how full you stuff them.
Nick Benoit, the establishment's 26-year-old owner, gives credit to his doughnut-master, John Frost, son of the founder of the original Frosty's Donut Shop in Brunswick. As might be expected, John spent many years helping his dad out in the shop, and in the process perfected the trick of turning out the type of confection that causes Patti Vire to sabotage her gluten-free diet once a week.
When polled about their favorite doughnut, customers frequently mention the apple-filled, which is not surprising given the filling is made on the premises from apples picked barely a mile away at Nick's family orchard. In fact, a glance at the bakery's display cases reveals an abundance of apple-themed desserts: apple cinnamon cake, apple turnovers, apple muffins, apple “clams” (see the recipe), apple cupcakes with apple butter cream frosting, and mile-high apple pie, which one customer was overheard extolling as “unbelievably delicious.”
Apples aren't the whole story at Benoit's. Thanks to the talents of Benoit's pastry chef, Jennifer Best, the shelves are also full of sundry other delectables: cheesecake, cannoli, cookies and even an assortment of decadent chocolate truffles. Two standouts:
— For lovers of chocolate and nuts there is the “gourmet gorp” bar: a mouth-watering melange of fresh-roasted peanuts, cashews, raisins, dark and white chocolate chips, caramel and honey slathered over a chunky slab of shortbread.
— The winsome acorn cake: a pumpkin-laced delicacy redolent with molasses and ginger, anointed with apricot glaze and painstakingly detailed with chocolate ganache to make it look exactly as its name implies – an acorn — bigger than life-size but easily consumed in three or four bites (if one can bring oneself to eat the adorable tidbit).
Special-occasion cakes are also in demand at Benoit's. Jeff Cronin of Lisbon Falls dropped in with his young son Joshua last Sunday morning to pick up a raspberry chocolate cake, handsomely decorated with raspberry butter cream frosting, as a surprise for his wife's birthday. A UPS driver by day, Cronin has a passion for the culinary arts, and, in fact, so impressed Nick with his homemade pesto, based on a recipe handed down by his Italian grandmother, that Nick now buys batches of it from him to season the bakery's foccacia bread and signature breakfast strudel. (The strudel is a toothsome concoction of eggs, two cheeses, spinach, bell peppers, onions, ham and bacon sauteed with a splash of wine, then wrapped in puff pastry and baked.)
The bakery offers an array of other savory items. Traditional Franco-American tourtiere (meat pie) and salmon pie are available in both the full-size version and as a turnover, which make a perfect hand-held lunch for one. Soups and chowders are made from scratch each day from recipes provided by the bakery's general manager, Greg Hird, and they, too, have earned an enthusiastic following. There is no skimping on the ingredients. (See soup recipe.) The broccoli cheddar soup, for instance, boasts a heady Cabot extra sharp cheese aged for five years, while the broccoli – like the vegetables in all of their dishes – is procured (in season) from local farms.
The food at Benoit's Bakery is definitely a team effort. Nick points to his staff – which he describes as “second to none” – as having a combined total of 155 years of food-service experience. “We're all pretty much cross-trained,” he says, “so we can pinch hit for each other.”
Nick's primary role, aside from covering the counter with Hird, is a bread baker, but he also has a hand in the pastry making. One of his customers last Sunday was, in fact, his middle school home economics teacher, Barbara Mathieu. A resident of Litchfield, she makes it a point to stop by the bakery every time she's in Lewiston, usually to pick up some of Benoit's peanut butter and chocolate no-bakes, which he learned to make from his father.
“I love them,” she said. “And I've tried but I just can't make them myself – not the way Nick makes them.” She smiled over at her former student, saying “I'm so proud of him,” as she happily headed out the door with her bag of goodies.
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