Move over Rachael Ray. Back of the line Paula, Giada, Ina, Sandra, Emeril, Bobby, Tyler and Mario. The Food Network’s celebrity chefs have nothing on Kennebunk’s Diane Valliere Mailhot, whose little biscuits with French-Canadian creton (pork sausage sauteed with onion and spices), puffed pastry hors d’oeuvres and homemade pinwheel sausage rolls with spinach and cheese piqued about 200 eager palates at Festival Franco Fun last weekend. Fortunately, they were passed around.

Mailhot, who married into the fabled Lewiston-based sausage family in 1967, boldly admitted that back then, she never cared for sausage, though she was a star attraction at the festival with her creton and mango chutney.

“I’ve been cooking since I was a child,” said the former owner of the Shawmut Inn and restaurant in Kennebunkport (with husband, Raymond, and Richard and Susan Hennessey) until 1985, where she immersed herself in the kitchen. “That’s the thing about food. You get to be creative and think on your feet,” she said of developing recipes, adding that the Shawmut is where she started exploring “fussier-type” cooking.

Following a move to Florida after the Shawmut closed, the Mailhots returned to Maine with a purpose. “My husband would never come back without a purpose,” she affirmed. The couple purchased the Schooner Inn on Kennebunkport’s Ocean Avenue in 1993 (it was sold in 2001), where Mailhot developed her cooking skills even further, noting former first lady Barbara Bush coveted her puffed pastry creton trio appetizer served with a side of red pepper relish.

“When my mother made creton, she would let the pork and onions cook down for hours to make it nice and smooth,” Mailhot recalled, noting spices were added at the very end for full flavor so they wouldn’t cook off. And when she married Raymond, she admits she panicked, thinking her new family ate sausage (which she didn’t yet like) every day. They didn’t, and over time she learned to appreciate the Saturday noontime gatherings where heaping plates of mashed potatoes and peas were served with boudin, or blood sausage. Learning to enjoy it was precipitated by her husband’s liberal use of ketchup, which she adopted, and which she passed down to her son and daughter as part of their heritage.

“I like to muddle through cooking. I like to feel my food,” she said of her craft, noting she experiments from time to time with creton creations. “If you don’t have this or you don’t have that, something else will surely work.”

Diane Valliere Mailhot’s recipes

Easy puffed pastry hors d’oeuvres (a favorite of Barbara Bush’s)

Ingredients:

1 package Pepperidge Farm puffed pastry

1 container Mailhot’s Best pork creton

Egg wash (one egg beaten with a little milk)

Bottled red pepper relish (or you can make your own)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Follow instructions on pastry box to open pastry. Roll out with a little flour. Cut into 4-by-4-inch squares.

Place one teaspoon of creton in the center of each pastry square. Wet two adjacent sides of each square with water, fold over to form a triangle and press together. Using a fork, seal edges so it doesn’t open while baking. Place on greased cookie sheet and refrigerate for a half-hour. Brush with egg wash.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with red pepper relish.

Freezes well.

Sausage Spinach Cheese Pinwheels

1 sheet Pepperidge Farm puffed pastry

1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (or substitute cheese of your choice)

Egg wash: 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water  (this step can be eliminated for those with egg allergies)

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 cup frozen spinach – completely drained

1/2 pound Mailhot’s Best Italian sausage, hot or sweet

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Thaw pastry sheet at room temperature for about 40 minutes or until easy to handle.

Brown meat for about 5 minutes. Add spinach and saute.

Lightly spray two cookie sheets with cooking spray or line with parchment paper. (Cooking spray is preferable.)

Unfold pastry sheet on lightly floured surface. Brush with egg mixture. Top with spinach/meat mixture and cheese.

Starting with the short side, roll up the dough like a jelly roll. Refrigerate to firm the roll to make it easier to cut.  Slice in about 1/2-inch slices.  Place slices cut side down on baking sheets.  Brush with more egg mixture. 

Bake about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature.

These can also be made ahead and frozen. Roll can also be cut in half before baking; use one half immediately and freeze the other for future use.

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