Q&A With Bleu Squid Chef Connie Carocari

If you’re sick of winter, warm up a little next weekend (Feb. 26) at the chowder cook-off at the eighth annual Cabin Fever Festival at Olde Mistick Village.  While you’re there, look for Bleu Squid Bakery & Cheese Shop, which took home one of the prizes last year for its clam, corn, and sweet potato chowder.  If the chowder whets your appetite, try one of the shop’s gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches.

The grilled cheeses at the Bleu Squid redefine comfort food, adding a delicious layer of creativity and sophistication to a childhood favorite.  If you think Kraft Singles melted between white bread tastes heavenly, then picture this: Tender chunks of lobster entwined in melted havarti, fontina, muenster, and extra sharp cheddar.  That is but one of the Bleu Squid’s felicitous renditions of an American classic. 

Connie Carocari, originally of Cheshire, opened the Bleu Squid in June 2008 after working for more than 20 years at various local restaurants.  Besides chowders and soups and sizeable sandwiches, and a deli case full of cheeses, her shop also sells nearly 40 varieties of cupcakes (including a number of liqueur-flavored ones) and other desserts.  I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve told people about her rocky road brownies.  You can check out her entire menu at www.dessertsmysticct.com. 

In this month’s chef profile, we salute Connie Carocari of Bleu Squid Bakery & Cheese Shop. Check out her answer to my question about chevre.  If that doesn’t make you hungry…

Q:  Where did you learn to cook?

A:  “Mostly at home and through a love of entertaining.  I grew up in a large family, 10 of us around the dinner table, and my mom was a wonderful cook and baker.  I always loved to read cookbooks and experiment with different dishes.”

Q:  What chefs inspire you?

A:  “Jacques Pepin.  I have almost all of his cookbooks.”

Q:  What’s your best dish at the Bleu Squid?  What’s so great about it?

A:  “The grilled cheese are amazing.  My personal favorite is the “Arti” (roasted artichoke, pesto, tomato, fresh mozzarella).  It’s full of flavor, rich yet not quite as filling as, say, the lobster grilled cheese.  Of the cupcakes, I love the chocolate best, topped with all sorts of flavored buttercreams.  They are rich, moist and yummy, and with a twist they become our most popular adult flavor--Kahlua Mocha.  Delish!”

Q:  What’s your favorite restaurant?  (Besides your own!)

A:  “Fluke Wine, Bar & Kitchen in Newport, Rhode Island, is my latest favorite.  They do special multi-course meals, unique and delicious, plus desserts with a twist, like s’mores, only elegant with homemade marshmallows.”

Q:  What’s your fondest food memory, either cooking or eating?

A:  “After having some (family) medical issues, we did a huge lobster feast—to say a clambake is too much of an understatement—for all our family and friends who had helped out.  Tables piled with all types of seafood and over six dozen lobsters, salads, and desserts.  Lobsters were fresh from a local lobsterman and so abundant that people had to take some home.  A perfect starry night with good music, family, and friends to share life with.”

Q:  What’s your favorite cheese?

A:  “Our Midnight Moon—a goat cheese gouda style, with a big finish.”

Q:  If you catered the Last Supper, what would you have cooked for Jesus and his disciples?

A:  “Course after course after course after course—some of which would include our wonderful cheeses, breads, and cupcakes—so that ‘lunch would last forever.’ ”

Q:  If you were headed to the electric chair tomorrow, what would you eat for your last supper?

A:  “Oysters on the half shell, some grilled fish, fresh-from-the-garden vegetables, and a decadent chocolate cupcake from Bleu Squid!”

Q:  If you couldn’t be a chef, what would you do for a living?

A:  “I’d be an architect.  I love designing homes and gardens.”

Q:  What is your favorite junk food?

A:  “Ben & Jerry’s Pistachio Pistachio ice cream.”

Q:  If you were invited to compete on “Iron Chef,” and the theme ingredient was chevre, what dishes would you prepare?

A:  “Roasted butternut and chevre bisque; chevre tartlets with fresh herbs, caramelized onion, and oven-roasted tomatoes; baked lobster with a chevre, spinach, and walnut stuffing; and a creamy chevre cheesecake topped with fresh blackberries.”  (NOTE: I would settle for that for my last supper.)

Q:  What cooking tips can you offer those of us who don’t know an oven mitt from a catcher’s mitt?

A:  “Have fun and enjoy the creativity of the process.  There’s very little right or wrong to it all.  If it tastes good, it is good—maybe not master-chef good, but still good.”

Q:  What lessons about life can we learn from grilled cheese?

A:  “That simple pleasures, well done, with care and attention, can be just as wonderful as grand adventures, whether in life or at your table.”