A Georgetown resident with ties to Boothbay Harbor took first place for entrees in Maine Maple Producers Association’s first ever pure Maine maple recipe contest. Her winning recipe was Maine Maple Haddock (see recipe below).

Katherine Stover Vaillancourt and sisters Candice and Robin spent time living on McClintock Street with their grandparents, Margaret and Eugene Stover Sr., while their dad was away on sea duty with the Navy. Vaillancourt said she read about the contest in a flier which arrived with the morning newspaper. The contest was held during Maine Maple Weekend, which moved from its usual time in March to Oct. 9-11 due to the pandemic. The contest also included judging of beverages and desserts using pure Maine maple products. Awards went to the top three recipes in each category as judged by Maine celebrities. Maine Maple Weekend included new virtual elements and in-person experiences at a variety of sugar houses, according to its website. It was held in conjunction with the new North American Maple Tour in the U.S. and Canada.

“I was honored to have my Maine Maple Haddock recipe win first prize ...,” said Vaillancourt via email. “The main reason I entered was to get this recipe out to other maple-minded Mainers and to show my support for buying local. I’ve been preparing the haddock with Maine Maple Cream for over a year. My supply was exhausted and I was grateful to learn from the MMP website Cook’s Maple Farm was in nearby Brunswick.”

When asked about her memories of growing up in Boothbay Harbor, Vaillancourt said, “We would walk to the former grammar school (on School Street) and come home for lunch. It was a wonderful time to be part of that neighborhood and we were always back home before the streetlights came on. The Opera House was where all the kids roller skated, the docks had freshly caught fish, farmers sold their harvest out of the back of pickup trucks, there were trees for climbing and the pond (Pat’s Pond) by the school was for wintertime ice skating.” Vaillancourt spent eight years in Boothbay Harbor as a child and four as an adult. Being a child of someone in the military, she moved a half dozen times before graduating second in her class from Lejeune High School in North Carolina. She has lived in Georgetown 23 years.

She retired in 2019 from the accounting department at Bath Savings Institution after 20 years. Before that, she worked at Northeast Bank and Bank of America. She and her husband, Michael, have three daughters who live in Maine, Melissa, Ashley and Katie.

She visits with her Aunt Peggy and Uncle Joe Stover in Boothbay Harbor as much as possible.

“Their son, Mark, used to rock out in their garage, but now can be found all over the peninsula and beyond with his band, the Holy Mackerels. My cousin, Michael Wood, was kind enough to surrender his room for me for a summer/fall back in the 1970s. The foreign exchange student from Argentina, Dardo, was also a part of those crazy times.”

Vaillancourt is no stranger to the kitchen and has received praise for her recipes from her family and friends.

“My former banking coworkers have been very supportive of my kitchen adventures,” she said. “I regularly bake jumbo triple chocolate chip cookies that they renamed ‘Kathy Cookies.’ I inherited my grandmother’s large box of recipes and close to a hundred cookbooks. There’s always something cooking in my kitchen.”

Vaillancourt said retirement planning is not always about the money, “it’s about focusing on what is important to you. I’m grateful to have my family. And they appreciate that I can whip up some cherished recipes with my newly available time.”

Maine Maple Haddock

Ingredients:

2 lbs fresh haddock filets

½ stick margarine

2 short sleeves of Ritz crackers (or 1 large sleeve)

½ cup Maine Maple Butter

½ cup milk

Salt and pepper

Instructions:

Butter four individual baking dishes.

Divide haddock into serving size and lay in buttered dishes.

Crush crackers and distribute evenly over fish.

Dot with remaining margarine.

Drizzle Maine Maple Butter over margarine.

Add milk to each dish to the level of filets.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake at 425° for 20-25 minutes until tops are golden.

Makes four servings.