eG Foodblog: Smithy - Clinging to Summer's Backside in Duluth

[MelissaH]

The locals agree that this bakery makes the best potica around.  I'll have photos of that later, but in the meantime: would anyone care to guess how that word is pronounced?  Iron Rangers need not apply to this game. 

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pa-TEET-sa?

MelissaH

[Lori in PA]

Getting sorrel established? Wow, I fight mine all the time. It's in 3/4 day of sun and average soil. I welcome it in early spring and ignore it the rest of the season. What do you use yours for?

[Smithy]

The locals agree that this bakery makes the best potica around.  I'll have photos of that later, but in the meantime: would anyone care to guess how that word is pronounced?  Iron Rangers need not apply to this game. 

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pa-TEET-sa?

MelissaH

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YOU WIN!!

Now, how am I going to get this stuff to you without it falling apart?

The first time I ran across potica, I went to my coworked and rhapsodizing about this wonderful new pastry I'd discovered. He listened carefully, and said "and what is this stuff?" "POT ica," I replied. He smiled gently before correcting my pronunciation, but I could tell he was trying hard not to guffaw.

[Smithy]

Getting sorrel established?  Wow, I fight mine all the time.  It's in 3/4 day of sun and average soil.  I welcome it in early spring and ignore it the rest of the season.  What do you use yours for?

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Funny, Andiesenji told me hers grows like a bush too. Maybe mine will be like horseradish and I just don't know it yet.

I have 3 favorite uses, and counting. I love sorrel as a sauce base over salmon, and in a cream base with chicken. It's too bad about the army drab color, but a sprinkle of the fresh stuff after cooking really livens it up. The third favorite use is in a panade out of the Zuni Cafe Cookbook. I haven't tried sorrel for wrapping yet (as in stuffed sorrel leaves) but I want to try that before mine disappears for the year.

What do you use your sorrel for in the spring? Why don't you bother later?

[Smithy]

I realized sometime in the night that I'd left out the return trip from the Range on Friday, and the meal I made with it. One of my favorite stops, when I can take the slightly-back-roads route home, is the Makinen Market.

Makinen's one of those typical small widely-dispersed communities around here with its own volunteer fire department and its own Post Office, and that's about all I know about it - except that this guy makes excellent sausage. Here's a small sampling of what he offers. He makes it there on the premises, but since "he" wasn't actually around I couldn't see about getting any photos.

I bought a package each of Cajun, Smoked Italian, Landjager, and Smoked Polish sausage there. This is called "stocking up", and this is why our refrigerator, freezers and pantry are always stuffed. I'm a frightful impulse buyer.

Dinner involved some of the Smoked Italian sausage. In progress:

This is one of my typical "wing it" dishes, with some basics but no firm ingredient set. Can you identify what went into it this time? Can you guess what I'm sprinkling into the pot right when I shot that photo?

The finished operation, about 15 minutes before my company arrived. I knew they wouldn't be eating. Most of mine ended up in the leftovers, too.

[helenjp]

Saffron??? Surely not!

Thanks for the bird feeder tips. I think the part my son2 will like best is obtaining and emptying the juice bottle!

[Smithy]

There rises now a single tide of tourists passing through

They've traded old ways for the new, old ways for the new

--Stan Rogers, "The Citadel"

How Duluth has changed, Part the First.

PamR, you asked about what Duluth is like now, how large, that sort of thing. Where did you go to school in Minnesota?

Duluth's population is now around 85,000. It's shrunk since the early 1980's when it had a larger industrial base and heavier shipping industry. The 1980 census had the population at just over 100,000 people, although wags claimed that the census takers went out and counted all the crew members of ships in port, no matter their citizenship, to get that number. Regardless of how justified the count was, at the time Duluth had a lot of grain shipping, a lot of iron ore (taconite) shipping, and - if not in 1980, then just before that - a steel mill. Maybe I'll get energetic enough to find a map and post it, or at least a link to one, but in the meantime, for those who don't know, Duluth is a seaport via the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic. With something close to 1000 miles (CBATG) worth of seaway, Duluth is the United States' most inland seaport. It might even hold the world record, but again, CBATG (with thanks to Adam Balic).

When I moved to Duluth in the early 1980's, industry was slipping and a lot of areas were going derelict. The spirited mayoral race of 1984 was between the incumbent mayor, champion of the blue-collar boys, and an upstart who said Duluth is a beautiful place, a natural for tourism, and that its future depended on attracting the tourists. Well...Mr. Blue Collar won the race, but Ms. Tourism's ideas prevailed. Over the years, industries have swung up and down many times, but the derelict areas keep being beautified, the city council keeps working to attract more tourist dollars, and - for better or worse - the tourists are coming in. It's a mixed blessing. Frankly, I like a lot of the selections available up here now, far better than I did when I moved here, because appealing to tourists means providing more variety. On the other hand, I hate crowds and have a low tolerance for traffic. Around here, more than 5 cars in line constitutes a traffic jam. During high tourist season it can be dozens...and then there's the Lift Bridge, but I'll get to that.

The Farmer's Market is an example of the old that hasn't changed much but is flourishing nonetheless. Despite my best intentions, I didn't get out the door and to the market until around 9 a.m. By then a lot of the selection is gone. In fact, this woman - from whom I bought garlic, and wanted to buy shallots but she was sold out, commented to another customer that "these photographers should come earlier before we're all sold out!" She was a bit embarrassed, she said, to have her produce look so puny, and wanted me to make it clear that she'd had a lot more earlier in the day.

I missed Talmadge Farms, somehow; she's a neighbor and she sells not only produce but also jams, jellies and pickles. She's been willing to sell me dill on off-days on occasion. Next to Talmadge Farms is Shubat's Fruits. Deb Shubat runs the greenhouse at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, as well as her own busines. I bought some garlic from her, also, as well as a bouquet. Check it out: 3 different varieties of garlic! That's my bouquet she's holding. You'll see it better in later photos.

Cucumbers. I bought some lovely cukes here a couple of weeks ago, and now can't remember from whom, so I bought from several people. This lady was a bit bemused that I wanted her picture, but she gladly complied. That's a Diva cuke she's holding.

She sells flowers, too.

The Hoffbauers had the best-looking tomatoes, so I bought some and a few potatoes from them. I didn't buy a chicken this time, as I usually do, because I was sure I had one in the freezer.

More potatoes came from Mark's place.

Through it all, a couple of our local musicians were jamming. We have a strong music community here, and the old-timey and Celtic musicians often oblige on Saturday mornings. I haven't seen too many of the bluegrassers around, and the blues/rock folk don't seem to be the Farmers' Market types.

Just up the hill from the Farmer's Market is one of the changes. The Whole Foods Co-op started out oh, 15 years ago? in a little storefront in some obscure neck of the city. Perhaps 10 years ago they expanded and moved into their present location. They're now doing so well that they've worked out an owner lending program enough to finance a new location by renovating what was a large restaurant in a more central downtown location. They expect to moving this fall. When I asked about photos and explained that I'm trying to show how Duluth has changed in the last 20 years, the manager said, "For the better, I hope!" He was delighted to hear about some free (good) publicity. Here's just a small selection of what they have.

The deli case is the latest and greatest addition - I think only a couple of years old. When I'm hungry I'll pick grab something from here, but I was still running on coffee, fruit and sandwich at that point.

SnowAngel, you asked where I shop. This is one of the places I shop regularly; I get most of my spices here. I get some fresh produce here (you see why), but I have to admit, I often forget something and I don't get here as often as I get to Cub Foods.

Here's my haul from the day, except the green beans, which I forgot to include in the photo.

Notice the 3 white eggplants in there? Except for the color, the round one looks like what I see in Egypt but never here. I don't know what to make of the long ones - albino Japanese eggplants? Does anyone know what I got? What should I do with them?

From there I went down to Park Point, where my airplane lives at this time of year, for a lesson. To get there you go through Canal Park, one of the best and most vivid examples of city renovation. I wish I had a "before" picture. This was the warehouse district when I first moved here. There were warehouses and bars and rough streets with rundown paving, and it wasn't a place to be after dark unless you were large and burly. Now it's filled with shops, restaurants, hotels, and a few offices tucked away. That building on the left at the end, the Dewitt-Seitz Marketplace, is home to 2 of my favorite shops: the Blue Heron Trading Company, where I get a lot of kitchen wares and take the odd cooking class, and the Northern Waters Smokehaus, home to artisan cheeses and smoked fish. I hope to get photos for you, but I didn't get them yesterday.

That bridge is the Duluth Lift Bridge, and they're celebrating its centennial this year. The entire span goes up and down to allow the ships through.

Pretty, isn't it? What you can't see is that this is the only way on or off Park Point, and during the tourist season the traffic can be backed up for a mile, waiting for the bridge. When an ore boat or a salty is coming in the bridge is raised well in advance, becuase it Just Won't Do for a vessel to be coming in to port and suddenly discover that the bridge is stuck. The stopping distance for these vessels is something between half a mile and a mile at low speeds. They're impressive, and fun to watch. When one is coming through, the best thing is to shut the car down and go watch the ship.

[Smithy]

Saffron??? Surely not!

Thanks for the bird feeder tips. I think the part my son2 will like best is obtaining and emptying the juice bottle!

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Nope! (That reminds me, I'm out of saffron, and I need it!)

What size are your typical juice bottles over there?

[Smithy]

Dinner last night was an experiment of adapting a recipe to the tagine, and doing one of my favorite eggplant treatments. Both of these recipes, or at least the originals before I messed with them, came from The Sultan's Kitchen, by Özcan Ozan. First, my adaptation of Sultan's Delight, a tomatoey lamb dish that I wanted to try in the tagine. (He calls for doing it in a standard metal skillet.)

Start with these ingredients:

and, if you have a tall dog, be vigilant.

I threw him outside (politely) after I snapped this photo and before he got any closer. Unfortunately, the phone rang later and distracted me while I was overseeing the outdoor charring of the eggplant. I lost a lamb chop then, and threw the dog back outside less politely.

Cut up the lamb and start browning it. I used probably more fat in the tagine than I needed to, but the lamb was lean. After a bit, add the chopped onion, garlic and seasonings, and still later add the tomatoes.

These tomatoes are the last of my frozen hoard of wonderful Farmers' Market tomatoes. Mountain Pride is one of the most memorable tomato varieties I've run across, in terms of flavor. Deb Shubat says she'll start some for me next year. I spooned them out to avoid adding more liquid, because I could already see I had more than I needed.

Cover, and simmer until the meat is tender.

While that's simmering, start the creamed eggplant (Hunkar Begendi). Watch, and you'll see some magic. I'd never heard of creamed eggplant before finding this cookbook. I'm amazed at how it works when you do it right.

Poke the eggplants all over with a fork or knife. Char them over a flame, or under the broiler, until they collapse. It's important for them completely to collapse, or you'll have extra work later. (I did.)

After the eggplants are soft all over, put them someplace until they're cool enough to handle. Peel them and drop them into a mix of water, lemon juice and salt. This is to keep them from browning too much, but it also adds flavor. Rather than show you those steps, I'm going to show you one of my favorite kitchen gadgets: my trusty Wear-Ever lemon juicer, rescued by my mother from a Navy wife who threw it away when Mom and Dad were in Okinawa. My mother knew a good thing when she saw it. This juicer has done yeoman's service for 2 generations now, squeezing countless lemons for lemonade, lemon meringue pies, and the odd bits of cookery. I use it nearly every day.

If you ever see one on eBay or at a garage sale, get it. You'll wonder how you ever lived without it.

So. The next step, basically, is make a bechamel sauce: butter, flour, then milk with a touch of cream, all whisked until it's creamy. I'm glossing over this but I'll add detail if anyone asks. Once it's creamy, add the (drained) eggplant. Now here's the magic: if you've done your job properly at the charring stage, the eggplant just falls apart and whisks into the bechamel. If you haven't been patient enough, you have to do a bit of choping and pureeing. A wand blender works well for this task. At some stage, shredded kasseri cheese is added in to finish the deal.

Meanwhile, back at the tagine, the lamb is done.

I used too much fat for the meat, I think. I hadn't added any liquid (the recipe calls for a lot, but I didn't think the tagine would want it) and there's still a lot there. Still, the lamb was tender and tasty, and the marriage of lamb with tomato and creamed eggplant with kasseri is perfect. I don't especially like kasseri on its own, but with the rest it's delicious.

Isn't Shubie's bouquet wonderful?! That pinky dangly flower is called "Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate".

[Smithy]

I'm finally caught up to this morning, and wondering whether everyone's bored and wandered off, or doing something else, or feels as though he or she is being offered a drink from a fire hose. Breakfast was buttered toast and coffee. I didn't have to go anywhere right away, so I could enjoy the bright sparkly morning. It's warmed up in the last couple of days, although the wind blew hard while it did so.

I tell you, I'm so thrilled with the bouquet Shubie made for me yesterday, I feel a bit like Winthrop in The Music Man: "Thithter, thithter! Ithn't thith the motht thcrumthiouth thing you've ever theen?" (It's really hard to write a lisp, isn't it? )

While I was enjoying coffee and sunshine, I heard a suspicious bump coming from under the sink. Gracie Mu has taking to exploring cupboards lately.

Here's a better picture of a downy woodpecker eating outside the window. The downside of having these feeders so close is that the suet that holds the seeds together gets sloppy when it's warm, and it speckles the window. I think this bird is starting to molt.

Someone asked offline about what the kitchen looks like, and over on MelissaH's thread there's certainly been a lively discussion about kitchen design. Here are some photos of my kitchen.

Not much counter space, given the way I cook and tend to clutter things up, so this cart rolls out to be a work surface when I need more space.

Most of my good china and glassware is here - at least, the stuff we got for our wedding. Now that my parents have cleared out their house, I've got more tucked away out of sight. Mom and Dad gave us money some years back, when we moved into this house, "to buy something nice for the house so that when you look at it, you'll think of us". Well, we bought the china hutch and Mom and Dad were able to come see it before it was too late. Dad choked up; it was just the kind of thing he'd wanted us to pick out. I think of them often anyway, but now that Dad's gone it's more poignant.

MelissaH, this last is especially for you, in light of your kitchen renovation thread. Note the storage, but not much useful work surface, under the corner cupboards.

Now. I'm going to go away and do some useful things like the critical shopping I didn't do yesterday. I'll check back later to see if there's any feedback on what I've posted so far. Any questions? Anything you'd especially like to see? Am I already giving too much information?

Edited for spelling and clarity.

Edited August 21, 2005 by Smithy (log)

[cakewalk]

Lovely, such lovely photos.

About the eggplant, this is what I heard a while ago. I have no idea if it's true or if it's an old wives tale, but it sounds good: eggplants were originally white and that's how they got their name, since they did resemble eggs. The purple ones evolved much later and I guess they just took over (don't know why, perhaps white eggplants looked too bad if they were bruised, whereas the purple eggplants don't really show it.)

[Smithy]

Lovely, such lovely photos.

About the eggplant, this is what I heard a while ago. I have no idea if it's true or if it's an old wives tale, but it sounds good: eggplants were originally white and that's how they got their name, since they did resemble eggs. The purple ones evolved much later and I guess they just took over (don't know why, perhaps white eggplants looked too bad if they were bruised, whereas the purple eggplants don't really show it.)

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How interesting! Any idea whether they taste the same? I guess I'm going to find out, one way or the other, but guidance never hurts.

[fou de Bassan]

smithy,

Could you show a picture of Potica, please? That it's a pastry I understand, but what is in it? What makes it so good? How is it shaped? Are there regional variations?

I enjoyed reading your posts on the Tagine thread, you were partly responsible for my rifi tagine obsession . I'm glad you're blogging now.

[MelissaH]

Here's a better picture of a downy woodpecker eating outside the window.  The downside of having these feeders so close is that the suet that holds the seeds together gets sloppy when it's warm, and it speckles the window.  I think this bird is starting to molt.

Downy woodpeckers already? Ours pretty much vanish for the summer. We've given up on leaving suet out once it gets warm: not because the suet melts (our orchard store actually sells suet blocks that are guaranteed not to melt) but because the &^%$ squirrels demolish a whole block in about ten seconds. Do you have a squirrel issue?

Someone asked offline about what the kitchen looks like, and over on MelissaH's thread there's certainly been a lively discussion about kitchen design.  Here are some photos of my kitchen.

The dishwasher! Oh, a dishwasher!

I also noticed that you don't have a hood over your stove. Have you found this to be an issue, or are you just very good at not making dishes that create smoke?

Most of my good china and glassware is here - at least, the stuff we got for our wedding. Now that my parents have cleared out their house, I've got more tucked away out of sight. Mom and Dad gave us money some years back, when we moved into this house, "to buy something nice for the house so that when you look at it, you'll think of us". Well, we bought the china hutch and Mom and Dad were able to come see it before it was too late. Dad choked up; it was just the kind of thing he'd wanted us to pick out. I think of them often anyway, but now that Dad's gone it's more poignant.

I like this story. Very much.

MelissaH, this last is especially for you, in light of your kitchen renovation thread.  Note the storage, but not much useful work surface, under the corner cupboards.

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I like all the pretty things on top of your cabinets. That's a big improvement on a soffit!

MelissaH

[Lori in PA]

I have 3 favorite uses, and counting. I love sorrel as a sauce base over salmon, and in a cream base with chicken. It's too bad about the army drab color, but a sprinkle of the fresh stuff after cooking really livens it up. The third favorite use is in a panade out of the Zuni Cafe Cookbook. I haven't tried sorrel for wrapping yet (as in stuffed sorrel leaves) but I want to try that before mine disappears for the year.

What do you use your sorrel for in the spring? Why don't you bother later?

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[purplewiz]

While that's simmering, start the creamed eggplant (Hunkar Begendi).  Watch, and you'll see some magic.  I'd never heard of creamed eggplant before finding this cookbook. I'm amazed at how it works when you do it right.

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Good heavens, that's something I'd've never thought of, and it looks wonderful! (I love eggplant.) Can you give the rough proportions of about how much bechamel per eggplant? It's definitely something I want to try!

I'm really enjoying the blog!

Thanks -

Marcia.

[Smithy]

smithy,

Could you show a picture of Potica, please?  That it's a pastry I understand, but what is in it?  What makes it so good?  How is it shaped?  Are there regional variations?

I enjoyed reading your posts on the Tagine thread, you were partly responsible for my rifi tagine obsession .  I'm glad you're blogging now.

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Glad to oblige, and thanks for the compliments!

Here's a cross-section of potica. Noted the ultra-thin layers - one of a fine breadish dough and the other of a sweet walnut filling. It's all rolled together like a jelly roll, but considerably more delicate. This is usually a special-day or holiday treat, because it's so labor intensive...that is, unless you get it at the bakery and pay someone else for their trouble.

When you slice it, you can warm it up if you're patient enough. I wasn't.

It's sweet and nutty, a wonderful pastry.

Edited to add: I don't know whether there are regional versions of it. I've never heard of any, but I only heard of it - much less learned to pronounce it - last year.

Edited August 22, 2005 by Smithy (log)

[Smithy]

Here's a better picture of a downy woodpecker eating outside the window.  The downside of having these feeders so close is that the suet that holds the seeds together gets sloppy when it's warm, and it speckles the window.  I think this bird is starting to molt.

Downy woodpeckers already? Ours pretty much vanish for the summer. We've given up on leaving suet out once it gets warm: not because the suet melts (our orchard store actually sells suet blocks that are guaranteed not to melt) but because the &^%$ squirrels demolish a whole block in about ten seconds. Do you have a squirrel issue?

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Our downies stay around all year, courting and raising babies and sticking through the winter. I hadn't realized they'd be migratory elsewhere.

The squirrels can't get at these suet blocks because they're suspended from second-floor windows. It's fun watching them try, but they haven't needed to since we have put out a feeder for them on the deck rail. They haven't been there lately either, though. I'm afraid they've either disappeared into the woods (I hear some occasionally) or into the gullets of our animals.

I've done something stupid with the formatting, and after 3 or 4 attempts I'm going to give up trying to requote you. As for the dishwasher: I looove having a dishwasher! When Russ and I were courting we used to compare notes on the most important features in our living quarters. For him a dishwasher was a prerequisite, and for me it was a garage. He bought me a dishwasher, ostensibly as a gift but really out of self-defense. It's made a huge difference in the way I cook, and I'd hate to do without one now. I'd still forego the dishwasher before the garage in this country, but it would be a closer race.

As for the range hood: don't I wish I were so skillful! It's definitely an issue not to have a hood, and I choose what I cook accordingly. Unfortunately our stove is on an interior wall, with a bedroom on the next floor up, so there's no good place to send a vent. That's something I'll want to change if we ever remodel.

[Smithy]

While that's simmering, start the creamed eggplant (Hunkar Begendi).  Watch, and you'll see some magic.  I'd never heard of creamed eggplant before finding this cookbook. I'm amazed at how it works when you do it right.

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Good heavens, that's something I'd've never thought of, and it looks wonderful! (I love eggplant.) Can you give the rough proportions of about how much bechamel per eggplant? It's definitely something I want to try!

I'm really enjoying the blog!

Thanks -

Marcia.

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It's one cup milk, plus a couple tablespoons heavy cream, so whatever amount that makes of bechamel in the usual proportions (1.5 - 2c?), to 3 lbs' worth of large globe eggplants (I use 3). The eggplants really collapse in on themselves, so there isn't as much eggplant volume as 3 lbs would suggest. It's darned close to half and half, judging by the eyeball. It really is wonderful.

[Smithy]

Dinner was djej mqalli from Paula Wolfert's Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco. I used the tagine again and made almost the right adjustments, but needed to make a couple more.

Start with a cut-up chicken, marinaded in a mix of preserved lemon pulp, garlic, salt, oil. The chicken is supposed to be coated with this mix and left overnight in the refrigerator, but I only was able to give it a couple of hours.

Pour chicken and sauce (don't forget the livers, they really do make a difference) into the tagine, along with other spices and seasonings. Bring it to a simmer, and turn the chicken periodically. I started warming the chicken before adding water, and I added much less than the recipe called for, because that seems to be what the tagine wants. After the chicken has simmered for a bit you're supposed to add the olives and preserved lemon peel, and mash the chicken livers. I forgot all that until the boiling-down step.

After the chicken is nearly done, put it in the oven to brown and crank the heat up on the sauce to boil it down and thicken it. Here's where I went wrong, I think: I should have put the sauce in a different pan and put the chicken in the oven in the tagine. I kept the tagine on the burner with the sauce. It didn't really thicken properly, even after a half hour. It might be that I didn't defat the sauce, but I think it was because I didn't dare bring it up to a furious boil. As it was, I had the heat on medium-high, and even with a heat diffuser I hated to turn it up more.

Eventually I gave it up and put the browned chicken back into the sauce. You're supposed to spoon the thickened sauce over the chicken and serve at once. Oh, well...

...it was still very, very good. I really like this recipe, a lot. I served it with Cub Foods Italian Peasant Bread, one of the reasons I shop at that particular grocery store. The bread is one of those heat-and-eat things. You good bakers don't need that sort of thing, but this has a better texture and flavor than anything I've ever made.

Djej mqalli, Cub Foods bread, and green beans tossed with a vinaigrette and sesame seeds. Oh my, oh my.

Edited August 22, 2005 by Smithy (log)

[Anna N]

Dinner was djej mqalli from Paula Wolfert's Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco.  I used the tagine again and made almost the right adjustments, but needed to make a couple more. ...

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Looks very delicious!

[helenjp]

picklemania alert sounded when I read about the preserved lemon pulp...did you buy it like this, or are those home-pickled lemons, pureed? Are Moroccan preserved lemons preserved in oil and salt, or just salt?

It does look awfully good though. Hmm, wonder if my Japanese earthenware nabe would like to become a part-time tagine!

[arbuclo]

I'm loving your blog! I have a question about the frozen tomatoes you used in the other tagine (the ones from the farmer's market). What do you do to them to freeze them? Peel? Chop? Slice?

[therese]

Notice the 3 white eggplants in there? Except for the color, the round one looks like what I see in Egypt but never here. I don't know what to make of the long ones - albino Japanese eggplants? Does anyone know what I got? What should I do with them?

They taste and cook up the same as the purple ones. My CSA this year has included various white and white and purple striped sorts, some round and some long and skinny. When I ask the farmer he just says "Heirloom. I can't remember what all the different ones are called." Anyway, they're nice.

[sparrowgrass]

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The Peeing Men--you took a picture of the Peeing Men!

The main road runs behind these statues, and from the rear, they all look like they are taking a leak--hands in front, hips cocked. I stopped for a picture, a rear view, when I was up there last month, but unfortunately, I have one of those old fashioned film cameras, and I don't have them developed yet.