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

[Smithy]

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! 

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Those are home-pickled lemons, and they more or less puree their own pulp after they sit long enough. I just slit them into quarters still connected at the end, pack with kosher salt, mash down into a jar and cover with more lemon juice. Turn the jar over every day or so to redistribute the settled salt, and they're done in about a month. I tried using some other spices once, but the batch went wrong and I wasn't impressed. By the way, I've had the best success doing this with lemons right off the tree. In the USA commercially packed lemons, even the organic ones, have been harder to get right because the peels have stayed hard instead of going soft and salty tasty. I think the food-grade wax coating must prevent the brine from penetrating the peel. The last time I tried preserving store-bought lemons, I scrubbed the exteriors thoroughly with a clean new abrasive pad (safe for Teflon, no soap, that kind of thing.) It worked better, but I still prefer getting them off the tree. How is citrus handled in Japan, or New Zealand?

There's something about porous clay that really seems to make a difference in the cooking, but beyond that there seem to be differences among the clays. I haven't tried side-by-side comparisons yet, but my Moroccan Rifi tagine seems to behave differently than either of my Egyptian (Nile clay) pots. What's your earthenware nabe like?

[Smithy]

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?

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I've tried just about every way. My preferred method, when I have time, is to peel and de-seed them. When I'm in a hurry I just de-seed them and call it good. This particular batch had been chopped in a food processor (not pureed, just chopped) but I've sometimes just cut them in half, dug or squeezed out the pulpy seedy stuff to the extent possible without damaging the flesh, and crammed them into a container or freezer bag.

[Smithy]

Breakfast this morning was yet another pita with avocado and the last of the salmon spread, and a plum. Lunch will be leftover beans and chicken from last night. Summer's back. I hope to get some good North Shore photos - and a representative sampling of smoked fish - on the way home tonight.

[Smithy]

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.

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Oh, dear...now that you mention it, it does look like that from the road!

[MelissaH]

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?

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I've tried just about every way. My preferred method, when I have time, is to peel and de-seed them. When I'm in a hurry I just de-seed them and call it good. This particular batch had been chopped in a food processor (not pureed, just chopped) but I've sometimes just cut them in half, dug or squeezed out the pulpy seedy stuff to the extent possible without damaging the flesh, and crammed them into a container or freezer bag.

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Hm. In our Ohio days when we had a garden, we never got so fancy. We'd take the tomatoes just as they came off the vine, give them a little bit of a rinse under the hose, and then freeze them like you'd do for berries: on a sheet pan in a single layer until they're solid, and then packed into a double layer of freezer bags. Then, when you're ready to use them, you take out as many as you'll need, and stick them in the fridge inside a bowl. When they thaw, the skins slip right off. If you can catch them while they're still a little frozen-crunchy inside, it's also pretty easy to dig out the seeds and the slime they're encased in. If they're completely thawed, the tomato flesh is a little more fragile.

MelissaH

[Smithy]

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?

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I've tried just about every way. My preferred method, when I have time, is to peel and de-seed them. When I'm in a hurry I just de-seed them and call it good. This particular batch had been chopped in a food processor (not pureed, just chopped) but I've sometimes just cut them in half, dug or squeezed out the pulpy seedy stuff to the extent possible without damaging the flesh, and crammed them into a container or freezer bag.

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Hm. In our Ohio days when we had a garden, we never got so fancy. We'd take the tomatoes just as they came off the vine, give them a little bit of a rinse under the hose, and then freeze them like you'd do for berries: on a sheet pan in a single layer until they're solid, and then packed into a double layer of freezer bags. Then, when you're ready to use them, you take out as many as you'll need, and stick them in the fridge inside a bowl. When they thaw, the skins slip right off. If you can catch them while they're still a little frozen-crunchy inside, it's also pretty easy to dig out the seeds and the slime they're encased in. If they're completely thawed, the tomato flesh is a little more fragile.

MelissaH

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I tried a similar method first, but found that I prefer doing the work up front. It turns out to be easier for me to prep things as much as possible in advance, then freeze, to minimize the work on the cooking day. I'm disorganized enough during the actual cooking without the extra steps of thawing, then prepping. There's also the lovely time of spending a day, or a weekend, or times during several weekends, just pottering around the kitchen and putting things up for later.

Edited for clarity

Edited August 22, 2005 by Smithy (log)

[fifi]

I'm a bit late to the party but I am really enjoying this trip to the frigid north.

You mentioned some time up-thread how, even in these days, your local climate and environment affects how you eat. Since you came from southern California, detouring through Egypt, I have to shake my head at how you have adapted to what I would call an extreme climate. (Actually, myself being Gulf Coast born and bred, I think you are nuts. ) I can see how it would make you appreciate fresh local roduce more. I might occasionally, very occasionally, be envious of being able to use the back porch for a really big cooler for that big pot of stock. Looking back, can you talk a bit more about the adapting?

[zilla369]

Wonderful blog, Nancy. Really enjoying it!

[helenjp]

Hmm...lemons grow easily in NZ, but I won't be here long enough to try pickling. I'd noticed that they don't get soft in Japan, which was why I was so interested in the pulpiness, but never thought about waxing. Most lemons there are imported from the US, with huge signs on them saying "this has been absolutely drenched in the most amazingly toxic antifungal agents, another example of crass western disregard for life on this planet, put it back immediately and go buy an overpriced domestically grown lemon".

A Japanese nabe has glaze on the inside too, and is not very thick, designed for simmering in water rather than slow braising.

Another bird question...I suddenly realized that the main thing is letting the birds know the food is there - how do you pick a good spot? Will they still come to feed in a shady area?

[Smithy]

I'm a bit late to the party but I am really enjoying this trip to the frigid north. 

You mentioned some time up-thread how, even in these days, your local climate and environment affects how you eat. Since you came from southern California, detouring through Egypt, I have to shake my head at how you have adapted to what I would call an extreme climate. (Actually, myself being Gulf Coast born and bred, I think you are nuts. ) I can see how it would make you appreciate fresh local roduce more. I might occasionally, very occasionally, be envious of being able to use the back porch for a really big cooler for that big pot of stock. Looking back, can you talk a bit more about the adapting?

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Well, there was the time that first winter when I decided the space between the inner and outer window was a fine second refrigerator for my stash of colas...and then the bright January morning when I came out to see a cola-colored frozen waterfall all down the inside of my window. The Coke had frozen, expanded, and apparently exploded the cap right off of the bottle, and the gush had frozen onto the window as it flowed. It took forever to get that thawed and cleaned.

Oh, that's not what you mean? Nor learning not to leave champagne outside too long in the snowbank? Nor realizing that if the deer carcass is left too long hanging it'll freeze and make more work?

You ask an excellent question. It's hard to know how much of my change has been due to adapting, and how much has been due to my expanding interest in cookery. When I first arrived here, my usual cooking was pretty darned simple. Eggs and bacon for breakfast if I had time, toast otherwise; sandwich for lunch, fried chicken (from the frozen deli case) or broiled chicken (in my toaster oven) or broiled steak or pizza from the frozen deli case were pretty much it. I don't remember what I ate for vegetables. Probably not much more than potatoes. What I did miss, terribly, was good fruit. I didn't expect summer fruit in January, since you couldn't get it in Central California then either, but I pined for it in summer. There came a summer when I realized that by careful selection I could get good nectarines for about 2 weeks around here, and I started pigging out for those two weeks.

I've learned to be grateful for good transport and better storage for non-local produce like coffee, avocadoes, summer nectarines, lemons. In the meantime, I've also learned to seek out and appreciate what grows well here. You can't get raspberries like this in California, at least not in the central farmlands where I grew up:

There's no better woods snack than these sunlit jewels, eaten out of hand as fast as you can pick them.

Blueberries and wild strawberries are right up there, too, but raspberries are my terminal weakness.

Tomatoes. Garrison Keillor said in a monologue that along about April you'd be ready to kill for a tomato - a real tomato, not those tomato-flavored styrofoam things you get in the store. And he's right. I learned to love tomatoes and savor them while they lasted, whereas before I'd taken them for granted. Being a born hoarder, I do my best to put some up in order to savor them year-round. In California, we just did without for a few months, knowing they'd be back soon. I learned to can only after I moved here.

The smoked fish to which I referred is something I never saw when I was growing up. Dad brought home fresh fish (trout from the mountains) and game from his beloved hunting and fishing trips, but there weren't commercial fisheries where we lived. There are commercial fisheries here. While we don't have the variety of fish you have in the Gulf, we do have people who catch the fish to enjoy now, and put some of it by for later. Smoking it. Pickling it. (Pickled herring wouldn't be my choice for a steady diet, but it's a fine appetizer.) I confess, I haven't cottoned to lutefisk.

Raw materials such as nuts travel well and store pretty well, so I could expand my variety with those kinds of materials. Was that adaptation, or growth? A bit of both, I think.

I'm rambling here, but I think the long answer can be summarized by saying that I've learned more to pay attention to ephemera and savor them fully, while still trying to preserve what I can for later. I took it all for granted when I was younger. Is that adaptation from this climate, or from maturity as the years start whizzing by? You tell me.

Is that the kind of thing you're asking, or did I miss the mark?

(And yes, sometimes I think I'm nuts too.)

[Smithy]

Hmm...lemons grow easily in NZ, but I won't be here long enough to try pickling. I'd noticed that they don't get soft in Japan, which was why I was so interested in the pulpiness, but never thought about waxing. Most lemons there are imported from the US, with huge signs on them saying "this has been absolutely drenched in the most amazingly toxic antifungal agents, another example of crass western disregard for life on this planet, put it back immediately and go buy an overpriced domestically grown lemon".

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We've always suspected there was more to the trade war than the citrus council let on!

I really do think the coating is the ticket. Scrub it hard. Maybe there's even something like vinegar, or a mild detergent (sounds dangerous, doesn't it?) to help get the coating off. Maybe someone reading has some ideas.

Here's another question. Could you pack the lemons in NZ and transport the jar with you to Japan? I don't know the rules about that.

A Japanese nabe has glaze on the inside too, and is not very thick, designed for simmering in water rather than slow braising.

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It sounds as though a metal cookpot would be more appropriate, then. The heavier your vessel, the better it will be for braising. It seems to be something about the way the mass evens out temperature fluctuations. Although...as I think about it, your braising temperature doesn't have to be above boiling. Maybe you're looking at a good sous-vide vessel?

Another bird question...I suddenly realized that the main thing is letting the birds know the food is there - how do you pick a good spot? Will they still come to feed in a shady area?

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We've picked out feeder spots to suit ourselves, and the bird community has spread the word. I think it's more a question of providing the right sort of food for the birds that will come near the house. They seem to like having an easy getaway, so something that's under a rail (on which a predator could perch, unseen, and then leap) isn't likely to do as well as something with a good view for the bird and multiple exits.

Certain birds just won't come near the house anyway; they're too shy, or they're bug eaters and not interested in our seeds. If we were to set feeders out at the edge of the yard we might attract some of the shy seed eaters, but without a telescope it wouldn't provide the birdwatching opportunities. I don't think sun or shade matters much. Many of our birds sit in the shade until they're hungry, then come perch at the feeder whether it's sunny or shady. Interestingly, the blue jays have stopped coming to the rail feeder at all. I think they don't like the cats. The chickadees are less careful. I've gotten the chickadees to eat out of my hand, once or twice, but it took a great deal of patient standing with my hand out. It was hard not to laugh.

Edited to add a lemon question.

Edited August 22, 2005 by Smithy (log)

[fifi]

Well, there was the time that first winter when I decided the space between the inner and outer window was a fine second refrigerator for my stash of colas...and then the bright January morning when I came out to see a cola-colored frozen waterfall all down the inside of my window.  The Coke had frozen, expanded, and apparently exploded the cap right off of the bottle, and the gush had frozen onto the window as it flowed.  It took forever to get that thawed and cleaned.

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That provided my belly laugh for the day!

On the other stuff . . . Good answer. I have only ever lived in the Houston and New Orleans areas so there wasn't much adaptation needed with my various moves. But I can see how a real change could kick growth in the butt.

[purplewiz]

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.

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Thanks so much! I'm definitely going to try it next time I run across good eggplants!

Marcia.

[Smithy]

I headed home tonight, camera in hand, taking photos to continue the discussion about changes along the North Shore. I bought smoked fish at two places. I learned a lot. I did not continue into Duluth for my final smoked fish because of the hour. I had things to taste and things to write.

When I got home, I learned that Ichi-Ban, our beloved firstborn-of-the-litter not-quite-year-old cat, still hadn't come home from his overnight excursion. He's never been away this long. We spent the hours beating the woods, to no avail. The upshot is that dinner was a mere skeleton of what I'd planned, and there is no photo essay on changes to the North Shore. Tomorrow, I hope. In Egyptian parlance: bokra, mumpkin, insha-allah. Tomorrow, maybe, God willing.

(SnowAngel, did you know that Russ Kendall and Smokey Kendall are not the same person? They don't even run the same business! They're rivals!)

Dinner, such as it was, was pesto chicken. There were to be fabulous sides and salads and mint ice cream, all from the garden. Sorry. There was toast.

The pesto is pesto - basil from my garden pots, walnuts from California via my freezer, olive oil and salt and grated parmesan from wherever. I assume you're familiar with this, but believe me, if you aren't, ask away!

This recipe is an adaptation of one in Cooking Pleasures magazine, June/July 2003. I've made a few changes, but not enough to claim it and post it. Put the pesto into boneless chicken thighs. (The original recipe specified boneless skinless chicken breasts, with pockets slit in them for the pesto. I didn't have any, and I prefer thighs anyway.)

Roll the thighs up and skewer them closed with toothpicks. Brown them in olive oil, making sure that they're cooked safely through.

When the chicken is adequately cooked, remove it to a warming platter and put it in the oven. Deglaze the pan with cherry tomatoes cut in half (the largest of these were from our garden pot). So goes the recipe. I added some of the red wine I was drinking. Deglaze, cook down until there's a nice sauce with tomatoes. Pour those over the serving platter, and serve at once.

Remember to warn your dinner guest(s) that there are toothpicks in the meal. I'm wondering about thread to tie the chicken rolls closed next time. Russ said I could just use dental floss; then he could eat and floss at the same time. Such a deal, eh?

The wine in the photo and the sauce is a Dogajolo dry red table wine of Tuscany, 2004. It's mostly sangiovese. Pretty good with the chicken. Russ is drinking MGD light. The chicken is drop-dead simple and drop-dead good. I recommend this treatment.

[Behemoth]

In Egyptian parlance: bokra, mumpkin, insha-allah.

It took me a second take to read this right. I was wondering what a mumpkin (rhyme with pumpkin) was

I'm thinking of getting A the Pimsleur Arabic (Eastern), I've heard very good things. How did you start learning Arabic?

[snowangel]

Many comments.

First and foremost. Next time Paul and I are in the car with the kids, and one of us comments to the other "I wonder what's in Makinen?" we'll know. Might be worth a detour if I'm not feeling quite the burn for the Cabin. Do you know anything about the meat market in Cloquet -- the one of the west side of 33 if you take a left as you head north, just before the bridge? (Heading north, take a left at the light that has the Frank Lloyd Wright gas station on the right side.)

In the back of the photo of the bakery in Two Harbors is a sign for the Cup and Saucer. I've been. OK, not great, and rather slow. Sort of pretentious for Two Harbors, I think.

The hummingbirds. They also like it if you perch an open can of Coke on a deck railing.

Me, I'm still waiting for a fly-in breakfast or lunch.

[Smithy]

In Egyptian parlance: bokra, mumpkin, insha-allah.

It took me a second take to read this right. I was wondering what a mumpkin (rhyme with pumpkin) was

I'm thinking of getting A the Pimsleur Arabic (Eastern), I've heard very good things. How did you start learning Arabic?

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My husband dragged me along in the souks in preparation for a camping trip, with me being besieged by people shouting at me in every conceivable language. At every turn I'd try to say the equivalent of "don't want" or "no thanks" and by accident be saying "don't know" or "hello" instead. That's how I started.

After that, I picked up a copy of Russell McGuirk's Colloquial Arabic of Egypt. It won't help with the alphabet or reading, but it started me off on the phrases.

Russ tells about being at almost the same language skills as I was when he first lived in Egypt. One day he frantically jumped aboard the People's Ferry (across the Nile) as it was slipping away from the dock. He bonked somebody on the head with his tripod. As the victim turned angrily to Russ, Russ said, ever so politely and quickly, in his very best Arabic, "No thank you!"

[Smithy]

Many comments.

First and foremost.  Next time Paul and I are in the car with the kids, and one of us comments to the other "I wonder what's in Makinen?" we'll know.  Might be worth a detour if I'm not feeling quite the burn for the Cabin.  Do you know anything about the meat market in Cloquet -- the one of the west side of 33 if you take a left as you head north, just before the bridge?  (Heading north, take a left at the light that has the Frank Lloyd Wright gas station on the right side.)

In the back of the photo of the bakery in Two Harbors is a sign for the Cup and Saucer.  I've been.  OK, not great, and rather slow.  Sort of pretentious for Two Harbors, I think.

The hummingbirds.  They also like it if you perch an open can of Coke on a deck railing.

Me, I'm still waiting for  a fly-in breakfast or lunch.

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Sorry, I don't know about that market in Cloquet. But now you know about the Makinen market.

I don't think I've bothered with the Cup and Saucer, ever. If I'm eating out in Two Harbors, chances are I'll go to the Blackwoods Inn. It's part of a chain of 3 or 4 (Two Harbors, Duluth, Cloquet? and/or Proctor?) but it's still excellent food. For one-of-a-kind, go another 9 miles north to the Rustic Inn in Castle Danger, or for that matter the Grand Superior Lodge more or less across the way. Or stop shorter and go to the New Scenic Cafe on old highway 61, around French River.

I didn't know that about the Coke cans. That's a good one.

It doesn't look as though this blog will encompass a fly-in breakfast or lunch, but I may well work in another aerial photo or two. In the meantime, here's a bit of information. Have you ever wondered how one of these gets up on land, or back down again, without wheels?

Here's how:

[Anna N]

Remember to warn your dinner guest(s) that there are toothpicks in the meal.  I'm wondering about thread to tie the chicken rolls closed next time.  Russ said I could just use dental floss; then he could eat and floss at the same time.  Such a deal, eh? 

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This looks so good! We like stuffed thighs but are not overly fond of pesto. I have used roasted red peppers and cheese among other things. Tying them is a bit of a pain at first but it is surprising how how quickly one gets the knack of it. Haven't tried dental floss though.

[Minko]

Am really enjoying your blog, Smithy, and learning a lot about the area you live in at the same time. However, now that you've mentioned that Ichi-Ban is missing, I'm worried! Has he turned up yet?

[viva]

Nancy, the pictures you posted of the raspberries really takes me back. My grandmother's brother & sister-in-law (so, I guess my grand-uncle/aunt) owned a raspberry farm in the UP in Michigan, and my grandma and I went to visit them one summer. I remember gorging myself on raspberries straight from the bushes, staining my face and hands bright red with the juice. I kept wandering through the fields for hours, taking breaks to lay in the sun and look at the sky.

They've all passed away quite a while ago, but thanks for bringing back a wonderful memory.

[Smithy]

Am really enjoying your blog, Smithy, and learning a lot about the area you live in at the same time. However, now that you've mentioned that Ichi-Ban is missing, I'm worried! Has he turned up yet?

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Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the tour.

No, Ichi-Ban hasn't shown up yet. We spent a lot of time looking for him this morning. My old (over 17 years) cat, Tab Hunter, once spent 3 or 4 days gone, and I finally found him up a tree. I'm hoping that will happen this time too, and that Ichi-Ban hasn't become some coyote's meal. He can climb.

This morning was the usual cup of coffee, then a prolonged woods trek, then a slight change to the pita sandwich: smoked turkey with avocado, and a plum on the side. So far that's been stretched out to cover lunch as well. I'll edit this to add photos after I get them uploaded.

(It tasted better than it looks.)

We also noted hairy woodpeckers, red finches, black-capped chickadees, and - a new one! - Gray Jays (a.k.a. Canadian Jays, a.k.a. Camp Robbers) at our feeders. Alas, none of the photos was worth uploading.

Edited for photos and bird breakfast commentary.

Edited August 23, 2005 by Smithy (log)

[Smithy]

Remember to warn your dinner guest(s) that there are toothpicks in the meal.  I'm wondering about thread to tie the chicken rolls closed next time.  Russ said I could just use dental floss; then he could eat and floss at the same time.  Such a deal, eh?  

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This looks so good! We like stuffed thighs but are not overly fond of pesto. I have used roasted red peppers and cheese among other things. Tying them is a bit of a pain at first but it is surprising how how quickly one gets the knack of it. Haven't tried dental floss though.

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What do you use to tie them? Heavy thread, as for a turkey, or something lighter? (I'm guessing not nylon!)

[Smithy]

I'm having an afternoon snack of potica. You guys started it.

[liamsaunt]

Another option for your stuffed chicken is to secure it closed with raw pasta instead of toothpicks--spaghetti or similar. It will cook along with the dish and not be noticable at the end. I may have gotten this trick from Cook's Illustrated.