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County Events

Ulster County Events in August 2013

Annandale-on-Hudson Exhibit: "No Borders in a Wok That Can't Be Crossed." Works by Helen Marten and "Once Again the World is Flat," b...

05 Aug 2013 | 0 comments | Read more

Dutchess County Events in August 2013

Exhibit: "No Borders in a Wok That Can't Be Crossed." Works by Helen Marten and "Once Again the World is Flat," by Haim Steinbach. ...

05 Aug 2013 | 0 comments | Read more
Feature Articles

Shadowland Theatre in Ellenville

Major facelift completed in time for new season of shows by Tod Westlake If you haven’t been to Shadowland Theatre in Ellenville for...

11 Jul 2013 | 0 comments| Read more

The Heritage Wheat Revival

Stone ground ancient grains are packed with nutrients by Anne Pyburn Craig Wheat has been grown and domesticated ever since our specie...

02 Jul 2013 | 0 comments| Read more

Walkway Over the Hudson

New records being broken as new developments arise.    When Camoin Associates studied the potential economic impact of the Walk...

02 Apr 2013 | 0 comments| Read more

Radio Uprising by CMP

Local radio continues to inspire and push new boundaries. by Anne Pyburn Craig Mia Chin was a student throughout the progra...

01 Mar 2013 | 0 comments| Read more

Publisher's Editorial

  • 02 Aug 2013 Three Year Anniversary
  • 02 Aug 2013 Red Baron of Rhinebeck
The Yardavore

In the Weeds

by Maria Reidelbach Maybe you've never thought about this, but what is the definition of a weed? A weed is, simply, any type of plan...

11 Jul 2013 | 0 comments| Read more

Trees for Bees

by Maria Reidelbach Last month in my column about bees, Chris Harp, local apiarist, explained that the blossoms of fruit Mulberries...

13 May 2013 | 1 comments| Read more

Deerly Departed

by Maria Reidelbach Last month we talked about the havoc that deer wreak in your garden. We covered how deer are gourmets and like ...

08 Mar 2013 | 0 comments| Read more

Skål!

by Maria Reidelbach If you think we upstaters have it rough in the winter, check out Sweden. It's got the same latitude as Nova Scotia,...

05 Dec 2012 | 0 comments| Read more
Transition Field Notes

Relating with Permaculture: Principle #11

Use Edges and Value the Marginal by Deena Wade Founder of the Transition movement, Rob Hopkins, taught permaculture—design principl...

02 Aug 2013 | 0 comments| Read more

People In Your Neighborhood

Food & Restaurant

Fruit of the valley provides essential goodness.

by Phoenix Trent The Hudson Valley is a bounty of fresh produce throughout the calendar year, but the diverse offerings that the summer...

30 Jul 2013 | Read more
Arts & Music

From the Fisher Center to Lincoln Center:

The Bard Conservatory Orchestra and its well-rounded education. by Philip Ehrensaft Of all the Bard College success stories,...

28 May 2013 | Read more
Horoscopes

Inner Space for August 2013

by Eric Francis The Leo New Moon is Tuesday, August 6 at 5:50pm. This event is synchronous with the midsummer festival Lunesa, also kn...

02 Aug 2013 | Read more
Local Economy

Farming Risks and Rewards

Increase in local farmers and markets a sign of the times.   by Anne Pyburn Craig Besides being backbreaking, farming is a ...

16 Oct 2012 | Read more
Bread & Roses

It’s All Here

by Sherill Hatch “The worker must have bread, but she must have roses too.” This century-old labor slogan bears repeating today. Beau...

02 Aug 2013 | Read more
New Economics

Buddhist Economics 2.0

By David McCarthy E.F. Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful, first published in 1973 and still in print, is arguably the cornerstone of w...

02 Aug 2013 | Read more
Re>think Local

TEDxLongDock:

This is What Community Looks Like by Scott Tillitt The Dalai Lama visited NYC in 2003 for a week of events culminating in a public t...

02 Aug 2013 | Read more
Culture Features

New York Theater's Industrial Incubator

Vassar's Powerhouse Festival kicks off its 29th edition by Philip Ehrensaft Chloe Sevigny in Abigail/1702. © Vassar & ...

10 Jun 2013 | Read more

Daily Video

Skål!

by Maria Reidelbach

If you think we upstaters have it rough in the winter, check out Sweden. It's got the same latitude as Nova Scotia, and parts of Sweden are so cold that they're frozen from September through May. The first day of winter has a mere six hours of sun. Swedes really need to party during the darkest days, and it's no wonder that they have created fabulous winter holiday traditions.

I'm lucky to have a Swedish-American friend, Bibi Farber, who grew up there with her mother. Every year Bibi celebrates the holiday season at her Kerhonkson cottage with at least one party featuring delicious Swedish dishes: creamed potatoes, beets, gravlax, and sweet-and-sour cabbage. She also serves glögg, a hot spiced wine that is a wonderful antidote to cold and darkness. She uses pretty white demitasse encircled in red hearts that she inherited from her mother. I don't know which is more warming, the glögg or Bibi's beautiful smile as she pours and passes the cups.

To bring a little of the Swedish spirit to your holiday celebrations, here are a couple of fun and interesting recipes. Despite their Scandinavian origins, I've added local twists.

Harold McGee's Cured Salmon with Pine Needle
Cured salmon, also called gravlax or lox, is easy to make; you just need a little lead time to let the salt and sugar do their work. The great food science and history authority Harold McGee suggests the following variation on traditional Swedish gravlax with dill by subbing pine. It works beautifully as a resiny aromatic—a delicious counterpoint to the richness of the salmon. And I'm told by Kevin Best, an avid fly-fisherman from New Paltz, that our local trout, whose season is just ending, would be wonderful served this way, too. It would be a treat to try it!

1 to 2 lbs. center cut salmon filet
6 Tbs. kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. coarsely ground pepper
2 Tbs. vodka, aquavit, grappa, or other strong white spirit, optional
1 1/2 cups pine needles (any type of pine), chopped

Dry the filet and cut it in two. Mix the salt, sugar, pepper and pine needles. Sprinkle 1/3 in the bottom of a baking dish. Lay in the filet, skin side down. Sprinkle the rest of the mixture on top. Cover and refrigerate. Let cure for at least 24 hours for thinner pieces, up to 72 hours for very large pieces, turning and basting a couple of times a day. When the texture has become firmer throughout, remove from the dish and rinse off the pine needles, dry and serve in very thin slices with mustard sauce on rye crackers or thin slices of brown, white or rye bread.

Four-star tip: Chef John Novi, from the DePuy Canal House, told me that you can treat salmon this way for a shorter time period and then sauté it, with extraordinary results.

Mustard Sauce
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 Tbs. sugar
2 Tbs. white wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.

Bibi's Grandma's Glögg
Bibi says, “All the booze can be the least expensive variety and the measurements are approximate.”

2 bottles of burgundy or other hearty red wine (New York state, of course)
1/4 cup brandy, or more to taste
1/4 cup vodka, or more to taste
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup sugar, or more to taste
1/2 cup honey, or more to taste
1 cinnamon stick
3-4 cloves
1-2 cardamom pods
Peel of half an orange
1 cup blanched almonds*

*To blanch almonds, bring a couple cups of water to a boil, add the almonds and let boil for about two minutes. Drain and let them cool and the skins slide off easily. Bibi warns, “Watch out as they may fly around the room when you squeeze them!” Maria says, “Best to do this before you start drinking glögg!”

Warm all ingredients except almonds together in a pot. Don't let it boil even for a second or the alcohol will evaporate. Put an almond or two into each cup and fill with hot glögg, using a ladle.

Skål!

Good links:
Harold McGee—he makes food science and history fascinating: www.curiouscook.com
Bibi Farber's NextWorld TV—great videos about sustainability: www.nextworldtv.com
Shawangunk Wine Trail—a fun way to discover local wineries: www.shawangunkwinetrail.com
John Novi's DePuy Canal House—the Hudson Valley's only 4-star restaurant: www.depuy.com

Maria Reidelbach is the proprietress of Homegrown Mini-Golf on Kelder's Farm, the only miniature golf course with edible landscaping (m@mariareidelbach.com).

Posted by lil' Liza on 1:59 PM. Filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0

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