The first part of our Fargo trip includes a delicious, local meal at the HoDo Lounge in downtown Fargo.  One of the drinks we had included a locally-sourced rhubarb vodka.  I had already planned on visiting this winery, so this just added another reason to visit.

We headed out west, about 15 minutes from Fargo, to Casselton, ND.  While speeding along, we saw some plane doing maneuvers over the highway and adjacent fields.  It wasn’t crop-dusting, but flew what appeared to be maybe 10 feet from the ground and then climbed rapidly as it approached the highway.  Megan snapped this picture from the passenger seat.  I have no idea what this plane’s purpose was… maybe just having fun flying around on a beautiful North Dakota day?

We pulled in to historic downtown Casselton, home of the world’s largest can pile.  This thing is a towering 45 feet of old oil cans.  We didn’t get a picture, since it’s set back from the road and we had no idea what it was at the time.  Go to the site and learn all about its almost 80 years of history.

We pulled into some parking spaces outside of what ended up being the location of Maple River’s offices and retail operation.  Inside the small storefront was a single employee (maybe another in the back?) who greeted us warmly.  Along with their wines, they also sell a wide range of local products, including jams, jellies, honey, and all sorts of pickled things (we picked up some spicy pickled quail eggs).  We introduced ourselves and embarked on a tasting of most of the wines they produce.

Maple River specializes in fruit wines.  In fact, they only make one wine with grapes.  I’ve been consistently disappointed (and often disgusted) by fruit wines in the past, so I braced myself for the first taste.  Instead of cloying, sticky-sweet juice, it really was wine.  Yes, almost all of their wines are “sweet,” but by using great, local fruit and natural ingredients like honey, they achieve the complexity and maturity that other fruit wines seem to avoid.

Regarding their fruit, their rule is that 90% of their ingredients have to come from within 90 miles of the winery.  Their honey is locally produced, and they get a wide range of fruits from North Dakota and Minnesota, like mango melons, chokecherries (the North Dakota state fruit), and rhubarb (which I guess is a vegetable).  I asked about their production schedule, since their growing season is shorter than ours.  He said they freeze everything when it comes in, and that way they are able to produce wine all year long.  I don’t recall how many fermentation tanks they have, but it was a much larger operation than I expected.

But back to the wines!  We tasted everything, from the aforementioned chokecherry wine, to elderberry (one of my favorites).  They have some unique selections as well, including pumpkin wine, dandelion wine and lilac wine.  If you could imagine a wine tasting like the aroma of lilacs… amazing.  They do strawberry and raspberry wines that have the rich, deep flavor of the ripest berries.  They have so many more on their site with very well-written descriptions, and they do ship their wines if you are so intrigued.  We brought home a great selection, but this is a winery we’ll keep in the back of our minds for when we want something delicious and unique.

You may remember mention of the Maple River rhubarb vodka in the cat’s meow cocktail in the HoDo Lounge in the previous Fargo post.  Well, a couple doors down from the winery is the Maple River Distillery.  It’s a bit more sparse and the selection is smaller, but then again they just opened the distillery in December, 2009.  We didn’t go through a tasting, but we picked up a bottle of chokecherry brandy and their rhubarb vodka.  They also make some cordials, but we opted to not pick up any.  Sadly they don’t/can’t ship their spirits to individuals outside North Dakota, but you may be able to convince a local liquor store to order some in for you.

If you find some rhubarb vodka, here are some suggestions.

Go the strawberry rhubarb route:

• 2 oz. rhubarb vodka
• .5 oz. strawberry schnapps
• .75 oz. ginger-infused simple syrup
• juice from 1/2 lime

Stir everything together with plenty of ice, or shake and strain into a cocktail glass.

Our attempt at reproducing the cat’s meow had something like

• 2 oz. rhubarb vodka
• 1 oz. ginger-infused simple syrup
• orange juice, to fill

Fill a rocks glass with ice, add vodka and syrup, then top off with orange juice.  Roll the drink, or shake briefly, just enough to mix.

While at Maple River, we were also told about another drink that wasn’t on the HoDo menu.  It was called the Rubix cube (maybe Rhubix cube?).  We haven’t tried to replicate it, but it’s also made with the rhubarb vodka, some ginger ale, and strawberry-rhubarb ice cubes.  It was good, that’s all I remember.

“1000 Year Old Food Club” sounds like a dangerous place to be eating anything, but I attended this curiously named event this past weekend and enjoyed food most people will never get to try.  The idea is not old food in the sense of aged or rotten, but in the method behind it.  I forgot my camera, so all the photos you see in this post are courtesy of artist and fellow local food lover, Bonnie Fortune and her iPhone.

Think about the foods you love and think about how they’re made.  If you’ve read Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food you will already understand the difference between how modern versions of old foods like yogurt are different from what our (great-)grandparents ate.  Modern products labeled as yogurt are often made “yogurt-like” with additives that add texture or mouth-feel and flavored with artificial flavors and too much sugar.  Fat-free yogurt is a poor attempt at latching onto the public’s fear of fat, and doesn’t behave the same as the real thing.  Real yogurt, made from raw milk and natural bacterial cultures is good stuff.  There are even different types of cultures that can be used to make everything from watery to stiff yogurt to a slimy, mucus-y substance like the Nordic specialty, viili.  There’s a video showing what the texture is like… watch it if you dare.

The whole premise of this tasting event was to take a trip back a thousand years or so to taste foods made in traditional ways.  There was homemade miso, with some mixed into a porridge.  I really liked how the funky umami flavor of the miso dispersed into the creamy porridge.

There were two sauerkrauts on the table, provided by Dan H. Schreiber.  One was a plain cabbage sauerkraut (which I, regrettably, didn’t try) and another one made with mostly white cabbage but colored deeply with beets.  Sauerkraut is often made with unnecessary additives, rendering it much less healthful than the original fermented formulation of cabbage and salt.  Dan’s is all-natural and tasted fresh and still crunchy.  Sure it was sour from lactic fermentation, but it was a wonderful flavor unlike any sauerkraut I’ve had before.

The meats were, of course, provided by the masterful meat manipulator, Laurence, of This Little Piggy fame.  The chorizo was a solid interpretation of the Spanish cured meat, but the salami was my favorite.  I was told it was a fennel salami, but the peppercorns in it gave little bursts of peppery kick when you met one.  It’s the kind of salami I could munch on all night.

Then there were the dairy products.  This is where the crazy regulators get all antsy in their seats just wishing they could barge in the door and tell us how un-pasteurized milk is dangerous stuff and pour bleach all over everything in sight.  Fortunately this is purchased directly from a farmer who cares about preserving the 1000 year old food that comes out of his cows’ udders.  I was able to advocate for raw milk that night, convincing another attendee that she could drink raw milk just fine, despite her lactose intolerance.  You see, raw milk still has all the stuff that is needed to digest it, including some bacteria and enzymes like lactase (which is what LI folks can’t produce enough of).  I was really happy with the milk, and will definitely be obtaining some in the future.

The other delightfully raw dairy came in the form of a raw milk cheese made by the same aforementioned farmer.  It was a cheddar style, and was by no means a refined, commercial product.  I imagine this is cheese that he makes with extra milk he has for his family to enjoy.  With some age, maybe heavier salting, this could be great cheese.  As it was, it was amazingly light from lack of age, but the flavor of the milk was concentrated.

There are no pictures of it here, but there was a selection of Dan’s chocolate as well as a mint fudge prepared by his business partner, Bill.  If you haven’t heard, Dan is already in the process of finding the right equipment and the right space to start up his own micro- (nano-?) chocolate factory right here in Urbana.  He’s already started making certified (i.e. by the health department, so he can sell it in retail stores) chocolate, drawn up business plans, and by the time I’m writing this who knows what else he’s accomplished?  Keep an eye on his blog to find out all the latest.  Congrats Dan on all that you’ve accomplished so far, and all the success that is sure to come!

This event was “sponsored”, supported, and publicized by the newly resurrected Prairie Table organization.  Prairie Table plans on holding more events like these, tasting excellent locally available products, as well as many other community-building opportunities.  I am already involved with them and hope to be a part of bringing more local food opportunities to the community.  If you’re in the Central Illinois area and are interested in hearing more, go to the website and look around.

EDIT: Of course there are so many things that I’ve nearly forgotten, like home-brewed beer (the stout was tasty).  If anyone in attendance remembers something I didn’t, please let me know!

Chicagoan Michael Gebert writes the blog Sky Full of Bacon.  Actually, he does far more than just write–he has one of the best local-focus video podcasts around.  You should take it upon yourself to go back and watch them all.  There are only a dozen or so at this time, but each is like a great documentary showcasing some local gem.  Sometimes, instead of a professional-quality video podast, or a collection of links, he’ll share personal stories about food, like his grandmothers’ piccalilli recipe.  In interviews with local chefs and merchants, some mentions have been made of some of my favorite central Illinois producers.  See if you can figure out my favorite source for lamb.  I’ll give you a hint… it’s in SFoB4: A Head’s Tale.

Today, though, I’d urge you to watch a short video on Mike’s “Rules for Better Dining”.  One that I agree with quite strongly is the last one:

Mike G’s Healthy Eating Advice.

“If you’re going to eat something bad for you, make sure it’s really good”

Mike G’s Rules for Better Dining from Michael Gebert on Vimeo.

Oh yeah, and in the wake of my lunch yesterday with Dan “the Chocolate Man” Schreiber, I’ll be finishing out my chocolate series that I’ve been neglecting for far too long.  I’ll have posts on tempering & molding, churros con chocolate, and another artisan chocolate maker I was lucky enough to sample.

It’s Saturday.  I haven’t posted in a long time.  I have so many photos and ideas to share, but so many other things stealing my time.  In an attempt to appease you, here’s a photo of a bowl of delicious yellow cherry tomatoes from one of the new (her second week) producers at the Urbana Market at the Square (north end, row 3).  The woman at the booth told me she’s from Monticello, and now in retirement is farming a piece of land with her son.  She had a good selection of tomatoes available, and we picked up a selection.  One variety was green and striped.  It was firm-fleshed and had citrusy notes to it.  She also brought a dark red heirloom variety that delivered deep, delicious tomato flavor.  Finally, we picked up a basket of these yellow cherry tomatoes.  They were perfectly ripe and had the sweetness and acidity that only locally-grown tomatoes can fully deliver. Go support your local farmer and get something delicious.

UPDATE: I talked with her again today, 9/5 (while buying some beautiful tomatoes), and found she is doing business as “Ellen’s Melons” (and tomatoes and roots, and other stuff… I forget everything she mentioned).

Our local co-op, Common Ground, is in touch with the past as well as the present.  In addition to being in touch with local producers and local products in a way modern grocery stores can’t (or won’t), they embrace the benefits of new technology.  In this case, I’m referring to Twitter (they’re @cg_food_coop), which is where I found out that they got a bundle of chanterelles.  This is not a mushroom normally seen in grocery stores, even the big boys that carry a wider range of “exotic” mushrooms.

Chanterelles (genus Cantharellus) are very pretty mushrooms.  They are also (or at least these ones were) very dirty.  I had to really work to clean them without destroying them.  Though some people advise against washing mushrooms, most mushrooms do not readily absorb liquid.  You doubt me?  Go watch Alton Brown testing the myth at about two minutes into this video from Good Eats episode “The Fungal Gourmet” on YouTube.

I love mushrooms.  You may have noticed that from my previous post at Smile Politely on “Morel Mushroom Madness“.  Even plain, white, bland, boring, button mushrooms can be elevated to greatness with some (okay a lot of) butter, salt, and pepper.  But there are plenty of mushrooms that just aren’t as ubiquitous as the white button mushroom.  Most of these are rare because they don’t keep long enough to sell in grocery stores, but some just don’t give in to commercial cultivation.  Morels and chanterelles are two prime examples of mushrooms that won’t grow well in captivity.

I recently got a review copy of the book “Edible Wild Mushrooms of Illinois and Surrounding States” by Joe McFarland and Gregory M. Mueller, and I’ve been browsing through it from time to time.  The book’s glossy pages are stuffed with hundreds of great fungi photos.  Many of these illustrate important identifying characteristics, but some, like the cover photo of a yellow chanterelle, are just beautifully photographed vignettes showcasing where they occur naturally.  The book has tons of information about all sorts of mushroom species.  Not only will it tell you the standard where they’re found and how to make sure they aren’t a toxic look-alike, but there are 45 pages of recipes from Illinois chefs.

The entry for chanterelles shows the humor and tone of the book–as though the authors are your friends telling you their stories from years of experience (of which they both have an abundance).

“Chanterelles have a reputation bordering on the impossible.  They can’t possibly be as good as their reputation implies.  Yet great chefs everywhere worship chanterelles–a truly wild mushroom that cannot yet be cultivated.” (p. 99)

I can tell you from my experience that chanterelles are very good.  They have, as the book describes, a “pleasantly delicate, buttery flavor.”  I had on hand another useful book, the Flavor Bible, which told me that chanterelles have a good synergy with garlic, green onions, and cream.  I went with a light cream sauce, a bechamel actually.

Bechamel is one of the fastest, easiest, and most useful mother sauce from French cuisine.  You’ve probably made it before and didn’t even know it.  To boil it down to it’s roots, it’s a light roux (equal parts butter and flour, cooked a couple minutes) with dairy added, usually milk.  Want it thicker?  Make more roux.  Want it thinner?  Add more milk.  Bechamel goes great layered into lasagna.  When I make fettucini alfredo, I usually make a bechamel, then add some cheese to it (which transforms it into a Mornay sauce).  By making a creamy sauce with flour and milk, you’re getting the same unctuous mouthfeel that you would get by using heavy cream, but with far fewer calories.  It’s easy and fits into recipes like this very easily.  You’ll see how in a minute.

Campanelle with Creamy Chanterelles

serves 2 to 3

The chanterelles I had were pretty small, so I just had to cut a few of the larger ones in half.  If yours are large, you may need to cut them into thirds or quarters, but cut top to bottom to preserve the beautiful natural curve of the mushroom.

• 1/2 pound of campanelle pasta (or use whatever shape you like)
• 2T olive oil
• 2T butter
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 3 green onions, sliced on the bias into fine rings
• 5 oz (or more) cleaned mushrooms, cut into large bite-size pieces, chanterelle, oyster, or shiitake would be best
• 2T flour
• 1c milk
• crumbled goat cheese (optional)
• shredded Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Cook your pasta according to the package directions.
2. Heat the oil and butter over medium heat.  Don’t let the butter brown.
3. Add the garlic and stir for 30 seconds.
4. Add most of the green onions, reserving some of the green for garnish.
5. Saute for just a minute or two until the garlic and green onions soften slightly.
6. Add the mushrooms and sautee for just two to three minutes until they begin to soften.
7. Sprinkle the flour over the contents of the pan and stir in thoroughly.  Cook for a minute.
8. Pour in the milk while stirring.
9. Continue stirring as the mixture comes back to a boil to ensure a smooth sauce.
10. TASTE, and season with salt and pepper.
11. Add the cooked pasta to the pan with your sauce and toss to combine.
12. Remove from heat and plate in pasta bowls.
13. (optional) Add crumbles of goat cheese and/or a sprinkle of Parmesan.
14. Garnish with green onions.

Campanelle are a really adorable little flower-shaped pasta that holds onto just the right amount of sauce for this dish.  It also matched the size of the chanterelles nicely.  The sauce was creamy and flavorful, but not too strong that you couldn’t taste the mushrooms.