Springtime Smelting

I know spring is on its way out the door in a weeks time, but I thought I should mention this interesting spring pass time that occupies the local persons.

Smelting. Smelt. It’s a very popular pass time in the spring 'round these parts. The Magnetawan river cuts through the northern section of the Parry Sound District. It’s a wide, winding river, fat with fish, rapids and spills wide against the locks in the town of Magnetawan.

Every year there's a large fish fry and the river banks are flush with fishermen dipping their nets in the water for large clusters of those fishy treats.

If you want something to do in the Spring with a group of friends, grab some nets and head up past Dunchurch and see how many you can catch! Evening is the best time.

I was asking around and it seems that there's a pretty basic recipe for making them. A warning: this isn't your five star French cooking.

Ingredients

Garlic

Salt

Pepper

Canola Oil

Shake and Bake fish Batter

Directions:

1. Prepare batter: Shake and Bake, garlic, salt, and pepper
2. Run fish under cold water
3. Cook fish in canola oil

For something a little fancier, but a little less local, try this one on for size:

Ingredients:

cooking oil for frying (I like to use olive oil)
1 cup matzo meal
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound smelt
2 tablespoons butter
handful fresh herbs, minced
1 clove garlic
minced fresh chili pepper (I used 1 whole chili)
salt and pepper
1 lemon, halved

Directions:

1. In a large saute pan, add oil to reach 1/2 inch up the sides of the pan. Heat the oil until 350F or when you drop a few flakes of matzo meal into the oil it begins to bubble and lightly brown.

2. In a wide, shallow bowl, mix together the matzo meal, garlic powder and the salt. Have the matzo meal, the smelt, a wire rack on top of a baking sheet ready by your stove. Coat a smelt on both sides with the matzo meal then carefully slide into the hot oil to fry. Repeat with a few more smelt fish (just make sure you give the smelt enough room so that they don't touch in the oil). Fry both sides of the smelt fish for 2 minutes each side. They cook very quickly! Let the fried smelt drain its excess oil on the wire rack. Repeat with remaining batches.

3. Just before serving, heat a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the butter and when hot, add in the garlic and chilies. When garlic becomes fragrant, season with salt and pepper and squeeze in the juice of one of the lemon halves. Turn off the heat and stir in the fresh herbs. Pour this over the plated fried smelt and serve immediately with lemon wedges.



— Kelsey Ward
Second recipe: http://www.steamykitchen.com/15666-fried-smelt.html

Seedy Saturday: Starting the Growth of the Food Revolution

Way back in March, in the high ceiling, a voice rose up in a bubbling stew of ideas. Fresh vegetables, canned goods, home-spun yarn, handmade household goods, and of course seeds for the coming spring are swapped down among the people, and ideas become action.

Canned goods from Mrs. Wilson's Kitchen.

Welcome to the world of McKellar's vibrant food culture.

McKellar is an interesting place. It's wrapped in forest, shored in by lakes, and blanketed by sky. Earth, nature, food and our impact upon it is in our backyards. It is something unavoidable. More than any other place in the Parry Sound District people want good food, and control over the way they eat.

I am well immersed in this. Since I was little I've seen it grow into a movement, like the seeds they plant in their gardens.

Learn more about Seedy Saturday after the jump...

Dinner Time At Wellington's

A common question:

I'm hungry for pub food and quiet Parry Sound steeped atmosphere, where should I go?

A common answer:

Wellington's.

Wellington's is a pub and grill just on the outside of what would be considered the downtown. Like many buildings, it has the brick exterior but with a big green overhang.

Having been to Europe, and in pubs, I find that Wellington's entry emphasizes what a pub is -- and that is a local gathering place. The way in is close, with one wall containing a panel of adds from other local businesses. Then it opens in to a warmly lit room, with the bar and its tap shining brightly. The waitress will seat you now.

See more of Wellington's after the jump...

Lunch at Lill's

Lunch at Lill's.

How do you combine the small town feel, the old style diner, and the qualities that make Parry Sound Parry Sound? Well in Lill's of course.

Lill's sits in the downtown area, just past the CIBC and Mitch's. Outwardly it is very Parry Sound in its red bricked exterior, and there is a quaintness to the red banner cloth that hangs down.

Serving breakfast and lunch, they are all that I have described above. With a warm theme of red paint, soft pine trim and closeness of tables that give an intimate feel, it's not hard to think of Lill's as a great place to go for a bite to eat.

Often, I go to Lill's for breakfast, early on a Sunday morning, post party or pre-parting with friends. Lately I've indulged in their delightful lunches where heady discussions of life are done over fish 'n' chips.

Sample some of the food after the jump...

Midwinter McKellar

Like other townships surrounding Georgian bay, McKellar is often blanketed with the term "cottage country" and rightfully so. Come summer, the population blossoms with visitors. The great summer migration north is a shining light for tourists and local business alike.

What is most often forgotten though, is midwinter.

The cold bitter weather sets in and gone is the glow of Christmas, leaving everyone shivering at the bus stop waiting for warmer weather to arrive.

What is often forgotten is how much there is to do in these frosty months. Sure, there is the hockey on TV and cavalcade of Hollywood award ceremonies, but these are crumbs of entertainment. The big question remains: what is there to do?

For this, I ask you to put aside your computer, just for two hours of the day, pull on thicker socks and even dawn the dreaded and not very fashionable snow pants.

Read our suggestions after the jump...