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Feast of the 7 Fishes (& other holiday tales)

Local inspirations add sparkle & to international holiday traditions in Maine.

by claire z. cramer

hristmas Eve is by far, without excep- started to branch out with baked stuffed drives all the way from Brooklyn, New slin e r

B tion, our single busiest day of the shrimp and clams casino, but it was never York, on Eve to get the freshest year,” says Nick Alfiero at Portland’s strictly seven.” –eels, periwinkles, baccalà, smelts, aura C L Harbor . “It’s crazy. We have These days, at Harbor Fish, “I couldn’t shrimp, and ,” Nick’s brother Ben Al- people directing traffic; in the past, we’ve tell you seven anything. People buy absolute- fiero says. “It blows me away.” hired policemen outside.” ly anything and everything for Christmas Just down Commercial Street at Browne oira quinn;

M Eve dinner. From gray sole to lobster to Trading Company, the very first festive I mean, who’s counting? salmon. , for , and lob- thing we see walking in the door is a display slin(2); e

r The feast of the seven fishes is an Italian sters for lobster stew are big. In the old days case of Maine-raised Belon oysters lined up B tradition, but at Harbor Fish it was the squid and eel, but I’ve seen it more on crushed ice in front of a bowl of gigantic, aura L it’s more a point of departure. “It’s not a rule, and more over the years–there isn’t a fresh shiny sea . “A lot of our customers ft: e but it’s a Catholic tradition not to eat meat on fish that doesn’t sell. And nowadays, sea- order whole sides of salmon because they Christmas Eve. Growing up, my mother ’s not just for Christmas Eve, it goes into They’re here to help you plan your holiday feast (above, might treat us to baccalà (salt ), soak it for Christmas Day, too. It’s a real challenge to clockwise from bottom left): Bogumila Bogusha at Bogu- three days, and make a salad. Or, she might get enough fresh in here, because we won’t sha’s Café and Polish food shop; Kelsey Elliott, conversant

from bottom l with and Camembert at Browne Trading; Nick Alfie- e stuff calamari or serve it with red sauce and put out the frozen.” ro surrounded by seafood at Harbor Fish Market; and Liz De- kwis c linguine. We always had fresh eel–even my Harbor Fish’s understanding of this holi- mers, manager of Mittapheap international market. All of

Clo Irish wife developed a taste for it. Then we day is so legendary, “every year, one family these shops are in Portland. DEC e m b e r 2 0 1 3 2 7 H u n g r y e y e

cure their own at home for holiday in Deering Food and drink for holiday feasting is found all around town uinn

including, clockwise from top left: Maine Belon oysters at Q parties. That and our house-smoked finnan “We’ll sell every single one of these before Browne Trading; prosecco at Micucci’s; fresh filets at Browne

haddie are big sellers,” says Kelsey Elliott, in Christmas,” says Susan Lund Iverson, haul- Trading; imported berry jams at Simply Scandinavian ; MOIRA ; a watch cap and white coat as ing one of many 3.3-pound white tubs of and stout at the Rosemont Market. Polish pierogies are on the menu at Bogusha’s Café; challah loaves she takes orders behind her refrigerator dis- preserved lingonberries down from a shelf glow at Standard Baking; and panettone, the luxurious, im- cOMMONS play case. “We sell a lot of seafood and of Swedish jams and preserves, including ported Italian fruitcake, turns up everywhere, including ia at the holidays. People like small, gooseberry and cloudberry, in the Simply Morse’s in Waldoboro and Micucci’s in Portland; it’s also made ed

fresh at some bakeries. ikim whole wheels of cheese for parties. Scandinavian Foods shop on Stevens Ave- W “Don’t miss our annual Christmas cham- nue. “Cloudberries are a superfood; they’re uinn; pagne and caviar tasting on December 14,” full of anti-oxidants.” She circles a display of Holiday baking Q she says. “We open up a few tins of the good licorice from , Finland, Nor- lose your eyes and inhale the fra- oira M stuff so you can try them and pick out what way, Denmark, , and the Nether- grance. “Our chocolate stout ’s you like for New Year’s.” lands–such a Scandinavian staple there are Cmade with Gritty’s Black Fly Stout,” Harbor Fish Market, 9 Custom House Wharf, 775-0251. rotzmann,

even uten sukka (-free) varieties. Hold- says Atticus Naylor at Rosemont’s Brighton P Browne Trading Company, 262 Commercial Street, 775-7560. ing up a familiar yellow bag of red Swedish Avenue store. Rosemont Markets’ baker Fish , Iverson laughs. “It’s American, Scott Anderson adds stollen to his line of ft: Chris franco soul food but the kids like them.” richer treats, such as glossy braided challah e “Pork pies are huge,” says Kari Grant of “Look at these beautiful and her- loaves and fresh molasses cake. ow from l

Grant’s Bakery in Lewiston. “The traditional ring.” She slides open the refrigerator case. “We make a good amount of panettone, R French-Canadian tourtières we bake year- Nokkel-ost is cheese fragrantly studded with but it doesn’t hurt to order ahead,” says Vic- ottom round become a hot commodity during the seeds. “We just got a shipment of toria Levesque at Standard Baking Co. on B holidays.” They sell “up to 2,500 of them Christmas food. Peppar kakor are spice cook- Commercial Street. “We use raisins, orange slin; e r during Christmas week. We don’t have ies and gingersnaps in tins decorated with zest, candied orange, and there’s some rum B enough refrigeration space, so we rent a re- snowflakes and reindeer. She raises the lid of in there–we bag them up to look pretty. We aura frigerated 18-wheeler for our parking lot!” a freezer chest to reveal frozen Swedish put raisins in the challah for Hanukka. Our L The pies’ filling is “100-percent pork, with , vacuum-packed lutefisk (large fi- stollen’s got dried cherries, dried pears, and uinn(3); just a hint of mashed potatoes.” The 10-inch lets of cured cod), and plump sausage links dried cranberries, and then we make things Q pie is $11.40, and there’s an individual size of korv, a holiday sausage of pork and pota- like sage-onion for big dinners.” oira M

for $3.80. “It’s busy at Christmas. People to. “People just love these things at Christ- Portland’s Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox ft: e stop by to pick up meat pies and all mas. And I have five bakers delivering Church holds a huge holiday bake sale ev- day long. So just remember, when we’re out , cheesecake, and pastries. ” ery year on the Saturday before Thanksgiv- we’re out.” Simply Scandinavian Foods, 469 Stevens Avenue, ing. “, (walnut ), and

Grant’s Bakery, 525 Sabattus St., Lewiston. 783-2226. op row from l Portland, 874-6759. () are some of the sweets, T 2 8 p o r t l a n d monthly magazin e Village arm F A light & cozy topper Alpacas for tee’s or dresses in many festive colors. & Shop 2 ply, 100% cashmere Open Year Round... $134 Seven Days a Week www.alpacavillage.com

“Four times warmer than wool” “A tour of our farm and herd is

offered with your 66 Front St. purchase of yarn or alpaca apparel Bath in the Alpaca Farm Store 32 Main St. Camden Shop At The Farm 20 Townsend Ave 832-5160 Boothbay Harbor 800-414-5144 99 Old Route One Waldoboro houseoˆogan.com (Just around the corner from and we have and (Ba- HAPPY HOLIDAYS sil’s ) for the (January 6),” Moody’s Diner) says Father Sarantidis, the church’s priest. These are all made by talented parish volun- teers, and this is a real opportunity for a taste of Greek home cooking. But if you missed the sale this year, you can find fresh spanakopita and a selection of sweets including baklava at Lakonia, the shop for Greek food and products in Saco hailed for its delicious imported Pelopponesian ol- ive oil, , and herbs. Lakonia has expand- ed its offerings and now also carries a full menu of prepared foods such as , al- so made by their Greek pastry baker; in the fridge case you’ll find sausages, bright with and a hint of orange zest. Rosemont Market, 580 Brighton Avenue, 774-8129; Standard Baking, 75 Commercial Street, 773-2112; and Holy Trinity, 133 Pleasant St., 774-0281. Lakonia, 575 Main St., Saco, 282-4002.

Polish oasis “At the holidays, people want walnut and poppy-seed roulades, cheesecake, and streu- sel,” says Bogumila Bogusha at her cozy combination cafe and imported food shop. “There’s a Polish community of about a thousand around here. But I drive down to the really big Polish community in Worces- ter, to get fresh baked goods. Everyone wants ham and Polish sausage at Christmastime.” She shows off jars of im- ported herring from in various sauc- DEC e m b e r 2 0 1 3 2 9 h u n g r y e y e

Lobster fra diavolo takes a star turn at the Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve.

es. “Most women take them home and make sorts, too; Dutch are phenome- kara Meng, arranging a display of knobby their own herring salads.” She has shelves of nal. From , we have the most beautiful Chinese , says, “At the holidays, spicy Polish mustard spiked with horserad- torrone, panettone and panforte.” Even farther our African customers ask for cassava and ish, and horseradish made pink with shred- from the store’s original German sauerkraut semolina , palm oil, goat meat, and the ded beets. The cafe serves two iconic mission are the Walker mincemeats and African called ‘garden eggs.’” national dishes: bigos, a rich stew of sausag- from . Mittapheap Market, 61 Washington Avenue, 773-5523. es, cabbage, and sauerkraut; and pierogies, “You have to come. We get dressed up– the tender dumplings stuffed with potatoes, it’s like a Bavarian village here.” Little italy on India mushrooms, or cabbage. Morse’s, 3856 Washington Road, North Waldoboro, 832-5569. “We bring in panettone, torrone in a lot of Bogusha’s, 825 Stevens Avenue, Portland, 878-9618. shapes, and Italian chocolate, amaretti International market cookies, jars of rum babas in ,” says Bavarian Dream “Our clientele is Asian, but it also includes Rick Micucci at Micucci Grocery in the East veryone thinks of Morse’s Sauer- Central American, Caribbean, and African,“ End. “Once a year we bring in beautiful, kraut and its attendant store and ca- says Liz Demers, the manager at Mittapheap beautiful pastries fresh from the North End E fé as German, with lots of kraut and Market (pronounced meat-a-fee-up; the word in Boston for delivery Christmas Eve–these sausages. “Oh, we’re not just German,” means peace or friendship) at the foot of have to be special-ordered in advance, but says Jacquelyn Sawyer, who owns Morse’s Portland’s Munjoy Hill. “At the holiday–the you can place your order right up to De- with her husband David Swetnam. lunar new year is in late January but it varies cember 20. There’s ricotta pies, napoleons, “There’s and the Alps, and, really, because it’s lunar–the Chinese, Koreans, and what they call lobster-tail pastries. We we’re all over at the holidays. Ev- Vietnamese, and Cambodians like moon get in a lot of dried salt cod for baccalà, and eryone loves stollen,” she says of the rich cakes.” These are pastry rounds encasing we put out big bins of really best-quality holiday bread studded with nuts and sweetened red bean paste or mung beans; chestnuts for roasting.” dried and candied fruits. “We import that, some are green flavored. Gil Galli leads the way into the stock but we have someone local bake our Mittapheap’s aisles are as internationally room, lined with floor-to-ceiling shelves of springerle [cookies made with traditional diverse as the neighborhood the market imported goods with exotic labels. “Christ- presses and molds depicting animals, serves. Dried de arbol are stacked next mas wine? First we get in a lot of Beaujolais flowers, and decorative patterns], and to tiny, fiery dried Thai chili peppers. Crack- Nouveau, and then everyone wants prosecco.”

they are wonderful.” ling packets of skinny Asian rice noodles He opens the top carton on a stack of wine om c She rattles off a dizzying – abut stacked tins of Goya brand in cartons and pulls out a special-occasion- way. baumkuchen (“tree cakes”), glazed liebkuchen, oil and sauce. “We try to respond to pretty bottle of Jeio prosecco. “We’ll go A rom and pfeffernusse (ginger snaps) among them– demand. If people ask us to get something, through a lot of this. It seems to be the one F and “German Kinder , Austrian we try.” everyone wants.” ll/ Reber chocolates, and the finest marzipan in The produce section has fresh cilantro, Just the thing to go with the seven fishes Bede olm the world,” which Sawyer says is from Lu- Thai , habañero peppers, Chinese brocco- on Christmas Eve. c

Micucci Grocery, 45 India Street, Portland, 775-1854. n al bec, Germany. “We have gingerbreads of all li, green papayas, and lemongrass stalks. Ma- M 3 0 p o r t l a n d monthly magazin e justkim bags and accessories made right in the store Colorful goods from local artisans

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