Pickling Brine and Your Garden Bounty ...

Today, it's clear to me that the garden produce will be coming fast and furious for the next four to six weeks. In defense, I'm calling up my Sprout Sara's pickling brine that she uses to 'quick pickle' red onions.

I have the first of the zucchini and some beautiful Vidalia onions that all all the rage on the end bins in the produce departments right now.  So, with our grilled steak and fresh steamed green beans, we'll have some pickled zucchini and onions this evening.

I'll probably be setting aside some green beans and adding them to the pickling broth in the days to come. I was thinking that salad radishes might be interesting too.

Black Bean Salad with Shrimp and Pickled Onions

This salad has such interesting colors, temperatures, and textures. A lime vinaigrette binds things together. Add a piece of crusty bread for mopping up the juices and you have a wonderful summery meal. To boot, the pickled onions can be doubled and used to top sandwiches or grilled meats or fish. They're that tasty and incredibly simple to make.

Start the salad early in the day by making the pickle brine and then briefly cooking the onions in the brine before placing them in a jar and refrigerating them to chill and crisp up. Peel and devein the shrimp and marinate in olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes in the fridge also.

When it's time for dinner, warm the bread. Drain a couple cans (or one large one) of black beans, rinse and set in a warm salad bowl, toss them with the lime vinaigrette, sear the shrimp, crumble the feta, and chop the scallions and cilantro. Simple, fast and perfect for a hot day when you don't want to be in the kitchen for any length of time !

Here's the recipe.

Asian Pickle

The cucumbers have arrived! SB brings three or four in every day and plunks them down on the counter ... a challenge is implied there. Can I stay ahead of them? Well, this year, yes! I donate some to the local food pantry as part of this little church challenge to spread the seasonal wealth to those who need good local food for free. The rest I use to make salads and these easy pickles.

Sweet and Sour Cucumber with Fresh Dill and a Kugel ....

This evening, SB and I are headed to the regional Ahavas Achim Temple to celebrate at a potluck and interfaith discussion of Spring festivals - specifically Easter and Passover. The potluck is a vegetarian affair, so I'm playing by the rules and trying a couple recipes from my Jewish cookbook ... the cucumber pickle is completely tasty and I've paired it with Russian Pumpernickel slices for an appetizer/salad offering.

... simple fresh green crunchy ingredients ... perfect for waking up the taste buds ...

The Kugel Yerushalayim is a complete stretch for me. My niece, Beth is always raving about a kugel that she makes for her family celebrations, so I was encouraged to try this recipe. It smells fantastic ... but the jury's out until I see just how many folks actually chow down on it. I'm actually having doubts about it as the sugar content is quite high and it has this funky cooked sugar and olive oil component that just feels wrong to me, but one must follow the recipe when one is in unknown territory ... and I have never made this classic of Jewish cuisine.

Sweet and Sour Cucumber with Fresh Dill

Ingredients:

4 small cucumbers, tipped and sliced thinly

1/2 large sweet white onion, sliced into thin half-moons

a generous pinch of kosher salt

3 tbsp. sugar

5 tbsp. white wine vinegar

2 tbsp. cold water

3 generous tbsp. fresh chopped dill

fresh pumpernickel bread, sliced into thin half slices

1. Combine the cucumbers and onion slices and toss with your hands to separate the slices and mix the two.

2. Sprinkle the salt and toss again. Set aside for ten minutes in a cool spot.

3. Mix the sugar, vinegar, and cold water, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

4. Pour the brine over the vegetables and add the chopped dill. Toss to coat all the veg and distribute the dill.

5. Cover and chill for a few hours.

6. Serve the pickle with slices of fresh pumpernickel bread, as a salad or appetizer.

... time machine ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Should have left the kugel at home ... it was too thin, sticky and too crisped -a complete fail. However, I've NEVER met a more gracious group of people who assured me that it was just fine! Haha! Guess I'll be taking lessons from Elaine, who brought the most luscious apple kugel that it made me close my eyes and smile! It was truly a revelation!

Oh well ... the pickle was totally tasty!

The Virtual Supper Club Welcomes Spring !!! Let's Make a Big Ham Dinner with ALL the Fixings !!!

... Get that ham roasting, 'cause we've got the sides! ...

Carnitas - Alice Waters & A Random Recipe Story

This is a lunch or supper recipe that can really satisfy your urge for a hit of authentic Mexican cooking, but I will warn you that it takes time to make it right. The recipe comes from Alice Waters' book The Art of Simple Food , a book that sits on Sprout Sara's cookbook shelf. My on-line friend, Dom chose to have us mix up the concept of random recipes a bit this month and call a fellow foodie to ask them to provide the randomness. Clever boy, that Dom!

A Joke And A Pickle - Part 2

Remember my need to research abit? Well, folks, I found out that I've been using the wrong cucumbers all this time. Turns out I should have been using pickling cucumbers, so that's just what I did. I met the nicest girl today in my quest to find good fresh cucumbers and green peppers. Tracy, the owner of the local CSA, gave me enough produce to make the small batch bread and butter pickles that I wanted. She looked like Mother Nature herself out in the field picking herbs to bundle for her CSA members' baskets. That was a nice way to start the day!

Ethel Gendron's Beet Pickles

...sterilized jars upside down to keep the insides clean

Remember that pickled beets recipe that I was hoping to get? My sister-in-law came through for me and called it in the other day. Hurray! I can make pickled beets as a surprise for Silent Bob. He will be SO pleased  that I finally did something different with the produce! So here we go ... 

...sweet and sour brine ingredients

" A Joke And A Pickle For Only A Nickel..."

One of the things that I love most about food blogging is the exchange of ideas about food preparation. Of course, I say this because I just have had a message from a fellow New England blogger about a question I asked of her concerning pickling. What a help it is to have friends 'in the know' to turn to for guidance when you're stepping out into new territory - I have made bread and butter pickles in the past, but they have not been the very best! Perhaps this year, I will get it right!

Pickling has always been a skill that I've wanted to hone. Silent Bob always plants cucumbers and beets, you see. When they start coming on from harvest, the counters are full and there is a basket with beets and their greens draping over the edges of the wicker. We eat our share for dinners, but there is always more that could be used! Hence, pickling.

My bread and butter pickle recipe comes from my grandmother via my mother. Mom always made pickles and they were always crispy and tart. I have struggled with processing time, as she always put them in a water bath to seal the jars. Hmmm... is it necessary, I wonder? There is an awful lot of salt in the intial brine that the cucumbers soak up. The sweet and tart spicy brine that goes in with the cucumbers and onions is cooked on the stovetop and then poured over the brined vegetables. I wonder if that's enough heat to get a good seal on the jars.

It's clear that I need to do more research in order to get a good result. My other big question is the variety of cucumbers used for pickles. Our cucumbers are larger, dark-skinned, and relatively smooth. Are they the right cukes for the job? Hmmm ... so many questions!

As for the beets, I had some gorgeous pickled beets at a haying party picnic a few weeks ago ... I'm going to see about getting that particular recipe. Stay tuned on that adventure!

In the meantime, it's been a long day of cleaning and dusting around the corners of the grey cottage and I'm going to watch an old movie ... about pickles ... well, kinda. 'Crossing Delancy' is popped into the DVD player. Popcorn and a movie ... see ya!