Momofuku-style pickled torpedo beet, radish, and tokyo turnip

We've had the Momofuku cookbook for awhile, and I've never cooked anything from it until now. But I've been wanting to try these pickles for a few weeks, ever since I read a blog post that talked about how the beets in this recipe (or method, really) aren't cooked.

I've always made (and eaten) western-style beet pickles, so I've always boiled my beets. But shredded or julienned raw beets are excellent in a salad setting, or even as garnish for a hot soup or rich piece of meat, so I was officially intrigued. And we certainly had plenty of beets lying around. The CSA farm seems to have a had a bumper crop this year, and they've been coming practically every week. So many beets: golden, torpedo, and plain old red globes.

When I checked out the supply in our crisper, I found not only three beautiful red torpedo beets, but also three ordinary red radishes and a single solitary tokyo turnip. (Of course, later I found two more buried under a head of cabbage, so...yeah.) I decided to pickle them all together for a few reasons. First, beets and turnips are a usual match in Middle Eastern pickles; if you've had a falafel sandwich with pink pickled turnip, you've experienced this. Radishes are similar to turnips in texture, but also provide a pungent kick. Besides, all of these vegetables needed eating.

I considered adding some ginger to my pickles, because that's always super interesting. See: fennel pickle with lemon and ginger, which is SO GOOD and you should go make some right now. Actually, I need to go make some, because I have all the ingredients lying around, crying for me to use them. Anyway. I knew about that; I also recently read about Nami's pickled sushi ginger, which I need to try as soon as I can find some young ginger. But since I hadn't tried this particular pickle method before, I thought it might be a good idea to just go for the master brine recipe before I started fooling around quite so much. The fooling around will very likely happen later, though. Oh yes.

Momofuku-style pickled torpedo beet, radish, and tokyo turnip
Adapted from the Momofuku cookbook

brine:
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup rice vinegar
6 tbsp (3/8 cup) sugar
2 1/2 tsp kosher or pickling salt

veg:
3 torpedo beets
3 radishes
1+ tokyo turnip
or adjust vegetable proportions to fill your jars.

equipment:
2 pints or 1 quart mason jar with plastic storage lids
chopstick or spatula
optional canning funnel

For the brine, combine all the ingredients in a nonreactive pan or bowl. I used water that I boiled in the teapot and let cool down a bit, instead of the book's hot tap water. Stir until the sugar and salt are completely dissolved.

For the veg: wash, trim, and peel your beets. Wash and trim your radishes and turnips. Halve all your veg and slice into very thin half-moons.

Pack your vegetables into mason jars. Pour the brine over the veg to cover, filling up to 1/2 inch from the top of the jar. Use a chopstick or spatula to remove any bubbles. Cap your jars and put them in the refrigerator to cure overnight.

Store in the refrigerator and eat at your leisure. These guys should last at least a month, and probably quite a while longer. I usually keep refrigerator pickles for a good three months or so.

What are you pickling this summer?

Refrigerator zucchini pickles

Yay! It's summer squash season! Yes, that magical time of year in which suddenly everyone you know is trying to foist bagfuls of zucchini, pattypans, and yellow squash onto their friends and neighbors at the slightest provocation. If you're growing your own, the situation is even worse. Suddenly, YOU are the one wandering into the backyard to find that an apparently bare plant has somehow sprouted six fully grown squash -- and you have four more plants to check -- and there were already several zucchini in your crisper.

Now is the time to use up that squash any way you can. I like to slice up a few squash for a simple saute with garlic and olive oil, or to cube them and scramble them with eggs and a big handful of herbs. But when those strategies fail, it's time to go a step further and think about preserves.

The classic method of summer squash preservation is a simple shred and freeze. This works out very well if you are the kind of person who will eat zucchini bread for months on end. But I decided it was time to try something different, and that thing was pickled zucchini.

This is a very simple and delightful refrigerator pickle. There is a surprising hint of mustard taste in the finished product, which means that these go very well on sandwiches of all kinds. A jar of these is definitely a great way to get through some of a massive summer zucchini harvest -- or, in my case, the seven or eight zucchini at a time that have been arriving at frequent intervals via CSA box.

Refrigerator zucchini pickles

1 pint mason jar, washed and dried
4 medium zucchini or summer squash (~2 cups sliced)
1 halved garlic clove
1/2 tsp dried dill
3/4 cup white vinegar
3/4 cup water
1/4 tsp peppercorns
1 tbsp pickling salt or kosher salt
optional canning funnel

Wash your zucchini and slice them into rounds or spears. I chose rounds for easy sandwich application. Leave them raw.

Put your garlic clove and dill into your jar. Add your zucchini. You may have to shift the pieces around a bit to fit them all in there.

In a small saucepan, heat your vinegar, water, peppercorns, and salt. Put on the lid and simmer for about five minutes, or until the salt has completely dissolved.

Pour your hot brine into your jar, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace at the top. Use a chopstick or spatula to release any air bubbles, and top up with more brine as needed. Make sure you get all the peppercorns into the jar, even if you have extra liquid left over.

Lid your jar and put it into the refrigerator. Let your pickles cure for at least 24 hours before eating them.

Now it's time for voluminous sandwiches of all kinds. Pickles for every lunch! Hooray!

How do you use up the yearly summertime zucchini glut?

New Year's cucumber pickles

Is cucumber in season? No. Do I have one anyway? Yes.

Our christmas and new year's morning traditions do not include the typical big pan of cinnamon rolls or stack of crisp waffles. Instead, we have plenty of bagels. I have mine with cream cheese, John has his with hummus, and we both have several big handfuls of crispy vegetables and fresh herbs -- various sprouts, red pepper, green pepper, red onion, spinach, parsley, and chives have all made appearances.

And what do you need to top off a big sandwich like that? PICKLES.

We lost a good four or five half-eaten jars of assorted pickles when the fridge went out a couple weeks ago. Yeah. It was not pretty. Replenishing the pickle supply was very high on the list of things to do before BIG SANDWICH MORNING arrived. So I bought a cucumber, simmered up some brine, and got going.

This is a crispy, tangy refrigerator pickle that cures quickly overnight. It takes about five minutes to make and produces some excellent results. If you want to fill your fridge with pickles, doubling or quadrupling the recipe is simple. And then you will have all the pickles in the land, for plenteous and delightful future sandwich-eating purposes.

Get pickling!

New Year's cucumber pickles
Makes 1 pint

3/8 cup water
3/8 cup apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
1 tsp pickling salt
1 English cucumber (or your choice of cucumber with few seeds & no wax)
4 peppercorns
2 cloves garlic, peeled & halved
1 tsp dill seed
1 pint jar and lid
optional canning funnel

Make your brine by combining water, vinegar, and salt in a small saucepan. Heat until the salt has dissolved. This should take 5 minutes or less.

Trim your cucumber's blossom and stem ends and cut into slices or spears. You'll need about half the cucumber to fill one pint jar if you cut it into spears, and about 3/4 of the cucumber if you cut it into slices. If you're using a smaller cucumber, such as an Armenian, you may need two to fill your jar.

Put your peppercorns, garlic, and dill seed into your jar. Pack your cucumber into the jar, pushing gently to fill as full as possible.

Using your funnel, pour your brine into the jar. Use a chopstick or rubber spatula to release any obvious air bubbles. Cap, cool, and store in the refrigerator. Age for at least 24 hours before eating.

Now you are ready to make the best possible sandwiches! FORWARD.

What are you eating for your first meals of 2015?

Fennel pickle with lemon and ginger

So remember the fennel and orange pickle I made this summer? How about a fennel, lemon, and ginger pickle too?

The only correct answer is YES.

This refrigerator pickle is crispy, crunchy, tangy, and bright. It's super easy to make and so, so good on practically any sandwich you can think of. Okay, you might not want it on a classic peanut butter and jelly, but otherwise? Yes, please.

Putting together a cheese platter? Add some fennel pickle and get ready for something amazing. Is your crisp green salad a little boring? Not with fennel pickle, it isn't. Replace the typical relish and sauerkraut on a Chicago-style hot dog with fennel pickle and a touch of spicy mustard, and I promise, you will be in heaven.

It's possibly even better than the first fennel pickle. You've been warned. Try to give the other people in your household a chance to at least try some before you eat the entire jar yourself.

Fennel pickle with lemon and ginger
based on a recipe from The Joy of Pickling

2 heads fennel plus a couple decorative fronds
1 tsp pickling salt
zest of 1 lemon, julienned
1-inch piece ginger, shredded or julienned
4 peppercorns, roughly crushed
6 tbsp champagne vinegar
juice of 1 lemon plus enough water to equal 6 tbsp
1 tbsp sugar
pint jar
canning funnel
chopstick or flexible spatula

Cut each head of fennel into thin slices. Mix the fennel with the pickling salt in a medium bowl. Set aside for about an hour to let the salt draw out some of the fennel's liquid.

When the hour is up, drain off the accumulated juices. Toss your prepared fennel with your lemon zest, ginger, and fronds. Pack this mixture into your pint jar. It may look like a tight squeeze, but with some careful packing, everything should fit.

Next, it's time to make your brine. Put your peppercorns, vinegar, lemon juice, water, and sugar into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for about five minutes, or until the sugar has dissolved.

Using your canning funnel, pour your brine into your jar. Leave 1/4 inch of headspace at the top. Use a chopstick or spatula to release any air bubbles, and top up the brine as needed. Now lid the jar, refrigerate, and let everything pickle for at least 24 hours.

Now break out your bread and cheese and lettuce and make yourself a sandwich of epic deliciousness.

How is your fall pickling going? Any new and exciting pickles on your plate?

Red cabbage curtido de repollo

If you want to make the pinkest pickle imaginable, I have just the recipe for you!

I've been making gigantic batches of curtido de repollo -- essentially, spicy pickled cabbage slaw -- ever since I first tasted it at our local Salvadorean restaurant. There, you stuff platefuls of pupusas with as much curtido as you so desire. The contrast between soft, chewy masa, creamy beans, and crunchy, tangy curtido is pretty spectacular.

At home, I've never yet attempted a batch of pupusas. Note to self: this really needs to happen as soon as possible. However, the curtido has been flowing freely. We eat it in tacos, in burritos, on top of big bowls of chili, and occasionally all by itself. SO good.

Normally, I use standard green cabbage and yellow onion to make curtido. This time, I had a lot of red cabbage and red onion from our CSA. Pink curtido it is!

Red cabbage curtido de repollo

1 small or 1/2 large red cabbage
a carrot
half a small red onion
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
1 cup water
2 serrano peppers, or whatever works for your spice tolerance
1 tbsp salt

Start by coring and shredding your cabbage and dicing your carrot and red onion. Put them in a large non-metal mixing bowl (mine is 4 quarts) and toss to mix.

Put your vinegar, water, peppers (chopped roughly), and salt in a blender. Liquefy. Be sure to keep your hand and maybe a towel over the top of the blender, so you can combat any liquid leaks. The result will be a light green brine with a layer of foam on top.

Pour your completed brine over your bowl of vegetables. Stir, getting all the vegetables wet.

The brine will not come up to the top of the bowl; this is fine. As the cabbage pickles, it will wilt and exude liquid, so the amount of brine will increase to cover all the veg within a few hours.

It will also turn pink from the red onion and cabbage. Hooray! Pink pickles!

Cover the bowl, put it in the refrigerator, and let it sit for at least three to four hours. Mix every so often, so the surface cabbage gets submerged in the brine. When the liquid level comes up to the top of the vegetables, you can stop mixing.

Congratulations! You are the proud owner of a big batch of curtido -- about 8 to 10 cups, depending on the size of your cabbage. It will keep well in the refrigerator for a good two weeks, getting gradually more and more pickley as it ages.

Eat your curtido with pupusas or arepas, on tacos, in burritos, on top of servings of chili, or alongside big bowls of tortilla soup. So crispy and tangy and delicious!

What's your favorite bright pink food?

Fennel and orange pickle

Cauliflower is not the only thing I am pickling this year! Nope. In fact, the pickling vat has been going on and off for several weeks now, and all the results are nothing short of thrilling.

I made yet another batch of my favorite pickled peppers ever, from Emmycooks (come back, Emmy!), doubling the recipe and adding some green beans into the mix. The results are stunning and delicious, and I can't wait to start tossing those beans into weekend bloody marys.

But the real star of the pickling season so far has been a surprise underdog: refrigerator pickled fennel.

This was yet another CSA save. We got multiple heads of fennel two weeks in a row. I am generally not into the typical shredded fennel salad, and so was kind of at a loss for what to do with it. But no more! This is hereby my default way to deal with any fennel that shows up at our house -- at least until I start experimenting with other pickle variations. A lemon variation would certainly be on the table, as would the inclusion of some fresh ginger. Oh man. I'm super excited to try that.

Seriously, it's SO GOOD. It is amazing. I am amazed.

This is heavily based on the pickled fennel with orange recipe in The Joy of Pickling, which is an excellent book and well worth a look if you like pickles even a little. The main change I made was to switch out the white wine vinegar for champagne vinegar, which I find smooth and delightful, and which I actually had in the cupboard besides. I also bumped up the orange zest, because who doesn't love orange zest? And everything worked out beautifully. Hooray!

Though it looks small, it is mighty.

Fennel and orange pickle
adapted from The Joy of Pickling

2 heads fennel plus a few fronds (more or less for decoration)
1 tsp pickling salt
zest of 1 orange
4 peppercorns
6 tbsp champagne vinegar
juice of 1 orange (approx 6 tbsp)
1 tbsp sugar
pint jar
semi-optional canning funnel
chopstick or flexible spatula

Start by trimming your fennel bulbs, halving them, and slicing them thinly. In a medium bowl, toss your sliced fennel with the pickling salt. Let this sit for about an hour, so the salt begins to drain some of the juices from the fennel.

When the hour is up, drain off any accumulated liquid. Pack your fennel slices, fronds, and orange zest into a clean pint jar. I used wide strips of orange zest, but I'd recommend that you go for thin strips, either by using an actual zester or by slicing up strips taken with a vegetable peeler. Be careful just to include the zest and no white pith.

To make your brine, crush your peppercorns roughly with a mortar & pestle or the bottom of a measuring cup. Put your pepper, vinegar, orange juice, and sugar into a small pan and bring the mixture to a boil. Simmer, swirling occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved.

Using the canning funnel, pour your brine into your jar, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace at the top. Use your chopstick or spatula to go around the edge of the jar, releasing air bubbles. Top up your brine if needed, cap your jar, and put your pickles in the refrigerator overnight.

After 24 hours, crack your jar open and taste your pickles. Try not to just eat the entire jar with a spoon.

Since this is such an unusual pickle, I bet you guys are wondering what to do with it (besides eating it with a spoon, which I heartily recommend). Well, I have found it to be excellent on toasted cheese sandwiches, usually with a milder cheese such as emmenthaler, along with plenty of cracked pepper. A super-simple snack platter of crackers with said emmenthaler, a smear of mustard, and some fennel pickle would be an excellent variation. It's definitely delicious tossed into a green salad, preferably with some orange supremes thrown in. And if you are of the sausage in a bun persuasion, how about searing one up and topping it with big handfuls of pickled fennel?

But I won't judge you if you just eat it with a spoon.

Who else is making crazy pickles this summer? Forget popsicles, right? PICKLES WIN.

(Oh, also I am suddenly going to BlogHer14 this weekend! If you are going, let me know & let's meet up!)

Refrigerator giardiniera

One of the vegetables we've been getting from our CSA is cauliflower. I love cauliflower, but two heads in two weeks is a little much to work through when there are only two people in the house. So what's the solution?

PICKLES.

When I came across Laurie of Relishing It's Giardiniera, I knew a batch was in my future. All the vegetables in the land, cut into pieces, doused in spicy brine, and kept nice and crispy in the refrigerator? Yes, please!

The vegetable mixture here is super flexible. I just went through the crisper and grabbed everything that sounded like it would make a good pickle. If you want to use a different mix of vegetables, go for it! If I'd had more space, I would have added in some small green beans (tailed but otherwise whole). Laurie added radishes and celery to hers. What do you have? It will probably be delicious.

Re: brine. Most giardinieras seem to include sugar in their brine. I am not at all into sweet pickles, so I decided to leave out the sugar. This was a wise choice for a lovely, vinegary, spicy pickle. However, if you do prefer a sweeter pickle, you can always choose to add a tablespoon or so of sugar. Give it a try and see what you like.

A note on canning: this is a refrigerator pickle, which means it is not processed for long-term storage. While it may be acidic enough to water-bath can, I am not a food safety or canning authority, so I can't provide accurate info about converting this to a canned pickle. Check the Ball Blue Book or another trusted canning resource if you want to make a canned giardiniera.

Refrigerator giardiniera
Based on Relishing It's Giardiniera

Makes 2 pints or 1 quart.

vegetables:
1/4 head cauliflower
1 carrot
1/2 red or yellow pepper, or several baby peppers
1 jalapeno (or half if it's very spicy -- mine was.)
2-3 cloves garlic
1/4 red onion
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp peppercorns

brine:
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
3/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsp pickling salt
1 large or 2 small bay leaves

equipment:
2 pint jars or 1 quart jar with lids
canning funnel (semi-optional)
chopstick or flexible spatula

Chop your vegetables into pieces. The size is pretty much up to you. I kept my cauliflower and peppers in larger chunks and sliced everything else, but whatever you like should be fine.

Divide your spices evenly between your clean jars. I used pint jars, so I put 1/4 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp oregano, and 1/2 tsp peppercorns in each. To keep the spice distribution fairly equal, add half your garlic and jalapeno slices to each jar as well. If you're using a quart jar, none of this applies, of course.

Pack your mixed vegetables into your jars. I did my best to distribute everything equally, but if you feel like cramming everything in willy-nilly, that's fine too.

Next, make your brine. Add all the brine ingredients to a saucepan with a lid. Bring the brine to a boil and cook, covered, until the salt has dissolved.

Remove the bay leaves and add one to each jar. Pour your hot brine into your jars, using the canning funnel if you so desire. Leave 1/4 inch of space at the top. Use a chopstick to release any air bubbles, working your way around the side of each jar. Top up the brine if needed, lid, and refrigerate overnight.

After 12-24 hours, your giardiniera will be ready. Hooray!

I especially love how the red onion tinges everything a beautiful pink.

What can you do with giardiniera?

- If you are a pickle lover, just eat it as a snack, or as a side with a big deli sandwich.
- Scatter handfuls of it into big green mixed salads.
- Use small pieces as garnish for deviled egg halves.
- In fact, chop up a handful and add it to egg salad or potato salad in place of the typical dill pickle.
- Use it as a garnish for a hearty soup like borscht.
- Puree it with a handful of kalamata olives for a very pickley tapenade.

What pickle experiments are you conducting this summer?

Grilled cheese, apples, pickles!

Evidently April is national grilled cheese month, which is good, because I already made and ate two or three different iterations of this lunch, and if you cook something that much, you really need to talk about it on the internet. Even if what you kept making was a sandwich. Yes.

So: grilled cheese.

IT'S THE BEST LUNCH
I NEED THE CAPSLOCK
IT IS THE GREATEST

Grilled cheese: dijon mustard and sharp cheddar on Veronica's homemade sourdough, grilled in unsalted butter in a cast iron pan. It's the classic for a reason, and the reason is that it's unbelievably delicious. Yeah!

Apples: organic gala. Cut them up!

Pickles: super easy and fast overnight refrigerator pickles made with English cucumber. I threw a couple peppercorns in there too. If you have never made refrigerator pickles, OH MAN. Go get yourself a cucumber and some vinegar. It takes five minutes and is so worth it.

Put everything on a plate and go to town.

SUCH NOMS
VERY EAT

A totally normal lunch

Before we jump entirely into the holiday fray, let's talk about one more ordinary thing.

Nearly instant lunch? Yes.

Get yourself some crackers, crispbread, or actual bread of your choice. This is sourdough crispbread, which is delicious & optimal, but you can pretty much use any bread-type item you have lying around.

Spread your crispbread with cream cheese. Sprinkle with pickled peppers, or fresh chopped bell peppers if you prefer. (You totally want pickled peppers, however. I've been making these pickled peppers from Emmycooks for a good year, and I plan to continue for the foreseeable future. SO GOOD.) Do you want to add any other raw veg? Go for it.

Add chopped parsley. Grind some black pepper over the whole plate.

Hey, look! Lunch!

Have an apple or a couple of clementines and feel well satisfied.

Tomorrow (or whenever I next post): HOLIDAY ZOMGG

Pickling, saucing, jellying

The scope of my preserving has been broader this year than ever before.

The backyard jalapenos have done amazingly well. Who knew that if they actually got sun they'd be super happy? Everyone? Yeah. So I stripped all the ripe jalapenos off our single plant, sliced them up, and proceeded to pickle them for future consumption.

I used the basic jalapeno pickle recipe from Food in Jars. It's really easy: sterilize jars, make brine, slice jalapenos, pack jars, process. I did not use gloves, but you probably should, since capsaicin burns are no joke.

Look at all those slices! A huge pile of seeds settled to the bottom of the pile as well. I didn't add quite all the seeds to the jars, but there are certainly enough to pack a punch.

We are now the proud owners of 5 half-pints of pickled sliced jalapenos grown in our backyard. These guys are going to be amazing on all the tacos and burritos we eat all winter.

The plant is still producing, too, so we aren't hurting for fresh jalapenos while the pickled ones cure. Hooray!

Then there are our tomatoes.

These guys--caspian pinks and boxcar willies from the backyard--got skinned, cored, and processed into sauce, along with some grocery store romas, using this tomato sauce canning method. Hooray for 5 more quarts of tomato sauce!

Right now I have about this many garden tomatoes ready and waiting for another batch, so that should happen fairly soon.

And then, at the weirdest possible time of year, my next-door neighbor showed up on our doorstep with a gigantic shopping bag of tangerines from her backyard tree. So I juiced about fifty of them, chucked out ten times as many seeds, and made the resulting 4 cups of juice into mimosa jelly from the Food in Jars cookbook.

Every single picture I took looks like this: clouds of steam and big bubbles frothing everywhere.

The recipe is pretty similar to this earlier recipe for orange jelly, but with the addition of champagne. I actually went out and bought one of those little cubes of Coppola Sofia champagne, so I wouldn't have to use up an entire bottle of champagne, only to find that the single-serve cans hold only 7/8 of a cup. I guess I could've just used that, but I'd never made jelly before, so I went ahead and opened a second one to make up the full cup. And then I had to drink the remaining champagne. How terrible for me.

I overboiled the batch a little bit, so the resulting jelly is quite firm, but overall: success!

Next on the docket: 4 pounds of nectarines.

What are you guys preserving this week?

Pickles and mustard, oh my

In further keeping with the theme of the summer--that is, "Oh man, I'm definitely not cooking an actual meal today,"--I've been making a slew of random condiments, garnishes, and snacks. It's AMAZING and I love it.

First, I decided to use some of the whey I got from making labneh with plain yogurt. I always want to use the whey, but I rarely find anything I actually want to make before it's turned questionable. But not this time! This time I just so happened to be reading about Phickle's lactofermented mustard. So obviously a lactofermented mustard was meant to be.

Yes, I have been staging a lot of pictures right here. It's the shelf immediately to the left of my kitchen windows, so it gets good light.

Anyway. Lactofermented mustard turns out to be super easy and VERY MUCH worth the minimal effort.

I didn't see a whole lot of active fermentation--no bubbles or anything of that nature--but the results are still pretty stunning. My mustard is spicy and complex and just the barest bit sweet. And I have enough to last for months! HOORAY.

This certainly made for some excellent sandwiches. But you know what else makes for excellent sandwiches? Pickles. So I broke out the vinegar, veg, and spices, and put together a batch of Emmy Cooks' spicy pickled peppers and one of Marisa's pickled eggplant.

I've made these pickled peppers before; they're one of the best sandwich accoutrements of all time. They're also super easy: make a simple brine, pour it over a jarful of sliced peppers, season with peppercorns and dill, and put in in the fridge. Voila! Pickled peppers for your delight & edification.

You should absolutely make some of these. I mean it. We can go through a jar in a few weeks if we're eating a lot of sandwiches. They're also really good sprinkled over salads, or even a bowl of spicy chili.

The pickled eggplant, however, was new & intriguing. So I hit the farmer's market for a handful of long thin Chinese eggplant, grabbed a bottle of vinegar, and went to work.

For the eggplant pickle, you simmer salted & drained eggplant spears in red wine vinegar and pack them into jars with basil and pepper. Then you process them in a water bath canner for ten minutes. Marisa has the full process on her post at Food in Jars.

I had to wait a week to crack one of these guys open and satisfy my curiosity.

If you like a serious red wine vinegar flavor and enjoy the soft texture of steamed eggplant, you will like these pickles. Since the flavor is so intense, it's probably a good idea to combine them with a mild or rich component. I personally have found them to be great in an open-faced sandwich with a couple slices of cheese and some crispy mild lettuce.

Pickles and mustards for all!

What garnishes and condiments have you guys made lately? Are you canning any new and interesting things?

Cucumber shallot salad with rice wine vinaigrette

So we've covered picnic sandwiches. Now, how about salads?

My picnic salad criteria are pretty simple: I want to eat a lot of delicious vegetables, preferably with a similarly delicious dressing. So when I checked out the crisper for salad components, I discovered a beautiful cucumber, just waiting to be loved. Perfect!

Typically, salads with cucumber include iceberg lettuce, thick chunks of cucumber, and fat wedges of watery tomato. If you're so unlucky as to be eating this salad at a restaurant, you might be inundated with stale croutons and shredded fake cheese as well. Obviously, this is not the way to go. Instead, let's take that cucumber and make it the star of the salad. Let's slice it thinly and get rid of those watery seeds. Let's shower it with intense shallots and dress it in a delicious tangy dressing. Let's eat it.

This salad has two components: vegetable and dressing. For optimal time management, you'll want to slice and drain your cucumbers, make your dressing while you wait, and finally combine everything together.

Cucumber shallot salad for two

1 large cucumber
salt
1/2 shallot
rice wine vinaigrette

If your cucumber is waxed or tough-skinned, peel it. Otherwise, you are totally free to keep the peel on and eat it.

Slice your cucumber in half vertically. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon; throw them in the compost or your freezer stock stash. Cut the remaining cucumber into thin crescents.

Toss your cucumber pieces with a sprinkling of salt, put them in a strainer, and let them drain for about a half hour. This will drain off some of their natural moisture and keep your salad from being watery later.

Now is the time to make your vinaigrette.

When your cucumber pieces are drained, put them in a bowl. Cut your shallot in half, and from there into fine slices. Separate the slices into fine shreds and add them to the cucumbers.

Toss your vegetables with a couple spoonfuls of vinaigrette. Use as much dressing as you prefer.

Let your salad rest for at least a half hour before serving. This gives the vinaigrette a chance to soak into the vegetables and pickle them slightly. It also gives you a chance to pack your salad into a container, stick it in your picnic basket, and go off on the excursion of your choice. Just don't forget the forks!


Rice wine vinaigrette

1 tbps rice wine vinegar
1 tsp hot Chinese mustard
juice of half a lime
1 minced green onion
1 tsp sesame oil
3 tbsp veg oil
salt & pepper to taste

Whisk all ingredients together with a fork, adding the veg oil in a steady stream at the end for optimal emulsification. Use to dress your cucumber shallot salad.

Keep any leftovers in a jar in the refrigerator, and shake before using. I found this to be just about as delicious on plain greens as it was on cucumber and shallot.

Eat your salad, either with egg salad sandwiches (obviously that's what we did) or with the other picnic entree of your choice. If you like, you can add a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds or gomasio to your salad after serving.

What are your favorite ways to eat cucumber?

Carrot pickle melange

So. PICKLES. I love pickles. You may have noticed me loving pickles over the past year or two as I merrily made pickled beets and refrigerator dills and curtido de repollo. If I ever form a band, it's going to be called Zesty Pickle, and the first single will be called Cronching. Okay?

This week it was time for carrot pickles, aka "the finest garnish to ever grace a taco."

I made my first-ever batch of refrigerator carrot pickles about a year and a half ago after reading about them on Budget Bytes. They were totally delicious and vanished in short order.

When I was making this batch, I realized I had a lonely half bunch of radishes sitting around unloved at the bottom of the crisper. Clearly, they needed the pickle treatment too, so I sliced them up and added them to my carrots, jalapenos, and red onion. The finished pickle is more or less a complete set of excellent taqueria-style garnishes, all crammed together into one beautiful jar. Perfect!

Side note: is it just me, or is everyone cooking their radishes lately? Roasts and braises and pan-fries and pickles...so tasteable.

Spicy carrot, red onion, and radish pickles

1 cup water
2 cups vinegar
1 tsp salt
~15 grinds black pepper
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
5 carrots
1 red onion
1-2 jalapenos, depending on your spice preference
4 radishes

Combine everything except the vegetables in a 3-quart pot. Bring the pot to a boil, covered, while you trim and chop all your vegetables into whatever shapes you prefer.

When the pot is boiling, carefully add your chopped vegetables. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the veg is all done to your preferred texture. Decant into warmed mason jars, lid, and put in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, voila! Pickle melange! This made about 3 pints.

So pretty! I especially love how bright pink the brine is. I'm guessing both the red onion and purple carrot help with that.

These guys are classic as a garnish on the taco, tostada, or burrito of your choice. They'd be great with fresh grilled corn (whenever corn makes its way into the market, that is). I have also been strewing them liberally over bowls of chili to excellent effect. Hooray for carrot pickles!

Have you been pickling anything lately?

Other people's recipes

Lately, I want to eat practically everything I see.

I saw Cupcake Rehab's jammy muffins, followed a link back to the master muffin recipe, determined that we had the necessary ingredients, and was off. I used wheat flour, put rice milk in place of dairy, and stuffed the muffins full of chopped nectarines instead of jam or chocolate chips. Otherwise, they were totally identical! I ended up with eight standard muffins and twelve tiny little dudes, and we slathered them with butter and ate them all over the course of four days.

The butter situation at our house is now pretty dire, incidentally. No butter!

I saw Emmy Cooks's spicy pickled peppers and I ran off to the farmer's market sort-outs bin, which has been reliably full of zucchini and peppers and eggplant for the past few weeks, and brought a big bag of peppers home with me. I chopped them into rings, packed them into a jar, added dill and garlic, and covered the whole thing with simple brine. Then I stuck the jar into the fridge, where it has been for the past two days. I can finally eat some of them tonight! Patience is the only real problem with pickling things.

I saw Stella Cooks's fish tacos with spicy carrot slaw, so I went to the farmer's market fish guy and walked away with a gigantic piece of flounder. I promptly brought it home, cut it into four pieces (three of which are resting happily in the freezer, waiting for the next fish and/or taco occasion), covered the last piece in spices and lemon, deposited it in a foil packet, and baked it for twenty minutes, or until awesome.

Then I sauteed up a mess of carrots, red pepper, and sambal oelek, mounted it with butter (item: this was before the butter situation got quite so dire), and whacked everything together into a series of flame-toasted corn tortillas. Then I took pictures for posterity and crammed them all into my mouth as fast as possible. Hooray!

What new recipes have you guys been trying?

Pickled once, pickled twice

Pickled beets are very nice.

I've been meaning to can some pickled beets for just about the entire summer. The thing is, I've never made pickled beets before, so I needed to find a good recipe. Online research revealed a whole lot of recipes featuring large amounts of sugar. Well and good--except that I historically strongly dislike sweet pickles. So I was pretty relieved when I found the simplest of pickled beet recipes. It not only required no sugar, but was by Marisa "Food in Jars" McClellan. Obviously, this was the perfect candidate.

Right! So I bought two bunches of massive softbally beets at the farmer's market--one red and one golden--and set out for pickletown.

I estimated I'd be able to fill about 5 pints, so I made extra brine. This turned out to be a good plan. Item: it would probably be good to get a kitchen scale if you want to have a really clear idea of how many jars you're going to be able to fill.

Start by washing your beets and trimming off their leaves. Cut the stems about an inch above the body of the beet, and leave the trailing root ends intact. (Keep your beet greens and saute them with garlic for dinner later.) Then put your beets in a pot, cover them with water, and put them on to boil.

Try to boil your beets in a pan bigger than this. I'm just saying.

No disasters actually occurred. However, just imagine the horror that could ensue with that much boiling beet juice. You do NOT want your beets to boil over.

While you're boiling your beets, prep all your canning equipment. Put the water bath on to boil, sterilize jars, warm lids and rings, etc. Check out the National Center for Home Food Preservation's boiling water canning guidelines if you haven't canned before.

My beets were gigantic, so they took about an hour to cook through. Smaller beets will take somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 to 45 minutes.

When your beets are tender to the point of a knife, drain them and let them cool enough to touch. A cold water bath is not a bad idea here.

Peel the cooked beets by rubbing them with your fingers. The skins will come right off. This is also the point at which your beets will suddenly get ultra-messy, so make sure to wear something that can potentially get beet juice all over it, and keep some towels handy for wiping up puddles of red, red juice before they stain your counter.

Slice the peeled beets into whatever size and shape you desire. I made a lot of quarters and smaller chunks. "Smaller" is relative here, of course.

When your beets are all prepared, make the brine. I used 3 cups of water, 3 cups of apple cider vinegar, and 3 tablespoons of pickling salt. Bring it all to a boil and cook until the salt is completely dissolved. Keep your brine hot.

Now it's time to pack your jars, one at a time. Put a tablespoon of pickling spice in your first jar. Pack the jar with beets. Pour the hot brine over your beets to cover, leaving 1/2 inch of space at the top. Use a chopstick to release as many air bubbles from your jar as possible. Top up the brine if needed before wiping the jar's rim. Top your jar with a hot lid, screw the band to finger tightness, and deposit your jar in your canning rack. Repeat until you're out of beets and brine.

Since I was using both red and golden beets, I ended up with a delightful multicolored variety of pickles. Hooray! I had a few pieces of beet left over, so I poured over the last few bits of brine, added a little bit of pickling spice, and stuck them in the fridge for instant beet pickle.

Process your pickles in a boiling water-bath canner for 10 minutes. Remove to a towel or wire rack on your counter. Let cool for 24 hours. As the cans cool, they'll seal themselves with a loud ping. Hooray! Science!

Test your jar seals before storing your pickled beets. You can do this by trying to lift the jar by the lid (rings removed) or pressing the center of lid to see if it snaps up and down. If any jars didn't seal, just put them in the refrigerator and eat them within a week or two.

What can you do with pickled beets? The classic solution is "put them in salad." If you like beets on burgers, you can put a slice on your burger. If you like the classic ploughman's lunch of bread, cheese, and pickles, beets are an admirable addition. And there's definitely something to be said for a little dish of pickled beets treated as an ordinary vegetable, served alongside whatever main dish you might be having for dinner.

Hooray! Pickled beets! I can't wait to try these.

What are you guys pickling and preserving this fall?

Garlic dill pickles!

There was an entire box of cucumbers in the sort-out bins at the farmer's market this weekend. What better opportunity for pickle-making?

Ok, if I grew my own cucumbers and was suddenly drowning in all the harvest, that would be a better opportunity, yes, but I didn't do that this year. Although I suppose I could start some vines and go ahead--we still have a good two months of serious heat to go. Hey, why not? I did it last year at about this time.

Anyway. Pickles!

Obviously these are not pickling cucumbers. Oh well; let's see what kind of results I get.

I used the garlic dill pickle recipe from Food in Jars.

These were very easy. I soaked my cucumbers in water for several hours, dried them, and cut them into fat chunks. I stuffed the pieces into four sterilized regular-mouth pint jars with dill seed, red pepper flakes, peppercorns, and a couple cloves of garlic each. I made a half recipe of brine by boiling vinegar, water, and pickling salt, and poured it over the cucumbers, filling to 1/2 inch headspace. I wiped the rims, lidded and ringed the jars with sterilized equipage, stuck them in a rack, and processed them in the boiling water canner for 10 minutes. Then I let them cool overnight on a cooling rack on the kitchen counter.

I'm having kind of a hard time not just popping open a jar and eating a few of these, but you're supposed to let canned pickles age for at least a couple weeks, so. I will be good!

It became obvious a few days later, when I was sitting around thinking about how I should make a batch of dilly beans, that I should have made both recipes at once and concentrated the canning heat and vinegar brine into one two-hour session. Oh well--now I have a better plan for next time.

Hooray! Pickles!

Curtido de repollo: Salvadorean cabbage slaw

This weekend was food project weekend. Usually this consists of making a huge pot of something or other that can be not just eaten immediately but also distributed into appropriate containers and strategically frozen for future lazy meals. So, not to totally break the mold, we made and ate (some of) a huge pot of chili.

However, I also shredded an entire green cabbage to try out a batch of curtido de repollo. This is the Salvadorean cabbage slaw traditionally eaten with pupusas, among other things. "Curtido de repollo" just translates as "seasoned cabbage." Of course, here the cabbage is largely seasoned with vinegar and salt, so, you know, it's pickled. And I think I speak for everyone when I say PICKLES!! Make some!

Curtido de repollo is super easy to make. All you really need is a decent knife, a big bowl, and the patience to let the cabbage sit around and pickle. In addition, it's exceptionally cheap; my cabbage cost 39 cents a pound, my carrots came from the farmer's market sort-outs bin, and I got my hot peppers for pennies at the local ethnic market. And have you seen the sheer amount of vegetable you get when you shred a cabbage? Even with shrinkage, we now have enough slaw to last at least a week.

I looked at a selection of different recipes, then decided to make a slight variation on Nathan's Comida's curtido de repollo.

Curtido de repollo

1 small green cabbage
a carrot or two
half a small yellow onion
1.5 cups white vinegar
1 cup water
2 serrano peppers, or whatever works for your spice tolerance
1 tbsp salt

Core and shred your cabbage. Scrub and grate one large carrot or a handful of smaller ones. Finely mince half a small onion. Put all the vegetables in a bowl large enough to hold them. I'd recommend glass, as vinegar reacts with metal.

In a blender, liquefy your serrano peppers with the white vinegar, water, and salt. If you want a less spicy slaw, I'd either cut the pepper amount to one serrano or use jalapeños instead. You could also just cut out the peppers entirely, in which case you can eliminate the blender step and just add everything directly to the cabbage bowl.

Pour the pickling liquid over your vegetables and stir well. Watch out for pepper fumes--serranos are hot.

Now let the slaw sit for three hours before eating. This is by far the most difficult part of the whole process, as the raw cabbage coasted in spicy vinegar etc. is already pretty delicious.

The brine won't cover all the cabbage at first; this is fine. Just stir occasionally to make sure the brine gets in contact with everything. As the cabbage pickles, it'll become limp and exude some juice. Eventually the brine will come just about to the top of the mass of slaw.

After three hours, your curtido de repollo will be ready. Eat it!

So far we have eaten this in big handfuls on top of bowls of the aforementioned chili. I also had a few quesadillas stuffed with slaw for breakfast. Both of these were excellent ideas.

Other combinations:
- Obviously, you should make some pupusas and eat them with slaw stuffed inside.
- Make tacos and slather slaw over their tops. Any filling will obviously be delicious.
- Grill some sort of sausage (meat, vegan, whatever), put it in a bun, and cover it with slaw.
- Pulled pork sandwiches obviously want lots of slaw both in the sandwich and on the side.
- Make an omelet and stuff it with handfuls of slaw, for a variation on the kimchi omelet.
- Make an unsweetened pancake batter, drop in a bunch of slaw, and cook up a bunch of delicious savory pancakes.

I plan on shredding more cabbage into the brine as we eat our way through it, if that seems appropriate. I'm going to try red cabbage, so the whole business turns bright pink.

Now I really want some fish tacos.