Pickle now, crunch later...

Hi there!

I've talked about my love of pickled foods more than a few times, but I haven't really had a chance to go crazy with the pickle-making until a couple of weeks ago.

Pickling veggies for me is almost the culinary equivalent of making art from garbage. I was on a mad fridge cleaning mission and was getting a bit frustrated with all the dairy and other food going into the trash (note to self, cottage cheese is only a good idea if you KNOW you're going to eat it right away). When I got to the crisper drawer, I was faced with shrivelling cucumbers, wrinkling peppers, limpening carrots and (very slowly) imploding golden beets. It was too late for the liquified celery, but I was determined to salvage as much of this vegetable matter as possible. Best way to give new life to old veg? Pickle those suckers!

Now, traditional store-until-zombie-apocalypse pickling is basically the same process as "fridge pickling" with an extra step: You bathe the full Mason jars in boiling water to create a seal and disinfect the jars. Now, that doesn't work for me for two reasons: first, I don't have that many Mason jars, and second, I'm terrified that the boiling water will somehow cause the jars to shatter (I admit it, I have a bit of a neurosis about broken glass ever since I was a kid and had a tiny shard of glass stuck in my foot for months and finally had to dig it out with a pair of scissors. Eep). So, until I get over my glass neuroses,  it's a fridge-pickler's life for me, yo-ho!

It was also a grand opportunity to do some vinegar clean-up, using bits of nearly empty bottles of white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, plain ol' white vinegar, tarragon vinegar, cider vinegar, and even a little balsamic for good measure. Now, this was done mainly out of necessity since I was low on the white wine vinegar I'd normally use, not to mention the white vinegar I would use if out of white wine vinegar, and in the end I had to buy more anyway...

But for the sake of putting out a recipe that makes some sort of sense, I'll stick with only two kinds of vinegar in these recipes, but trust me, they'll still turn out great!

Also, since the most common form of pickled veg are cucumbers, I'm calling those 'pickles', because we all do.




These jars were much fuller two weeks ago...



Pickled Golden Beets and Carrots

Makes one small jar's worth.

Ingredients

- 2-3 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 2-3 golden beets (instructions for beets to follow) - you can use 'regular' beets, but everything will be tinted by the beets - I find the colour profile of golden beets with carrots very bright and cheering.
- 1 half onion, peeled and sliced
- 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups white vinegar
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1/2 tsp pickling spice (the spice mix I had included allspice - probably too much of it, coriander seeds, cinnamon pieces, cloves, mustard seeds, and peppercorns) - you might want to pick through the spice to make sure you aren't using too much of one element over the other.
- 1 tbsp kosher salt (depending on how salty you like it - you can add more if you want it industrial-strength salty)
- pinch of red chili flakes (a little heat makes this even better)
- 1/2 tsp sugar (or more if you want it really sweet)
NOTE: As with most spice blends and trying new things out, sometimes it's best to try your own ideas out and see how they go. I'd love to do some pickling using various dried chilis like guajillo, pasilla and mulatto.

Directions

 - First, you want to roast your beets for about 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees farenheit. Once cooked, set the, aside to cool. Once cool enough, peel the skins off beets. You may get orange fingers as a result. Live with it.

- Next, slice your beets. A lot of recipes call for whole beets, but this is small batch pickling and slices are better for this recipe.

- Place carrots, beets, onion and thyme in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid.
- In a saucepan, combine remaining ingredients to make pickling liquid and bring to a boil.

- Remove from heat and carefully pour pickling liquid over veggies in the jar. If there's too much liquid and not all the spices are coming out, spoon them out and add to the jar.

- Let cool without a lid until lukewarm. Close lid and refrigerate for an hour or so before serving.



Pickled Orange and Yellow Peppers

Ingredients

- 1 orange Bell pepper, cleaned and sliced into rings
- 1 yellow Bell pepper, cleaned and sliced into rings
- 1 half onion, peeled and sliced
- 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme

The rest of the Ingredients and the Directions are exactly the same as with the Beets and Carrots.


Garlic Dill Pickles

I made a different pickling liquid for the cucumbers than the first two, mostly because dill pickles aren't supposed to be sweet!

Ingredients

- 3-4 Kirby cucumbers, cleaned and cut into spears (quartered length-wise, you may want to cut them in half, depending on their size)
- 3-4 garlic cloves, sliced
- 1/4 cup fresh dill
- 1/4 tsp pickling spice
- 1 cup tarragon vinegar
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 2 cups water
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 2 tbsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp dried tarragon
- pinch red chili flakes

Directions

It's the process is the same as the other pickles, but I have a couple of notes. First, you might noticed that garlic shows up twice as an ingredient. That's because you want the garlic slices in the jar with the cukes and dill before adding the pickling liquid, but you also want to flavour the liquid with more garlic, hence the crushed garlic clove. Because more garlic! Secondly, you might be wondering what's up with the tarragon (vinegar and herb). Well, all I can say is try it. I think it adds beautiful flavour to the pickles.

Otherwise, it the same process of: slice veg, put in jar, boil pickling liquid, pour into jar, let jar cool, refrigerate to give veggies crunch and that's that!

Clockwise from top left: Pickled Orange and Yellow Peppers, Pickled Golden Beets and Carrots, Garlic Dill Pickles


As an added bonus snack on ridiculously hot days, you should toast some rye bread, spread some plain yogurt on top, and put some of the Beet-Carrot Pickles and/or Pickled Peppers on top of that and enjoy!



Awesome Summer snacking

 And there you go! Get out there and turn your old veggies into deliciousness!

Cheers!

Too hot to cook

Hey dudes and dudettes, It's about 35 degrees (42 with the humidex) in Ottawa today, the kind of day where the only cooking you're doing is in your clothes. Where the person with the pool wins.

On such a day the last thing you want to do is cook, even on the grill. It's a day of salad and cold food.

Now, you've got a lady/gentleman friend coming over to... I don't know... hang out in your freezer? Well, you need to serve something tasty, right?

Well, with that in mind, here are a few ideas for days like today. All these meals should be served with a fresh baguette, loaf of sourdough or ciabatta buns. Or whatever bread looks tastiest at the bakery... If you need to top the bread with anything, I suggest Boursin cheese - Garlic & Fine Herbs.

1) Greek Salad

Dead easy to make and tasty. There are a number of variations, but traditionally it's a combo of cucumbers, red onion, tomatoes, olives, green peppers and feta cheese.

In this version, I'm replacing the green peppers with red, because of you're anything like me, raw green peppers are the LAST thing you want to eat on a date! Also, omit the red onion if you wish.

Raw onion isn't exactly what your breath needs when trying to seduce, and I also find it can overpower the other flavours.

Here's how you put it together for two people:

Salad

- 1/2 cucumber, diced into 1 cm wide pieces
- 1/2 red onion, sliced or diced (optional)
- 1 small red pepper, diced (OR use roasted red pepper from a jar if you prefer)
- 12 kalamata olives, pitted and sliced in half
- 2 tomatoes, cut into 8 pieces each
- 100 grams crumbled feta cheese

- Assemble all veggies in 2 bowls (try to make it pretty!), top with feta

Dressing

- 2 tbsp olive oil (highest quality is best for dressings, see my second post - I suggest buying a large bottle of so-so quality stuff for frying/sautéing, a smaller bottle of higher end for dressings)
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (about 2 wedges worth)
- pinch dried basil
- pinch dried oregano
- pinch sea salt
- black pepper to taste
- a few drops balsamic vinegar (optional)

- Whisk all ingredients together with a fork

- Top salad with dressing, toss and serve

NOTE: I've also added cut up pieces of Genoa salami to the salad for extra flavour (don't do this if your date is a vegetarian!).

2) Saffron Gazpacho I'm cheating a bit with this one, it's actually a recipe a lady friend made and she got it from the following site: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=10479.msg73108#msg73108. I'm reprinting it anyway.

Now, gazpacho is cold soup, a concept which often hurts the brain of less adventurous diners. But it's delicious and amazingly refreshing on really hot days. You can find saffron at most gourmet grocers or produce stores. It's not cheap but a little goes a long way and it adds an earthy flavour to most foods that's quite interesting.

Saffron Gazpacho

Ingredients:

- 1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
- 1 teaspoon instant vegetable broth powder (this is a handy ingredient to have in many soup recipes, which we'll touch on in a few months when the weather's right for it)
- 1/3 cup finely minced red onion
- 1 small garlic clove, finely minced, or 1 large roasted garlic clove
- 1 cup boiling water
- 2 lbs. ripe plum tomatoes, trimmed, halved, and seeded
- 1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
- 1 cup coarsely chopped roasted red bell pepper
- 2-3 tablespoon sherry or red wine vinegar
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste - chopped chives for garnish

Directions:

- Rub the saffron threads between your palms into a small bowl. Add the broth powder, onion, and raw garlic (if using). Pour the boiling water on top and stir. Cover and let steep for 5 minutes.
- In a food processor or blender, puree the saffron mixture, plum tomatoes, roasted garlic (if using), cucumber, and roasted pepper. Transfer to a glass storage container and stir in vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. (The gazpacho should have a slightly acidic edge.) Cover and chill before serving. Garnish with chives.

3) Antipasto plate

From Wikipedia: Antipasto (plural antipasti), means "before the meal" and is the traditional first course of a formal Italian meal.

An antipasto-style plate makes for a great light dinner or lunch and is quite good for sharing. the best part? You make NOTHING; it's all buy-and-assemble. Well, mostly. Listed are some of the items you'll find on a traditional antipasto plate. All can be found at Italian grocers and usually the supermarket.

- artichoke or palm hearts
- pickled eggplant
- pickled, marinated or fresh mushrooms
- cheese, namely Provolone, Mozzarella, Pecorino and Bocconcini
- sliced Genoa salami (or whatever other salami floats your boat)
- sliced Cappicollo ham
- sliced Prosciutto
- roasted red pepper
- green olives
- cured black olives
- fresh basil

...and what ever else you feel like! As long as it's Mediterranean.

Basically take all ingredients, drain excess liquid from the marinated/pickled items, pit the olives if necessary and arrange it all nicely on a plate. You might want to roll up sliced meats for ease of handling. Serve with chilled wine or some other cool drink! Enjoy!