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I saw this recipe at The Black Peppercorn and I knew I’d have to make it myself. I’ve made Guinness cupcakes, Guinness jelly, even put Guinness in macaroni & cheese. Why not Guinness barbecue sauce? Beer & barbecues go together like… rama lama lama ke ding a de dinga a dong. Or peanut butter & jelly. I love me a good beer. Don’t you?

This was my first attempt at a barbecue sauce. I was a bit nervous, actually, but I think it all worked out just fine in the end.

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GUINNESS BARBECUE SAUCE (adapted slightly from The Black Peppercorn)

Ingredients:

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So that all makes me excited, but I wanted to start pickling again. As you can see, my chives (above left) are starting to get little buds, so I might make some chive blossom vinegar this year. But that’s not what this post is about. So let’s get to the point. Giardiniera.

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Italian giardiniera is also called “sotto aceti”, which means “under vinegar”, a common term for pickled foods. It is typically eaten as an antipasto or with salads.^[2]

In the United States, giardiniera is commonly available in traditional or spicy varieties, and the latter is sometimes referred to as “Hot Mix.”

In the Midwest region of the U.S., giardiniera is used as a condiment, typically as a topping on Italian beef sandwiches.^[3]

A milder variety of giardiniera is used for the olive salad in the Muffuletta sandwich.

The Italian version includes onions, celery, zucchini, carrots, and cauliflower. The pickled vegetables are in red- or white-wine vinegar.

American giardiniera is commonly made with serrano peppers along with a combination of assorted vegetables, including bell peppers, olives, celery, pimentos, carrots, and cauliflower, and sometimes crushed red pepper flakes, all marinated in vegetable oil, olive oil, soybean oil, or any combination of the three. It is also common to see it pickled in vinegar.

Jardinière is a French culinary term, meaning a dish that is cooked or served with a mixture of spring vegetables, such as peas, carrots, and green beans.

I know there are a million variations & recipes for this, but this one is just a basic one that I came up with by combining two recipes; one from the Better Homes & Gardens book, You Can Can & another from the Ball Complete Book of Preserving. This was really a canning request from my mother, who loves Giardiniera. She had requested it a while back but I was in such winter mode, I couldn’t even think of it until we got hit with a stretch of 70+ degree days back in March. Then all of a sudden, I was ready to start making springy foods & pickles again. I made some Bourbon pickles but it wasn’t enough. I wanted to jar up some more fresh veggies. And what better way to do that than this? IT’S LIKE A GARDEN… IN A JAR!

I adapted it a bit seeing as she’s not a fan of zucchini & that seems to be prevalent in a lot of recipes. But I’m including the zucchini in the recipe below. This looked so beautiful in the jar from start to finish I couldn’t believe it. I could hardly stop taking pictures of it!

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The point is, basically you can add whatever you want or take away whatever you want. That’s the beauty of it. You can use all of it: zucchini, carrots, cauliflower and the three colors of peppers, or you can use a hot pepper instead, or you can omit the zucchini or omit the carrots (but really who doesn’t like carrots!?) or even add pimentos. Heck- add green beans if you want. It’s just that simple. Honestly. Have I ever lied to you?

It smelled insane while cooking. INSANE.

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SMALL-BATCH GIARDINIERA

Makes about 3 pints

Ingredients:

• One smallish head of cauliflower (preferably organic/pesticide free), cut into florets
• One each of a large red/green & yellow Bell pepper (again, preferably organic/pesticide free), cut into strips
• Three large whole carrots (yet again… preferably organic/pesticide free), peeled and cut into slices
• One half of a large white onion, cut into rings and then each ring cut into quarters
• 1 small celery (you know the drill), cut into ¼” thick slices
• 1 small zucchini (ditto), cut into ¼” thick slices
• 3 cups white vinegar (5%)
• 1 ¼ cups water
• 1 tablespoon pickling or canning salt
• 1 ¼ cups white sugar
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 fresh garlic cloves, finely minced

Directions:

1. Prep, wash & cut all your vegetables & keep them in separate bowls. Mince garlic. Prepare water bath canner, and sterilize jars and lids. Keep jars warm. Set aside.
2. In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine water, vinegar, sugar, pepper, garlic and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat, cover and boil gently for 5 minutes, until the spices have infused the liquid.
3. Add the cauliflower, onions, zucchini, celery and carrots and return to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in peppers.
4. Pack vegetables into jars with a slotted spoon within to a generous ½” of the top of jar. Ladle the hot pickling liquid in to cover vegetables, leaving ½” headspace. remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if necessary, by adding more liquid (you may not use all the liquid). Wipe rims, center lids and screw bands on until resistance is met. Then adjust to fingertip-tight.
5. Place jars in canner, ensuring they’re covered by at least 1-2″ of water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Turn off heat, remove canner lid and wait 5 minutes. Then carefully remove jars, cool, and store. Enjoy!

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I really think it’s the prettiest thing I ever canned up. Truly. Everything around here has been all pastel & pink & pretty lately, and then this was like a technicolor shock to the system. Seriously, have you seen prettier Giardiniera, ever? No. No you have not. Testimonial time:

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If you’re thinking of making this, and you have no previous canning experience, please take a peek at this post and read my (very basic) summary of what you’ll need to start. Then move on to the USDA’s directions (much clearer & informative, I admit). It’s not difficult, but you have a lot of reading to do to make sure you’re doing it right/have the proper materials, etc. The last thing you need is to give someone botulism. So yeah, be responsible & do your homework first. Then you can go ahead & make Giardiniera all damn day long.

Anyway, that’s that. Put it in a salad, put it on a sandwich, mix it with cooked chilled pasta for a quick pasta salad, pop it on a pizza, or eat it right out of the jar. Whatever. The liquid can be used as salad dressing too, once the vegetables are gone. Just mix it with a little oil. And again, like I said… it’s SO EASY. Literally the longest part of the process is the cutting of the veggies. Once that’s done, it’s 1-2-3. Just don’t cheat & buy a bag of frozen mixed vegetables. That’s awful. And lazy. Use top notch fresh ingredients and you’ll see how amazing it really is. I prefer to buy organic for things like this, just because of the lack of pesticides and since I’m using the entire thing (as opposed to just the pulp of an orange, etc), it freaks me out not to. But really, any good, fresh vegetables will do. Far be it from me to tell you how much to spend or what to buy. Buy what you’re comfortable with & what you can afford. Most of all… enjoy it. Enjoy the shopping for ingredients, enjoy the cutting & chopping, enjoy the process, enjoy the eating. Shopping for fresh vegetables & fruit at this time of year is all the fun! But of course, I can’t discount the ingesting of ‘em either.

Happy Spring!

I haven’t made pickles since September. Probably because cucumbers are no longer “in season”; meaning I can still get them, but they’re far from the best quality. They’re somewhat wonky-looking for the most part. But of course, I can pick a pickle pretty good, so I decided instead of waiting for cucumber season I just went for it & picked the best damn cucumbers I could out of the offerings at the store. Why? Because I wanted to make some of these.

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Bourbon pickles & maple-bourbon pickles. Inspired by the Brooklyn Brine Company’s Whiskey Sour pickles, which I first saw in Williams-Sonoma. I decided to make a jar or two of these for Jay. I’m not cheap, far from it, but paying $12.95 for 24 oz. of pickles seemed a bit… over-indulgent. Especially when I figured I could make them myself. At first he wasn’t sure how he’d feel about them, but then he had one of their pickles when he played a show at the St. Vitus Bar & raved about it, so I thought “Why not make one teensy jar of them & see?” It seemed unique enough. How bad could it be? It’s pickles + whiskey. That’s a pretty rock star pickle.

That is not actually Brooklyn, it’s San Antonio. Whatever.

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I mean, dude up there just got back from the Netherlands where he performed with Cannibal Corpse, Behemoth, Napalm Death & a ton of other famous metal bands. Crazy, right?

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So yeah. I had to make him something special, & this is something special. Like I said, its one rock star pickle. Not to mention the fact that it includes whiskey makes it appropriate for St. Patty’s Day too. I mean, pickles are green, whiskey reminds me of being Irish (Irish whiskey, Irish coffee, hello?) and that’s enough for me. In case you’re wondering, a Pickleback is an actual thing you can order in some bars. That name for it originated at The Bushwick Country Club in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 2007. It’s a shot of whiskey (from what I’ve read, it’s usually Jameson, but at The Bushwick Country Club they use Old Crow) with a pickle juice, or brine, chaser (they use McClure’s). The brine neutralizes the burn of the alcohol & the taste of the whiskey. Once I learned that, through a NYT article from almost 2 years ago, I thought the whiskey pickle idea was even more interesting. See, I’m not a whiskey girl. All I know about it is that if I’m forced to drink it in any capacity & I’m given a choice… I’ll take Jameson over Jack any damn day of the week. But other than that forget it. I’m lost. Whiskey, Rye, Bourbon, it’s all Greek to me. So I asked Jay what to use in these & he gave me a bottle of Blanton’s to use. It’s not a super high-end bourbon, yet it’s not the cheapest, so the flavor is decent. You don’t want to use cheap stuff for this, it might sounds obvious but really… the flavor is going to dictate the pickles so please don’t use gasoline-tasting whiskey just to save money. Use one that actually can be enjoyed on it’s own.

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New York & pickles are synonymous it seems, especially to New Yorkers. So therefore Brooklyn has quite a history with pickles. I love Brooklyn. I spend some of my spare time looking at gorgeous pre-war apartments (that I’ll probably never actually move into) with exposed brick in Brooklyn (along with many other places like the Upper & Lower East Side, etc). I think Brooklyn is amazing (for the most part, there are a lot of shitty things about it too). I love the Brooklyn Bowl, I love the Brooklyn Brewery & I love Radegast Hall. I’ve never been to the St. Vitus Bar but from what I heard it’s sweet, I have been to Duff’s though (not impressed- seeing that “metal” chick from Fuse dancing on tables in a corset isn’t my idea of fun). And now there’s Brooklyn Brine Co. And the thing I like about Brooklyn Brine Co. is that they’re making interesting things like this & lavender asparagus, chipotle carrots & fennel beets. Not to mention their maple bourbon bread & butter pickles. Yeah, I know. Needless to say those were on Jay’s list too, so I had to make them as well (keep reading for that). So yes, I dig what they’re doing over there. But I’m confident enough that I can do it too; and not have to buy theirs.

MARILLA’S “PICKLEBACK” WHISKEY-BRINE PICKLES

Makes about 4 pints

Ingredients:

• 8-10 small pickling cucumbers (about 3 pounds), or regular cucumbers if you’re going to slice them into chips… I usually use Kirby’s myself (just don’t use the large waxed ones!)
• 1 cup white vinegar
• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 cups water
• ½ cup whiskey
• 2 tablespoons sea salt
• 4 heads fresh dill or 4 heaping teaspoons dill seeds
• 2 teaspoons pickling spice
• ½ teaspoon mustard seed
• a dash of freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon hot pepper flakes or one Serrano chili pepper, finely diced
• dash of chili powder (optional)
• 4 small cloves garlic

Directions:

1. Cut a thin slice from the ends of each cucumber. This prevents a “mushy” pickle, as the ends of cucumbers contain an enzyme that makes them mushy. Then slice cucumbers as you like- slices, spears or sandwich-size; or leave them whole. Place jars in canner to sterilize them and place lids in hot water to soften seal.
2. Meanwhile, combine vinegar, water, and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove hot jars from canner. Pour ⅛ cup whiskey or bourbon in each jar. Place 1 head fresh dill or 1 heaping teaspoon dill seeds, ½ teaspoon pickling spice, the mustard seed, black pepper, hot pepper flakes and 1 smashed clove of garlic into each jar; pack in cucumbers tightly.
3. Pour boiling vinegar/water mixture over cucumbers to within ½ inch of rim (head space). Place lids & bands. Process 10 minutes for pint jars and 15 minutes for quart jars.
4. Allow jars to sit for at least one week before opening for optimal flavor, but no one will kill you if you crack one open early.

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The color changes after the processing in the water bath. Ever notice that about pickles? That they’re usually a darker army-green in the jar, whereas Kosher dills stay brighter? That all has to do with fermenting vs. processing, and the vinegar brine vs. a salty water brine. End of today’s lesson.

Because of the apple cider vinegar & whiskey, they should be a bit on the sweeter side, but not too sweet. The white vinegar, garlic, peppers & salt would make up for it. I made this recipe up based on the ingredients the Brooklyn Brine Co. lists as being in their Whiskey Sour pickles, so I am in no way saying it’s the same exact flavor or pickle- especially since I didn’t use the same type of peppers or the same brand of whiskey (they use Finger Lakes Distilling McKenzie Rye Whiskey). This is just my version of it. That said, they do sell a pickling kit, however I do not think it’s for their Whiskey pickles, unless they include a recipe for it in the recipe packet.

As far as the maple bourbon pickles, I just used the same recipe as above, but I added caramelized onions, ⅛ cup good quality maple syrup (added with the whiskey) and omitted the hot pepper. I also cut the cukes into “chips” with a crinkled cutter instead of making spears. I also couldn’t find decent Kirby’s so I used small “snacking” cucumbers, which are longer & thinner than Kirby’s, hence the tiny little chips I got. I also added some caramelized onions to the regular bourbon pickles, because I made more than I needed for just one jar.

As soon as these babies are opened & Jay gives me his expert opinion, I’ll come back & edit this with the reviews & results.

EDIT 3/15/12: Okay the results are in! Consensus is that they’re both “fucking awesome.” Jay favors the maple-bourbon but said they’re both equally amazing. The regular bourbon batch could’ve used a slightly bigger hit of heat, so keep that in mind. I’d go for doubling the amount of pepper flakes in the recipe above; if you’re using actual Serrano you might be fine, especially if you leave in the seeds. In the spirit of knowledge, I tried both & it’s amazing how true it is that the vinegary pickle brine & the bourbon interact in such a way that you end up without the intensity of the alcohol & without the super tang of the brine. Good luck & happy pickling!

*blank stare*

*crickets*

*tumble weeds blow past*

Yeah. No vinegar. He likes old fashioned Kosher dill deli pickles. His favorite pickles, Bubbies, are made without vinegar. So back in July he asked me try and make pickles that way, and the first recipe I came upon was this one. It looked really easy, got good reviews (it’s on David Leibovitz’s website, how could it not) and the photos looked great, so I tried it.

EASIEST PICKLES EVER.

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The part about these that’s good for most people is they aren’t canned/jarred, so you don’t need special equipment to make them. Just any old jar will do, even an old spaghetti sauce jar. David says:

Arthur advises making sure the cukes aren’t bitter before pickling them, so be sure to take a bite of one. In the US, at farmer’s markets, they often give samples first. If you live somewhere, like say, in Paris, you can do something similar to My Trader Joe’s Wine Test: Buy a bottle, take it out to the parking lot, open it, and take a swig. If it’s good, go back and buy a case.

I found the recipe made a bit more brine than I needed, but that’s probably because my cucumbers were different than what was advised in the recipe. Just for fun, I did one jar by splitting the cucumbers lengthwise and they worked great. It’s a good tip if you want your pickles in a hurry since that jar was ready after just days of fermenting.

ARTHUR SCHWARTZ’S HOMEMADE KOSHER DILL PICKLES (Adapted by David Leibovitz from Arthur Schwartz’s Jewish Home Cooking)

Ingredients:

• 4 quarts water
• 6 tablespoons coarse white salt (Kosher, if available)
• 18-20 Kirby cucumbers, scrubbed
• 8 cloves garlic, unpeeled and lightly-crushed
• 2 tablespoons pickling spice
• 6 bay leaves*
• 1 large bunch of dill, preferably going to seed, washed
• sanitized jars

Directions:

1. In a large pot, bring 1 qt (1l) water to a boil with the salt, stirring until the salt is dissolved. Remove from heat and add the remaining water.
2. Prepare three 1 quart (liter) wide mouth jars (or 6 pint jars) by running them through the dishwasher or filling them with boiling water, then dumping it out.
3. Pack the cucumbers vertically into the jars, making sure they’re tightly-packed. As you fill the jars, divide the garlic, spices, bay leaves, and dill amongst them.
4. Fill the jars with brine so that the cucumbers are completely covered. Cover the jars with cheesecloth, secured with rubber bands, or loosely with the lids. Store in a cool, dark place for 3 days.
5. After 3 days, taste one. The pickles can ferment from 3 to 6 days. The longer the fermentation, the more sour they’ll become. Once the pickles are to your liking, refrigerate them.

Please be aware that the recipe as it’s written above makes A LOT OF PICKLES. Be sure to reduce it based on how much you want to make.

What I did, since it was so hot when I first made these back in July, was after 12 hours of sitting in a dark cabinet, I put the pickles in the fridge anyway. I figured the 100+ degree weather wouldn’t help, and there certainly weren’t many “cool” places that I could safely store a jar. I mean, sure, the A/C works well, but the kitchen is always the hottest room & I can’t realistically store pickles in the living room behind the couch or in the bedroom under the bed (that’s where the monsters are, duh). I used a glass jar with a hinge closure that has a rubber seal & they claim it’s 100% airtight, but it really isn’t; I know this because when tilted for a test, a little dribble of brine worked itself out. Either way, I left it open just a bit the first 12 hours. Then I closed it to put it in the fridge because the last thing I want is for it to get knocked over, the cap fly off and waste all the brine, in turn causing my fridge to smell like a deli. Ikea sells some really nice fancy-looking jars that would work well for a refrigerator pickle recipe, but again any jar will do. A Kerr/Ball mason jar, an old spaghetti sauce or pickle jar, etc. And now is the perfect time to make these, because the weather is getting much cooler & you don’t have to stress about where to put them.

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I used dill seeds & dill weed, because I had no fresh dill, and it worked just fine. Also, I didn’t tightly pack them. Mainly because I was making other pickles at the time and didn’t want to waste a lot of cucumbers on this recipe that might not pan out. But my fears & worries were for naught; they smelled fantastic after just 12 hours. Jay didn’t try one until almost 4 days of fermenting, and he said they were awesome, and couldn’t stop eating them. Maybe I’ve succeeded in nudging Bubbies out of the way? I think so. And it’s such an easy way to make them; no water bath, no sealing the jars, etc. Not that any of that is difficult, really, ’cause it isn’t. But it was way quicker to make. And he loved them, so they were a huge success in my book. So of course, I had to make another batch. Two, actually. And probably a third before the fresh cukes disappear.

Just be aware that this is not a safe method for keeping the pickles for a long period of time. It’s meant for eating fairly soon, and for storage in a fridge. Check them for funky smells or funky things growing in there, and if you don’t refrigerate it for a few days, even if it’s in a very cool place… keep an eye on it even more. I’ve heard gross things. Horror stories, I tell you. I’m talking about pickles growing hands & feet & walking away… that kind of thing.

So there you have it. Über easy Kosher deli-style pickles, made without vinegar & no “complicated” water baths or canning processes. Don’t say I never gave you anything. Now seriously- bring on the fall!

It all makes sense though. Sort of. Tomatoes à la Lady Gaga. Right?

Maybe. Has a certain ring to it.

By the way, did you know she went to a Catholic high school that has the same name as the one I went to, that’s also in NY? Betcha didn’t.

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Lady Gaga probably wouldn’t think so. And although she herself might be Italian, and I might be talking about Roma tomatoes, but this is really not an old fashioned Italian recipe at all. It’s more Russian or Romanian, as pickled tomatoes are really big over there. Roma tomatoes are known as the best tomatoes to use for canning sauces & for sauce in general, really. They have the most ‘meat’ on them, the least skin, and far less water content; meaning they make a thicker sauce with less work. This was my first year growing Roma’s, and I wasn’t really sure when I planted them what I was going to do with them, but once I started to get into canning I knew that I’d probably can ‘em up right away. Although I had prepared to jar them up as a sauce originally, what I ended up doing was pretty different: pickled green & red tomatoes, inspired by a Liana Krissoff recipe. And not just Roma’s, Better Boy’s too. Better Boy’s are juicy yet meaty tomatoes that are larger than Roma’s (yet really aren’t all that large) and the plants yield quite a large amount of fruit each season. There’s no song that immediately comes to mind when I hear “Better Boy”, however.

…Better Boy’s (top left & two green’s) and Roma’s (bottom)…

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I picked two Better Boy tomatoes while they were green, and two that were turning red/orange, also three Roma’s. I ended up with three half-pint jars of pickled tomato goodness. Of course, I adjusted the recipe to utilize the amount of tomatoes I had. If you have more, then by all means use them- but just adjust the recipe for your own needs. I have more tomatoes growing, but I thought a few jars of these were plenty. I don’t like to put up huge batches of things, I not only don’t have the room but I’m not a fan of monotony. I do this for fun, not to survive over a long winter… & canning 20 jars of the same thing gets tedious and boring. I like to mix it up.

Tomatoes, and their iffy acid levels are on the borderline of “what can be safely canned using a water bath process.” Many people will tell you not to can your own tomato sauce or whole tomatoes without a pressure canner. I think that’s silly, considering the addition of lemon juice or citric acid solves the acid dilemma right off the bat, and processing them for a good 20+ minutes definitely kills the bad guys that are in there anyway. Not to mention the fact I know plenty of people who make ancient (well, not quite ancient) family sauce recipes & jar them every year and none of them have ever died. With these, though, there’s not much of a chance for anything gross to even survive from the get go. The use of lemon juice ups the acid and the vinegar/salt & water bath do the rest. Of course, I’m not saying go out & can up some beef stew in a water bath… that’s a bit different. But tomatoes, tomatoes are okay, especially with the right acid level. So don’t let people make you feel bad for canning your own tomato sauce with that age old family recipe: you will not single-handedly kill your entire family. Unless you’re an idiot who shouldn’t be canning, period. But anyway… if the thought of it still scares you, try these to use up your tomatoes. They’re surprising. Very easy, very delicious & very unique.

I say green & red tomatoes, but really none of mine were 100% mature or fully red. They were more orangey, some with yellow. They look red in the jars, though, so there ya go.

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PICKLED GREEN & RED TOMATOES

Makes 3 half-pint jars

First you get:

• 2 pounds smallish green & red tomatoes, different varieties are okay just so long as they’re all in varying degrees of maturity, but none too soft, ripe or too small/large (make sure that when sliced, they fit in the jars nicely); or about 6-7 small/medium tomatoes
• 2 cups distilled 5% acidity white vinegar
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• 2 rounded tablespoons pickling salt
• 1 teaspoon celery seeds
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• pinch of dried sage
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• one medium sweet onion, sliced (optional)

Then you get your pickle on this way:

1. Wash the tomatoes thoroughly, remove the stem & “core” at the tops and slice them into ¼” -to- ½” thick round slices. Soak the sliced tomatoes in the lemon juice in a medium bowl for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, sanitize your jars & lids, keeping them hot.
2. Combine the vinegar, sugar, celery seeds, mustard seeds, sage and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Place the tomato mixture in the hot jars, stacking them nicely and also making sure they’re packed as tight as possible (you can also add sliced sweet onion in between tomato layers at this point if you like). Ladle in the liquid, pausing to remove air bubbles & air pockets with a small rubber spatula or chopstick as you go. Fill the jars with the liquid, leaving ¼” headspace. Discard any extra liquid.
3. Wipe rims and place lids & bands on. Process in a water bath for 10 minutes. Remove to cool, dark area & do not disturb for 12 hours. Check for seal after one hour, and if it hasn’t sealed, refrigerate and use immediately. Refrigerate all jars right before opening & using, they just taste better chilled.

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This would also work with different kinds of heirloom tomatoes. The jars would look gorgeous piled high with different colored tomatoes- dark red, purpleish, yellow, green, red, orange, etc. Can you imagine how these would look? Phenomenal. Or these. But either way, plain ol’ tomatoes did the job just right. If you don’t have pickling salt, Kosher salt is fine. Regular Iodized salt will cause a cloudy liquid, however, so I’d avoid it for aesthetic reasons. You can certainly use all red tomatoes too, so if you’re getting bored with sauce or traditional canned tomatoes, maybe give a jar or two of these a try. I didn’t use the onion, myself, but Liana says it’s another option.

I highly recommend these on a sandwich; roast chicken with mayonnaise & freshly ground black pepper. Equally good on a sandwich also made with some sliced Bell peppers in oil, or even on a grilled cheese made with Monterey Jack cheese on sourdough bread, and apparently even delicious right out of the jar. So do as you wish as far as that goes. I won’t tell anyone if you eat them by themselves. It’ll be our secret. Wanna know one of my secrets? I like turtles.

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With this batch of tomatoes, I really wanted to jar up some sauce. But in the meantime, damn, I’m glad I pickled these.

“Ohh what are those? Pickled carrots?! I need to try them…”
“Mmm those habanero pickles look good, I think I’ll try one!”
“Holy crap- you made dilly beans?! I haven’t had one of those in years… lemme get one…”
“Wow lemon marmalade. Is it good? Can I try some?”

And then all the jars sit in the fridge getting picked at here and there, taking up space. Except for the regular cucumber pickles; the pickles go like hotcakes. I can barely keep a jar for longer than a week or two tops. So after the successful potato salad I made with dilly beans, I brainstormed this macaroni salad to incorporate and use up some of the pickled goodies sitting open in my fridge. I had some pickled carrots, dilly beans, peppers in oil & regular dill pickles, so that’s what I used. Of course, you can definitely substitute plain slivered carrots, chopped fresh Bell peppers and some chopped fresh green beans too… but it’ll be a totally different taste & flavor profile.

Keep in mind also that pretty much anything could be added: pickled zucchini, cauliflower, etc. Whatever you have open & whatever tickles your pickle (pun intended). Just chop it up & toss it on in there. You can adapt it to suit you in any way, including removing the mustard or removing the red wine vinegar & using all white, etc. Also, you can adjust the ratio of vinegar to mayonnaise as you like it.

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Everyone loved it. LOVED IT. It was requested for lunch quite a bit that week.

The pickled carrots come from Molly Wizenberg‘s book, A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table. I mentioned that lately I’d been reading through it again a few posts back, well I also saw the pickled carrots while re-reading it & became intrigued. They took no time to make, seeing as how they were really a form of “refigerator pickles” & were a welcome addition to not only this salad, but my refrigerator. I subbed fresh sprigs of rosemary for the thyme because my mother has an allergy to thyme, so I try to avoid using it in anything she’ll be eating. Now I understand that if you already have an excess of pickled vegetables, you might not want to add to it by making pickled carrots. And I really do understand. But in case you’re intrigued like I was, or you’d like to make them for your salad, I’m including Molly’s exact recipe. Mine differs slightly; I used rosemary instead of thyme, omitted the peppercorns & mustard seed but added freshly ground black pepper, and didn’t add the red pepper flakes either. But that’s something you can figure out for yourself. Same goes for the amount, I made one pint jar by adjusting the ingredients to accommodate it, which is certainly something you can do. If you used a variety of different colored heirloom carrots, it’d make an even more beautiful jar. Next time, that’s what I’ll do.

By the way, this is in the gluten-free category for the pickled carrots, not the macaroni salad, although you could definitely use gluten-free pasta. Same goes for whole wheat pasta or any kind you’d prefer. I like the tri-color because it adds to the prettiness, but that’s just a purely aesthetic reason.

They look gorgeous in the jar.

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SPICY PICKLED CARROTS WITH GARLIC & THYME (from A Homemade Life)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups apple cider vinegar, plus more off topping jars
• 2 cups water, plus more for topping jars
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 6 (5-to 6-inch) sprigs of fresh thyme
• 5 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 ½ teaspoons black peppercorns, cracked
• 1 ½ teaspoons red pepper flakes
• Heaping 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• Heaping 2 tablespoons mustard seeds
• 1 ½ pounds small (finger sized) carrots, or standard or baby sized carrots cut into sticks about ½” inch wide and 3 inches long

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, combine 1 ½ cups apple cider vinegar, water, sugar, garlic, thyme, black peppercorns, red pepper flakes, salt & mustard seeds. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to a simmer & cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, and let cool for 5 minutes. Stir in the remaining ½ cup vinegar.
2. Put the carrots in a large, heatproof bowl, and pour the warm brine over them. Cool to room temperature. While they cool, wash 2 quart-sized canning jars and their lids in warm, soapy water.
3. When the carrots & brine are cooled, distribute the carrots evenly among the jars, arranging them snugly. (Hands & fingers work best for this; tongs make a mess). Using a ladle, ladle the brine evenly among the jars. The carrots should be covered completely. If not, add a mixture of 2 parts vinegar and 1 part water to cover.
4. Seal firmly & refrigerate for at least 3 days, or preferably a week. Carrots are dense & take time to absorb the brine. Carrots will last indefinitely (in theory) but try to eat them within a month or two (unless you give them a 10-minute waterbath, then they’ll probably last longer*).

PICKLED & PRESERVED MULTICOLOR MACARONI SALAD

Ingredients:

• 1 pound tri-color pasta, cooked
• 1 ½ cups mayonnaise
• 5 teaspoons spicy brown mustard
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 4 teaspoons white vinegar
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• ½ cup slivered pickled carrots (or regular baby carrots)
• ¼ cup chopped dilly beans
• 4 or 5 sweet Bell peppers in oil, chopped
• 1 pickle spear, cut into ¼” pieces
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• 3 hardboiled eggs, sliced then quartered
• Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Mix shallot and vinegars together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
2. Combine the mustard, mayonnaise, salt, pepper and paprika thoroughly in another medium bowl. In a third and larger bowl, add the cooked pasta and mayonnaise mixture together. Mix completely.
3. Add the vinegar mixture and pickled vegetables and again mix thoroughly. Finally, add the eggs and gently toss.
4. Place in refrigerator until chilled. Add more mayonnaise or vinegar right before serving if too dry.

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Yeah bitches. That’s one colorful, bright & happy macaroni salad. How could you not smile while eating that?

I never imagined back in February when I first read Molly Wizenberg’s book, A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, that in just a few months I’d relate to it so deeply. Literally, about 5 months after finishing it, my life was turned into a chapter from the book. Of course, in the book, Molly chronicles the loss of her father, and I lost my grandmother. But to me it doesn’t matter. When you lose someone who is such a big part of your life, then you can’t possibly be bothered with labels or monikers or anything. It transcends a word like ‘mother’ or ‘father’ and becomes an emotion. A piece of you. A part of your life that’s so much more than just an ambiguous noun or description such as “grandmother.”

So it wasn’t long ago when I spotted the book on my shelf & , remembering what it was about, opened it up again. I started re-reading it, in sporadic blips, a little bit each day. Laughing along with her at some parts, and tearing up (okay, fine- even crying a little bit) with her at others. I wanted to high five her when she wrote:

When your father dies, especially if he is older, people like to say things such as, “He was lucky. He lived a long, full life.” It’s hard to know what to say to that. What often comes to mind is, “Yes, you’re right. He was seventy-three, so I guess it was his time. But did you know him? Did you see how he was? He bought wine futures seven months before he died. He saw patients the afternoon he was diagnosed. He wasn’t finished.

Needless to say, you get that even more when it’s a grandparent, not to mention one who’s over 90. I mean, I have friends who lost parents who were 30+ years younger than that, so I realize she did indeed live a very long life. And yes, she was lucky to have been healthy. And sure, I’m aware of the cycle of life & that this is the ultimate result of everyone’s life. But in reality, those who knew my grandmother knew she was not ready to go. She had no intentions of dying. She was not sick. She wasn’t tired of living. She had a lot to live for. She wasn’t one of these old ladies or men who said “God please take me now.” Nuh uh. Not her. She was present in the here & now. She watched Lady Gaga on American Idol (& loved it). She read about Beyoncé in the July issue of W magazine. Every fashion magazine I subscribe to, I’d pass on to her when I was finished & she’d read them. Speaking of, she read books, magazines & the newspaper every day. She was planning outfits she was going to wear in the winter & fall. She was polishing the lock on her Louis Vuitton bag a few days before she died, because God forbid she went out somewhere & someone thought she looked like “a rag bag.” She wasn’t finished. She was probably just as angry that she had to leave us as we were. What happened to her was a random, unfair, terrible thing that could happen to anyone, at any time, at any age; a fast moving intracerebral brain hemorrhage. It was not related to her health, or lifestyle, or medicine, or anything else. It was not expected. And the fact that she was 93 & “lived a long life” means nothing to me & is of no comfort in terms of her being taken from me so quickly. I took care of her, spent my entire life with her, was with her practically since I was born. I made sure she took pills when she started to forget, took her to the doctor and made sure she was happy & comfortable & had the best quality of life a 93-year-old could possibly have. She was my godmother, my grandmother, my friend, my biggest supporter (other than my parents, of course), my ally, my defender, and the list goes on. The loss of her presence in my life goes beyond losing a grandparent.

I’d been keeping busy, my hands & my mind working overtime in the kitchen. Pickles, jams, jellies, sauces, salsas, canned peppers, the list goes on. I was a lunatic for making things. I couldn’t stop. Slowly, things got a little better. I slowed down a little. With the coming of the fall, baking started again, and I finally got into the groove of cooking normal sized dinners. I allowed myself to relax. I’m trying to let myself be excited about Halloween, my favorite holiday, since all the stores are full of the decorations & candy already. But really, the sadness remains. It’s going to be a year of firsts for me, and each one is going to be rough. I let myself be sad, and I let myself have a good cry, but I’m really trying to be positive & enjoy life like she did. However, I still can’t sit down for a few minutes with nothing to do, unless it’s to write an e-mail or a blog post, or watch a TV show or movie, or sew, or read something I’m really into… because if my brain isn’t working it starts to slowly go there. And there is the place I don’t want it to go. So instead of that… I make things like Habanero jelly. Not that I’m avoiding my grief, but I’m trying to avoid the melancholy that accompanies remembering she’s not here. I’d rather think of her in happy times & not be so sad. It’s difficult- and it hasn’t even been two months.

So yes. Clearly, this post is about my crazy need to create things & those super-hot little fiery orange peppers that were hangin’ around in my garden this year- Habaneros. Habanero’s are pretty prolific, so of course I ended up with a lot of them. I wound up making three different recipes to use up all those little balls of fire I harvested. While none of the following three recipes are from Molly’s book, they’re all equally excellent. And easy.

The habanero chilli ( /ˌhɑːbəˈnɛəroʊ/; Spanish: [aβaˈneɾo]; Capsicum chinense) is one of the more intensely piquant species of chili peppers of the Capsicum genus. It is sometimes misspelled (and mispronounced) habañero—the diacritical mark being added as a hyperforeignism.^[1][2] Unripe habaneros are green, and they color as they mature. Common colors are orange and red, but white, brown, and pink are also seen. Typically a ripe habanero is 2–6 centimetres (0.8–2.4 in) long. Habanero chili peppers are rated 100,000–350,000 on the Scoville scale.^[3]

The exact origins of the pepper are unknown, but some speculate that it originated in South America and migrated north to Mexico and the Caribbean via Colombia; an intact fruit of a small domesticated Habanero was found in Pre-ceramic levels in Guitarrero Cave in the Peruvian highlands and was dated to 6500 B.C.^[4] Upon its discovery by Spaniards, it was rapidly disseminated to other adequate climate areas of the world, to the point that 18th-century taxonomists mistook China for its place of origin and called it “Capsicum chinense”—the Chinese pepper.^[5][6][7]

The Habanero is often mistakenly referred to as the hottest pepper in the world; that honor currently belongs to the “Butch T” cultivar of Trinidad Scorpion.

Colombia and parts of the United States including Texas, Idaho, and California. While Mexico is the largest consumer of this spicy ingredient, its flavor and aroma have become increasingly popular all over the world.

Habaneros are an integral part of Yucatecan food. Habanero chilies accompany most dishes in Yucatán, either in solid or purée/salsa form.

The Scotch bonnet is often compared to the habanero since they are two varieties of the same species but have different pod types. Both the Scotch bonnet and the habanero have the characteristic thin, waxy flesh. They have a similar heat level and flavor. Although both varieties average around the same level of heat, the actual degree of “heat” varies greatly from one fruit to another with genetics, growing methods, climate, and plant stress.

The habanero’s heat, its fruity, citrus-like flavor, and its floral aroma have made it a popular ingredient in hot sauces and spicy foods. Habaneros are sometime placed in tequila or mezcal bottles, particularly in Mexico, for a period ranging from several days to several weeks, to make a spiced version of the drink.

- Wikipedia

Okay so now let’s get down to brass tacks. I LOVE hot sauce. Tapatio, Cholula, Tabasco, Frank’s Red Hot; you name it, I love it. I put it on french fries, chicken fingers, sometimes burgers or corn on the cob or even pizza. I make hot chicken subs with it (coating fried chicken cutlets with plenty of hot sauce, then putting them on toasted hoagie rolls, covering them with mozzarella & broiling them for a few minutes… yum). I love Buffalo wings. I love salsa or barbecue sauce with a little kick. I like Cajun spicy shrimp & chicken. I’m definitely one of those people who likes some heat, unlike Jay who is hot sauce phobic. He won’t admit it, but he really doesn’t like things that are too hot (except for me- HAHA… kidding) or spicy. He has a more sensitive palate to it I guess, because things that I find somewhat mild he finds pretty hot. He likes mild Buffalo wings or hot sauce, nothing too crazy. Whereas I’m willing to try just about anything with a kick and most of the time I’ll love it. So sadly, I’m the only one around here who really likes the hotter side of things.

The first harvest of 4 Hab’s… the next week gave me 6 more!

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When I bought my Habanero pepper plant, which was totally on a whim, I brought it home & planted it and then thought, “What am I going to do with this thing!?” It’s not really the kind of pepper most people want to happen upon in their salsa. Habanero’s rate as one of hottest peppers on the Scoville scale at a whopping 100,000–350,000! Just to put that in perspective, a Jalapeno is about 2,500 – 8,000. Habanero’s are pretty intense. There are only 5 things hotter on the Scoville, one of them being 100% pure capsaicin (the element that makes peppers hot) and another is law enforcement grade pepper spray. Think about that for a second. Yeah. Exactly.

Funny thing is, they’re unassuming little things. Small, cute little orange peppers that all but beg you to try them. Even a little backyard creature around here was fooled- one was bitten off the plant and then tossed aside right near it with one teeny little bite mark. I feel bad for that poor rabbit or squirrel. I hope they had some sour cream or whole milk laying around to soothe the burn!

So basically, I was at a loss as to what to do with my Habanero’s. And as they grew & grew, I started to think more about them, and when I realized I’d get way more than one or two this season, I started to really think. There are tons of hot sauce recipes out there, and they’re all awesome sounding. Especially one by Rick Bayless. But I wanted more than just a hot sauce recipe that would make 8 jars of super hot sauce that only I would eat. Plus, isn’t that what everyone would do with hab’s? So cliched. But then… then I found out about this Habanero jelly from the meaning of pie. Habanero jelly, made with sugar. Hot & sweet? Sounds good to me. Not too much crazy mouth-burning heat? Sounds even better, as I can give it as gifts. I quartered this recipe and used quilted 8 oz. jelly jars, which gave me a total of two jars (or 16 ounces). Don’t ask about the math or how that worked out like that. It just did.

Upside down jars..

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Right side up jars!

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All labeled & ready to go…

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HABANERO JELLY (courtesy of the meaning of pie)

Ingredients:

• ½ cup habanero pepper, seeds and stems removed (please wear gloves while doing this!)*
• 1 apple, peeled and cut up**
• ½ cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 5 cups sugar
• 1-½ packets Certo liquid pectin (6 oz.)
• 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

Directions:

1. In a large pot of simmering water, sterilize six 8 oz. jars. Leave the jars in the water until you are ready to use them. You will need tongs or other long grabbing device to remove them from the hot water.
2. Place the habanero peppers and apple in a food processor. Add the vinegar and process until fine.
3. In a heavy, non-aluminum saucepan, combine the processed peppers and apples, water and sugar. Bring to a boil and cook for one minute (it takes about 15 minutes to get it to simmering and an additional minute to get it to boiling on my stove). Take abundant care at this stage. You need to be present to adjust your stove as the syrup bubbles. It can quickly boil over which is not only exceptionally dangerous, but very messy.
4. Meanwhile, pour boiling water over the lids and screw bands in a small bowl. Leave them in the hot water until you are ready to use them.
5. After the syrup has boiled for one minute, remove it from heat and stir in the pectin. Then, return to heat and boil one minute longer.
6. Remove the mixture from heat and let it sit for 5 minutes. Using a wooden spatula or other tool, skim off any foam or white film that accumulates on top. Use a light hand when doing this, as a large proportion of the peppers tries to get stuck in the foam. Removing too much of the pepper bits will reduce the heat of the jelly. Stir in chopped rosemary.
7. Ladle the jelly into sterilized jars. Wipe the rims of the jars and dry the lids and screw bands. Seal the jars. Place sealed jars upside down on a towel. Leave them inverted for approximately 20 minutes and then turn them upright. To distribute the peppers and rosemary equally, turn the jars occasionally until the jelly sets.

The coolest thing was that the peppers & the rosemary both came from my own garden (yes, the photo up there is my hab plant, and those perfect little habanero’s are actually mine!). What a feeling of accomplishment that is.

After making that jelly, I brainstormed another. I ended up with 6 more hab’s not long after and I needed to use them up. I decided to make something even sweeter, a little tangy-er, a little more like a salsa/jelly hybrid. I decided after doing some research to use pineapple. Pineapple & habanero is a fantastic combination. Of course, the pineapple did not come from my garden, it came from Dole. I’m not giving that recipe because it needs a little work & a little tweaking. It was delicious, but needs something else. But if you’re a habanero fan who likes to make jellies, you can probably figure out how to make it without my instructions. Anyway I still had a habanero (actually two) left over, so I made some hot pickle chips, except I didn’t make them into chips, just halves. What can I say? I had to. I had to make pickles. One jar I cut off the ends, the other I left them on. I’m curious to see the difference in texture, since I’ve always read that the blossom ends left on make a mushy pickle. Hmm. We shall see!

Marc’s spicy pickle chips recipe can be found here!

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One little phrase of valuable advice: when cutting hot peppers, wear gloves. Thick gloves. Do not cut hot peppers without gloves on. And if you’re really sensitive, wear goggles. No shit. I also recommend you have unflavored vodka nearby just in case you get any pepper on your body. Alcohol dissolves the capsaicin (so do fats, like high-fat sour cream & whole milk, which you could also use). Regular hand soap will not help you. Trust me on this one. If you do happen to get it on your hands or arms, soak ‘em in vodka or milk for a while, rinse, repeat, and then wash them. You shouldn’t smell the pepper smell or sense a ‘burning’ anymore. Also, thoroughly clean your blender/food processor. The last thing you want is to make a smoothie or grind up some almonds & get a nasty surprise.

So yeah. Dilly beans. As a native New Yorker, where most of my young-adult time was spent pounding pavement in Manhattan, either uptown by the Met or downtown in Chelsea & the Fashion District, not quite growing my own vegetables/living in a rural area/reading up about canning, I hadn’t a friggin’ clue what the hell a dilly bean was. I’d heard of them, sure, on the internet & blogging circles. But I was totally not sure what exactly they were. Turns out, they’re just preserved green beans! Go figure!

Dilly beans or pickled green beans, are a means of preserving this summer legume. Often flavored with dill, hence the name, they may also contain garlic, Tabasco sauce, and red pepper. Best kept in glass jars for safekeeping over the winter months, they can be served on their own as a snack or alongside a main dish or in salad. While they are made in kitchens all over the United States, they are particularly common in Vermont, where the overabundance of green beans produced during the short summer needs to be preserved for enjoyment during the long winter.

Dilly beans were developed as a commercial product in 1958 by Sonya Hagna and Jacquelyn Park, who made them the subject of a well-known radio advertising campaign.^[1]

- Wikipedia

Ahhh so it’s a VERMONT thing, eh? I see. It just sounds so old-timey to me, I find them sorta fascinating.

Turns out they’re pretty popular. After Tracie, a Facebook fan of Cupcake Rehab, mentioned awhile back that they were her favorite thing to “can” (and also explained what they were, thanks Tracie), I thought they’d be an easy pickling project. Especially since my local grocer was selling fresh green beans for super cheap & my family was asking me for even more pickled items (word to the wise: the pickles are never enough). Even though I went canning crazy last month when my grandma died (that still sucks to write, by the way), practically all my pickles are gone and whatevers left is fought over.

I design/print/make my own labels… I just love them..

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PICKLED GREEN BEANS AKA “DILLY BEANS” (directly from Food in Jars /adapted from So Easy to Preserve)

Ingredients for gettin’ dilly with it:

• 2 pounds green beans, trimmed to fit your jars
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more if you like it hot)
• 4 teaspoons dill seed (not dill weed)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 ½ cups white vinegar (5%)
• 2 ½ cups water
• ¼ cup pickling salt (use a bit more if you’ve only got Kosher)

Directions on how to get yo’ dilly on:

1. Prep your canning pot by inserting a rack to keep your jars off the bottom of the pot, place pint jars in (wide-mouth pints work best here. A 12-ounce jelly jar is also nice, as it’s a bit taller than a standard pint and makes for less trimming) and fill it with water. Bring to a boil to sterilize while you prepare the rest of your ingredients.
2. Wash and trim your beans so that they fit in your jar. If you have particularly long beans, your best bet is to cut them in half, although by doing so, you do lose the visual appeal of having all the beans standing at attending.
3. Combine vinegar, water and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. While it’s heating up, pack your beans into the jars, leaving ½ inch headspace (distance between the tops of the beans and the rim of the jar). To each jar, add ¼ to ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 clove of garlic and 1 teaspoon dill seeds.
4. Pour the boiling brine over the beans, making sure to leave that ½ inch headspace. Use a plastic knife to remove air bubbles from jar by running it around the interior of the jar. Wipe the rims and apply the lids (which have been sitting in a small saucepan of water at a mere simmer for at least ten minutes in order to soften the sealing compound) and rings.
5. Process for 5 minutes in a boiling water bath (remember that you don’t start timing until the pot has come to a rolling boil).

As she said: “These beans want to hang out for a least two weeks before eating, to thoroughly develop their flavor.” This recipe, as it is written above, makes 4 jars of dilly beans. I did not use wide mouth pints, I used 2 regular pint jars. Why 2? Well I halved the recipe, really because I bought only a pound of beans. I would’ve bought more but I forgot what the recipe said when I went to buy ‘em, so I only bought one pound. Why I don’t know, because I clearly could’ve JARRED whatever extra I had. Oh well. I’m still thinking like someone who doesn’t can/jar, i.e. “I don’t want to waste it!” Duh. What an idiot, right? Anyway because these were gifts, or rather “orders”, I did not go crazy with the cayenne. I used just a ¼ teaspoon in each jar and it was too hot for these people! Crazy. If it were for me, I might have used the ½ teaspoon. But remember, these people are lame-o’s who don’t like “hot” stuff. So there we go. Who knew ¼ teaspoon of cayenne was too much? I guess these are some hardcore gangsta spicy dilly “Gettin’ silly wit my 9-milly, what da dilly yo?” beans.

Also, it’s true. Wide-mouth pints would work better. I used regular ones & it kinda sucked cramming them in. Pfft.

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As summer is starting to come to a close, I’m trying to get in all the summer-y things I can. I had a pretty shitty summer, but while it’s still warm I’m trying to hang on to what’s left of it. Potato salad is one of those summertime staples. Every barbecue or picnic has either potato salad, macaroni salad, or both. My grandma made an awesome potato salad. So awesome, everyone who ate it said it was the best ever. Unfortunately, she wrote nothing down. And my mother never noted any of what she put into it, neither did I. It was always a dash of this, a little of that, etc. And as she got older, she made these awesome things less & less, and left the cooking to us; first my mom, then myself. So her recipes belong to the ages, along with her. However, last month’s issue of Bon Appétit has an entire article on canning, and it features a recipe for Dilly Bean Potato Salad. So I thought I’d give it a shot. And while it’s probably not quite as good as Nana’s, it’s something new & different. It’s also pretty damn amazing in it’s own right, to be fair. Maybe a new family recipe?

Dilly bean sighting!

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DILLY BEAN POTATO SALAD (from Bon Appétit, August 2011)

Ingredients:

• 2 shallots, halved lengthwise, very thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
• 6 tablespoons red wine vinegar (or more, to taste)
• Kosher salt
• 3 lb. potatoes*
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup mayonnaise (or more, to taste)
• 1 large pinch smoked paprika
• 3 cups trimmed watercress, purslane or wild arugula, coarsely chopped**
• 1 cup Dilly beans, cut crosswise into 2″ pieces
• 2-3 large hard boiled eggs, peeled, quartered
• 3/4 cup coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley or celery leaves

Directions:

1. Place shallots in a small bowl. Stir in the red wine vinegar, and a large pinch of salt; set aside.
2. Cook potatoes in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until just tender, about 30 minutes. Drain potatoes well; transfer to a large bowl. Lightly crush potatoes with the back of a large spoon.
3. Add shallot-vinegar mixture to hot potatoes and toss to incorporate. Season with salt & pepper.
4. Whisk  mayonnaise and smoked paprika in a small bowl; add to potatoes and toss to combine. Fold in watercress, beans, add eggs and season to taste with salt, pepper and more vinegar or mayonnaise if desired. Garnish with parsley.

 Nana would be proud, second & third servings were requested.

 This can be made one day ahead of time. Cover and chill, return to room temperature before serving, and stir in extra mayonnaise if it’s too dry. Although the next day nobody needed extra mayo; it seemed to stay nice & creamy. It would also knock it out of the park without the dilly beans; just add a little extra egg.

OH one more thing about the beans; remember what I said about the peaches floating? Dilly beans float too, apparently. I also did not have to trim many of my beans, sure I had to trim some but not a lot. Although now in retrospect, I probably could’ve gotten away with not trimming them at all, because I clearly had a lot of leeway, judging by the bottom of the jars there. I’m really bad at taking photos before I fill the jars, or during the process of filling the jars, etc.  I promise I’ll change. I’ll be better. I know people want to see the process. I’ll deliver, my friends, I’ll deliver.

And I swear on my dilly’s that there will be some baked goods soon. In the meantime, why not make some of this for one of those ‘last days of summer’ barbecues?

Did you attend the Pickling Party today? If not, there’s still time! Get yourself something & pickle it. Zucchini, beets, cucumbers, carrots, asparagus… anything can be pickled. If you never pickled before, maybe now’s the time to start.

“Say hello to my little friend…”

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I made one fairly large jar of hot pickles with a Habanero from my garden (recipe to come!) and one baby 8 oz. jar of garlic spears made from super small Kirby’s. So cute. That would be the perfect size to bring on a picnic, since it could fit anywhere- in a pocket, a picnic basket, a purse, etc. I never made pickles in a small jar before, but two of the cukes I bought were so short & squat, it only made sense to put them in a little jar. And then I thought, “Why haven’t I done that before!?” It makes sense; tiny pickles, tiny jar. These aren’t processed pickles, they’re fridge pickles.

Refrigerator pickles are so easy, there’s no reason not to pickle. And if you’ve got the time, space or equipment for canning, why not do it!? Don’t wait for the Pickling Party 2012.

Pickling resources:

• USDA Food Preservation guidelines- pickled & fermented foods
• Food in Jars
• Tigress in a Pickle
• Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking
• Canning Across America
• The Practical Preserver /pickles
• Pick Your Own /pickles / pickling vegetables

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I miss my grandma terribly. I think about her every day, as there’s always something that reminds me of her. But grief is a funny thing. I feel better about things when I’m busy or being constructive, so I decided to “turn my sorrow into treasured gold” and keep myself busy at the same time by making some pickles. My grandma loved my homemade pickles. When I say loved, I mean loved. She ate an entire jar by herself, and her and my mother split one on the 4th of July. That’s what I mean when I say ‘loved.’ She was waiting patiently to open her new jar of pickles, but they hadn’t fully fermented yet before she passed away, so sadly she never got to try them. So in the spirit of all that, I went out and bought some locally-grown, farm fresh cukes, and I came up with a generic pickle recipe using dill seeds, pickling spice, garlic and a little bit of hot pepper flakes. I know it may seem crazy to some, that I miss my grandma so I made pickles. But to me it makes perfect sense. I also made a recipe using some stuff from my garden- fresh dill heads & some coriander (cilantro) that had started to go to seed. Yep. Coriander pickles! Two pickle recipes in one post.. how lucky are you!

Yes, I realize I’m nuts. Don’t hold it against me.

Right after Nana died, there was a terrible heatwave- I’m talking 105° temperatures. It was too hot to breathe. Yet here I was, canning/jarring almost every day. Jams, jellies, canned hot peppers in oil, pickles; you name it, I canned it. So I started experimenting with recipes so I wasn’t making the same thing over & over… & that’s where the coriander pickles came from. And HOLY SHIT were they famous around here! But first, let’s just talk about the straight up “spicy” pickles. They aren’t hot, not at all, they’re just made with pickling spice & cumin so therefore they are “spicy.” It’s really just a basic pickle recipe, nothing fancy.

I clearly like to pack the cucumbers before I add the spices, haha… what a mess I make…

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Pre-water bath; this time I made some pickle slices too, just to shake things up

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MARILLA’S SPICY PICKLES

Ingredients:

• 8-10 small pickling cucumbers (about 3 pounds)
• 2 cups white vinegar
• 2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons pickling salt
• 4 heads fresh dill or 4 teaspoons dill seeds
• 1 teaspoon pickling spice (divided into fourths)
• cumin seeds (a dash per jar)
• hot pepper flakes (to taste, I only used a teeeeeny weeny bit because I didn’t want these hot, just “spicy”)
• 4 small cloves garlic

Directions:

1.  Cut a thin slice from the ends of each cucumber. This prevents a “mushy” pickle, as the ends of cucumbers contain an enzyme that makes them mushy. Place jars in canner to sterilize them and place lids in hot water to soften seal.
2.  Meanwhile, combine vinegar, water, and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove hot jars from canner. Place 1 head fresh dill or 1 tsp dill seeds, ¼ teaspoon pickling spice,a dash of hot pepper flakes and 1 clove garlic into each jar; pack in cucumbers.
3. Pour boiling vinegar mixture over cucumbers to within ½ inch of rim (head space). Process 10 minutes for pint jars and 15 minutes for quart jars.
4. Allow jars to sit for one week before opening for optimal flavor.

Spears and slices, slices and spears…

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I used wide mouth jars this time. I know some people prefer regular mouth for pickles because they tend to rise a little, but I find it doesn’t matter if you pack the cucumbers well enough. And it really is necessary to pack them tight, because they shrink up quite a bit. I actually had 3½  pounds of cukes, and it filled the jars perfectly but the second jar of slices is a little short on pickles. Oh well! I always make that mistake, somehow & end up with one jar that has less than the others. I actually find I prefer wide mouth for pickles, because it’s easier to pack them tighter. But to each his/her own.

As far as the coriander pickles, it was something I came up with after noticing my cilantro had started to go to seed. I had tons of sprigs of it with little, round, green coriander seeds starting to grow and I had no idea what to do with them. I basically decided I’d use them & the dill heads in with a pickle recipe, and see how that turned out. Coriander is often found in pickling spice mixes, so I thought there wouldn’t be any harm in adding it. Although I know there’s probably a difference between dried, mature coriander seeds and young, green, fresh coriander. The recipe is very simple, being that it’s just off the top of my crazy head. Using an equation of 1 parts vinegar to 3 parts water and ¼ of the vinegar measurement in pickling salt. For example: 1 quart vinegar, 3 quarts water, 1 cup pickling salt. The measurements should match the amount/size of jars & pickles you’re using, obviously. Then boil the mixture in a non-reactive pot, meanwhile slicing your Kirby’s (or other pickling cucumbers) lengthwise after removing the “nibbly bits” on the ends. Pack the jars with the sliced cukes, adding one clove of garlic, 2 sprigs fresh dill heads (preferably gone to seed) and one sprig coriander that had started to seed. Pour the boiling vinegar mixture into each jar, leaving ¼ inch headspace. Place lids & bands on top and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Annnnnnnnnnnnnd you’re done.

This jar I added a bit of extra dill to in the form of dill seeds… just because the one dill sprig I had left was pathetic looking & small, as you can see.

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You can see the garlic, coriander sprigs & fresh dill sprigs in the bottom there…

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The fresh, green coriander seeds have a very different flavor than the dried ones. It’s a citrusy, bright flavor that’s a sort of cross between coriander and cilantro. If you can’t get your hands on them (which you often can at ethnic shops), then it might not be worth using the dried. I grow my own, so it’s easy for me to take advantage of these little green pods. If you have a cilantro plant, let it grow. Use those seeds fresh or dried, you won’t be disappointed. The taste of these pickles was so unique, you could really taste the taste of cilantro.

Cheese & rice, could I be any paler?

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Also:

Coriander Seed is an important source of dietary fiber, iron, magnesium, and manganese. In holistic and traditional medicine, it is used as a carminative and as a digestive aid. Coriander seeds reduce fever, and promote a feeling of coolness.

-(source)

I love the color of these pickles. That’s probably from the reduced vinegar amount. If you want to keep them whole and not slice them, you might want to add a grape leaf and/or some alum to each jar. Those things help keep them crisp despite keeping the “blossom” ends on them. Also the garlic may turn blue or green in the jar. That is absolutely no big deal, nothing to be alarmed about, it is only the effect of the acid on the natural pigments in the garlic. Mine never has, but I’ve read it can happen, so just be prepared. Like I said above in the other recipe, I’d let them sit for at least a week to really get the flavors set but if you have no willpower, don’t worry- my father can’t keep his hands off them & always eats them before they’re “ready”, and not only does he not get botulism, he claims they taste wonderful. I have no idea, because I always wait until the jars are ready before I open them. I usually try and wait two weeks, really, just so they’re really all soaked in & stuff. But that’s just me.

I know, I’m crazy, I even tied them in pickle-colored ribbons to give away as gifts.

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The coriander pickles are milder than regular pickles, due to less vinegar. Even with the garlic, they have a lemon-y kind of essence to them, very herb-y. Delicious and different, but more of an “artisan” pickle than a regular pickle. It’s not your typical Kosher dill or garlic pickle… it has a different twist. Not too different, I mean vinegar + dill = pickle. But it definitely has a unique flavor. And obviously, if you don’t have the Cilantro gene, then you are not going to like these.

Needless to say, that’s me & my nana, Nov. 1981

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We were very close, and I took care of her above & beyond what most grandkids do, so it’s been very hard on me. I must say, people have been wonderful. Incredible. We’ve received such an amazing & overwhelming outpouring of love & support. Every day since July 16th we’ve had tons of phone calls, not to mention all the flowers & cards delivered every day (plus one hugely fantastic Harry & David candy/cookie basket) and almost every day there’s an e-mail in my inbox or a voicemail on my cell phone of people giving their condolences, asking if I’m okay, or just people saying “If there’s anything I can do.” And that’s sweet, and so appreciated.

But the bottom line is, unless you work miracles & can erase the past few weeks- there ain’t shit you can do. Don’t get me wrong: I love the fact that we’re thought of, and that everyone thought so much of her that they’ve been donating money in her memory or sending things in her memory, etc. I love that people care about us. But basically, I have to fend for myself, and figure out how to live with the grief and cope with this on my own, and nobody can help me with that. I found it was best to keep myself busy, and the best way to do that was to do my favorite thing since I’m a child: create. However this time I chose culinary creations; I baked very little, since it was over 100° degrees most days & the sweat poured off my forehead just from watering my garden. So I made tons of pickles, jams, jellies. I immersed myself in homemade sauces, salsas and curds. I read an old cookbook of hers that my grandmother had just given me at Christmas, called The American Woman’s Cookbook, and devoured the section on relishes & chutney’s. I read Food in Jars religiously & scoured Punk Domestics for ideas. I had nothing else to do. My heart was broken (*and still is) and I had no idea how to cope other than to keep my hands & mind busy & to just fill my fridge & cabinets, and everyone else’s, with homemade goods. I went through case after case of jars & lids & bottles of vinegar like it was nobody’s business. I should’ve bought stock in Heinz since my recycling bin was overflowing with Heinz vinegar jugs & bottles. I made so many pickles & jams that I have enough to keep us going through a nuclear war, & gave so many away I showed up at my aunt’s house with a shopping bag of jars & sent my father home with another. Then I just ran out of ideas.

This is all maybe half of what I’ve done. Did you doubt my insanity?

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I remembered that my friend Chrisie had sent me her grandma’s recipe for hot Italian peppers in oil. I thought, what better way to give tribute to both our grandma’s who’ve passed away; hers whose recipe it was & mine who loved everything I made & was so proud of it, than to make a few jars of them. Besides, my mother was taking it so hard, obviously, and I knew she loved hot peppers in oil on a sandwich or even a snack. So I made some for her. There are no specific measurements, but it’s easy enough to figure out how much you’ll need. Just buy your peppers first, then figure everything else out as you go. I also had another recipe bookmarked, which I included here, that’s very similar.

I wasn’t going to come back and start writing posts. I wasn’t going to do anything normal for a while. I wasn’t planning on doing any of this. But I really do find it helps me… to write, to create, to do things like everything is normal. I’m not an expert. I did not get a degree in this (or baking), and honestly, if you’re coming here for perfection or all the answers you’re barking up the wrong tree anyway. I find this makes me feel somewhat normal right now, so peperoncini it is.

Peperoncini (or pepperoncini), common names Tuscan peppers, sweet Italian peppers and golden Greek peppers, are a variety of the species Capsicum annuum. While called peperoncini in American English, in Italy these particular kind of peppers are called friggitello (plural friggitelli) or more generally peperone (plural peperoni) like other sweet varieties of peppers, while the term peperoncini (singular peperoncino) is used for hotter varieties of chili peppers.^[1] The Greek varieties are sweeter and less bitter than the Italian varieties grown in Tuscany. Peperoncini are mild with a slight heat and a hint of bitterness, and are commonly pickled and sold packaged in jars.

-Wikipedia

These may not be made with actual peperoncini, but for lack of a better term it’s a suitable enough name. Or you could just say ‘peppers in oil.’ That’s easy enough.

Taken immediately after canning… red, yellow & orange bell pepper strips; left & right, and stuffed long hot peppers; middle

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CHRISIE’S GRANDMA’S HOT ITALIAN PEPPERS

Ingredients:

• red, green (or a mixture of both) hot Italian peppers, free of brown spots or bruises (this recipe can also work with jalapenos, sweet or hot banana peppers or chili peppers)
• white vinegar
• good olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic per jar (optional, my addition)
• seasoned breadcrumbs or anchovies (optional, for stuffing)

Directions:

1. First, wash peppers remove seeds. If you want to keep them very hot, this step isn’t necessary.
2. Then blanch peppers in boiling white vinegar. After 2-3 mins in the vinegar, remove immediately. If you choose to stuff them, allow them to cool enough and stuff them tightly with either anchovies or seasoned breadcrumbs, pushing the stuffing down so it’s packed.
3. Tightly pack the peppers into jars and pour olive oil in leaving a ½ inch headspace. Close jars and use the hot water bath method to create a vacuum seal, processing for 15 minutes for a pint jar, 20 minutes for a quart.
4. Once sealed, allow jars to cool completely, place in a cool, dark place, and allow 2 weeks before eating. Refrigerate after opening.

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CANNED  PEPPERS IN OIL

Ingredients:

• 2 ¼ pounds fresh, blemish-free peppers of the kind you prefer (I used Bell peppers in orange, yellow and red)
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sea salt or kosher salt (or other salt without additives)
• an onion, peeled and finely sliced (optional, I didn’t use one)
• olive oil (see note)
• enough jars with lids to contain your peppers, cleaned and sterilized (I used wide mouth pints)

Preparation:

1. Wash the peppers and pat them dry. Next, stem them, split them open lengthwise, seed them, rib them, and cut them into strips (if desired).
2. Put the vinegar, salt and onion (if you are using it) in a pot over a brisk flame. Add the peppers and heat until the vinegar comes to a boil. Boil the peppers for 3-5 minutes, stirring them about gently. Drain them and dry them — I lined a cookie sheet with paper towels and heated them in a slow oven for about 10 minutes. Pack the peppers in your clean jars and fill them with olive oil, shaking the jars and tapping at their sides to dislodge air bubbles.
3. Seal the jars, and put them on a rack in a sterilizer (or a large pot) with cold water to cover. Bring the pot to a boil and simmer the peppers for 20 minutes to sterilize them. Let the pot cool, and when you can safely dip a hand into the water remove the jars. Check the seals of the lids, and put the jars in a cool dark place. They’ll be ready in a couple of weeks, and will keep for a year.

Immediately after the waterbath

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I used some hot long green peppers (which I stuffed) and some red, yellow and orange peppers (which I cut into strips). I made one jar of stuffed, two of the strips. But you could do a jar of a sort of mixed bag of peppers, too, whatever you like. I used a clove of garlic in with the long peppers and I also stuffed them with breadcrumbs. The strips are more for sandwich purposes, the other are more of a “snack.” I’d recommend waiting at least two weeks before opening for both recipes to optimize the flavor. The oil remaining in the jars is supposedly excellent drizzled on anything. Imagine a garlic bread made with this oil?

Please wear gloves when working with hot peppers. I don’t want anyone to lose an eye or end up in the ER because they wanted to make hot peppers in oil and rubbed their eye – or heaven forbid- their no-no parts with hands that had capsacin on them. And please be aware that the risk of botulism is very high when using oil for canning. DO NOT skip the vinegar step, blanch the peppers in water or rinse them after the vinegar. You need that acidity in the vinegar to keep the spores of nasty stuff out or kill them. The USDA would probably say this is only safe for pressure canning, not water bath canning. Obviously, don’t plan on storing these for a long time. They should be used fairly quickly. And yes, there are going to be people who get crazy over this & tell me I’m going to die if I eat them. But I’m going to go with the fact that as long as I don’t plan on saving them for use as sustenance during the Zombie Apocalypse, I’ll be okay. Also, don’t bother using really high-quality fancy schmancy good-tasting olive oil, the flavor of the peppers will overwhelm any subtle nuances in the olive flavor. Just use a good-quality basic virgin oil, as opposed to extra virgin. If you use Bell peppers cut in strips or small peppers, then you can use half-pint jars just as well without wasting larger jars. I chose to use pint jars for the strips myself but it’s really up to you- hell, you could certainly make a quart or two if you felt like it.

After a few days of “settling”, how gorgeous do those look? Like floating jewels…

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This is a really easy idea to build on. You could use whole peppers, sliced peppers, stuffed peppers, hot peppers, sweet peppers, mild peppers, etc. You could even roast the peppers first, before or after blanching them, to give a smokier flavor, or add a dash of liquid smoke to the jar. Add garlic, onion, anchovy… whatever. Go nuts.

I promise the cupcakes will be back soon. Just as soon as the weather gives me a break. I can’t wait to bake something.

See, first, here’s just a little update on my refrigerator pickles…

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The opening dates were June 24th at the earliest (1 week of fermentation), July 1st (2 weeks of fermentation; what I recommended), or July 7th at the latest (3 weeks of fermentation; the optimal time to wait). My dad opened his jar on the 1st, and called to say they were amazing. So we opened them. Consensus was: at 2 weeks, they got 2 huge thumbs up! Amazing crunch, amazing dill taste, just perfect. My grandmother said it was better than any Kosher dill deli pickle she ever ate; like I said, my homemade pickles were her favorite thing ever. I’m not even kidding when I say her and my mother ate the entire jar on the 4th of July. So once my cucumbers are ready, they’ll become pickles, but until then, I already made some more using Kirby’s and a new method for me- canning, and that’s what I’m posting here today.

I’m new to canning & jarring, so I’m certainly no expert on all this. I will say that I did my research thoroughly beforehand, both here and here, on top of doing some other pickling inquiries at other sources (like Practical Preserving, Food In Jars & Tigress in a Pickle). I’ve always wanted to can my own stuff, for years now, and I thought it was the time. I bought a Ball® starter canning kit (free shipping! came with salsa mix & pectin! so exciting!) and some jars and went to work. Before I get to the pickles, I just wanna say that August 13 is National Can-It-Forward Day! Sponsored by Ball®, it’s a way to celebrate the “bounties of summer” through canning. So get all your friends & family together, can up some goodies & share them.

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Alright. So last year I made some quick 24-hour pickles, and everyone really liked ‘em. As a matter of fact, I made three batches (all with my own cucumbers that I grew!), although I was asked to “lower the heat” on the last two. Heh. Also, back in June, I made a different refrigerator pickle recipe that was an even bigger hit than the first (probably because that one you could keep longer than a week… and they weren’t hot, pfft… pusscakes). I got so many requests for more pickles I thought I’d up the ante a bit on the next batch. I’ve had this recipe saved for about a year now. I first saw it on Flowers and Sausages last summer & I’d been waiting patiently to get my canning materials & make it, ’cause it’s a “real” pickle recipe, not one of those 24-hour quick jobs or refrigerator pickles (although there’s nothing wrong with those, at all, trust me, those fridge pickles were one of my biggest hits ever). So here we are! It definitely was not as hard as I thought it was going to be. I used my Cowhorn peppers as opposed to chili peppers, so I can’t for sure say what the difference in heat is because I harvested young Cowhorn’s that were still green, just to avoid any “OH MY GOD THIS IS WAY TOO HOT” complaints from these lame-asses around here. I also made some without the pepper, just as garlic pickles for the even lamer lame-ass people (hi, Jay). However, supposedly you can harvest these peppers at any point during their growth to find the level of heat you like, from mild (immature/lighter green) to hot (fully mature/bright red). That said- I haven’t tasted them at any stage, so I have no idea from personal experience the amount of heat they give. I’ve read some conflicting reports, but apparently fully mature it’s around 15,000 – 30,000 (and perhaps up to 50,000) Scoville units. Take that as you will. Nobody here complained about them being too hot.

Clearly, I cut mine into spears, not slices

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You can see a green Cowhorn in that picture, if you look carefully..

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Before I start getting into the canning do’s & don’ts, let me just give you a reason to cut off those nibbly-bits on the end of the cucumbers; the blossom end contains an enzyme that will make your pickles mushy & soggy. Seriously. So always cut off both ends and ditch ‘em before you slice your cukes. Okay, now let’s get to the canning. First thing I feel the need to discuss is the whole “nonreactive” pot thing. I’d suggest stainless steel, seeing as how it’s common & readily available. Both aluminum & copper are both reactive. As this website says:

Reactive Pan: It is one made from a material that reacts chemically with other foods. Aluminum and copper, metals that conduct heat extremely well, are the 2 most common reactive materials used to make in cookware. Lightweight aluminum, second only to copper in conducting heat, reacts with acidic foods, imparting a metallic taste, and can discolor light-colored soups and sauces, especially if you stir them with a metal spoon or whisk (it is a very soft metal). For that reason, you should neither cook nor store light-colored foods in aluminum cookware. Anodized aluminum has a hard, corrosion-resistant surface that helps prevent discoloration. Most copper pots and pans are lined with tin to prevent reaction. However, tin is a very soft metal, so it scratches easily and then exposes foods to the copper underneath.

Non-Reactive Pan: When a recipe calls for a non-reactive cookware, use clay, enamel, glass, plastic, or stainless steel. Stainless steel is the most common non-reactive cookware available. Since it does not conduct or retain heat well, it frequently has aluminum or copper bonded to the bottom or a core of aluminum between layers of stainless steel. Although expensive, this kind of cookware offers the benefits of a durable, non-reactive surface and rapid, uniform heat conductivity.Glass cookware is non-reactive and although it retains heat well it conducts it poorly. Enamelware is non-reactive as long as the enamel is not scratched or chipped. Cast-iron is considered reactive; however, we have to say that our extremely well-seasoned pans seem to do fine with tomato sauce and other acidic foods as long as they do not stay in contact with one another for extended periods.

Also, there’s the pickling salt. I personally just used a table salt that was non-iodized, because pickling salt is:

a salt that is used mainly for canning and manufacturing pickles. It is made without iodine or any anti-caking products added.^[1] If pickles are made with table salt, they will have dark and cloudy juice, due to the iodide in the salt, although the flavour should be about the same. Pickling salt is very fine grained, to speed up dissolving in water to create a brine, so it is useful for solutions needing salt.

Thanks, Wikipedia! Of course, you can buy pickling salt if you want. Hell, you can even use regular Iodized salt… the worst that will happen is your “pickle juice” will be cloudy. It won’t affect the taste, I promise.

I suggest that if you’re going to start doing this stuff, you research the hell out of it. It’s like chemistry class the way certain things work & others don’t. There are also a few steps to take before you put the stuff in the jars, i.e. sanitizing the jars, so make sure you look into it. It isn’t hard, but you have to know what you’re doing so you can safely process your food the right way. Food safety is very important, you want to make sure you’re preserving it properly so you don’t get sick, etc. That said… it really isn’t that difficult. Just do your homework, the websites I referenced in the top paragraph are all good places to start.

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HOT GARLIC PICKLES (from Better Homes and Gardens July 2010, courtesy of Flowers and Sausages)

Ingredients:

• 3 to 3 ¼ lbs small pickling cucumbers
• 4 cups water
• 4 cups cider vinegar
• ½ cup sugar
• ⅓ cup pickling salt
• 6 tbsp dill seeds
• chili peppers (1 per jar)
• garlic (1 to 2 cloves per jar, halved, so 6 – 12 cloves total)

Directions:

1. While you are preparing and sterilizing your jars, rinse the cucumbers & peppers and peel & halve the garlic cloves. Cut off a thin slice from the end of each cucumber and slice into ¼ to ½ inch thick slices. In a large nonreactive pot, combine water, vinegar, sugar, and pickling salt, and bring to a boil.
2. Pack cucumbers loosely into hot pint canning jars, leaving a ½-inch headspace. Add 1 to 2 peppers, 1 to 2 garlic cloves (halved) and 1 tablespoon dill seeds to each jar. Pour hot vinegar mixture into jars, leaving ½-inch headspace. Discard any remaining vinegar mixture. Wipe jar rims and top with lids.
3. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes – start the timer when the water returns to a boil. The water should cover the jars by at least 1″ and the water should be a rolling boil. Remove cans from water bath and let stand for 1 week.

Like my labels? I kinda love them… self made, of course

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I assumed given the amount of dill seeds and the instruction to use 1 tablespoon per jar that the recipe calls for 6 jars… I ended up using 5 pint-size jars, because I only bought about 2.5 pounds of Kirby’s (my bad, I know about 4 Kirby’s equal a pound, & I counted about 12 Kirby’s, but some were tiny). I also ended up with about ¼ cup vinegar brine left, which if I had some half-pint jars I could’ve used to make some pickle slices. I used two immature Cowhorns, making only 2 jars of “hot” garlic pickles, which I’m guessing was a good thing if they really are as hot as I’ve read. Although I added about a ¼ teaspoon of hot red pepper flakes to those two jars too, as an added ‘kick.’ This was my first harvest of them so I haven’t even really tasted them yet! For the rest of the jars, like I said, I just omitted the pepper and used garlic, about 2 cloves per jar unless the cloves were large. I figured they’d still be good without the ‘heat’ even if the heat really wasn’t even that bad because the peppers weren’t mature. Am I making ANY sense at all here? At any rate, they had to sit for a week before anyone even thought about opening/eating them, and then they were INHALED. My dad didn’t even wait the full week, and he may have even eaten the pickled pepper! He said the “hot” ones weren’t that hot, probably because the peppers were young. When I make these again, I’ll use the mature peppers. Heh heh heh.

Jay’s jar, no peppers, just garlic, tied up all pretty-like for him.

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General things you’ll need to start canning:

• A canning rack
• jar lifter/tongs
• jars and lids (Ball®, Kerr®, whatever.. .)
• a large pot that allows at least 1″ of water above the jars you’re using
• small rubber spatula (for removing air from jars)
• jar funnel (not needed for pickles, really, but other things you may want to make)

Where to buy the jars, you ask? I bought mine at my local Ace Hardware. I paid about $11.00 for 12 of them, plus tax, because I had a coupon that was sent with my canning kit. Ace has pretty good prices on all sizes of jars, and they sell the lids as well, if you’re planning on reusing your jars. Also if you don’t live close to an Ace, and you only want to make one trip for a lot of jars, you can order them online and have them shipped to the store, then you can make one trip just to pick them up without paying for shipping costs. Also, Walmart sells jars for good prices, not just Ball® but also they carry a “generic” brand of their own. So if you shop in that “evil” store, then give it a shot. My store doesn’t usually carry them except for around this time of year, unfortunately. So if you live in an area, like me, where canning isn’t a popular thing year-round, you might want to take advantage of their prices now & stock up. Long story not-so-short: I absolutely LOVE canning. It was way, way, WAY easier than I thought. I have no idea why I thought it was so involved & complicated. Although, this was just an easy pickle recipe. I’m planning on a whole bunch of other interesting canned items for the rest of the summer & fall, so stay tuned for that.

That’s all for now. Luckily this post was written already, because I really don’t think I’d have had the frame of mind to write it at this moment (other than the first paragraph, which I had to add). Grieving is a shitty process, but somehow I feel better keeping up with the blog than if I didn’t.

When it comes to the canning, I’m really excited to get started on some serious business. Yes, it’s time consuming. Yes, it does take more time than buying pickles from the store. Yes, you have to go buy the jars, then sanitize them. But I really don’t want to hear the “I don’t have time for that!” line. Please remember this, women of today: your ancestors & female counterparts 100 years ago had way more to do in one day than you do. You have someone to watch your children, presumably, as you go to work. Or, your kids attend school while you’re at work, or maybe you don’t have an outside job, and you’re a housewife. You might still consider a .99¢ hamburger in a sack a dinner (or a microwaveable meal, or a boxed dinner from the prepared foods aisle in the supermarket), and maybe lament over the  lengthy process of driving through the aptly named ‘drive-thru’ or the oh-so-long drive to the store to get said item. Then you come home, perhaps yell at your children to do their homework/bathe/go to bed. Then, once they’re there, you might have a glass of wine and watch some DVR’d TV shows, or surf the internet for a while before you go to bed. That would’ve been considered an easy life to my great-grandmothers, or great-great grandmothers. None of them had fast food drive thru’s down the block or babysitters for their children; although if you listen to my grandmother, she’ll tell you she was the built-in babysitter, being the oldest of 7. One of my great-grandmothers scrubbed floors while pregnant, with two buckets- one with the soapy water, the other for when she was sick. The other one cooked & baked from scratch every night, long after her kids were grown & she had grand-kids. My mother has fond memories of going to that grandparents’ apartment in the Bronx as a child & smelling the German food cooking from the hallway. These were not women who had microwaves or McDonald’s nearby to feed their broods when hungry. And the women before them? They had even less convenience, and so on. So when you tell me you “don’t have time”… I want you to think about that. You have more time than you think.

(Okay, so, that’s not to say everything old is good, & everything new/convenient is bad… take a peek at these ads, for one little example… but that’s a WHOLE ‘nother post in and of itself!)

So yeah, I’m excited to start preserving & jarring my own food, and pickles have been on top of my to-do list from day one. Me? I’m not such a big pickle person. However, Jay loves pickles. So in my kitchen adventures, I find ways to incorporate them for him; whether through a quick 24-hour pickle recipe or fried pickles. Yeah, just for him (not really; almost everyone I know are big pickle people, so it’s for all of them, really). I do have a special waterbath pickle recipe put aside for when my canning kit gets here, but since it’s not here yet (HURRY UP DAMN YOU), I found another really quick & easy pickle recipe. This is a different kind of refrigerator pickle, one that lasts QUITE a bit longer than the one week my last one did. I gave one jar to my dad (part of his Father’s Day gift) & kept one for us. A big, massive, huge thanks to one of my new favorite websites, The Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking, for these instructions. She also gives an explanation of “fridge pickles”:

Fridge pickles are a type of fresh pickle, but they’re stored in the fridge and not waterbath canned for shelf-storage. The other major branch of pickling involves fermenting (also called brining). Fermented pickles are usually stored in the fridge after they’ve reached the desired level of sourness at a cool-ish room temp of 70-ish degrees F. (Think LES full-sour versus a half-sour. They’re the same pickle, but one is fermented longer.)

The coolest thing about this “recipe” is that it’s fluid; it changes & is flexible enough where you don’t really have to go crazy. You can reuse a jar and a lid that you have in your house from tomato sauce or salsa (you really should be saving your glass jars, they’re awesome for tons of things from storage to this kinda stuff) or use a new one. You can adjust the brine to suit how much your making, and same with the amount of vegetables you have. You can use whatever kind of spices you want, too. And add whatever you like- peppers, cauliflower, onions, garlic, carrots, etc. Seriously, you can pickle anything this way.

I used one 24-ounce glass jar that once housed Barilla’s Basilico tomato sauce, and one smaller Classico jar that was about 16-ounces. The “recipe” says it’s for 1 quart or 2 pints which is 32 ounces, but I had 40 ounces of jar to fill. Because of this, I upped the measurements of the ingredients in the brine to 1 ½ cups of white vinegar, 1 ½ cups of filtered water and 1 ½ tablespoons of non-iodized salt. I also upped the spice measurements a bit too, the make up for the 6 extra ounces (I used pickling spice, dill seed, some dried dill, peppercorns, & some cloves of fresh garlic). Like I said, you could pickle anything with this method- beets, zucchini, whatever your little heart desires.

Pickles on day one.

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REFRIGERATOR PICKLES (or whatever else you feel like pickling!)

Ingredients:

FOR ONE QUART OR TWO PINTS (32 oz):

• 1 cup any kind of vinegar
• 1 cup filtered water
• 1 tablespoon Kosher or non-iodized salt
• ¼-½ teaspoons each of desired spices (fennel, cumin, picking spice, dill seed, mustard seed, etc)
• Cucumbers, or whatever you’re pickling (I did about a pound and a half of Kirby’s, cut into spears & added a clove of garlic to each jar plus a dash of hot pepper flakes to my dad’s jar… as far as the amount of vegetables you’ll need, she says:

Wash and cut up your vegetables and pack them into a clean jar. Use whatever veg you’ll eat (or put into a martini): cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, carrots, onions, garlic, etc. Weight of your starting produce will vary depending on what you’re pickling. Eyeball it at the market, and if you end up with too little veg, just use a smaller jar (or make more brine to account for extra space in the jar).)

Directions:

…1. Boil the vinegar, water and salt in a medium saucepan. Meanwhile, put your dry spices in the dry jars, and then pack your veggies in the jars. If you prefer a less raw taste, you can blanch them first or even cook them in the brine.
…2. Pour your just-boiled brine over the veggies in the jars. Wipe the mouths clean and seal.
…3. DON’T SEAL TIGHTLY:

Don’t screw on the lid on as tightly as you possibly can or the lid might pop off when you go to open them in a couple weeks. Vinegar breaking down the veggies inside a jar causes a little release of gas, and leaving the lid loose will let that escape. [I know what you’re wondering and the answer is no. If your pickles have been stored in the fridge, it’s not possible for botulism spores to activate.]

4. Put them in the back of your fridge and forget about them for at least a week. “Two weeks is better, three is the best” according to her. They keep indefinitely, but if you’ve got some sitting around more than 6 months, I’d ditch ‘em.

Day one (with my handwritten instructions visible, haha).

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Same day, just a few hours later, after getting pretty ribbons tied on & labeled!

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This is an excellent way of making pickles if you don’t have a canning kit, or are afraid to get into the “real stuff.” They’re a bit more involved than the 24-hour kind but yet they’re still easy & don’t require any equipment. Plus, they’re just gorgeous. Oh, and probably delicious too. Although since they aren’t done yet, the jury, a.k.a. Jay, is still out on whether or not they’re as good as Bubbie’s pickles.

On another note, speaking of gorgeous… remember my salsa fresca? Well it went really quickly (actually almost overnight it vanished), so one night last week I made another little batch (in an 8-ounce Classico pesto jar, instead of using a full-size 16 oz jar on a little salsa), this time I made it HOT. I cut the cilantro & onions up smaller, added more tomato, and I added 2 jalapeno’s, and one of ‘em seeds & all. WHOOOO BOY. Amazing. Hot, but a good heat. Surprising. Not as refreshing and clean as the first batch, but definitely more interesting! If you prefer a smoother salsa (*cough*Jay*cough*), use an immersion blender to blend it all up before jarring it. Like I said last time, adding roasted corn, black beans or different chili peppers & spices are always fun. Funny thing is, the people who claimed my latest batch of salsa was “too hot” ended up eating it an awful lot. Masochists? Or was it just that good?

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Summer is the best time to make all of this, because you can use all fresh, in-season ingredients. So don’t be skurred! Try it. You’ll be surprised how easy & fun it is, and you’ll be wanting to experiment more & ordering a canning kit in no time.

I should state before continuing with the post/recipe for salsa that I am indeed a salsa fanatic. Salsa in almost any shape & form- salsa verde, chunky salsa, mild salsa, hot salsa, salsa with lots of cilantro, salsa with corn & black beans- you name it, I will love it. Except for peach or mango salsas. My salsa has to have tomato or tomatillo in it. So when I happened upon my new favorite blog (thanks mom), Food In Jars, I immediately looked for a quick salsa recipe. Salsa means ‘sauce’ in Spanish, and it’s basically a cold version of an Italian tomato sauce with different herbs, and often no cooking required, particularly with ‘salsa fresca’ or ‘fresh sauce.’ Salsa fresca is also sometimes referred to as ‘pico de gallo’ or ‘the rooster’s beak’, referring either to way it was eaten (with the thumb and forefinger, mimicking a rooster pecking) or the shape of the chili peppers used to make it. Although according to the almighty and always correct Wikipedia:

Another suggested etymology is that pico is derived from the verb picar, which has two meanings: 1) to mince or chop, and 2) to bite, sting or peck. The rooster, gallo in Spanish, is a common metaphor for the hyper-masculine (“macho“) male in Mexican culture. One example of such machismo is taking pride in withstanding the spicy burn of chilis.

However, neither theory can be considered definite, as they assume the use of hot chilis. In many regions of Mexico the term “pico de gallo” refers to any of a variety of salads, condiments or fillings made with sweet fruits, tomatoes, tomatillos, avocado or mild chilis — not necessarily with hot chilis, or any chilis at all. Thus, the name could be a simple allusion to the bird feed-like minced texture and appearance of the sauce.^[2]

Although I always considered pico de gallo to be drier, drier as in not as liquidy as regular salsa, and this salsa is liquidy. However I chopped my onion kind of rough, not very fine, so I made it more like a pico. I also added a ton more cilantro because I love it. I also used two pretty small organic “on the vine” tomatoes as opposed to one large one, so it was definitely not as tomato-y. Yes, I know, there isn’t really much to making salsa, and yes, I could’ve figured it out on my own without a recipe (especially since it’s essentially the same as the pico de gallo I’ve made before… but I digress). But it’s easier when you’ve got an idea of exactly how much of what to put in the first time. I plan on experimenting with this, for sure. And next time I make those chicken flautas, I’ll have this on the side & in the filling, thankyouverymuch.

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But for now, here’s the basic Salsa Fresca recipe from Marisa at FIJ. Make it & revel in the mouth-puckeringly acidic deliciousness.

HOMEMADE SALSA FRESCA (from Food In Jars)

Makes approximately one pint

Ingredients:

• 1 large tomato, diced
• ½ white/yellow onion, finely minced (I used about a little over ¼ of an extremely large white onion)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• ½ bunch of cilantro, washed and chopped (I just tore the leaves off, I didn’t chop)
• 1 – 2 jalapeños, seeded and minced (you can leave the seeds in if you want a hotter flavor, I used one & omitted the seeds)
• 1 lime, juiced (about 2 – 2 ½ tablespoons, for you measurement-obsessed freaks)
• 2 big pinches of salt

Directions:

1. Mix everything together in a glass or ceramic mixing bowl. Let stand for at least 15 minutes before serving, but half an hour is even better.
2. Store leftovers (if there are any) in a glass canning jar.

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I used a washed-out spaghetti sauce jar to save the leftovers in, although the recipe’s author is right: there isn’t much left. Let me just say this is amazingly excellent with some Garden of Eatin’ blue corn tortilla chips. Heavenly, as a matter of fact. Or rather, since I don’t really believe in “heaven”, I’d like to think that my version of heaven would be unlimited fresh salsa & chips. Not sure how long this would last in the fridge, but mine didn’t even make it past the next afternoon. Also, if you’re new to cooking, and you aren’t sure how to dice a tomato, here’s a quick rundown of how it’s done; no judgement here. We all start somewhere! And make sure you roll your lime firmly on the counter before cutting & juicing it, that releases all the juice from the pulp and makes it easier to get every last bit out.

Also, an interesting fact I ran into on Wikipedia that I’d like to share with you all:

In a 2010 press release the Centers for Disease Control reported that during the 1998-to-2008 period, 1 out of 25 foodborne illnesses with identified food sources was traced back to restaurant salsa or guacamole.^[5] According to a 2010 July 13 news item by journalist Elizabeth Weise, a 2008 outbreak of Salmonella was traced back to the peppers used in salsa.^[6] Originally reported to the CDC by the New Mexico Department of Health, over the course of several months, the outbreak sickened a total of 1,442 people in 43 states and resulted in 286 hospitalizations.^[7] Weise reports:

“Refrigeration is the key to safe salsa, says Michael Doyle, director of the University of Georgia’s Center for Food Safety, who published a paper on the topic earlier this year.[8] ‘An unusual finding was if you used fresh garlic and fresh lime juice, it prevented the growth’ of bacteria. ‘You couldn’t use powdered, it had to be fresh,’ he says.”

Crazy, huh? You learn something new everyday. That should ease the fears of some of you germ-phobes, though. Just make sure your salsa’s are made with fresh ingredients and you’re good. Besides, who’s afraid of a little E. Coli or Salmonella?

OH! I almost forgot: I am also now a member at Punk Domestics. So come see me over there & we can discuss canning & pickling & micro-farming. You know, all that hardcore punk rock stuff.

Bacon is a cured meat prepared from a pig. It is first cured using large quantities of salt, either in a brine or in a dry packing; the result is fresh bacon (also known as green bacon). Fresh bacon may then be further dried for weeks or months in cold air, boiled, or smoked. Fresh and dried bacon must be cooked before eating. Boiled bacon is ready to eat, as is some smoked bacon, but may be cooked further before eating.

Bacon is prepared from several different cuts of meat. It is usually made from side and back cuts of pork, except in the United States, where it is almost always prepared from pork belly (typically referred to as “streaky”, “fatty”, or “American style” outside of the US and Canada). The side cut has more meat and less fat than the belly. Bacon may be prepared from either of two distinct back cuts: fatback, which is almost pure fat, and pork loin, which is very lean. Bacon-cured pork loin is known as back bacon.

Bacon may be eaten smoked, boiled, fried, baked, or grilled, or used as a minor ingredient to flavor dishes. Bacon is also used for barding and larding roasts, especially game birds. The word is derived from the Old High German bacho, meaning “buttock”, “ham” or “side of bacon”, and cognate with the Old French bacon.^[1]

In continental Europe, this part of the pig is usually not smoked like bacon is in the United States; it is used primarily in cubes (lardons) as a cooking ingredient, valued both as a source of fat and for its flavor. In Italy, this is called pancetta and is usually cooked in small cubes or served uncooked and thinly sliced as part of an antipasto.

That diagram get you hungry? Haha. For those of you who do not like bacon, or prefer turkey bacon, or are vegetarian, I don’t know what to tell you. Sure, I guess you can substitute turkey bacon or fake bacon in this if it makes you happy/feel better. But I myself don’t abide by that, so I can’t help you.

Basically, as far as this recipe goes, I threw it together in no time and I thought I’d share my “recipe” with you. One of you might be looking for something new & different yet filling to make after a long day of hard work, too. That’s the awesome thing about macaroni & cheese; you don’t need a recipe! Once you get the hang of making a roux & a basic cheese sauce, you can totally wing it; make one without a recipe at all or personalize an already great macaroni & cheese recipe.

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Well, I posted it for those reasons but also because I think Brianne would’ve killed me if I didn’t. And you do not want to mess with a pregnant woman. Ever.

ONION-Y BACON MACARONI & CHEESE

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. pasta of your choice (I used mini-rigatoni, but elbows, pipette, gemelli, cavatappi or ziti work too… whatever you like!)
• 1 ½ cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, plus an extra ½ cup set aside
• 1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups whole milk
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ¼ teaspoon onion powder
• ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
• ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ½ lb. hickory smoked bacon, cooked until crisp and then crumbled when cool (either by frying or baking in the oven)
• 1 cup Italian flavored panko breadcrumbs
• vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Add 2 tablespoons of the butter to a small saucepan and melt. Add the breadcrumbs and cook until just toasted. Set aside.
2. Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan. Add the flour and cook, whisking constantly, until slightly puffy and bubbly on the edges. Add the cayenne, the garlic powder, the onion powder and salt/pepper and whisk. Add milk, and cook, again whisking constantly until slightly thickened. Turn off heat, and remove pan from hot burner.
3. Add the cheese to the milk mixture slowly, by the ½ cup, stirring constantly to make sure it’s evenly distributed and melts evenly. When melted (or mostly melted), add the crumbled bacon and stir until evenly mixed.
4. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to directions for al dente in a large pot of salted, boiling water with a drizzle of vegetable oil. Drain, but do not rinse. Return the pasta to the large pot and mix the cheese/bacon sauce in with it, making sure to cover all the pasta.
5. Add the pasta & sauce to a casserole dish that has been sprayed with PAM. Sprinkle the ½ cup of reserved cheddar on top, and then the breadcrumbs on top of that and bake until bubbly, about 30-35 minutes.
6. Remove from the oven and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes. Serve & enjoy!

I wanted the onion & garlic taste to be really subtle. For a bigger onion flavor, caramelize some finely chopped onions in the bacon fat after you remove the bacon, then add that to the cheese sauce with the bacon. If you like a lot of garlic too, then add some minced garlic to the bacon fat as well. Once they’re cooked, remember to drain them and not add all that fat to the dish! Oh, also… I didn’t pre-toast my panko, which I suggest you do (I wrote it in the recipe) because it would make the topping crunchier & darker. Eh. Coulda, shoulda , woulda! Live & learn. I didn’t complain, neither did anyone else- there wasn’t even enough left in the pan to save for leftovers.

And I leave you with this.

Yes.

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