My Favorite Foods: Pickles!

I love pickles! My favorite foods are probably bread, cheese, pickles & olives, and guacamole. I could never leave any of those unfinished on the table.

Lately there has been a lot of pickling going on in the food blogger world. I sent a few recipes over to my friend Renee and we decided to join in the fun. She went first – trying out the bread and butter pickle recipe from She’s Becoming Doughmesstic. Renee put her own twist in – adding in some garlic and a few extra spices. We tasted and decided that they needed more vinegar and less sugar for our taste. I tried next – swapping the quantities of vinegar and sugar and differing the amounts of scallions and cilantro. I also used ground mustard instead of mustard seeds. We tasted again and agreed that the less sweet pickles were more to our liking.

Next up, Renee tried a more traditional dill pickle recipe with a recipe from Rachel at Loco Diner. These were good – but needed more time to cure. We couldn’t put our finger on what was missing, but they needed a little something else. Maybe salt? Maybe more vinegar and less water? More spice? She’s working on that for the next batch.

Now that we had basic pickling down, we decided that pickled onions were next. But instead of red onions I picked up 2 pounds of shallots. Aren’t mini-sized foods always cuter? (I know Meghan at Delicious Dishings would agree!). I adapted a recipe from Ad Hoc at Home and pickled a lot of shallots.

Once I had a selection of each of the pickled items, I set up a pickle tasting for the hubby. I felt like we needed an official tasting for research purposes.

In the pickle line-up:
First on the left: Renee’s traditional dill pickles
To the right: Renee’s crinkle cut spicy bread and butter pickles
Next: My chip and sandwich slice bread and butter pickles
On the right: Pickled shallots

For my pickles I used pickling cukes that I picked up at Charlton Orchards Farm and Winery at the Russell’s summer market. I decided to make a mix of chips and sandwich slices. I think that all the pickles were a success! The bread and butters were tangy and crunchy. The shallots were great as additions to brisket and chicken sandwiches.

Now every day at work Renee and I talk about what else we can go home to pickle. Next on my pickle to do list is half sours. Half sours are my absolute favorite pickle. Do you have a recipe? Send it my way! Next on Renee’s pickle to do list is beet pickled onions. They are in the refrigerator pickling while I write this!

What’s your favorite type of pickle? Dill, half sour, gherkin, bread and butter?

Quick Bread and Butter Pickles
Adapted from recipe on She’s Becoming Doughmesstic

6-7 Pickling cucumbers, washed and sliced into 1/4 inch chips and slices
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup chopped scallions, whites and greens
2 cups white vinegar
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon celery seeds
1 tablespoon ground mustard
1 tablespoon ground turmeric

I didn’t have any canning jars, so I used a large glass batter bowl (oven/heat safe) with a lid
Mix the cucumbers, cilantro and scallions together in the bowl (or jar if you have one)
Set aside on a trivet (you’ll be adding in hot liquid)

Assemble the vinegar, sugar, salt, celery seeds, ground mustard, and turmeric into a medium sauce pan and whisk together
Bring the mixture to a boil and let boil for 2 minutes to dissolve sugar
Remove from heat and carefully pour/ladle the liquid into the bowl with the cucumbers, cilantro, and scallions
Make sure to use black or stainless steel – this is a very yellow and staining mixture!

Let the mixture cool for about a half an hour and then put on the lid
Put in the refrigerator and let cure for 24 hours
After 24 hours I strained the liquid to remove the solids (cilantro, onions, etc)
I stored the pickles in the strained liquid
These lasted only a few days in our house – so I can’t tell you how long they will stay in the fridge

Pickled Shallots
Adapted from recipe for pickled red onions in Ad Hoc at Home

2 lbs of shallots
1.5 cups Red wine vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Wide mouth quart jar with lid (I used Ball brand)

Peel shallots
Slice a few of the shallots into smaller pieces (this will help to pack the jar tightly)
Fill a clean, warm canning jar with the shallots

In a medium saucepan, mix the sugar and red wine vinegar
Bring to a boil and let boil until sugar is dissolved, about 3 minutes
Carefully ladle or pour the hot liquid into the jar with the shallots
Let cool for 20 minutes and then put on the lid
Put the shallots in the refrigerator and let them cure for about 24 hours
Serve with everything (well, maybe not breakfast….)

Summary:
Prep time: About 15-20 minutes of chopping
Cook time: 3-5 minutes boiling
Inactive Cook time: 6-24 hours (depending on how long you can resist trying the pickles)
Glass bowl or jars, sauce pans, ladles, cutting board and knife


Serving Suggestion: 
Smoked brisket sandwich with pickles & shallots on a homemade biscuit! 
(Keep an eye out for my brisket recipe on www.LocalinSeason.com!)

Pizza with Panache

Pizza is a dish that lends itself to creative thinking. You can make it traditional, innovative, sweet, or savory. My favorite pizzas are light on sauce with a few great tasting toppings. Whenever I go home to St. Louis I try to get a St. Louis thin-crust pizza with hamburger and onion (sometimes black olives too). The best part of St. Louis pizza (and salads at the pizza places) is provel cheese. Provel cheese comes in ropes, it was created about 50 years ago for the purpose of topping St. Louis pizzas. It’s a combination of provolone, white cheddar, and Swiss. It melts well, doesn’t get stringy, and stays hot (watch out for burned mouths).

When I’m here in Boston and thinking about pizza, I prefer to make it at home. It’s faster than delivery and we can make it exactly the way we like. Homemade pizza is also a great way to use up all those leftover ingredients in the fridge.

We had picked up some premade pizza dough and the grocery store and set it out on the counter to warm up to room temperature. Like the start of most of my kitchen adventures, I looked in the fridge and pantry to see what we had on hand.

From the freezer I pulled out at tin of Pestos with Panache’s Succulent Strawberry Pesto. I’ve enjoyed corresponding online with the pesto maker, Lauren, and had a chance to meet her in person at the SoWa Market earlier this summer. The strawberry pesto isn’t sweet – it’s a fabulous traditional pesto with the addition of bright red strawberries.

To top of the pizza, I chose shredded Monterey jack cheese and a few golden delicious apples.

This is a quick meal and perfect for a light dinner. You could also make the case for serving it at breakfast accompanied by some fluffy scrambled eggs and a cup of tea.

Pizza with Panache
1 container/bag of prepared pizza dough (or a pre-baked crust like Boboli)
1/4 cup Pestos with Panache Succulent Strawberry Pesto
1-2 golden delicious apples, cored and sliced into thin slices (I did not peel my apples)
Monterey Jack cheese, as cheesy as you like
Sprinkle of corn meal for the baking surface

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
Measure out pesto (it is frozen) and warm for about 10 seconds in the microwave to make it more spreadable and set aside (don’t completely melt it)

Stretch out, toss, or roll out pizza dough to desired shape and thickness
Place the dough on a pizza stone or baking sheet covered with the cornmeal, this helps to prevent sticking
Bake the crust for 6 minutes

Remove the prebaked dough from the oven
Using a silicone brush, spread pesto all over the crust
Top with the apple slices, spreading evenly over the crust
Top with as much cheese as you’d like

Return pizza to the oven and cook for 10-12 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and the edge of the crust is golden brown
Remove from oven and let the pizza sit for a minute or two, so you don’t lose all the cheese when you slice it

Serve with a lightly dressed salad and try to save a few pieces for lunch the next day!

Summary:
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 16-20 minutes
Pizza stone, cutting board, knife, bowl, pizza cutter, serving utensils

When He Fends for Himself: A Confession and A Pledge

I haven't contributed to the blog in awhile, and there isn't a good reason why. The wife took evening MBA classes from last September through the end of June, which left me on my own at twice a week. For all those lonely dinners (probably in the range of 50), I couldn't create something in the kitchen worth writing about. I look back at those nights in front of TV and can't account for how I got by. I survived those 3-4 hours alone during dinner time, but looking back on it nothing stands out. What the heck did I eat? What I write about today is a confession and a pledge. I confess that not one of those 50, or so, meals was balanced or an appropriate dinner. And because I feel some shame and some embarrassment, I promise to change!

This fall the wife goes back to school and I'll get a second chance! When she had class last year, I obviously knew well in advance which days I was responsible for my own dinner and still I had no strategy or plan on how to feed myself. Every time I got home, I had to try to come up with something while wanting to use as little energy as possible. I tried to wing it the best I could with leftovers, "snack dinners", some skipped meals, take out orders, and old standbys. I made mac and cheese a couple of times, and probably another pasta or two. But I already wrote about those and who wants to write about, much less read about, boiling water more than once? (Even though I can boil water with the best of them!) None of the meals left me satisfied, none of the meals left me proud.

As soon as I plow through the 7 unopened boxes of Mac and Cheese in our pantry, you will see a transformation. I will move on from boiled and microwavable foods to produce nutritious meals that are healthy and worth writing about. I'll use the oven and the saute pans and maybe even the food processor. Every time I learn something new I'll share it with you. We will be on this journey together. "When He Fends for Himself" will again be a regular feature, so get ready!