Dill pickles

The other day while I was smoking some pork butts for BBQ I had some time on my hands as well as about 5 lbs of cucumbers. I've made sweet pickles, I've made relish. Dill pickles would round out my pickle storage requirements. I used the recipe right out of the Ball Blue Book.

While I didn't have as many pickles as suggested for the recipe I figured if I had a little extra pickling liquid that would be OK. It's very inexpensive.

Ingredients:

8 lbs 4-6 inch cucumbers split

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup canning salt

1 quart each: vinegar, water

3 TBS mixed pickling spices

dill

garlic (1 clove per jar)

Jalapenos - 1/2 per jar

Directions:

Wash cucumbers, drain.

Split lengthwise and trim off a little the blossom end. (I ended up quartering them to fit the jars better)

Combine, sugar, salt, vinegar and water in a large sauce pot.

Tie spices in a spice bag (I used cheese cloth), add spice bag to vinegar mixture.

Bring to boil then simmer for 15 minutes.

Pack cucumbers into sterile jars, add jalapeno slice, dill and clove of garlic to each jar.

Ladle pickling liquid over cucumbers leaving 1/4" head space.

Adjust two piece caps. Process pints and quarts 15 minutes in boiling water canner.

I got 6 pints out of this and maybe a cup of left over pickling liquid. Incidentally, this was the first canning I've done where a jar didn't seal.  That's OK, it's in the fridge and I'll eat them up soon!

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener

Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
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email: thegastronomicgardener at gmail dot com

A Different take on Tabbouleh/Tabouleh/Tabouli

Tabbouleh is a traditional Mediterranean (Lebanese) grain salad. bulgar, parsley and mint form the basis of this light yet satisfying salad. Sadly there is a flavor I do not care for, and that is mint. Therefore, I have adapted the more traditional recipe to fit my tastes, replacing mint with cilantro. This is perfect summer fare, and can be a meal unto itself. It is also great on a buffet, as it will hold up for hours.

Besides being delicious, you only need to boil some water - so you won't heat up your kitchen on a hot summer day.

Feel free to adapt this recipe, substitute couscous or quinoa for the bulgar. Adaptations I made as I was making it  - I (gasp!) ran out of cilantro and parsley so it is not as fluffy as I would normally like it,  and for some reason I completely forgot the scallions/onions. You know what? It was still delicious! I ate it last night with the merguez I had in the freezer. A simple summer meal packed with flavor!

Ingredients:

1 cup Bulgar + boiling water to cover

1 small cucumber peeled, seeded and diced (if a very young fresh cucumber - use the whole thing)

2 jalapeño peppers seeded and finely diced (use less if sensitive to chilies)

½ cup cooked rinsed garbanzo beans (optional, but I love them)

1 cup packed chopped cilantro or parsley

1 cup chopped tomatoes

½ cup red onion, finely diced OR scallions minced. Use both the green and white part.

1-3 cloves garlic finely minced

1 tsp salt

¼ cup lemon juice (fresh is always better)

¼ cup olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Put bulgar wheat in medium large bowl.

Add enough boiling water to cover wheat. Stir, cover and let stand until bulgar is tender – about 30 minutes. Drain.

Add salt, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic to bulgar. Mix well and cover – At this point bulgar mixture may be chilled for up to 24 hours.

30 minutes before serving add remaining ingredients and mix well.

Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.

Not perfectly traditional but cool and deeply satisfying nonetheless.

Until next time, Eat Well and Keep Digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener

Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Sweet Pickle Relish

As I mentioned I have a whole bunch of cucumbers to use up. And I just picked another 2.5 lbs!

This time I've made sweet relish.

Sweet Pickle Relish (from Balls Blue Book of Preserving)

Ingredients

1 quart cucumbers, peeled, seeded and chopped

2 cups onions, peeled and chopped

1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup salt

3 1/2 cups sugar

2 cups cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. celery seed
1 Tbsp. mustard seed


Directions:

I used my food processor  to process the vegetables very small, but you could also chop your vegetables by hand

Place vegetables in a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and mix.

Cover with cold water and let stand 2 hours.

Drain, rinse and drain very well again.

Combine sugar, vinegar, celery seed and mustard seed in a non-reactive large pot. Bring to a boil, stir to dissolve sugar.

Add drained vegetables return to boil. Lower heat and simmer 10 minutes.

Pack hot relish into hot sterilized 1/2 pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Place caps on and tighten.

Place in hot water bath and process for 10 minutes.

Makes eight 1/2 pint jars.

I can't wait to try this on a burger!

Until next time, Eat well and Keep Digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

First Pickles of the year

All the cucumbers I've been picking finally met their  destiny.

This isn't all of them, just the most recent pick. From the Ball Blue Book of Preserving, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

4 lbs 4-6 inch cucumber cut into slices
2 lbs onions thinly sliced
1/3 cup pickling salt
2 cups sugar
1 tbs mustard seed
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp celery seed ( I didn't have any so I left it out)
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
3 cups vinegar

Slice up the cucumbers and onions into 1/4" slices.

Combine in a large bowl layering with the salt.

Cover with ice and let sit 1.5 - 2 hours.

Drain, rinse and drain again.

Combine remaining ingredients in large pot, bring to a boil.

Add drained cucumbers and onions, return to a boil.

Pack hot pickles and hot liquid into hot jars, leaving 1/4" head space. Remove air bubbles.

Adjust 2 piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner. The new 60,000 btu burner works wonders!



















Remove from canner and place in cool spot away from drafts or temperature fluctuations. Here they are right out of the canner. The recipe indicates 7 pints but I never get what the recipe says, always 1 or 2 short. Doesn't matter if it's pickles or salsa; I'm always a few pints short of a full batch. ;)

When cool, check seal and label.

Allow 4 to 6 weeks for pickles to develop full flavor.

(DISCLAIMER: This is not step by step all inclusive instructions. If you choose to can produce or other foods, please get proper equipment and instructions and follow them to the letter. The risk of serious food borne illness is very real. Proceed at your own risk.) -

Until next time, Eat Well and Keep Digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Sweet Pickles and First Canning attempt

I really like sweet pickles, and we are growing some cucumbers at the veggie plot so I of course am impatient. I reasoned that it would be good practice to try to jar some pickles. Additionally, I hope to have an enormous amount of tomatoes to can so I wanted to put myself through the paces once or twice before we have 50 lbs of tomatoes on our hands!

This first attempt was in the kitchen, in the future and at the peak of harvest I intend to set up a canning station outdoors using some turkey fryer stands. This hopefully will make it more comfortable.

My intent for this has been ongoing; early this spring I picked up some used canning equipment and jars for a song off  Craigslist.

Let's see how it all turned out. (DISCLAIMER: This is not step by step all inclusive instructions. If you choose to can produce or other foods, please get proper equipment and instructions and follow them to the letter. The risk of serious food borne illness is very real. Proceed at your own risk.)

I went to the market and bought 5 lbs of small mexican cucumbers. Brought them home and washed them well.

The recipe calls for 7lbs of cucumumber and 8 pint jars so I will likey have too many jars - better too many than not enough.

Wash the canning equipment and dry.

Crinkle cut the cucumbers. I could have just used a knife but I like the crinkle cuts.

 

Mix the pickling spices with 5 cups sugar and 5 cups vinegar. Bring to a boil.

 

Pour over the cucumbers and let steep for about 30 minutes as it cools.

 

All jarred and put into water bath canner. Bring to a boil and let process 15 minutes.

 

Remove from bath and let cool. The lids all pinged and are sucked down appropriately. I'll let these rest for a month or two before trying them out.

The finished product.

 

Happy Eating!