Easy Pickling: Delicious, Fermented Pickles for Idiots

Little pickled tomatoes on the left, and Anahiem peppers on the right.

First off, I am not going to tell you that you'll be healthier, your gut will function better, and your immune system will flex its muscles all winter if you eat fermented foods. I will tell you that they are one of the best things you'll ever eat, and that you can probably get a big jar of pickled carrots or green tomatoes, or baby cukes going in about 5 to 10 minutes.

You don't need any fancy crocks, special jars with airlocks or any thing other than kosher salt, a clean quart canning jar, water, some spices and garlic you probably already have, and enough clean, firm smallish or sliced vegetables to fill a jar. It's been done for centuries, and trust me, our grannies didn't buy pickling tools off a fancy website. They used what they had, and so should you. They used fermentation for two reasons: it preserved the harvest, and it tastes good. This easy method I'm showing you is lactic fermentation in its simplest form. Idiot proof.

Right before our first frost, I picked of a lot of too small green tomatoes, and Anaheim peppers. Not good to eat or cook with as is, but waste not, want not… They are now becoming wonderful, easy, fermented pickles and I just use whatever I have in my kitchen: kosher salt, water, jars, coriander seed, garlic…don't let the food gurus scare you off. Pickling is pretty much idiot proof. Carrot sticks, baby cukes or sliced cukes, whatever you have can become something entirely new. If you can stir salt into water, you can do this. I'm sure, once you make your first batch, you'll be hooked. Just remember you can double, or even triple your batches, using the proportion of 1/4 cup of kosher salt  to 4 cups of water.

Here's how:

Into a bowl, measure 4 cups of water. Dump in 1/4 cup of kosher salt, and stir furiously until it dissolves. You just made a brine.

 Into a clean quart canning jar, pack your sliced carrots, or baby green tomatoes, hot peppers or whatever you want, tossing in the occasional peeled garlic clove, and a few pinches of your favorite spices, like coriander seed, dill seed or cumin seed and even a few cloves or bay leaves between the layers of veg. You can layer in a few small, hot peppers if you like spicy. The veggie pieces should be bite size.  Pack it full, right up to the shoulder of the jar. If you put the smaller pieces in the bottom, and the bigger at the top, fewer of the small pieces will float up out of the brine. Go find a smaller jar, or a bowl or a ramekin that will fit into the mouth of the jar and give it a good scrub.

Place the jar in a coolish spot, and set it in a pan or a tray to catch any overflow. Now, pour in the salt - water mixture-- your brine, right to the tippy top, and set the little container you scrubbed into the top to keep your vegetables submerged. If you have extra brine left, keep it in a jar to use to top up your pickle if it evaporates too much.

Check your pickle jar every day, and it should be sour enough to eat in a couple of weeks…or wait longer. remember that the colors of things will change a bit, green vegetables will dull a bit. Remember those wonderful sour pickles in the barrel in your favorite deli? Make sure the vegetables are always submerged. A little mold  floating on top is OK,  you can skim it off and top up the jar with the leftover brine. If it really smells awful, or goes moldy down in the jar, toss it all and chalk it up to experience. Use common sense; if it looks or smells bad, toss it. I like to label my jars with the start date, nothing elaborate, just a piece of masking tape and a waterproof marker.

I generally go about 3 weeks before I screw the lid on the jar and pop it in the fridge. I like my pickles cold, and it's all I can do to wait to taste the results. So freaking good!

Meaty Monday: Braised Pork Chops with Fennel, Tomatoes & Potatoes

It was 80º here two weeks ago, and we'll likely have our first light frost at the end of the week. Doesn't seem fair. I haven't even brought in all my houseplants yet. The ONLY thing I like about the coming winter is the hearty, comforting food. I'll just console myself with dishes like this lovely one-pot dinner  of pork chops and fennel until spring comes. Or the seed catalogs arrive...

Last year I made a slightly different version of this dish, but I think it was  too herbal, so bear with me. This is a meal that's quick to prepare, reheats well, and is so, so satisfying on a cold night with a glass of beer. Contrary to popular belief, the flavor of anise is even better in savory dishes than it is in sweet things. It's actually not as intense here as it would seem; it melds beautifully into the herbal background and lets the flavor of the pork shine.

This is a wonderful, aromatic one-pot meal, and a green vegetable or a salad will round it out nicely.  The dish gluten free, so if you want to serve bread on the side, choose accordingly to the needs of those at your table. Depending on how you feel about potatoes, you may want to modify this for a paleo dinner, and again, if you omit the potatoes, it would be a good low carb or Atkins-type meal.

We'll just serve ourselves from the pan tonight because I'm L-A-Z-Y.

Braised Pork Chops with Fennel,  Tomatoes & Potatoes
Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 T olive oil
4 boneless center-cut pork chops (heritage if possible), 1" thick, salted and peppered
1 large onion, diced
1 large fennel bulb, cored, sliced, both white and green parts
Fennel fronds reserved for garnish
3 cups small, yellow potatoes, halved or quartered
2 cups of chopped fresh tomatoes , OR 1 15oz. can diced tomatoes, no salt added
1 cup chicken stock
pinch hot red pepper flakes
2T Italian seasoning
2T Anisette liqueur or Pernod
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

1. Heat the oil on medium heat in a large, deep covered sauté pan until is begins to shimmer and smoke and add the pork chops. Brown the chops, about 4 minutes per side, adjusting the heat as needed.

2. Remove the chops to a plate and set aside, leaving any fat in the pan. Add the onions, fennel bulb, and potatoes. Salt lightly, and cook until the onions and fennel begin to soften. Add the tomatoes,  stir up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, then add the stock, the red pepper, the Italian seasoning, and the Anisette liqueur.  Bring to a simmer and stir well.

3. Add the chops and any accumulated juices from the plate, return the mixture to a simmer, cover and cook about an hour, until the pork is very tender. Place the chops on a serving platte, and spoon the vegetables and juices over it all. Garnish with the fennel fronds.

Fee, Fie, Foe, Friday: Pumpkin Overload Already, and Earlier!

This is a repost from last September 21. I was so shocked to find that there are already a slew of pumpkin flavored food products on the shelves and it is still August. And the bloggers are already grinding out pumpkin posts. Kinda like when the stores put out the Christmas decorations the day after Halloween. Pushing the season. Corn and tomatoes are at their prime. Fall does NOT start at Labor Day. Fall comes on September 22. Wear those white pants, and wallow in tomatoes and basil now, please. Leave the pumpkin on the shelf right now, OK?

Proper pumpkin. Plain canned or whole fresh.  Delicious.
Never, ever in coffee or a so-called martini.

It's not that I don't like pumpkin. I do. I have wicked good pumpkin recipes for soups, desserts, breads cakes and stews that are utterly delicious. But then there are places where pumpkin should never be. Like in coffee. Or in a Martini. It's a big old squash, for God's sake. So far, on yesterday's trip through three different grocery stores in one day (don't ask why), I've seen pumpkin in oatmeal, cereal, puddings, tea, coffee, milkshakes, candy fillings, pie, cake, muffins, bread, ravioli, vodka, beer, candles, body rub and soap. Some of them are actually tasty, but not many. This junk arrives right after Labor Day and mercifully disappears right around Thanksgiving. What on earth did I do to deserve Pumpkin Overload?

The two places  I find pumpkin most offensive is in coffee and in so-called Martinis. Yes, I'm a curmudgeon. I thought we established that a long time ago. First off, coffee is coffee.  It's meant to taste like coffee. If you don't like the taste of coffee, don't drink it. Leave it alone for those of us who can appreciate its own unique flavors. Don't monkey with it. If you have to fool with it, then at least stick to some permutation of milk, cream or sugar as an additive. Pumpkin flavored coffee ranks as high with me as tacky Christmas sweaters, dogs in clothes, and lengthy holiday email letters with more personal information in them than a CIA dossier.


That brings me to pumpkin martinis. This is actually a complaint about calling a drink a martini that has anything other than gin, dry vermouth and an olive in it. if you prefer vodka, a vodka martini is permissible, but just barely. Call me a purist, but just because it comes in a martini glass does NOT make it a martini. I realize that both the fancy coffees and dessert-y cocktails make their purveyors a lot of money. I know this. That gloppy, sugary, creamy, alcohol-laden girly drink in an oversized "martini" glass should have a name of its own, to differentiate it from an actual, classic Martini cocktail. No self-respecting adult would ever be caught drinking one of those. Never. Not even if the recipe came from a morning talk show hostess. They're gross. Especially the pumpkin flavored ones. Woman Up or Man Up and pour yourself a Scotch. Just stop maligning the Martini with that pumpkin flavored swill.


Just wanted you all to know how I feel about all of this  pumpkin stuff. A pumpkin is a wonderful thing. Plain canned pumpkin is an even more wonderful thing, because you can actually make mad good food from it without the mess of cooking a whole pumpkin. Just avoid cocktails and coffee and you're safe with me. I myself will be making a Pumpkin and Crab Bisque soon, but right now I'm heading out to my neighbor Bob's yard to sit in his pumpkin patch. Am going to wait for the Great Pumpkin, so I can apologize for those pumpkin-flavored atrocities.

The 5:2 Feast: Chicken with Zucchini, Tomatoes & Creamy Basil Noodles

The 5:2 Feast: Chicken with Zucchini, Tomatoes & Creamy Basil Noodles

I really wasn't going to post today. For two years now I've been posting three days or more a week,  with a full time job and ...a life, and just for August I was trying to cut myself some slack. Turns out I'm harder on myself than anyone else has ever been. I just "guilted" myself into writing this as I made my approx. 300 calorie dinner to take to work for the late shift. Today is one of my fast days. If you are on to the Fast Diet from England, you'll understand. These recipes  are both quick and easy to make, have great flavor, and are quite filling.


I made the creamy shirataki noodle part a few years ago, and it's based on some recipes written by Hungry Girl, aka, Lisa Lillien.  Back when I first joined Weight Watchers, her recipes were all the rage, but I was not a huge fan because of all the processed, fat free foods she uses in her recipes. If you don't mind that stuff, get your hands on a copy of her book "Hungry Girl 200 under 200". Sorry, Lisa, I didn't mean to damn you with faint praise, you filled a need for many of us, and helped a lot of people find good things to eat while dieting. Even if you don't make the recipes exactly the way she wrote them, the book will give you great ideas for dishes to fix on your fast days. Of course I've doodled with her recipe  a lot, with ingredients and technique, so it's the same in spirit... It tastes good, but doesn't include additive-filled things like fat free sour cream or fat free parmesan cheese. The chicken dish couldn't be easier too,  basically a "dump and run" recipe that anyone would be happy eating, dieting or not.

Chicken with Zucchini, Tomatoes & Creamy Basil Noodles

Serves 1

For the noodles:

1 8 oz. package of Shirataki noodles, drained, rinsed and cut in pieces with a scissors
2 wedges of Laughing Cow Light Original cheese wedges, cut in smaller bits
2T minced basil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tablespoon grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
water as needed

For the chicken:

1 4oz. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut in bite sized strips
1 cup of sliced zucchini
1/2 cup  canned diced tomatoes
1 minced garlic clove
1 teaspoon of dried basil or oregano
1/2  cup water

1. Spray a small nonstick skillet with a quick spray of cooking spray, heat over medium-high heat and add the chicken strips. Stir and cook until lightly browned. Add the zucchini and the garlic, and cook for another minute. Add all the remaining ingredients,  cover and simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove the lid, and cook another minute or two until the sauce has thickened. Turn off the heat and let it rest covered while you make the noodles.


2. Place the drained noodles in a small, dry, nonstick skillet over medium heat and stir for a few minutes until they are as dry as you can get them.  add the remaining ingredients for the noodles, through the grated cheese. Reduce the heat to low, and stir to melt the cheese wedges, adding a water a few tablespoons at a time to just make a creamy sauce.

Enjoy, and these both reheat well in a microwave for an at-work lunch or dinner. I like them in the same dish...


Disclaimer:

This makes an approximately 300 calorie meal. Your calculation may differ, and it will certainly differ with the use of other ingredients.

Fee, Fie, Foe, Friday: First Day & I'm Late

Here it is, the very first day of summer, and I'm STILL running late with all the garden chores. Putting in all the raised beds, and moving all the extra soil and compost off the driveway and into a temporary straw bale raised bed have eaten up so much of my time. Vegetable planting was way late this year because of all that. I usually have everything mulched, the cold frame cleaned out,  and all the patio pots planted. Not this year. Usually by now, it's almost "Hammock Time." Instead, I feel like the Mad Hatter.

Summertime! The livin' is easy if you're a tomato plant.

At the rate I'm going, I'll still be doing spring chores by the 4th of July. Not that it matters, but the entire family comes over  for a barbecue at some point over that weekend and I hate having outdoor works-in-progress. Guess I'll have to get over it. And let some of it go. Summer is the time to relax, isn't it? If you are a gardener, the livin' is NOT easy; fun, but not easy.

Even though I may be behindhand, and whipping myself into a froth, Mother Nature is right on schedule. The tomato plants ate tomatoing, and the beans plants are beaning. Swiss chard is ready to pick, and we've already eaten all the radishes and arugula. Second plantings are already IN. Soon we'll be up to our eyeballs in tomatoes and basil. It's all good, isn't it?  Soon I'll be canning and freezing, and too soon, it'll be fall. Here I am already ahead of myself. Worrying.

A tomato plant, tomatoing.

I know, I know, I should let some of it go. And I will. What gets done, gets done, because pfffft! It's a metaphor for life. If you worry too much about the past and the future, you'll miss now. Because I don't want to be late for a date, a very important date...with the hammock this afternoon. Life goes too fast to get caught up in the To Do list. Enjoy. It's Summer.

Quick Chicken with Leeks, Tomatoes & Sherry

Nothing makes me crazier than not having our meals planned ahead. I admit to being so much of a Susie Homemaker that I actually have a good idea of what will be on the family table within the next week. Usually Monday's dinner is a Part Deux of Sunday's meal. I get home late, and it's easy for Chuck to just reheat. But not cooking dinner on Easter threw me a loop, and I totally forgot to get anything going for Monday's dinner on Sunday night. So I'm laying in bed in the wee hours of the morning, just before the alarm goes off freaking out that I was going to have to add making dinner to my morning chores before work. Ugh.

So 6:30 Monday morning finds me in my ratty red robe, standing in front of the stove,  browning boneless, skinless chicken breasts in olive oil. A granny fork in one hand, a mug of coffee in the other.  I  had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with these insipid things and was considering pulling a bottle of barbecue sauce from the pantry, dumping it into the pan and calling it done. But when I'd pulled a bag of frozen strawberries out of the freezer, I also saw a bag of frozen chopped leeks from Trader Joe's.  Chicken breast with leeks sounds much more appetizing than gloppy barbecue  sauce. And boneless, skinless chicken needs something. This chicken dish came together in a flash, and it reheated on Monday night in 10 minutes flat, with a side of rice and green beans. All I can say is that this tastes wonderful and will now officially become a fast go-to weeknight recipe. 

Everything in this great one-pot dinner came from my pantry and freezer. If you don't have frozen leeks, either cut some up yourself, or just substitute onions. Not quite the same dish, but still delish.

Quick Chicken with Leeks, Tomatoes & Sherry

2T olive oil
3 large skinless, boneless chicken breast, split in half and pounded to 1/2"
3 cups sliced leeks, white and light green part only, fresh or frozen, or onions
2 garlic cloves, minced (jarred is fine)
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
(1 T orange or lemon zest, opt.)
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup dry cocktail sherry
1/2 cup water

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat until it ripples. Add the chicken breasts, and brown on both sides; cook them in batches so the pan isn't crowded. Remove the chicken to a plate and add the leeks or onions, and the garlic. Season lightly with salt, and use the liquid produced from the leeks to loosen and browned bits from the bottom of the pan. add the tomatoes, and all the remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer. Place the chicken back in the pan, cover and cook about 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Serves 2-4., and reheats beautifully.

Quick Chicken with Leeks, Tomatoes & Sherry

Curried Creamy Tomato Soup with Chickpeas and Spinach: Recipe Evolution

Kasha, aka, The Farm Girl Cooks, posted a link on FB to an absolutely delicious-sounding recipe on the blog Three Many Cooks called "Curried Cream of Tomato Soup with Chickpeas and Spinach". I had everything in the house to make it. Perfect lunch for these damn cold, not-quite-spring days. Then I saw just two things I would need to change. My lactose intolerance won't allow me to use that much canned evaporated milk comfortably in my own food, and adding baking soda to acidic foods tends to reduce some of the  available vitamin content. 

I thought I'd just sub some of my coconut based coffee creamer for the evaporated milk and that would allow me to skip the baking soda too, since coconut products don't curdle in the presence of acids. Done, right? Wrong. While poking in the pantry for canned chickpeas I spied a can of light coconut milk, and a jar of Thai green curry paste. Hmmmm. Different flavor profile? Going to need to follow a Thai-ish line here, so will need to check out what else I have on hand to flesh out a variation. Maybe some basil and ginger? Not even close to authentic Thai, but wonderful, filling and healthy. 

While the "bones" are the same as the original recipe --tomato puree, chickpeas and spinach, the finished product is a very different soup. The result?  A recipe evolution.A dreamy, creamy, spicy, warming soup that, if your pantry and freezer is fairly well stocked, you can make from what you have around. Don't be afraid to change up the spices or sub good stock for the milk. A good madras curry will work here too, if you have some in your spice cupboard. It's by far the best lunch I've had all week--so good the girls at work were dipping their spoons into my bowl, too. Quick and easy deliciousness.

I'd like to thank the gang over at Three Many Cooks for the inspiration, and Kasha for pointing it out. This version is vegetarian,  vegan in fact, and dairy-free and gluten free. Maybe your version will evolve this recipe another fabulous step?

Curried Creamy Tomato Soup with Chickpeas and Spinach

Curried Creamy Tomato Soup with Chickpeas and Spinach

Ingredients:

1T safflower oil or olive oil
1 small onion, diced fine
1 T minced ginger (from a jar is fine)
2 crushed garlic cloves
1 T Thai green curry paste
1 13.5 oz. can light coconut milk
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes (organic if possible)
1 heaping T dried basil
1T  sugar or granular Erythritol
1 14 oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 cups  baby spinach, packed, or 1 cup  frozen chopped spinach, thawed
3T minced fresh cilantro, or frozen cilantro
Kosher or sea salt

Instructions:

1. In a large saucepan, heat the oil until it thins and ripples, and then add the onion, ginger and garlic. Turn the heat to medium, and sauté until the onion begins to soften. stir in the green curry paste and cook for a minute longer.

2. Stir in the coconut milk and the crushed tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Add the basil and the sugar or erythritol, and let simmer for 5 minutes. 

3. Stir well, and then add the chickpeas and the spinach and cook until the spinach wilts, about another 3 minutes. Taste for salt, and add as needed. Stir  in the cilantro and serve.

Serves 3 - 4 

Chicken in Vermouth with Tomatoes, Peppers & Herbs

This is one of those "fall back on" recipes that are so easy and good at any time of year, but truly spectacular when you can get garden fresh vegetables and herbs. Another beauty of this dish is that it works with fresh chicken,  leftover chicken or even a rotisserie chicken.

The vegetables, garlic and herbs I've used have come from my own garden, but at this time of year, it would be a shame to make it with canned tomatoes and frozen peppers if you have access to any sort of fresh, locally grown produce. All the summer vegetables and herbs are at their peak right now. Leave the canned and frozen  vegetables for when the snow flies in January.

Italian vermouth is both sweet and herbal, and adds a lot of depth of flavor to this dish. Other red wine is good, but the vermouth really makes it sing. There are plenty of savory juices that are perfect over pasta or rice, or with a nice chunk of crusty baguette. This a sophisticated comfort food at its best.

Chicken in Vermouth with Tomatoes, Peppers & Herbs

The actual hands-on time is about 15 minutes, but it tastes like
 you've slaved all day.

Ingredients:

4 lb. of raw chicken parts, with skin, or a cooked 4-lb. chicken  cut into portions
2T olive oil
6 plum tomatoes, cored and chopped
2 large onion, one thinly sliced, one diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 large yellow or orange bell peppers, diced
1/4 cup  fresh basil leaves
3T fresh oregano leaves
2 T fresh rosemary leaves, lightly chopped
Kosher salt, pepper
1 cup sweet Italian vermouth

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF, and oil a broad, shallow oven-to-table baking dish that will mostly hold the chicken in a single layer. If you are starting with raw chicken, heat the olive oil in a large, non-stick sauté pan and place the chicken skin-side down. Cook for about 5-7 minutes over medium high heat until the skin is browned. Place the chicken in one layer in the pan.  Proceed to step 3.

2. If you are using cooked chicken, place it in the prepared baking dish, and then heat the oil in the pan.

3. Add the tomatoes, peppers, garlic, basil and diced onions to the chicken pan or the heated oil, and cook until soft. Scrape the tomato and pepper mixture evenly over the chicken. Separate the sliced onions into rings and spread them out evenly over the tomato mixture, and then scatter the oregano and rosemary over the top and season with about 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt, and a few grinds of freshly ground pepper. Drizzle the vermouth back and forth over all, cover tightly with aluminum foil or a lid, if your dish has one.

4. Place in the oven and bake for 1-1/2 hours if using raw chicken, and just 1 hour if using pre-cooked chicken.

Serves 4.

Looks good, even before baking.

Total Tomato Transformation: Roasting Tomatoes for Big Flavor

Concentrated, sweet tomato goodness!

Got some gorgeous plum and grape tomatoes at the market over the weekend. They looked and smelled like they'd be nearly as delicious as local tomatoes in season. It is, after all, late May, and there should be good tomatoes coming from somewhere in the US, right? Boy, was I wrong. You cannot push Mother Nature.  The beauty was just skin deep; the plum tomato I added to my sandwich was bland, bland, bland. The the grape tomatoes were nothing to brag about either.

In the heat of Summer, I often roast a big pan of garden tomatoes until they are almost tomato candy. So, why not concentrate the flavors of these? So a little olive oil, a little garlic, and an hour in a hot oven and well, they sure are good. Actually, they're first-rate. Total Tomato Transformation. In sandwiches, in hummus, mixed into hot pasta or rice with a little cheese. The tomatoes I pick warm from the August sun are decidedly better, but if you tried to grab this dish away from me, I'd fight you for them. Might eat them all with a fork, right off the pan.

Note: I roasted both grape and plum tomatoes together, but it's easier to just do one type at a time. I did not add herbs as I wasn't sure how I was going to use the finished product and didn't want competing flavors.

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

2-4 lb. of plum tomatoes
1 pint grape tomatoes, washed
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
5 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
2 tsp kosher salt
optional: handful fresh rosemary sprigs or thyme sprigs

Preheat oven to 450°F. Cover a large rimmed baking sheet with foil. Spray the foil with cooking spray. Wash, dry and core the plum tomatoes, and place in a large bowl. Add the garlic cloves and the herbs if using. Add the salt and the oil and toss well. Spoon the plum tomatoes onto the prepared baking sheet and arrange  them cut side up.

Read for that hot, hot, hot oven.

Put the grape tomatoes in the bowl, toss in the oil and add to the front side of the sheet as you will remove them first.  Arrange the garlic cloves and herb sprigs so they are either buried inside a cut tomato or between them so they don't burn.

The little tomatoes are ready, but the big ones need more time.

Pour whatever olive oil and juices are left in the bowl over the tomatoes. Place in the oven  and bake for 20-30 minutes. When the grape tomatoes are starting to brown and char a bit in spots, carefully remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon. Continue to roast the larger plum tomatoes for another half hour to 45 minutes until they begin to get dark spots on top. Remove from the oven, let cool slightly and try not to burn your mouth when you can't resist tasting. Store in the fridge for about a week in a covered container.