A passion for pickles

My refrigerator is packed with quarts of delicious dill pickles, and I made every damn one of them. Just don’t ask me why. It’s one of those obsession things, and I have to remind myself, “It could be worse. It could be taxidermy.”

I don’t know what prompted my quest for pickle perfection, but it began in early June and intensified with the rising summer temperatures. It started out innocently enough. I stopped at a new produce market outside of Jonesboro and noticed they had pickling cucumbers, three for a dollar. I bought 12 and went home with no real plan as to what to do with them.

Even though I love to cook, I’ve never made pickles. My mama used to make pickles in the summer in my grandmother’s butter churn. It was a long process that sometimes produced pickles that were either tart and crisp and delicious or were mushy or sour or tasted like kerosene.

I remember one batch in particular that my sister and I referred to as her “killer salt pickles.”

I wanted to make pickles that were easy to prepare and tasted great. My quest for a recipe began.

I remembered seeing Adam Richman sing the praises of half sour pickles on the New York episode of Man vs. Food, so I thought I’d research the process involved in making them. I found out that half sours are cucumbers that are just barely pickled and still retain the distinct taste of a cucumber. I selected a recipe from one of the many I found online, and I made my first batch of half sour pickles. Then came the hard part.

After waiting for two days, it was time to taste the bright green spears that had been hanging around on my kitchen countertop. I opened the jar and tasted what I just knew was going to be a great homemade pickle.

I was wrong.

What I tasted wasn’t a pickle so much as a mushy, cinnamon infused cucumber. I couldn’t even finish it. My husband tried one and agreed. They were disgusting.

Now that I knew that half sours weren’t our thing and that the premixed pickling spices had way too much cinnamon, but I wasn’t about to admit defeat. I researched again and found a recipe for a copycat of Claussen dills. This recipe seemed easy and foolproof. I was back in the pickle business. Only one problem. Now I couldn’t find any pickling cucumbers.

The ones at the produce market were shriveled like prunes, and Wal Mart was out of them. I started scouring roadside produce stands, but my efforts were fruitless. I even resorted to begging for cucumbers on Facebook. I was one step away from standing on Main Street under the stop light with a “Will work for pickling cucumbers” sign dangling from my neck.

The ASU Farmers’ Market solved my pickle problem, and I was able to get plenty of cukes to try out my new recipe. The first batch was good, but they were still kind of mushy. After the discovery of Ball’s Pickle Crisp Granules, I made a new batch, thanks to a generous donation of pickles from a family member. I hoped they would be clones of those wonderful Claussen pickles that stay refrigerated by the lunchmeat at Kroger. I had to wait three days to find out if I had reached my goal.

Alone in the kitchen one morning, I opened a jar. If they sucked, I didn’t want anybody to witness my disappointment. The difference was obvious. I had made the perfect pickle and I couldn’t wait to tell people.

That night I posted it on Facebook, and I became flooded with requests for the recipe. Everybody clamored for my insights on this simple yet wonderful vinegary treat.

My biggest fan was my father-in-law. In the five years that I’ve been married to his son, the man probably has said fewer than 500 words to me. Suddenly, he’s all chummy with me because he’s apparently got a serious pickle addiction. My husband tells me that he constantly hears him sneaking to the refrigerator at work to fish his hand into the jar that I sent to work with Lanny just to have a little more space in the refrigerator. We gave him a quart of pickles for Father’s Day, and it was by far the best received gift we’ve ever given him.

So now, I’m the Pickle Princess of Northeast Arkansas. I’ve known some people who have competed for some pretty dubious titles before, so I guess this isn’t so bad.

I wish my mama had come across this recipe when I was a kid. These are much easier than the ones she used to make. I’ve made several batches now, and, so far, there’s no sign of the “killer salt pickles” that Rhonda and I still recall with a pucker and laugh.

Here is the recipe that I’ve developed from the one I originally found online. I don’t measure any of the spices, so I just estimated here. You can adapt it to your personal taste. One recipe should make around 4 quarts.

1 gallon of pickling cucumbers

1/2 c. dried minced onion

6-10 cloves of garlic, peeled

4-6 fresh dill heads or 1/2 c. dill seed

2 T. whole peppercorns

1-3 T. crushed red pepper flakes

Ball’s pickle crisp granules

6 c. water

2 c. cider vinegar

1/2 c. canning salt

Trim blossom end off cucumbers and slice lengthwise in half or quarters. Tightly pack in quart jars. Divide garlic, onion, dill, peppercorns and red pepper flakes into jars. You can add more pepper if you want spicy pickles. Add 1/4 tsp. of pickle crisp granules into each jar. Heat water, vinegar and salt until boiling and salt is dissolved. Carefully pour hot liquid over cucumbers and place lid on jars. Let sit on the counter for three days, shaking occasionally, then store in the refrigerator. 

International Night – Spain

Continuing with our European theme, our International Night this week was centered on the rich cuisine of Spain. When I first started researching Spanish cuisine, I had fully intended to prepare paella as our main dish. Paella is one of those things that I’ve never had, but I see pictures of it in cookbooks and magazines quite often. It always looks very appealing, thanks in large part to the colorful nature of the dish.

I found some recipes for it and discovered that traditional paella usually has both mussels and clams in addition to other forms of seafood. Nobody in our house it very fond of mussels or clams, and they can’t really be purchased in our local stores. I would have had to make a trip to Jonesboro to get them from Kroger, and I decided that it just wasn’t going to happen this week. Even though I found some recipes using just shrimp and chicken, I decided when we started our International Nights that I would prepare the meals with the traditional recipe that is most often used in their respective countries. So I ditched the idea of preparing paella and looked for another typical Spanish meal.

I soon came across a recipe for fabada asturiana, and I was immediately drawn to it. The thing that most attracted me to the dish was the inclusion of chorizo in this rich soup. My family and I have grown to enjoy chorizo at the local Mexican restaurants, so I knew that any recipe featuring chorizo was bound to be good. The recipe called for dried fava beans, but those weren’t available here, so I used large lima beans instead. I also couldn’t find morcilla, a Spanish blood sausage, and there really wasn’t anything that compared to substitute for it. It was good, but, to be honest, I felt it was a little bland. I think it would have been better with a little more spice.

After hearing so much about tapas recently, I also thought briefly about making a variety of the popular Spanish bar foods to go along with our fabada. My husband went to a tapas restaurant at Indianapolis recently, and he raved about it. However, I soon realized that preparing a variety of tapas was going to be too much work for me to whip up after getting home from school, so I decided just to make one of Spain’s most popular tapas, tortilla de patatas. It is essentially a potato omelet, and it was very good and easy to prepare.

Here are the recipes for our Spanish fare:

Fabada asturiana

2 pounds dried fava beans or large lima beans

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Pinch of saffron threads (I left this out because it’s so expensive)

1 tablespoon paprika

10 cloves of garlic, minced

1 smoked ham hock

1 pound slab bacon, chopped

1 pound chorizo, sliced

1 pound morcilla (I couldn’t find this)

1 onion, chopped

Soak the beans overnight then drain and rinse. Place in a large pot, add water to cover by 2 inches, and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam, lower the heat to a simmer, and add the olive oil, saffron, paprika, garlic, ham hock, and bacon. Simmer for 1 hour, adding more water as necessary to keep the beans covered.

Add the chorizo, morcilla, and onion and simmer for another 2 hours, or until the beans are very soft; add water as necessary to keep the beans and meats covered. Remove the ham hock and pull off the meat. Tear into bite size pieces and return to the pot. Serve with crusty bread.

Tortilla de Patatas

1 cup olive oil

4 large potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

salt to taste

1 large onion, chopped

6 large eggs

Heat the oil in a 9-inch skillet, add potato pieces and onion. Cook slowly over medium flame, being careful not to brown potatoes. Turn occasionally until potatoes are tender and still loose.

Beat eggs in a large bowl with a fork and add desired amount of salt. Drain potatoes. Add potatoes to beaten eggs, pressing them so that eggs cover them completely. Let sit for 15 minutes. Heat 2 T. oil in a large skillet. Add potato-egg mixture, spreading quickly. Lower the heat to medium-high. Shake pan to prevent sticking. When potatoes start to brown, put a plate on top skillet and flip to cook other side, adding another T. of oil. Brown on the other side and serve.

Family game day – a great excuse to make some awesome party food

This afternoon our family started what hopefully will become a Labor Day tradition. Everyone gathered at our house for a fun game of Formula D, a racing themed board game. Although the game was fun, I have to admit that my favorite part of the day was making a ton of party food for the occasion. I really like to make appetizers, but we rarely entertain, so I don’t do it often.

When we decided to do this, I started looking online for inspiration to plan my menu, and I quickly came upon something I had seen in a magazine a few months ago, mini candy apples. I was afraid it would be difficult to scoop out apple pieces with a melon baller, but it was super simple. The end result was just about the cutest thing I’ve ever made in my kitchen, and since there were none left at the end of the afternoon, I guess they were pretty tasty, too!

I made a recipe I saw online a couple of weeks ago, baked cheese olives, along with buffalo chicken dip, bruschetta and mini pulled pork sandwiches. I served a few other things that I bought in the frozen section of Kroger, and they were all pretty good, too. Frozen jalapeno poppers, queso and potato skins were an easy addition to my party food buffet. An olive tray, pickles and peppers and some fresh fruit rounded out the selections.

Here are a few of the recipes from our first family game day:

Mini candy apples

Granny Smith apples
chocolate, peanut butter or butterscotch chips
sprinkles or chopped nuts
lollipop sticks
small paper candy cups

Cut the lollipop sticks in half and set out candy cups on a serving tray. Using a melon baller, scoop balls out of the apples. Push half of a lollipop stick into each apple ball, with a section of the apple peel on top. Pat the apples dry while melting chocolate, peanut butter or butterscotch chips. Quickly dip and swirl the apple balls into the melted chips, leaving the apple skin exposed. Then dip in sprinkles or nuts. Place in candy cups to set. Refrigerate for at least 10 minutes to harden candy coating.

Baked cheese olives

1/2 cup butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce 
40 large green olives, with pimento

In a medium-size bowl, cream butter. Mix in flour, cheese, paprika, cumin, and hot sauce. Cover bowl and refrigerate at least an hour (can be made ahead a day ahead).

Dry olives on paper towels. With a ball of cheese mixture that is close in size to the olive, flatten the cheese mixture in your palm, plop the olive in the center, work the mixture up around the olive, and then very gently roll it around between your palms. Make sure the cheese mixture completely seals in the olive. Repeat with remaining olives.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place olives on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Serve at room temperature to slightly warm.

Buffalo chicken dip

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
2 (9.75 oz.) cans chunk chicken breast, drained and crumbled
1/2 c. buffalo wing sauce (we prefer Louisiana brand)
1/2 c. ranch dressing
1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Combine all ingredients in a microwave safe dish. Microwave on high for 3 minutes and stir. Continue to microwave at 2 minute intervals and stir until cheeses are completely melted. Serve warm with chips or crackers.

July 4th Fare

First I want to apologize for the fact that I have no pictures to accompany my recipes today. We were in a mad rush to get out the door to our family gathering, and I just didn’t have time to snap any photos. A couple of the things I made turned out really good, though, so I wanted to share the recipes even without the pictures. If after heating up the leftovers they still look good, I’ll add some images later.

Since my husband and I married four years ago, I’ve become a part of his family tradition on the 4th of July. They rent a clubhouse at a youth camp in the woods (and I do mean in the woods – like “Bigfoot sighting” woods), and lots of family and extended family gather each year for lunch and swimming for the kids afterward. After four years, I still don’t know a lot of the people there, but maybe I’ll eventually learn everyone’s names.

Growing up my family was never big on 4th of July celebrations or extended family gatherings, so this has all been new to me. We really never did much of anything special on July 4, probably because for years my dad was working. With this new tradition in my life comes a new challenge to find food to prepare each year. I don’t like to bring the same things to a gathering every year, so I start scouring cookbooks and the internet for ideas on what to bring, just like I do at Thanksgiving and Christmas. This usually works out well, but the first year I went to this event, I apparently made a strawberry dessert that a couple of people there really liked. I have absolutely no idea what it was or where I found the recipe, but I’m usually reminded of how good it was and how I should make it again. At least now with this blog I’ll have a record of what I brought each year!

I decided this year to make some grilled chicken legs since they are a good choice for our Weight Watchers plan. After marinating the legs overnight, my husband grilled them, and they were quite good. I also made some pinto beans and potato salad that I adapted slightly from recipes I found online. The big hit of the day, however, was a dish that I decided to throw together at the last minute, crab and shrimp stuffed jalapeno popppers. A couple of years ago we made some grilled jalapeno poppers that basically consisted of stuffing shredded cheese in jalapenos and wrapping it with bacon. Those were good (according to the people who ate them), but in trying to keep the pepper intact, it was nearly impossible to deseed them completely. As a result, they were apparently very, very hot! For this variation, I just cut the peppers in half and stuffed each half separately before grilling. Even though I didn’t eat them, everybody else seemed to love them.

I hope everybody had a fun and safe holiday. Let me know if you try any of the recipes.

Here are the recipes that I prepared this Independence Day:

Seafood Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers

12-15 large jalapeno peppers
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 can crab or tiny shrimp, drained
1/2 c. shredded cheese
2 T. Old Bay seasoning or Emeril’s Essence
1 T. lemon juice
Paprika

Cut jalapeno peppers in half lengthwise. Remove seeds and veins completely. Combine cream cheese, crab or shrimp, cheese, seasoning and lemon juice. Place some of stuffing mixture in each pepper half. Sprinkle with paprika. Grill using indirect heat for 10-20 minutes. Serve immediately. Any type of shredded cheese will work with this recipe, just use your favorite.

Texas Style Pinto Beans (adapted from allrecipes.com)

1 pound dry pinto beans
1 (29 ounce) can chicken broth
1 large onion, chopped
1 fresh jalapeno pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon cumin
salt and pepper to taste
water, if needed

Soak beans overnight, drain. Combine beans, chicken broth, onion, pepper, garlic, and spices in a large pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and continue cooking 2 hours, stirring often, until beans are tender. Add water as needed to keep the beans moist.

Grilled Chicken Legs

3 to 5 lb. chicken drumsticks
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 c. teriyaki sauce
Juice from 2 limes
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. red pepper flakes

Place chicken legs in a a gallon zip loc bag and add remaining ingredients. Shake to mix well. Refrigerate overnight to marinade. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-low heat and lightly oil grate. Drain the marinade from the wings and discard. Cook chicken on the heated grill, turning occasionally, until juices run clear, 25 to 30 minutes.

 

Tex-Mex Potato Salad (adapted from kraftfoods.com)

5 cups red potatoes, unpeeled and cut into large pieces
2/3 cup  Light Miracle Whip
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp.  onion powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 can (11 oz.) whole kernel corn, drained
1 can  (4 oz.) chopped green chiles, undrained
1/2 cup chopped celery

Cook potatoes in boiling water 15 minutes or until tender. Drain and cool slightly. Combine Miracle Whip and remaining ingredients. Add potatoes and mix well. Refrigerate several hours or overnight before serving.