Fired Up Green Beans

Oh dear. I got a sample of an easy fermenter kit and decided to make the recipe they sent me. It sounded like a great idea, but ...

Oops.

I went to a couple of different stores, and fresh green beans were nowhere to be found. Bummer. But then I realized that I had frozen green beans. Would it work?

The lid made a lot of sense and I loved that I didn't have to do anything except screw the lid on. Nothing else to think about, unlike other fermenting methods I've used. I really liked the glass weights, since they had a grooved top that made them really easy to insert into the jars and take them out.

After two weeks, I was really curious about the beans. there was a slight whiff of dill even before I opened the jar that was enticing. It reminded me of pickles that I like. Mmmm.

The brine had good flavor, but the beans were a big nope. They were too soft to be pleasant to eat (although the flavor was good when I nibbled a tiny bit). Not a problem with the recipe, though. I really shouldn't have started with those frozen beans. I'm going to be looking for beans in the stores and farmers market, and I'll give this a try again.

If you're curious about the recipe, here it is. Use fresh beans, okay?

Fired Up Green Beans
Recipe courtesy of Nourished Essentials

1 pound green beans, topped, tailed and trimmed to fit inside the jar
2 cloves garlic
2 sprigs of dill

1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
4 cups of water
2 tablespoons sea salt (I used kosher. Canning salt would also be a good idea. Table salt generally isn't used for pickles)

In a saucepan, heat water. Add salt and stir till dissolved. Cool to room temperature.

Place garlic cloves, dill and chili flakes in the bottom of a pre-sterilized, quart-sized wide mouth mason glass jar. Next, add the green beans.

Carefully pour the cooled brine over the green bean mix until completely covered, leaving 1 1/2 inches of head space. (I used one of the Easy Weights to hold the beans under the liquid.)

Cover the jar with the Easy Fermenter Lid.

Store in a cool, dark place (room temperature 60-70°F is preferred,) for 1 to 2 weeks.

Once jar has been opened, move to cold storage. The flavor will continue to develop with time.

I got the easy fermenter kit from the company at no cost to me to do a review. I decided to post the recipe, as well, since it's a keeper.

Mulled Lime-Pickled Onions

You've heard of mulling spices, right? You can make your own mix, but I got some from Frieda's Specialty Produce that's really good - and convenient. I used to be opposed to spice mixes, but lately I've realized that they're really handy to have on hand. Instead of pulling out 8 bottles of spices, I can just grab one jar.

So, anyway, my neighbor had just given me a whole bunch of limes. My first thought was that I wanted to make some lime-pickled red onions. They're one of my favorite things. I put them on tacos, salads, and sandwiches. So darned good.

Usually I make my pickled onions very plain - lime juice, a tiny bit of salt, and red onions. And that's it. But I couldn't get it out of my head that I should try the onions with mulling spices. So I did. And they were really good.

The only thing I'd do different next time is wrap the spices in cheesecloth or put them in one of these so I didn't have to pick the spices out of the onions in the bottom of the jar.

Lime Pickled Onions with Mulling Spices

2 tablespoons mulling spices
1/2 teaspoon salt
Red onions, sliced, to fill a quart jar
Lime juice, to fill jar full of onions

Put the mulling spices in a quart jar (wrap in cheesecloth, if you like) and add the salt. Pack the sliced red onions in the jar. The more you can jam in there, the less lime juice you'll need to fill the jar.

Fill the jar with lime juice. Cover the jar and refrigerate. The onions are ready when they're an even bright pink color. It usually takes 2-3 days. Serve as desired.

I receive products from Frieda's for use on my blog; you can find their products at your local grocery store.

Salt-Block Pickled Zucchini

A while back, I picked up a salt-block-cooking cookbook at my favorite used bookstore.

No, the store isn't used. Most of the books are, though.

I didn't happen to have a salt block to cook on, but I figured that I'd get one eventually, and the book looked really interesting.

The book made it very very clear that grilling on a salt block is not for the faint of heart or the impatient. The salt block has to be heated slowly and there's still a chance it can break suddenly. Or even sort of explode.

Besides heating the salt block slowly, the other really important thing to keep in mind is that not all salt blocks are rated for cooking.

The ones with certain types of flaws are much more prone to breaking and should only be used for serving or for cold uses.

A few weeks after I got the cookbook, I got an email from the PR firm representing a company called SaltRox. And guess what they make? Yup, salt blocks. It was like karma. Salty, savory, delicious karma.

I was pretty happy to see that the salt blocks from SaltRox were rated for cooking, and it said so right on their website. Which is great, because I doubt most folks would be able to tell just by looking at the block. I sure couldn't.

Since salt blocks are a natural product, you'll always see lines of different colors - that's not a flaw. But it does make them very interesting to look at.

While searing a steak on a hunk of salt sounds really interesting, I'm betting most folks would use the block for other purposes, It's lovely for serving, and you can use it for salting or pickling foods. I also saw a recipe for drying food. Or you just display it. It looks really beautiful, and it changes depending on the light source.

The thing to remember if you're going to use the block for serving is that it's not a big pink plate - it's a giant freaking slab of salt. So if you put food on top of it, the food will get salty, and the longer it sits, the saltier it will get.

The food will also begin to lose moisture, if it's something that has moisture in it. I mean, a cracker isn't going to start weeping, but a slice of tomato will definitely lose water and get salty pretty quickly.

I browsed through the book to find something to make that would showcase the salt block, and I settled on a recipe for pickled vegetables. I decided to use zucchini.

But when I got to assembling ingredients, I realized that the recipe had a major flaw. The introduction talked about how the olive oil was essential as it kept the salt from being to aggressive. But there was no olive oil in the recipe. None. Zip. Nada.

Oops.

So I decided to have some fun on my own. The resulting zucchini slices were like brined pickles, but done in much less time, and using a much more interesting method. I'm definitely going to be messing around with pickling on the block a lot more, and maybe I'll even make one of the other recipes from the book. The seared scallops looked pretty amazing.

Salt-Block Pickled Zucchini

1 medium zucchini
1 tablespoon cider or wine vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon dry dill
Several grinds black pepper

Have your salt block standing by. Since the zucchini will release moisture, it's a good idea to have the block on something that will catch the drips.

Slice the zucchini in 1/4-inch thick slices. You don't want them too thin, or they'll be too salty.

I cut mine on a slight bias, but cutting them into rounds is fine. I ended up with 12 slices which left plenty of room on the block, but it was plenty for pickles to go with dinner.

Combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and stir to make sure the sugar dissolves. Add the zucchini and stir to coat.

Let the excess liquid drip off of the zucchini back into the bowl, then arrange them on the salt block. Reserve the remaining oil/vinegar mixture.

Let the zucchini sit for 15 minutes, then turn them over and let them sit for an additional 10 minutes.

You can taste one now and assess the level of saltiness. If you want them saltier, leave them on the block a few minutes longer. Pat the zucchini dry on both sides with paper towels.

Arrange the zucchini on a plate and drizzle with some of the reserved vinegar and oil mixture.

More about salt blocks

Salt blocks aren't like other cooking surfaces. They get crazy hot and retain the heat. And they wear away when you use them.

And you can't clean them like normal cookware.

You can certainly scrub a salt block to get rid of baked on food or to remove food residue. But you shouldn't use soap, because the salt blocks are porous, and you don't want soap in your next batch of food.

On the other hand, salt is a bacteria-killer, which is why it's used in food preservation. You certainly want to get food residue off the salt block but you don't need to worry about the fact that you can't use soap or shove it in the dishwasher.

They're also heavy and can be slippery when they're wet.

If your salt block does break, you have a couple of choices. You can still use it with the pieces snugged up next to each other. Or, if it's a small corner that broke off, you can crush it, grind it, and use it like ... well, like salt. And when the salt block has worn away so much that it's no longer useful - or if it has broken into too many pieces - you can bust it up, crush it, and use it to fill your salt grinder.

Yup, this is cookware you can eat.

I received a salt block from SaltRox at no cost to me for my use on the blog.

Cucumber and Shaved Radish Salad #OXOGreenSaver

When you hear about how much food Americans waste, what's the first thing you think of? Is the picture in your head about uneaten food on plates?

But what about all the food that never makes it to the plate? The stuff that goes bad before it gets cooked?

As hard as I try, I'm guilty of that, at least once in a while. I know there's a lime in the crisper, but when I reach in to grab it, the poor thing is petrified. Or the zucchini is slimy. Or half of the lettuce is brown.

Sometimes you can trim off the bad bits, but sometimes there's a lot heading to the compost bin. Which is better than trash. But still ... not what we intend when we buy fresh vegetables.

So when OXO offered to let me test one of their GreenSaver containers, I was very interested. When they sweetened the pot by adding some vegetables from Melissa's Produce, I knew it would be fun.

I chose mini cucumbers, and when they arrived, I kept four as my control group and put the rest into the GreenSaver container. I let them sit for two entire weeks.

Well, okay, I reached into the container a few times to grab a cucumber for a salad. But I left most of them for two weeks. I figured that would give them enough time to show me the difference the GreenSaver would make.

The theory behind the GreenSaver is that there are three reasons why produce goes bad. First, there's ethylene gas that speeds up ripening. One step beyond ripening is rotting. Fruits and vegetables give off their own ethylene gas, but the carbon filter in the OXO container absorbs it, so it takes longer for the vegetable to proceed to the rotting stage.

The second problem is airflow. The product that sits against the side of a container or bag doesn't have air flowing around it. Moisture tends to accumulate, and then things get slimy. The OXO container has an inner basket that keeps food away from the container's sides. The basket comes out, and you can use it as a colander to rinse the vegetables before using.

The third problem is humidity. Different fruits and vegetables and leafy things need different levels of humidity to keep them crisp and to avoid wilting - while also keeping them from getting wet or soggy. The OXO container has a vent on top and a cheat-sheet printed on the underside, which shows which vegetables need more humidity and which want less.

Just realized the light is out in the fridge. Oops.

After two solid weeks, none of the cucumbers were ready to be discarded (they're pretty sturdy, compared to some vegetables), and it was hard to tell the difference between the two groups just by looking at them casually.

Upon closer inspection, the cucmbers left outside the GreenSaver container looked slightly more wrinkled. But the real difference was when I started peeling and cutting. The ones inside the container were crisp, while the ones outside the container were much less crisp and even a little bendy. They were on their way to becoming compost. Not quite there yet, but close.

The reason I chose cucumbers for my vegetable was that I love cucumber salads in the summer. They're crisp and clean and crunchy and sweet ... and they just remind me of summer.

This salad actually has two lives. Served immediately or within about an hour of mixing - it's a fresh crisp salad. Left to marinate overnight, it becomes more "pickled" as the vegetables absorb the tartness of the vinegar and lemon juice.

It's not so tart that you couldn't eat it as a side dish, but you could also use it as the pickled component on a sandwich.

Cucumber and Shaved Radish Salad

8 mini cucumbers, peeled and sliced thin
1 small onion (or half of a large one), peeled and sliced very thin
4 radishes, sliced extremely thin
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons neutral-flavored vegetable* oil
1/2 teaspoon celery seeds
1 teaspoon dill weed (fresh or dry)
Pinch of sugar

If you have a mandolin vegetable slicer, this is a good time to drag it out. If you cut the onions very thinly, they'll marinate faster and lose their harshness quickly.

Meanwhile, if you can manage to cut the radishes paper-thin, they look much more interesting in the salad, because you can see through them. And cutting the cucumbers evenly lets them marinate at the same rate. And it just looks nicer.

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl. Let it sit 15-20 minutes before serving, if you have time, or longer if you prefer. The longer the salad sits, the less harsh the onions will be.

Refrigerate the leftovers - they'll have a more "pickled" flavor the next day, which I find particularly appealing. It's almost like a quick pickle - but not so quick, and not quite as tart.

*You can use olive oil, if you prefer, but I prefer a very mild oil for this. While I love olive oil, I think it can be too assertive for this, unless it's a "light" olive oil.

This post was sponsored by OXO and Melissa's Produce. For more posts about the GreenSaver, look for the hashtag #OXOGreenSaver and look for @OXO and @MelissasProduce on social media.

Shhh! Sweet Pickles and Secret Restaurant Recipes

So, the other day the book Secret Restaurant Recipes (from the World's Top Kosher Restaurants) arrived at my door.

Hmmm. Did I request this? Win this? 

I'm trying to get all my holiday ducks in a row so I can actually take a few days off, so I've been a little scattered. And some days I just don't remember what I emailed to whom.

In any case, I didn't pay for this book, and I'm fairly certain it came from the publisher and not some secret admirer.

These restaurant-compilation books are always fun because the recipes are usually so varied. Not only different restaurants and chefs, but they're choosing a small sample of their recipes. There was everything from salad to dessert, and a lot in between. Simple and complicated. Common ingredients and not so common.

One recipe that caught my fancy was a recipe for sweet pickles from a restaurant called Milt's Barbecue for the Perplexed in Chicago.

For one thing, I used to live in Chicago. And for another, I love pickles of all kinds.

These pickles looked a lot like the bread and butter pickles that my mom made when I was a kid, with a few interesting differences. For one thing, I had to blend an onion, which then became part of the pickling liquid.

But just like the pickles my mom made, and some of the ones I've made since then, these included turmeric, which turned the liquid a brilliant yellow and colored the pickles and onions as well.

The recipe was supposed to make 1 quart of pickles, but I decided to cut in in half. Refrigerator space is at a premium right now, and I simply figured that a pint would be a good enough test.

So, I cut everything neatly in half ... and ended up with a quart-and-a-half of pickles. Hmmm. That's odd. My first thought was that we understood English cucumbers to be different things, and I had way more cucumber than I should have.

But that doesn't seem likely, since the ratio of pickle to onion seemed right in my jars. If I had used that much less cucumber, I would have ended up with pickled onions with some cucumbers thrown in.

And that wouldn't be right.

I suspect that what happened was that someone took a restaurant-sized recipe and cut it way back to an amount that could be made in a home kitchen. And then they looked at the giant bucket of restaurant quantity pickles and figured that if if was divided, it would be about a quart.

When I made this, I left out one thing - it called for 1 teaspoon of pickling spice, which would have been 1/2 teaspoon when I divided it. My pickling spice includes large shards of bay leaves that wouldn't have fit in a half-teaspoon, along with mustard seeds that are already in the recipe, and some scattered allspice berries. I figured that if I tried to get a half-teaspoon of pickling spice, I'd end up with mustard seeds and not much else.

These pickles were really good, similar to the ones mom made, but with a little more onion flavor. And although these are called sweet pickles, they have a good bit of tartness, too. Which is perfect for me.

I'm looking forward to seeing how these change over the next few weeks.

Sweet Pickles
Adapted from Secret Restaurant Recipes (from the World's Top Kosher Restaurants) 
by Leah Schapira and Victoria Dwek
From Milt's Barbecue for the Perplexed; Chef/owner Bryan Gryka
Note: according to the book this makes 1 quart; based on my result,it should yield 3 quarts

The square-ish container is by OXO.

2 yellow onions, divided
1 cup white vinegar
2 cups apple cider vinegar
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons yellow mustard seeds
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
3/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons pickling salt
1 teaspoon pickling spice (I omitted this)
3 English cucumbers, sliced

Cut the first yellow onion into small chunks and add it to a saucepan along with the vinegars. Use a stick blender to puree the onion. (You can also puree the onion in a food processor or blender)

Add the sugar, mustard seeds, celery seeds, turmeric, red pepper flakes, pickling salt, and pickling spice. Bring to a simmer.

Put the cucumbers in a stainless steel bowl. Slice the second onion as desired and add it to the cucumbers.

When the vinegar mixture comes to a boil, pour it over the cucumbers and onions and give it a stir. Place a plate or another bowl on top of the cucumbers to weight them down a little to keep them below the liquid and set aside until it has cooled to room temperature, then transfer to jars or other storage containers. Cover and refrigerate.

These are ready to sample as soon as they cool, but they're better after 24 hours (particularly the onions) and they'll continue to pickle over the next week or two.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher.

Oil-Packed Pickled Peppers

I adore peppers. And pickles. When it comes to pickled peppers, there are a couple types - and brands - that I like.

And then there are all the others.

When it comes to pickled bell peppers, I make them in a simple vinegar pickling solution. But when it comes to hot peppers, I could never find a recipe I liked better than the commercial ones. I thought maybe it was the type of pepper. Or the mix of vegetables. Or the type of vinegar. Or the spices.

It took a long time before the lightbulb lit. The peppers I like the best are preserved in oil instead of just a vinegar solution. Aha.

When my husband brought home some peppers from a friend's garden, I decided to pickle them. The pepper included jalapeno, serrano, cayenne and cascabel peppers. It wasn't a huge hand full of peppers, but it was enough to make two pints of spicy peppers along with the mixed vegetables I added.

You could do this same thing with any mix of peppers to make the mix spicy or mild. And keep in mind that the other vegetables AND the oil become quite spicy.

Oil-Packed Pickled Peppers

1 cup sliced (or large dice, depending on type) hot peppers
2 bell peppers (any color)
2 small carrots
2 stalks celery
1 pickling cucumber
1 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup olive oil
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds

For the hot peppers, you can choose to leave the seeds and ribs in the peppers for more heat, or remove the seeds and ribs for a less spicy mix. Of course, remove the stems. Shoot for about 1 cup of the prepped peppers.

The rest of the vegetables should equal about 3 cups or slightly more - they'll pack into the jars a little better after they're cooked.

Core the bell peppers and remove the seeds. Cut the bell peppers into pieces no larger than your hot pepper slices.

Peel the carrots and cut the carrots and celery into thin slices. If you have fat carrots and wide pieces of celery, you can cut them in half lengthwise so the pieces are similar in size to the hot peppers

Peel the cucumber and cut into pieces similar to the other vegetables.

Put all the vegetables into a saucepan and add all the other ingredients except the bay leaves and mustard seeds. Cook on low heat until the vegetables are tender, but not soft - you still want a little bite to them.

Put one bay leaf into each pint jar and add 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds to each. Fill each jar with the peppers. If there's not enough oil to cover the vegetables in the jars, add more oil - either vegetable oil or olive oil.

Cover the jars, let them cool to room temperature, then refrigerate.

Spicy Pickled Cauliflower

11-pound cauliflower. It's sitting on a half-sheet pan.

The inspiration for these pickles was that I bought an 11-pound cauliflower. Yes, eleven pounds. It was a the farmer's market at one the stands that sells most things by the bunch or piece. I bought the monster cauliflower, and once I got it home it looked even bigger than it did at the market.

But that's okay - I like cauliflower. A lot. I planned on roasting some, maybe steaming some, and maybe some soup. I nibbled on some raw.

And then I thought that I might as well pickle some.

My second thought was that I might as well make them spicy. I didn't see any hot peppers at the farmer's market so I stopped at the local Mexican market on the way home and picked up four Serrano peppers. I didn't need anything else - just those four peppers.

And when I got to the checkout, they just gave them to me. I guess it wasn't worth ringing up a purchase for a few cents, but it was still a nice thing for them to do.

But that's okay, I'll make up for it next time. They make tortillas there that are pretty good. I'll be back for those, among other things.

I made a jar of these and as soon as I tasted them I decided to make a second jar. The second time, I added just a bit of sugar - and now I'm not sure which version I like better. The ones with sugar aren't sweet - not like sweet pickles - but it adds another dimension to the flavor.

These are refrigerator pickles, not storage pickles, so it makes sense to make small quantities.

Because of the turmeric, the cauliflower is a very bright yellow - it makes a great accent with pretty much any dish.

Spicy Pickled Cauliflower

2 Serrano peppers
1 quart cauliflower florets
2/3 cup white vinegar
1 1/3 cup water
1/2 teaspoon kosher or pickling salt
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon yellow mustard seed
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)

Remove the stem from the peppers and slice them into 1/2- to 1/4-inch slices. Add those to a quart jar. Break the cauliflower into small pieces and add them to the jar.

Combine the vinegar, water, salt, turmeric, mustard seeds, and optional sugar in a small saucepan and heat to boiling - or, if you prefer, you can heat to boiling in the microwave in a microwave-safe measuring cup. Stir to make sure the sugar and salt are dissolved, and pour the hot liquid over the cauliflower.

If the liquid doesn't cover the cauliflower, add hot water as needed.

Cover the jar, let it cool to room temperature, then refrigerate. These are ready to eat as soon as they're fully chilled, but I think they improve even more (and they're a more vibrant yellow) after a day or so.