Simple Japanese-Style Pickles

Cook once - eat lots... and with a simple preparation that keeps the veggies in great shape for days and days - even 2 weeks.  Wouldn't that be great?

Well, not only is that possible, it is within reach of just about everyone, and takes little or no heat.  With beets, carrots, cabbage and chard stems from my Oxbow CSA box, lets go.

Real quick - pickling may seem hard, or something everyone is doing.  Neither of these reasons should hold you back from picking up the rice vinegar and pickling some of your summer vegetables.

There are many flavors of pickling, and several methods - this is just one.  The fact that this is particularly easy, and it compliments lots of other flavors, makes this a great way to start.

So... onto the show.

Quick Japanese pickles

Top: non-traditional spicy beet pickles
Left: traditional carrot & cabbage pickles
Right: chard stem pickles

The fastest pickles are made with vegetables you'd eat raw anyway.
Some of the reasons I love them:
No heat,
Stay moist and crunchy for days,
Quick addition to dinner, sandwiches (hellloooooo Banh-Mí), and salads.

One con - does take some time.  But if you are doing other things and have a timer, it is worth the investment of your effort, both that day, and on into the future.

 How To:

Cut up your veg - pretty small for this style. For about 4 C of cut veg, sprinkle with 1tsp of salt.  Above I have 2 C carrots and 2 C cabbage.  Let the salt drain the veg for about 20 minutes.  

Squeeze the vegetables gently to remove the drained water.

Last of all:

1/3 C rice vinegar

3 Tbs sugar (white)

Combine everything.  It is ready to go now, and ready for the next week or so.

I kept the vegetables separate to drain (as advised in several Japanese cookbooks), but combining everything when you add the sweetened vinegar is fine.  And no, you don't need to rinse the vegetables since you want some salt in your pickle.  

Any crispy or crunchy vegetable you enjoy eating raw is great for this approach.

Some good vegetables to consider - 

carrots, diakon radish, ANY radish, kohlrabi, peppers, cucumbers, tiny baby zucchini, cabbage,  fennel, sweet onions and red onions.

The next category is vegetables that need a quick blanch/boil - and then a swim in the pickle.

That is what I did with the chard stems.  (They were from the chard that I used for the goma-ae).  The only difference is you put the salt in with the sugar and vinegar.

Choose your vegetable that needs a little cooking, boil it for a few minutes until it is just barely fork tender, drain, then toss it hot into the vinegar, sugar, salt mixture.  Let it sit and cool.  Eat it all up.

(Alternately, you can boil it in the pickling mixture - just double the amount of mixture, and add 1/3 C water)

Some good veggies for this are chard stems, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, beets, scapes, sliced winter squash and green beans.

The way I made those beet pickle unconventional was by using a different vinegar - in this case

spicy Filipino vinegar. (The brand Datu Puti is also what to look for if you want to play with Cane Juice Vinegar for Adobo).  And for this one, I cooked the beet IN the vinegar.

Ingredients:
1/3 C Sukang Masssim (or any other vinegar spiced with those evil little chilies)
1/3 C Rice Vinegar
1/3 C water
1 tsp salt
3 Tbs sugar

Beets - peeled and sliced into 1/4 in (or thinner) slices.

Boil the beets IN the pickling liquid for about 20 minutes.  Test with a fork at 15 minutes...
When they are barely fork tender, let them cool (they'll keep softening a bit more as they cool).

And you can spicy-vinegar-up any of these veggies.

Once again - more flavor and little or no heat!

Have fun.

Cabbage Rolls - Updated

Hot Summer is here - and while the fruit is the star, all that sun grows amazing green stuff.
I have my paws on my OxBow Box and it is full of beautiful summer greens with a definite Italian theme.

My favorite sleeper produce of the summer is cabbage, and not just any cabbage, Savoy cabbage.

Here are these babies getting clean and crisp for market.

Savoy is the wrapping cabbage of choice.  And since I got a hold of the OxBow Box on a weekend, I had Time To Cook!  And so I did.

Italian Style Cabbage Rolls
I've loved the idea of cabbage rolls for awhile, but they are a huge pain to make, and so much of the filling is... wellllllll.... bland meatloaf.  And that is so sad.

But with the combination of Italian ingredients

zucchini

fennel

and of course the Italian parsley... I felt like it was time to do something about this.


Oh... and there was the thing where the tomatoes are so amazingly ripe they peel without a dip in boiling water

Ok... these were from the Farmers Market -
but LOOK local, ripe tomatoes! 

I've just gotta do it.

I had to take on the "cutting off the vein from the cabbage."

So blanch it for about 10 minutes,

drain and let it cool, then make sure you have a Sharp Knife

to cut off the thick vein

so it rolls well.

My 1st challenge was to make sure the vegetables were so tasty they were and important part of the filling.

I browned the HECK out of the onions
zucchini and fennel.

It was very important to cook down, soften and brown all the vegetables - half an onion, a banana sized zucchini- cubed - and thinly sliced fennel.

And unlike "traditional" rolls that are filled with a raw meatloaf that must be cooked for an hour or more... these could be assembled

not too much filling

fold over one side and roll

see how the edges are sticking up?

just poke it in like an
"innie" bellybutton

And then just baked (covered!) until heated through.  (20 min at 375˚F)*


I made a really simple fresh tomato sauce - because this is the ONE TIME OF THE YEAR!!!! I can.  I peeled them, pulled out the seedy-goo, and made a purée with the parsley, some of the fennel fronds, garlic and salt.

A little sauce on the bottom - a little sauce on the top
(yes, put sauce on all of them)

I baked it for about 20 minutes to make sure they were warmed through.

And NOW I did eat it all up!

(and the other dozen I made have gone to friends and family - and now I need to make more!)

* You can also make these ahead, and keep them in the fridge for a a few days - this time they need to be baked, covered, for about 45 min at 375˚F if they are coming straight out of the fridge.

CSA veggies + Farmer's Market Sausage

.... 2 Great Tastes that Taste Great Together.


This week the CSA bag was enormous.  The fruit is rolling in, and they sent it all to us in one day!


But fruit for dinner wan't going to cut it, I needed something more.


Last Sunday, I had picked up so beautiful lamb sausages - mixed with plum & dill.  It sounded vaguely Eastern European, or Scandinavian (all that dill).  It needed salad and the potatoes I still hadn't decided what to do with were the obvious choice.

So.... Link Lab's Plum and Dill Sausages,


with Roasted Dill Potatoes


& Fennel and Purple Cabbage Slaw












The best order to do this all, so everything’s ready together –

 

1.     Slice all the potatoes & veg,

2.     Start the potatoes roasting,

3.     Start the fennel softening,

4.     Start the sausages grilling,

5.     Make the dressing

6.     Get everything on their way to finishing

7.     Quickly soften the cabbage

8.     Serve it up hot!

But to keep you from going bananas (Yes, I’m looking forward to the new Planet of the Apes movie… I admit it.), I’ll separate the recipes in the usual way.

The beginning of this recipe is the best – 

Grilled Lamb, Plum & Dill Sausages

Find really good sausages.  Poke em’ so they don’t explode.  Grill ‘em.

If you can’t find these specially, get something else  - and mirror that herb in your roasted potatoes.

I stumbled upon these by Link Lab, 

sold by the sheep farmer at the 

Lake Forest Park Farmer's Market

I love lamb and herbs, so the Plum & Dill
was worth a plunge into the unknown

Here's Linda Martiny herself!
Provider of Tasty Lamb.
Know your farmer.

Poke them liberally to let the juices run (instead of exploding) out.  Grill them up by marking then at high or medium high heat, and then cover and let them cook at medium heat the rest of the way through.

You can check by eye (peek inside and make sure they are cooked through), or poke them with a thermometer, and make sure they are 160˚F (since they contain pork as well).

Roasted Dill (or insert herb) Potatoes

Use 1 medium, or 2 small potatoes per adult

Ingredients:

Potatoes

Per each medium potato -

Large pinch of chopped dill (or other herb)   

Pinch of salt & ½ a pinch of pepper

½ tsp of oil (nothing fancy – the flavor will mostly get cooked out)

Prep:

Start the oven heating to 425˚F

Cut each potato half so it gives you 2 blocky pieces (rather than 2 thin flat pieces).  Cut into slices as skinny or skinnier than your pinky.  Toss with oil, salt pepper and herb.

Spread out in a large flat pan with a lip (large baking pan/half-sheet pan/cookie sheet with a lip).

Cook: 

Slide the potatoes into the oven for 10 minutes.  Pull out the pan,  jiggle, toss and turn the potatoes with a metal spatula to release any stuck ones.  Return the potatoes to the oven for about 10 more minutes.  They are done when they are easily pierced with a fork (hence, fork tender), and maybe have a few crispy edges.  How long they take will depend on the age and variety of the potato, and the size you cut the potatoes.

Fennel & Purple Cabbage Slaw

(Green works fine too, but I had purple)

I made a black bean & garlic dressing to add to make it extra savory, instead of the regular creamy or vinegary dressing.

Ingredients:

1 fennel bulb, stalks removed

1 tiny head of cabbage, or half a small head.

½ a regular sweet onion

2 tsp oil (I used bacon drippings…. Extra yum!)

½ tsp salt

¼ C water - optional

1 tsp Chinese black bean & garlic sauce

1 Tbs rice vinegar (+ more to taste)

pinch salt& a few grinds pepper

1 Tbs olive oil (or canola)

Cute tiny purple cabbages

 Prep:  Cut the cabbage and fennel into quarters, through the stem, and slice out the hard core piece from both vegetables.  Then thinly slice the onion, cabbage and fennel.

In the bottom of your salad/serving bowl, with a fork or whisk, briskly combine the black bean & garlic sauce, rice vinegar, salt & pepper.  Continue to stir, and slowly add in the oil. (all dressing ingredients can be placed in a tightly sealing container and shaken.)

Toss with ½ of your sliced onion – and set aside.

Cook:

Heat a sauce pan over medium-low heat with the 2 tsp oil.  Stir in the fennel and ½ tsp salt, and let this begin to sweat and soften the fennel.  This will take a little while, so keep checking in with it.  If it is getting brown, turn down the heat.  Keep stirring occasionally, and checking for softening.  You are going for something that still has a little crunch and plenty of body. 

If after 8 min or so, the fennel is still tough, add the water, and turn up the heat to medium-high and let the fennel simmer. 

As the fennel approaches done, put ½ the sliced sweet onion, and continue to stir to soften.

Right when the fennel and onion are just about done, add in the cabbage, and stir to combine everything.  Let this sit over medium heat for about 5 minutes to just soften the cabbage.

Add this mixture straight from the stove to the dressing and onion mixture, stir to combine. Add any extra vinegar, salt or pepper. Nom!

Ta-Da!

Sizzling sausage, toasty potatoes and irresistible slaw.

Summer Squash, Summer Cabbage & Sweet Onion Salad

Get out the grill kids... this one actually makes squash good!
And I mean children asking for seconds.

(we had this with grilled chicken - the optional chicken recipe will follow)

Start with:
1 small summer cabbage,
1 medium summer squash,
1 small sweet onion.

[This means 1 small cabbage (baseball sized or 1/2 of a big one), 1 medium sized summer squash, (or several small ones to make up the space of 2 cupped hands), and 1 small sweet onion (or half of a big one].

First make a hearty dressing:

1 Tbs grainy mustard
Optional: (1 small handful of tender herbs - parsley, basil, oregano, chives...)
1 garlic cloves smashed/minces
a large pinch of salt & a small one of pepper (to taste)
4 Tbs pale, but not white vinegar (apple cider, rice, white wine, champagne, any of the above)

Shake or stir these together.

Add about 1/4 C ... or a little more olive oil (either add it slowly and whisk it in, or put it all in a jar/tightly closing tupperware and just shake it hard!)

Pour about half of this in a medium sized bowl/tupperware
Slice the sweet onion thin slices, and toss them in the dressing... set this container to the side.

Slice a summer squash into about 1/4 inch slices (thinner than your pinky).  Long way, short way, diagonal.... which ever way you like to slice your squash.
Toss the slice with 1/2 tsp of oil and 1/2 tsp of salt, and set aside while you fire up the grill... or a grill pan if it is chilly tonight.

While the grill is heating, see to the cabbage.  We got purple in the CSA bag... and it makes the summer squash (yellow &/or green) look good.
Peel off the thick outside leaves.
Chop it in half, and make a "V" shaped cut in each half to cut out the core of each
Place each half on the cutting board, flat side down, and make thin slices.
Toss with the rest of the dressing.

Now that the grill is hot, start to grill the oiled squash - get grill marks before flipping.  When both sides of the squash have grill marks, toss it into the bowl/container with the first half of the dressing & the sweet onion.

Now you have all the pieces.  Throw all together, toss well, and eat with garlic toast!