Veggie Grain Bowl with Shitake Sesame Dressing

 

Some people claim that salads are boring. Sure, that's true if you make them with the same ingredients and glop on the same dressing day in and day out. This dressing is as far from boring as the sun from the moon!

I had an inkling to recreate one of my favorite salad dressings in a bottle - Shitake Sesame Vinaigrette. There wasn't much thought that went into it, just a hunch and I struck gold! Saute some garlic and fresh shitake mushrooms, add the usual suspects and Presto, fantastic dressing that you will want to drown, I mean drizzle, over salads from now until July!

Pictured above was my take on a grain n' veggie bowl: place some cooked grains in the bottom of a bowl and pile on lots of vegetables cut into bite size pieces, and then add your favorite dressing. As you can see, nothing that out of the ordinary besides the dressing.

Thai Sweet Potato Cakes with Cashew Sour Cream

 Here it is October 20, which means only 11 days of Mofo left! Twelve posts done and another eight at the least (although it will probably be closer to 12) to go. Whew! What a ride!

And this weekend we got another Iron Chef Challenge:

Potatoes and Sesame

I almost said no way, I'm worn out! Gotta gear up for the big finale! But luckily, my next post was for sweet potato latkes, to go with the cashew sour cream. And for a myriad of reasons, the post kept getting postponed. Now I know why! So I could rejigger it for Iron Chef!

Diners, for your review, please allow me to present Thai Sweet Potato Cakes with Cashew Sour Cream. Decidedly Thai flavors of cilantro, toasted sesame oil and lime pair with sweet potatoes and fresh chilies. Top with cashew sour cream and a side of quick radish pickles, and your tastebuds will overcome your brain's confusion at finding a potato cake with Thai flavors!

Thai Sweet Potato Cakes with Cashew Sour Cream
(makes 12-20 cakes)

1 sweet potato
1 fist size red or white potato
4 jalapenos or other green chili, minced
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1 cup loose packed cilantro, minced
1/2 teaspoon Thai red curry paste
1 teaspoon almond milk
1 teaspoon salt
oil for frying (sunflower, safflower, peanut)
cashew sour cream (DIY Pantry)
lime wedges

Combine flax seeds with enough water to make a thick but pourable paste and set aside to rest. Grate potatoes on large shredder holes into large mixing bowl. Add cilantro, chili, agave nectar, salt, and sesame oil and mix well. Combine thai red curry paste with almond mix and blend well. Add flax mixture and curry paste mix to vegetables and mix very well, using your hands if necessary.  Heat large skillet over medium low heat for 3-4 minutes. Add thin layer of oil and swirl to coat bottom of pan. Drop 1/4 cup of mixture into pan and flatten and cook on each side until nicely browned. Add oil as necessary and repeat until all of batter is fried. Remove to paper towel to blot off excess oil and serve with cashew sour cream and wedges of lime.

Hugs!

Recipes currently inspiring me:

Pumpkin Ice Cream with Candied Pepitas at Vegan Dad
Mandarin-Ginger Tofu at Tofu Mom
Cheesy Kale Chips at Earth Remedy

Herb Fermented Cashew Cheese

I know, when you first saw the picture you thought, "no way that is vegan cheese, and made out of nuts? Who does she think she's fooling?" But it's true my friends, this is a) vegan, b) fermented (so I can technically call it cheese according to my French friend), and c) amazing tasting. And you too can make such a delicious creamy vegan cheese!

No fancy equipment nor difficult ingredients, I promise! When PPK listed their top 100 of 2011 and noted the craze of fermented vegan cheese, I knew that I was soooooooooo far behind the vegan train that making this cheese was at the top of my list. Many of the recipes I found online called for using probiotic capsules, which surely works easily. But being a hardcore DIYer (and eyeing the price of a bottle of probiotics) my fermented cheese is made with rejuvelac.

Rejuva what?

Rejuvalac. In case you missed my last post, rejuvalac is a healthy tonic of yore, made from sprouted seeds. With a slightly sour taste and a bit of effervescence, it is essentially a liquid probiotic you can make at home for pennies. So of course that's what I did. Using rye berries instead of the more common wheat, I soaked and sprouted the berries and produced rejuvalac which then got blended with soaked cashews and were allowed to ferment for 48 hours on my kitchen counter. And voila! Creamy and slightly tangy fermented cashew cheese!

 Sure you can leave the cheese as is, but wanting a little more pizazz, I added lots of herbs and garlic powder to give it a Boursin like flavor. For those of you less inclined to the DIY side, you can buy bottled rejuvelac in natural food stores, but the bottle at my store was a whopping $10 and when I realized with a little time I could make it for about 50 cents at home, well there was no choice!

UPDATE: Veganosaurus let me know that if you keep a little bit of fermented nut cheese from your first batch, you can just added it to your next batch without adding additional rejuvelac and it will ferment it for you! Yeah! Love fermentation!

SECOND UPDATE: I wanted to state for the record that I was introduced to Miyoko Schinner's Artisan Vegan Cheese after doing this post, and am trying to buy the book ASAP (Grrrr, Powells.com does not have it in stock!) Not to toot my own horn, but I am not making a recipe from her book without giving her credit. Just wanted to be clear!

Herb Fermented Cashew Cheese
(makes 2 cups)

2 cups cashews, soaked in water for at least 8 hours
2 tablespoons rejuvelac (DIY Pantry)
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon salt

Drain cashews and add to blender along with the rejuvelac. Puree until very smooth, scraping down the sides as needed to make it all combine. The puree should be thick but not so thick that it doesn't move in the blender. Add 1/2 teaspoon of rejuvelac at a time to increase flow of blending cashews. Pureed cashews can have a little texture. Remove from blender and place in cheesecloth and set in colander set inside of a bowl. Cover cheese with cheesecloth and allow to sit on kitchen counter for 24 to 48 hours, tasting for flavor after 24 hours and allowing it to ferment longer if you want a tangier cheese. Combine herbs and salt in bowl and add to cheese and blend thoroughly with a fork and refrigerate.

Hugs!

Recipes currently inspiring me:

Spinach Crepes with Ricotta, Tomatoes and Basil at Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice
Oyster Mushrooms Rockefeller at BitterSweet
Corn and Black Bean Quesadillas with Roasted Zucchini Salsa at Closet Cooking

Rejuvelac - DIY Pantry

Timetraveling was one of those magical things that I always wanted to do as a kid (and wrinkling my nose like Tabitha from Bewitched to make things go poof!) Timetraveling would have come in handy so I could meet all of my western frontier heroes, be a pioneer woman like Laura Ingalls Wilder and live with the Indians - I was so born out of my time! Notice a theme here? Making everything from scratch because back then there were no grocery stores with packaged goods, only bulk supplies!

And what does all of this oversharing of my childhood dreams have to do with the strange looking liquids in the jars above? That is homemade rejuvelac, a very old-fashioned health drink that I discovered in Wild Fermentation. Rejuvelac is a liquid probiotic drink derived from soaking grains, sprouting them and then drinking the liquid flavored by the sprouted grains. Very little effort (but some time investment) to produce a super healthy probiotic drink that keeps your internal system working like clockwork but more importantly is great for fermenting nut cheese!

Traditionally, rejuvelac is made with wheat or rye berries, but just for kicks (and for those of you who are gluten free) I made a batch with white quinoa too (not pictured). I preferred the rye version for its more sour flavor (like good sour dough) since the quinoa had a distinctively sweeter taste. While I have only used it in fermenting cashew cheese, I am curious to experiment with it to see if I can use it in baking or making nut yogurt, ala Tongue Ticklers' post on curdling cashew milk with the stems of fresh green chilies!

If you want to use another grain, it's the same proportions as listed below. And in case you haven't discovered Sandor Katz aka Sandorkraut do check him out. Making fermented food is the chemistry homework you wished you'd gotten in high school!

Rejuvelac
(makes 2 cups)

2 cups rye berries
4 cups water
1 quart mason jar

Place rye berries in jar and add 4 cups water and cover with cheesecloth or clean cloth and secure with a rubber band and allow to soak in dark, cool place like your cupboard for 24 hours. Drain off liquid after 24 hours and rinse well. Drain and recover and secure with rubberband and place back in cool, dark place for 12 hours. Repeat three more times as berries begin to sprout. After rinsing and draining four times and berries have little tails, fill with water and recover and allow to soak for 24 hours. Pour off resulting rejuvelac and refrigerate covered. It will taste slightly sour and fizzy and is a good drink for improving your digestion as well as being a liquid probiotic. Keeps for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Hugs!

Recipes currently inspiring me:

Eggplant Bounty Pie at Stacey Snacks
Asian Pear and Lemon Cucumber Salad with Rosemary Molasses Tempeh at Keeping it Kind
Baked Orzo with Eggplant and Mozzarella at Smitten Kitchen

Snacks for Superbowl - Part 1 - Dips and Pickles

Yup, it's that time of year when most men (and some women) are tone deaf to anything unless it involves "the game." Do not despair, place healthy, great tasting snacks in front of them and wait for the victory to emerge (and hope the tears and swears are minimal!

Jalapeno Popper Dip is not the most healthy of snacks, but you need a few cheesy dips for the big game day, which only comes once a year. Lots of pickled jalapenos (make them at home!), cheese and a breadcrumb topping. What's not to love? If you have more than 3-4 people eating, consider doubling the recipe. Roars will be heard when it is gone!

Muhammara may be new to you but trust me this will not be the last time you eat this amazing dip. Walnuts, roasted red peppers and the zip of pomegranate molasses will seduce all who try it. Everyone will play the game of trying to guess what is in it - it's up to you whether you will divulge your secrets!

Do you ever try to sneak veggies into "comfort food or snack food? Here's a great recipe for just that approach, Raw Spinach and Artichoke Dip. It has just enough decadence to make eaters think that this can't be healthy, but its base is raw spinach and marinated artichokes. With just a swirl of mayonnaise for creaminess and a bit of jalapenos for kick, this baby is a winner!

Creamy white dips are hard to resist, and when you serve them with lots of cut up vegetables it is practically a salad via your fingers! With this Creamy Garlic Dressing/Dip made with a yogurt base you are not lying to yourself, so eat up! Super easy to make, it tastes best the next day after the flavors have really had time to meld.

At any party I throw, no matter the occasion, there will always be some pickled and briney item. Here's an easy one that looks so gourmet but is really a pantry dish, Moroccan Marinated Olives. Toss olives with oil, spices, garlic and some herbs a few days before your guests arrive and presto, gorgeous marinated olives!

Another reason to serve pickles or brined vegetables is that all of that vinegar helps your body handle all of the cheese and meat that is so often the centerpiece of Superbowl parties. At this time of year, making some giardineria - Italian Quick Pickles - is as simple as picking up some cauliflower, carrots and red peppers at the supermarket and submerging them in vinegar. Add some garlic or herbs to spike them up or leave them unadorned to get their full flavor.

Hugs!

DIY Cornichons - French Tarragon Pickles

Canning, putting up, preserving, however you want to call it, it is what you should be doing right about now if you've got a DIY bent or a garden or just want to hold onto some of that summer freshness that actually can be "bottled"!

But it doesn't all have to be "canned." This is the time of year I will boil lots of corn for scraping off the cob and freezing for mid-winter corny cornbread. Trust me, when you taste that summer fresh taste when you pull it out of the freezer in January, it is so worth the time and effort!

To help nudge all of us towards doing some more "putting up" my friend Eve of Garden of Eating is hosting a "Can you Can it? Yes you can!" event and has even created this cute badge to display if you participate! Check out her post with all of the potential fun colors it comes in and send over your entry to her by August 17. Such fun!

Quick Pickled Okra

I have family members who are compulsive shoppers for clothes, shoes, bags, furniture, you name it. Usually it is in thrift or second-hand stores and much of the old stuff gets sent back to the same stores, so it is a zero-sum game. Me, my impulsive shopping is at the Farmers Market; no surprise there.

Show me an interesting herb or green and I'm sold. Baby anything - squash, eggplant, artichokes - and out comes the cash. At least by limiting my cash flow my purchases are usually of a reasonable size.

A pound of okra found its way into my bag simply because I was sucked into the horde voraciously picking over the first okra of the season. Cornmeal crusted and pan-fried is my go-to recipe for the feared pod but I decided to branch out and found Pickled Okra on Food Blog Search. Crunchy, tangy, with lots of dill and garlic flavor, this was a great find!

Wine Vinegars - Red and White - Made At Home

A couple of years back when I bought a farm and was going to turn it into an inn I was obsessed with making everything from scratch. It was a serious back-to-the-land itch that I scratched as much as possible. I learned how to make mustard, mayonnaise, canned vegetables, fruits, made pickles of all sorts and even aspired to making country wine (dandelion was my choice - it didn't work out). But my favorite venture was learning how to make cider vinegar.  I had a few apples trees that provided just enough juice to create cider vinegar. I added some raw cider vinegar to the existing juice and let it work its magic. It was so easy it almost felt like a let down.

When I moved to California and found that red wine becomes vinegar faster than you can say 49iners, I realized there was a reason that red wine vinegar was the vinegar of choice in Mediterranean recipes (and why apple cider vinegar is so prevalent in northern climate dishes since apples grow so well in colder weather). I've been making it ever since, and pass it along to anyone who will take a bottle off my hands.

Home-brined Olives (Manzanilla)

One of the primary reasons I moved to California was the fact that I could buy local olives and olive oil (don't tell my family - they think I moved here for them!)

Olives are my favorite food, Ever! I could eat them every day for every meal. I never tire of them. So when I found fresh, raw olives at the farmers' market this fall I scooped them up faster than you could say olive-holic.

Homemade Yogurt and Granola

In the mid 1990s I had a roommate from Belgrade, Serbia, who introduced me to a whole new world of food. She taught me how to work with Phyllo Dough - both sweet and savory - and she blithely made homemade yogurt, all the time, as if it was a simple as pouring milk. Which, it turns out, it is.

Yogurt is such a staple in the Balkans/Greek/Turkish diet that they eat it daily, if not with several meals a day. Natasha was no exception. And since her mother in Serbia always made it, she did too. Once I learned how to make it, yogurt became a daily staple in my diet as well. In fact, one of my prized desserts for dinner parties (and I don't do desserts!) is a yogurt cheese pie, the simplest and most tasty (and inexpensive!) dessert in my repertoire. Simply strain yogurt (they sell it as "greek" yogurt), add in some sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and pour into a graham cracker crust and chill. Voila! Instant (low calorie and low cost) dessert. I used to make a quick berry glaze - blend frozen berries with a little sugar and lime or lemon juice and spread on top. Done!

Padrone Peppers with Pickled Vegetables

It's Padrone Pepper season again! I wrote about these lovely peppers last year and last week was the first time I had seen them this year so I snatched them up. I knew they wanted a simple preparation but I wanted to add something more. I thought spicy, fried peppers and pickled veggies seemed like a natural combination. Tossing the hot peppers with the Sotto Aceto (below vinegar) vegetables, I got spicy and tart with crunch and savory-ness. Amazing and fun side dish!

Fried Padrone Peppers with Pickled Vegetables

15 padrone peppers
2 cups pickled vegetables
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt

In large skillet heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add peppers and toss to coat. Cook for 7-10 minutes, tossing every couple of minutes to allow the sides to brown/burn evenly. Remove from heat and salt well and toss with pickled vegetables and serve.

Hugs!

Recipes currently inspiring me:

Zucchini and Linguine with Bacon Corn Pesto at Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice
Morning Glory Muffins at Ladyberd's Kitchen
Fried Green Tomatoes with Shrimp Remoulade at Closet Cooking

Italian Quick Pickle Veggies - Sotto Aceto

Inspired by a recipe I read in my new favorite Italian cookbook, The Southern Italian Table by Arthur Schwartz, and desirous of finding a new way to preserve I made Giardineria, Quick Pickled Vegetables. Sotto Aceti (under vinegar) is another name used for these quick pickles and most restaurants in Italy provide some assortment on their antipasti plates.

The "quick" part is a little deceiving; it is quicker than the canning version which requires being around a steaming hot bath for preserving your pickles. However, these aren't ready to eat for 5-7 days.

Marinated Artichokes, Pickled Jalapeňos

Preserving the harvest or "putting up" as they say in the Midwest is usually associated with preserved fruit and canned vegetables, all of which were essential for people living in colder climates who needed to preserve for the winter when nothing would grow. But it turns out, people in warmer climates also put away for the reduced growing season months, whether it is drying tomatoes and peppers or pickling vegetables in vinegars. Here are a couple of examples, marinated artichokes and pickled jalapeňos.

Several weeks ago the Farmers' Market had baby purple artichokes and, as I am want to do, I bought a bunch without thinking what I would do with them. Instead of gobbling them all down in a couple of sittings, I realized I could put up, southern climate style. So I roasted them with garlic and topped them with olive oil to await my eating pleasure later in the year.

Pickled jalapenos are an ingredient I love to toss in pasta, on pizza or in this white bean hummus. Once I realized that making my own was a snap - slice and cover with equal parts cider vinegar and water - I always have some of these lovelies on hand. It is best to put them up in the summer when they are so abundant and cheap in the market!

Marinated Baby Artichokes

2 lbs baby artichokes
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil
salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Trim bottom leaves off of artichoke and cut at least 1/2 to 1 inch off top. Cut in half or quarter depending on size. Place in bowl of water with a squeeze of lemon juice to prevent browning. After you finish cutting all, drain and dry well in cloth dish towel. Toss with olive oil, garlic and salt and roast for 20-25 minutes until outer leaves are tender. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Place in mason jar and tamp down to pack tightly. Cover with olive oil and set in cool, dark pantry space. Once opened, refrigerate.

Pickled Jalapeňos

1 lb jalapeňos, sliced 1/2 inch thick
cider vinegar
water

Place jalapenos in jar that fits all slices with at least 1 inch of space at top. combine equal parts of vinegar and water and pour over slices and make sure they are completely covered. Cap and store in cool dark pantry space; refrigerate once opened again.

NOTE: If you notice that there is some whitish looking stuff at the top, that is simply the natural live culture of the cider vinegar interacting with the pepper. You can just rinse it off if it bothers you.

Hugs!

Easy, Homemade Mustards

Making mustard is kind of like an exciting chemistry project that is hard to screw up. The foundation of all mustard is to soak mustard seeds in either vinegar or white wine, mash or blend them, and allow the mixture to ferment at room temperature for several days. That's all there is to it, and that is the long process.

You can add herbs, flavored vinegar, sugar or other sweetners to create different flavored mustards. For this round, I wanted to make a simple spicy mustard as well as a more mild herb flavored one. I found a spicy mustard recipe here and was so excited that it was only two ingredients, mustard seeds and wine. That's it. The taste was all in the wine and fermentation process.

Spicy White Wine Mustard

1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
1 tablespoons yellow mustard seeds
1/2 cup white wine (chardonnay)

Combine in glass jar and cover tightly. Allow to ferment for 24-48 hours. Drain off all put a teaspoon of liquid and reserve. Mash seeds in mortar and pestle for a couple of minutes until the mustard reaches the consistency you desire in a coarse mustard. Add more of the reserved liquid if mash is too dry. Return to the jar and cover tightly and allow to ferment for at least a week. Leaving the jar in a warm temperature will allow the spiciness to increase. Refrigerate when you decide to use it or want to stop the fermentation process.

Since I was already making tarragon vinegar I was thrilled to find a recipe for tarragon green peppercorn mustard on Mother Earth News' website. Not until I came across this recipe did I think to explore the nuances between peppercorns. I had heard that white pepper was slightly hotter and less coarse than black pepper but I thought my palate was too peasant-like to tell the difference. Wrong. Since the only green peppercorns I could find were in a mixture I bought some and separated out the colors. There truly was a difference in taste and scent, albeit very nuanced.

Tarragon Green Peppercorn Mustard

1/4 cup light or dark mustard seeds
1/3 cup tarragon white wine vinegar*
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon, minced
1 tablespoon green peppercorns, crushed in mortar and pestle
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Combine mustard seeds, vinegar, water and wine in a glass or ceramic bowl. Let sit for 4 hours, uncovered, stirring occasionally. Transfer to a blender or food processor. Process to the desired consistency, from slightly course to creamy. Pour into the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Pour into sterilized jars, cap tightly, and allow to ferment at room temperature for several days.

*You can make your own tarragon white wine vinegar by steeping fresh tarragon in good white wine vinegar.

Hugs!

Preserved Lemons, Moroccan Style

Preserved lemons are high on my new favorite ingredients list and while I have posted a link to making them, they are so photo worthy that I decided to devote an entire post to them.

Because you really need to use thin skinned lemons to make them, which in the U.S. translates into using meyer lemons, I wanted to post this before the season for meyers ended. Also, because you're eating the skin it is best to buy organic so that you're not preserving pesticides along with your lemons!

I'm still making a few batches to ensure I have some for the remainder of the year and this picture is my second batch in a pint jar. As you can see from the photo, you essentially cut a lemon in quarters, but not all the way through and then stuff it with good salt (kosher, coarse sea salt) and allow the salt to bring out the juice which pickles or "preserves" the rind.

If you are looking for some diversity in preserving your lemons, check out Hunter Angler, Gardener Cook's recent post on preserving lemons from cuisines around the world and experiment!

Preserved Lemons, Moroccan Style

8-10 organic meyer lemons, washed and dried
salt (kosher, coarse sea salt, your choice)

Cut lemon in quarters but not all the way through to create a tulip like opening. Cram as much salt into the open lemon as you can over a bowl to catch excess salt. Press filled lemon into bottom of jar and repeat with remaining lemons. It is best to fill to top as lemons will reduce as they preserve. Allow to sit out for a couple of days, pressing lemons below lemon juice to ensure preservation. After 1 week, pour olive oil over top to cover. Refrigerate and it will keep indefinitely. Lemons will continue to preserve, meaning that they will be very soft if you have them after a year. To use scrape pulp off of rind and mince.

Hugs!

Rhubarb Crumble with Creme Fraiche

Rhubarb is one of those foods that I have always associated with cold weather climates. When I lived in Minnesota it seemed like every yard and garden plot had a rhubarb patch, whether you liked it or not. If you're a hater of the plant and a gardener you know how hard it is to get rid of it. But I wondered if I would find any available here in the California southland. Imagine my delight when I came across some in the farmers' market and snatched some up for this delicious treat.

While Rhubarb is most often used in dessert I wasn't sure if it was considered a fruit or a vegetable. Surprise! It is neither but simple the stalk of a plant. I suppose that would make it similar to celery but since you cannot eat the leaves of Rhubarb I suppose that categorization doesn't work. Either way, this is quick and easy and so good.

In case you've never had the opportunity to eat or make creme fraiche you need to do so immediately. There are so many reasons to recommend it that I have to leave you with a list.

1) Creme Fraiche is both tart (the fermentation) and sweet (the heavy cream) so it pairs so well with desserts that need a little creaminess or a little tart to temper the sweet.

2) Since the cream is fermented it's easier to digest.

3) It's better than sour cream since it doesn't separate and cooks like cream while providing some lift to a dish.

4) Making it is so easy and fun to make (great for introducing kids to DIY) since it is something of a chemistry experiment watching the fermentation process.

Creme Fraiche
Combine 2 tablespoons buttermilk with 1 quart of cream in glass jar with a lid. Set out at room temperature for at least 24 hours. Check after 24 hours to see how thick creme has become. Once it appears that entire liquid has fermented into thickened cream, refrigerate for at least 12 hours. Keep refrigerated.

Rhubarb Crumble with Creme Fraiche

8 stalks rhubarb, cut in 1 inch pieces
1 tablespoon sugar

Crumble
1 cup oat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut butter into oat flour until fairly well mixed. Add rolled oats, brown sugar, cardamom and salt and continue mixing with your fingertips until butter is evenly distributed and mixture begins to clump. Place rhubarb pieces in bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon of sugar until well coated. Spread in baking pan large enough to accommodate rhubarb in almost single layer. Sprinkle crumble on top and dot with 2 tablespoons of cut up butter. Bake for 40 minutes until top is browned. Allow to rest for 5 minutes and serve with Creme Fraiche, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Hugs!

You Say Refrigerator Pickles I Say Quick Pickles

I grew up on homemade dill pickles that my dad made and fondly remember watching him remove the jars from their water bath to rest on the kitchen counter. Of course as a child I felt like the weeks they needed to cure were an eternity and personal punishment.

When I have space for a garden, I can my own using my father's recipe that I found years after he had died (his secret ingredients were black peppercorns and grape leaves to keep the pickles firm). This season with no garden I have relied on the kindness of friends which inspired this batch of quick pickles, sometimes called refrigerator or barrel pickles.

No matter what you call them the premise is the same; submerge fresh cucumber slices in spices, water and cider vinegar and allow the vinegar to pickle them. Keeping them in the refrigerator simply reduces the risk of bacterial formation on the top of the liquid. Barrel pickles, most often found in old fashioned delis, had a lid on top that insured that the pickles stayed beneath the surface so any brine that floated to the top and got scummy could easily be skimmed off.

I made these two days ago and while I was hopeful that my spice mixture would produce a spicy garlickly pickle, so far it is simply a beautifully mellow sweetish one. I wonder how that will change in a week. Either way, experiment with whatever spices inspire you. I could see doing a more Indian curry version that would probably be fantastic (although definitely not kosher!)

Refrigerator Pickles (Makes 3 quarts)

5-6 large cucumbers, cut into even spears
9-12 cloves garlic, smashed
3 teaspoons black peppercorns
3 teaspoons red peppercorns
3 tablespoons yellow mustard seeds
6 red dried chilis (thai, serrano)
3 tablespoons dried dill (or 6 tablespoons fresh)
3 tablespoons salt
6 cups water
6 cups cider vinegar (or white wine vinegar, only substitution)
6 fresh grape leaves*

In three clean quart jars, divide the ingredients evenly except the water and vinegar. Pour 1 cup of water and 1 cup of vinegar into each jar. Add equal amounts of water and cider to each jar until full to 1 inch below the rim. Cover and refrigerate. You can begin eating them within a couple of days, but without grape leaves, they will go mushy after a couple of weeks (but I think there is little chance of them lasting that long!)

*Ironically I could not find wild growing grape leaves here in Ojai, which is silly since I'm in wine country). In Minnesota they twinned up phone poles everywhere, so it was not a problem. If you don't know what they look like and don't have someone who knows for sure, don't pick what you don't know!

Hugs!

Kombucha - The Elixir of Life

Kombucha - just the name of it sounds mystical and healing. I can't remember the first time I drank it beginning nearly three years ago, but I know that I got hooked immediately. Not only did it feed my "sour" tooth, but I have always loved fizzy soda drinks. Not only does kombucha fit all of those categories but it provides amazing health benefits. If you read the promotional material put out by G.T. Dave's Synergy brand, it does everything from providing essential vitamins and minerals to curing cancer. For me, it has rebalanced my electrolytes, dramatically improved the quality of my skin and hair, and provides a general sense of well being. But what is this so called elixir made of, you might ask?

Kombucha is a fermented tea, made with either black or green tea and heavily sweetened. This sweet tea is then added to a "mother" kombucha culture, sometimes referred to as a kombucha "mushroom" but I think it has more of a jellyfish like consistency. The culture is actually a collection of micro-organisms which feed off of the sugar in the tea, thus "fermenting" it. Contrary to snide comments, the fact that it is fermented does not produce alcohol. But it does produce effervescence and the fermentation process serves to increase the health benefits of the green tea, extracting even more antioxidants and other essential minerals compared to drinking green tea alone.

(Kombucha mother in kombucha liquid)

While you can now purchase kombucha in most natural food stores (Whole Foods, Food Co-ops) it is usually about $3.69 for 12 oz, not exactly a soda replacement price! But the great news is that it is so easy to make kombucha at home. It is easy to google "kombucha starter" and find lots of people who will offer to sell a starter culture in liquid for less than $5. But if you can find some bottled kombucha in "original" flavor, you can use that to get started. In fact, the picture of my kombucha above was started with a 12 oz bottle of "original" style kombucha. It just takes longer to begin fermenting.

While this is a long explanation, kombucha is really simple to make. You heat water, add sugar and tea and allow steep and then cool. Then you strain out the tea and pour it into the culture and it does its job in less than a week. And Voila! You have this wonderful drink! Very little effort, very simple recipe.

Now for the Recipe. I make my batches in a 2 gallon glass dispenser that I found at a thrift store in Minneapolis (pictured below) but many people I know buy a 1 gallon ice tea dispenser which are easily found at Target, etc. If possible, find one with a metal spout as I have heard (although not witnessed) that plastic ones will get eaten away by the fermentation process, and thus begin to drip.


Half Gallon of Original Kombucha

While it appears to be made with a lot of sugar, you will not actually be drinking the sugar since it will be converted to effervescence. The standard ratio is 2:1 water to sugar and 1 teaspoon of loose leaf green tea per 2 cups water.

8 cups water
4 teaspoons loose leaf green tea (use organic since you really don't want to be fermenting tea that has been sprayed with chemicals)
4 cups sugar
12 oz original kombucha or starter with liquid

In large pot, bring water almost to boil and add sugar. Stir to dissolve and remove from heat. Add tea and allow tea to cool completely. Strain out tea leaves and combine tea and starter culture in glass container and cover with cloth, secure tightly with rubber band. Set covered container in warm, unlit space to ferment. I place it on top of the refrigerator, where it benefits from the heat of the motor. Kombucha will ferment in 5-8 days, depending upon your conditions. A shallow "mother" will begin to form on top and you will see strands of mother floating throughout the liquid. Never drink all of the liquid as you need at least 1 cup of liquid plus the mother to make another batch.

Most commercially sold kombucha combines the original recipe with fruit juices, which masks some of the sour flavor but also adds additional health benefits since the fermentation process increases the potency of whatever it is fermenting. You can flavor kombucha with most anything (to a point of course) and when adding additional flavors, such as fruit juices, it helps to let is ferment a few days longer. Also, you should always place flavored kombucha in a separate container, to prevent the original mother from being permanently flavored with whatever additions you put in.

A couple of summers ago I was selling "natural sodas" at the farmers' market in Northfield, MN and I used kombucha as the "fizz." So I developed a few recipes for flavoring kombucha. My favorite is with hibiscus and rose hips, both of which are high in vitamin C and together have a flavor akin to fruit punch, but not nearly as sweet. They produce the beautiful fruit punch colored kombucha featured at the top of this post. You can purchase dried hibiscus flowers and rose hips in the bulk herb or tea section of whole foods or a food co-op. Again, you'll want organic since this will also be fermented.

1/2 Gallon of Hibiscus and Rose Hip Kombucha
1/4 cup Hibiscus flowers
2 tablespoons rose hips
1 cup sugar
4 cups kombucha, original
water

In a 1/2 gallon mason jar, combine all of the ingredients and top off with water. Stir or shake well to combine the sugar. Cap tightly and allow to ferment in warm place for 3-5 days. Decant, strain, and place in refrigerator and enjoy.

A Word on Fermentation
Kombucha, left to ferment, will go very, very sour. If you refrigerate it, it slows the pace of fermentation. But if you leave kombucha out, especially in a warm, sunlit spot and capped, it will over ferment and go to vinegar. In addition, if you happen to bottle as I have with reusable bottles, if left in a heated space for too long, they will explode (it happened to a few of my customers from the farmers' market!) For myself, I drink it so quickly that this is not an issue, but be forewarned!

Love and hugs!