Everything's Coming up Pickles!

It seems like everywhere I turn someone or another is talking about pickles. Since produce is starting to pop up in the farmers markets, I suppose it's time to get preserving!

I've fallen down on the job with my canning challenge, but I intend to catch up one of these days. In the meantime, I've taken it upon myself to play with some quick pickles.

These center on radishes which are popping up in both your traditional red and the adorable Easter egg color bunches which make me just too happy for words. Yes, my friends, it appears I'm a radish dork.

The first pickle just features radishes and has a tangy sweet ginger flavor which mimics a pickle one might find on a Chinese dinner table (so A tells me). It is bright and refreshing and got a non-radish eater to ask for more.

The second recipe is more of a brine and the radishes share the stage with cucumbers. This one relies on garlic and black pepper for flavor. In a surprising twist, this dark horse stole the show at a recent lunch party.

Both are surprisingly easy and can easily be doubled or tripled in case of a party. Or a recently converted radish fan. Enjoy!

Quick Radish Pickles (adapted from Gourmet magazine)

• 1/2 bunch/lb radishes (about 7), quartered
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar (not seasoned)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 (1-inch) piece peeled ginger, cut into thin matchsticks (1 tablespoon)

1. Toss radishes with 1 tsp salt in a small bowl and set aside for 30 minutes.  Drain in a colander, but do not rinse. 
2. Heat vinegar with sugar over medium heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved. 
3. Remove from heat.  Pour over radishes and add ginger.  
4. Marinate, chilled for 2 hours and up to 1 day.  (They taste great after one full day of marinating!)

Brined Cucumbers and Radishes (adapted from Gourmet magazine)

For additional recipes in the Grilled Chicken Summer Salad, read more http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Grilled-Chicken-Summer-Salad-354215#ixzz0ozPq5Zid

• 4 cups water
• 1/3 cup kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1 bunch radishes
• 4 Persian cucumbers or 1 seedless cucumber
• 1/2 cup packed flat-leaf parsley leaves (optional)

1. Boil water with salt, sugar, garlic, and peppercorns in a 4-quart pot, uncovered, 10 minutes.
2. While brine boils, trim and halve radishes. Halve cucumbers lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices.
3. Remove brine from heat. Add radishes and cucumbers and let stand, uncovered, 10 minutes. Drain in a colander, discarding garlic and peppercorns. Transfer radishes and cucumbers to an ice bath to stop cooking, then drain well in colander.
4. Transfer to a large bowl and chill, uncovered, about 20 minutes.
5. If using parsley, toss with fresh herbs and serve. 

March Can Jam: Alliums

This month, the ingredient for the Tigress Can Jam is Alliums! Garlic and onions count among my favorite food items, so I couldn't be more excited.  I took a chance this month and made two recipes to fill up the larder.  I could have made a hundred and may still try.  I'd love to pickle garlic and I certainly was jealous of all the can jammers out there with fresh garlic or green garlic or garlic scapes, so I'm going to keep my eyes open and will be capturing loads more alliums in jars in the near future. 

For my first trick, I started simple with loads of beautiful red onions that I picked up at the Grand Army Plaza Farmers' Market.  The onions were so pretty that I didn't want to do much with them, but simmering them lightly in red wine vinegar (and a clove of garlic) made them even more attractive.  The onions still had a bit of crunch when they went into the jars, but had softened slightly.  I'm looking forward to using them in salads, or on barbecue sandwiches, and of course the vinegar itself will be amazing when it's all infused with great onion flavor.

My next trick was more complicated, for sure.  I decided that I wanted to do something with garlic since it ranks among my favorite foods.  I found Roasted Garlic Jelly in Ball's Complete Book of Home Preserving and was immediately interested in the sweet roasted garlic, balsamic vinegar and dry white wine.  Quite possibly perfect. 

I collected my ingredients and roasted the garlic.  Checking one more time while the garlic roasted, I realized that the recipe required liquid pectin.  Doh! I only had powdered.  I did some poking around the interwebs and contemplated a substitution, but I am way too green to go against the general guidance that advised against the attempt.  And so I waited another day or two to get the pectin.  But it was well worth it.  I haven't tried the jelly out of the jar, but I stuck a finger in the leftovers coating my saucepan and it was great.  The wine and garlic melded together nicely and the color can't be beat.

Allium month definitely wins the prize (so far) for yielding the most beautiful colors and the most recipes tucked away to try sometime soon.  Once garlic-related items are in the farmers' market this spring, kettle beware!

Red Onions in Vinegar (from Ball's Complete Book of Home Preserving)

• 4 cups red wine vinegar
• 1 clove garlic
• 10 cups sliced peeled red onions

1. Prepare canner, jars and lids.
2. In a large stainless steel saucepan, add vinegar.  Smash garlic lightly and add to vinegar.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Reduce heat and boil gently for 5 minutes, so that garlic can infuse the vinegar. 
3. Add onion rings.  Turn heat up to medium-high and bring to a boil.  Reduce and boil gently, covered, for 5 minutes and onions are completely heated. Discard garlic.
4. Pack hot onion rings into jars leaving generous 1/2 inch head space.  Ladle hot pickling liquid into jar to cover onions, maintaining head space.  Remove air bubbles and add more pickling liquid if necessary to maintain 1/2 inch space in jar.  Wipe rim.  Center lid on jar.  Screw band until tight.
5. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes.  Remove canner lid.  Wait 5 minutes and then remove jars.  Allow to cool on the counter for 24 hours.  Store.
6. Makes about 7 8-ounce jars.

Roasted Garlic Jelly (more fun from Ball's Complete Book of Home Preserving)

• 3 medium heads garlic
• 1 tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, divided
• 1 cup dry white wine (I used Sauvignon Blanc)
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar (regular is fine if you can't find white)
• 1 tsp crushed black peppercorns
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 2 pouches liquid pectin

1. Cut off tops of garlic heads.  Drizzle olive oil and vinegar over heads.  Place in foil and scrunch ends closed.  Roast for 45-60 minutes at 425F or until garlic soft.  Once cool enough to handle, separate cloves and set aside.  Discard skins.
2. In a medium stainless steel saucepan, combine roasted garlic, wine, water, white balsasmic vinegar and peppercorns.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.  Reduce heat and boil gently for 5 minutes.  Cover, remove from heat and let steep for 15 minutes.
3. Transfer garlic mixture to dampened jelly bag or strainger lined with several layers of dampened cheese cloth set over a deep bowl.  Let drip, undisturbed, for about 30 minutes.  Measure 1 2/3 garlic juice.  If you do not get enough, add up to 1/4 cup dry white wine or water.
4. While waiting, prepare canners, jars and lids.
5. Transfer garlic juice to large deep stainless steel saucepan.  Stir in lemon juice and sugar.  Over high heat, stirring constantly, bring to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down.  Stir in pectin.  Boil hard, stirring constantly for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and quickly skim off foam.
6. Quickly pour hot jelly into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space.  Wipe rim.  Center lid on jar.  Screw band until tight.
7. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water.  Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes.  Remove canner lid.  Wait 5 minutes and remove jars.  Cool on counter for 24 hours. Store.
8. Makes about 9 4-ounce jars.

Pork Banh Mi Meatball Sandwiches

Bon Appetit says that 2010 is the year of the meatball.  I say, what year isn't? But I do appreciate the number of twists on the traditional Italian meatball or the Chinese lion's head meatball that I generally think of when I hear the word. 

One take on the meatball that they offered up recently was the Pork Banh Mi Meatball.  Before you say that Banh Mi is so 2009, just remember that now we're talking meatballs.  A refreshing twist, then, on both the meatball and Banh Mi. 

This recipe caught my eye even before the Tigress Can Jam started, but it immediately popped into my head the other day when I wanted to come up with more uses for my Vietnamese Carrot and Daikon Pickles.  Let's face it, this dish is what my pickles were meant for in the first place!

The complete recipe in the link above shows you a quick way to achieve a similar result in case you don't have jars of Vietnamese pickled vegetables crying out for a spicy meatball sandwich.  I haven't given it a try, but I'm sure they will do. 

I made a double batch of these meatballs and they kept very well in the fridge, feeding us for at least 6 meals.  Next time around I'll try freezing them.  I meant to do that this time, but they were so good that we just kept eating them! I ran out of bread part way through, but these were equally excellent in a bowl of rice with pickled vegetables, cilantro and sriracha. 

Also, I skipped the mayo mentioned in the original recipe because I am a no mayo sort of lady.  That may be banh mi blasphemy.  I just used extra sriracha since that can never be wrong, but you may want to check out the original recipe if you're into that whole mayo thing.

Pork Banh Mi Meatball Sandwiches (adapted from Bon Appetit)

• 1 lb ground pork
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 scallions, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp sriracha
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp fresly cracked black pepper
• 1 tsp sea salt or coarse kosher salt

• 4 individual baguettes or sections of baguette
• Vietnamese Carrot and Daikon Pickles
• Fresh jalapeno or other chili slices
• Fresh cilantro sprigs

1. Gently mix all ingredients before baguettes in a large bowl.  Roll tablespoon-sized amounts of meat mixture into meatballs.  (Can be made 1 day ahead.  If so, place on large baking sheet, cover and chill.)
2. Heat sesame oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add half of meatballs.  Saute gently until brown and cooked through, turning frequently.  Be careful not to over-brown.
3. Cut each baguette or baguette section horizontally in half.  If using hot chili mayo, spread over shell.  If not, add as much sriracha as you might be able to stand - a good drizzle will do. Arrange jalapenos, then cilantro on the bottom of the bread. 
4. Add 1/4 of the meatballs to each baguette.  Top with carrot and daikon pickles.  Enjoy!

February Can Jam: Vietnamese Carrot and Daikon Pickle

This month, the canning gurus in the Tigress Can Jam chose carrots as our mystery ingredient.  Having just thought about jam, I wasn't so sure where I was going to take this one, and then I read further.  Carrots are prime candidates for pickles! I love pickles.  For a very long time it was just your standard kosher dills.  Then all manner of cucumber pickles.  And slowly, as I explore more foods and flavors, I will pretty much at least try anything pickled (well, vegetables anyway).

Luckily, our Tigress also pickles and was very clear (thank goodness!) about the requirements needed to can carrots.  Carrots are lovely and sweet, but this means that in order to be processed in a hot water bath, they need very specific amounts of acid.  I'm interested in completing the full year of the can jam, so, as you can imagine, I took this very seriously.

Seriously means more books! This is never a problem in my house (except for the lack of space for more books), so I would like to mention two books that are now essentials in my canning library.  The first that I checked out was The Joy of Pickling which has loads of recipes spanning the globe.   These recipes are not just for hot water bath canning and I will definitely be turning to this one a lot. 

The book that won out for this time around - Ball Complete of Home Preserving - may have edged its way into primary reference status.  The directions are clear, concise and yet detailed.  More detailed than the other books that I've looked at, and so I felt even more comfortable with the process this time around.  It was here that I found the recipe for Vietnamese Carrot and Daikon Pickle.  Yum!

This also gave me a chance to break out the mandoline that I purchased months ago, but had avoided.  The carrots and daikon radish were to be julienned before they were pickled, and I was determined.  And I was largely successful at first (beginners luck?) and then found that the slicer blade was working better than the julienne blade and so I was getting some wide carrot slices that didn't quite break out into julienne form.  A work in progress, I'm sure.

Once my vegetables were (sort of) julienned, I added vinegar (a fresh bottle of 5% white vinegar to be sure the acidity was spot on), water, sugar and grated ginger to a large sauce pan and brought the pickling liquid to a boil.  Vegetables went into the mix for one minute, and then the good stuff began!

The recipe called for an optional star anise in the bottom of each jar.  I went with it and added about 5-6 peppercorns as well.  This was my only modification since I didn't want to mess with acidity ratios.  I packed the vegetables into the jar, topped with hot pickling liquid and sealed the jars.  They were processed for 10 minutes. 

As I write this, the jars are still resting (oh sweet procrastination!) and so, like last month, I haven't yet tried my pickle out of the jar.  I will be opening a jar on Sunday, so expect a full report (and a marmalade report coming very soon also!) shortly.

Vietnamese Carrot and Daikon Pickle (adapted from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving)

• 3 cups white vinegar, 5% acidity at a minimum
• 3 cups water
• 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 2 lbs carrots, julienned
• 2 lbs daikon radish, julienned
• 6 whole star anise
• about 36 black peppercorns

1. Prepare canner, jars and lids according to instructions. 
2. In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine vinegar, water, sugar and ginger.  Heat over a medium-high flame until boiling, stirring to dissolve sugar. 
3. Add julienned vegetables and stir for 1 minute.  Remove from heat.
4. Place 1 star anise and about 6 peppercorns in each hot jar.  Pack vegetables into hot jars, leaving a good 1/2 inch head room.  Ladle hot pickling liquid into jar to cover vegetables. Remove air bubbles with nonmetallic instrument.  Add more pickling liquid if needed to keep 1/2 inch head room.
5. Wipe rim.  Center lid on jar.  Screw band until resistance is met and continue tightening until finger-tip tight.
6. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are covered by at least 1 inch of water.  Bring to a high rolling boil and process for 10 minutes.  Remove canner lid and remove from heat.  Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars to cool.

Note: The book says this recipe will make 6 pint jars.  Mine worked out to be 4 pint jars with a bit leftover, but not enough for a whole jar.