Get Thee to the Picklery

I thought I was making that word up, but no, a Picklery is a real thing! And yes, by real thing I mean a small business that, in spite of all efforts to induce profitability will only rise to prominence (The Prominent Pickle! I've named my Picklery!) as an cautionary tale told to cocksure entrepreneurs: "Yes, but Great Aunt Katie also took Econ 101 and that didn't prevent her from becoming homeless following the inevitable dissolution of The Prominent Pickle."

Anyhoo, I was at the farmers market last weekend and they had gorgeous Kirby cukes so I came home, settled on a recipe from Food and Wine, doctoring it just slightly to use Apple Cider Vinegar, and made us some fine pickles. The following day I used the same recipe with haricots verts and carrots, both equally delightful. And yes, Virginia, they do need to be haricots, not your garden variety green bean. For one, les haricots fit perfectly into a pint sized jar. Two, it's like getting all long things in Tetris - they fit together snugly with, like, no wasted space.

This week I was back at the market, and spent the afternoon cleaning and trimming haricots, carrots and pickles.

Here's that recipe:

Quick Spicy Pickles
Print recipe only here

YOU WILL NEED
Stuff to pickle:
4-5 Kirby cucumbers, washed and quartered
8 oz haricots verts, cleaned (I like leaving the tails)
7 carrots, peeled, washed, quartered and trimmed to fit pint jars
1 quart sized canning jar
2 pint sized canning jars

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup white vinegar
3 T Kosher salt
2 T white sugar
2 T coriander seeds
2 cups water
2-3 red chilis, washed and halved
7-8 garlic cloves, smashed gently
10-12 dill sprigs, rinsed and trimmed

METHOD
Combine vinegars, sugar and salt and place in sun to heat until sugar and salt dissolve.
Prep and trim all veg.
Place one red chili half into each jar. More if you really want to feel the heat.
Add 2-3 cloves garlic to the Quart jar and 1-2 cloves to each pint jar
Add coriander seeds to vinegar and stir
Pack veggies into jars
Pour vinegar over veg until covers completely
Cover and refrigerate 24 hours.

Note: the carrots take 48 hours to be good.

Keeps up to one month.

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Pickle it, Just a Little Bit

I developed this recipe after two meals at Chicago Q in which I could not get enough of their house pickles. The restaurant is selling them by the jar now but it's way more fun to make your own. Best of all, they're done in a few hours. I made them a few nights ago. Within two hours of putting them in jars they had cooled and were quite enjoyable.

They are essentially a bread and butter pickle, but these have considerably less sugar and taste nothing like the sweet nasty that is the bread and butter pickle. These are crunchy and spicy and totally addictive. The onion bits are smashing, too.

My recipe is a based on the two recipes that looked most promising, one from Smitten Kitchen and the other from Lady Martha.

Oh, it should be noted that these are perfectly safe to keep in the refrigerator without making a canning event of it. If if you'd like to put up a great quantity just follow the recipe and sterilize your jars before filling, then just can as usual.

Here's that recipe:

Pickles for a Barbecue
Print recipe only here

Makes 1 quart

INGREDIENTS
1 pounds Kirby cucumbers or pickle cukes, rinsed and cut thick on a diagonal
1/2 medium sweet onion
1 T Kosher salt
2 cups ice
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1 T mustard seed
1 t coriander seed
1/2 t whole black peppercorns
1/4 t celery seed
1/4 t turmeric
1/4 t chili flakes

METHOD
In a large bowl, combine the cucumbers, onion and salt. Mix well. Cover the mixture with ice. let stand at room temperature for two hours.

In a pot, bring sugar, vinegars and spices to a boil. Drain cucumbers ann onions, discarding any unmelted ice. Rinse well and drain again.

Add cucumbers to pot and bring back to a boil, tossing. Remove from heat and cool. Transfer to mason jars and store in refrigerator.

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On Recreational Peppers

Several years ago I decided to keep green and red bell peppers on hand in my fridge. They are useful in so many things - Greek Salad, Sunday Breakfast Scrambles and Cauliflower Curry, just to name a few. Weekly dinners improved immensely with peppers in the fridge. Plus, you don't need to use them right away, unlike other quick-spoiling veg.

It came to be that the bulbous bell wasn't quite the kick that was needed. So I started stocking jalapenos. Jalapeno heat is sort of overrated; once seeded, they really aren't all that hot. Finely chopped jalapenos go into my Guacamole and Breakfast Potatoes. Cut into long, thin strips they take Fajitas to new heights. In marinades for chicken they transform bland bird into succulent, spicy Tandoori. Thin rounds of jalapeno make Ginger-Jalapeno Rice Appetizers more spectacular. And I could scarcely produce a homemade salsa (Pico de Gallo, Mango or Salsa Verde) without the trusty Jalopy.

I'm beginning to think the jalapeno is a gateway pepper.

I frequent the Whole Foods pepper bar with increasing regularity, stashing Bird's Eye chilis for Thai Green Curry; Poblanos for Braised Pork Tenderloin, Poblano Beef, and Mexican Pork Stew; and Scotch Bonnets for Jerk Sauce. No chance I'm going to get off these peppers. Last week we had Poblano Beef. I had forgotten how good that stuff is! The only thing wrong with it seems to be that it's impossible to make enough.

A great bit of fun is roasting a pepper over a flame on the stove. If I need to roast lots of peppers I'll throw them under the broiler. But when one or two are all that's needed, I just balance them right on the burner and use my tongs to rotate them. I only do this with the bigger peppers, like poblanos and red bells. Jalapenos go under the broiler or in a  cast iron pan for browning.

There is some care to take when working with hot peppers. Poblano fumes sneak into my lungs when I'm rinsing off the blackened skin. Jalapenos are surprisingly juicy - I often think it'd be a good idea to wear my glasses when cutting them. And don't forget to wash cutting boards and knives. Just don't let these warnings dissuade you! Food smells fear, I'm sure of it. But your cooking will be much improved if you identify some ways to incorporate hot peppers into your menus.

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On Lousiana Hot Sauce

I didn't know about Louisiana Hot Sauce.

I knew about Trappey's Louisiana Hot Sauce, which Mary hooked me on back at Cafe Nola. On a few occasions, between the breakfast and lunch rush, she would make me an over-easy egg sprinkled with some chopped fresh parsley and doused with Trappey's. The colors were enough to make it a beautiful thing, but the Trappey's! Oh the Trappey's!

For some reason I cannot find Trappey's in Chicago. It's one of the condiments I stock up on when we're in Seattle (go figure). We just finished our last bottle and don't have a trip to Seattle in the offing, so I took a chance on this sauce above. It rocks. Has everything Trappey's had, plus it's in my hand and on my eggs. Also, this stuff is a bit thicker and the color is deeper. I really like it.

If you don't know about Louisiana Hot Sauce, don't sweat it. It's definetly hotter than Trappey's, but it shouldn't make you sweat. about this hot sauce should make you sweat. It's a happy addition to the hot sauce section of my pantry.

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The Most Elegant Sugar Cube

Once, when I was a kid, my mom returned home from dinner out with my dad with an awesome treat: a wrapped white sugar cube. I don't think I'd ever seen a sugar cube before, much less one wrapped like a tiny present. I was smitten. Ever since I've been fond of the sugar cube.

While I use white granulated sugar for baking, the sugar that goes in my coffee is the raw variety. I keep two kinds - Sugar in the Raw, a granulated raw sugar for everyday use and La Perruche sugar cubes for entertaining or for mornings when having a sugar cube in my coffee is what I need to start my day off with a smile. (Shopping tip: Sugar in the Raw is priced well at Target. La Perruche is a specialty item I pick up at Treasure Island and Whole Foods.)

La Perruche cubes are rustic, elegant and great-tasting. They dissolve pretty quickly in hot coffee. Mainly, I love them for their playful sophistication. In case you're curious about the tongs pictured here, they are vintage sterling silver sugar tongs I acquired off eBay a few years ago. They're about 3-inches long and adorable.

Raw sugar is closer to the cane than white sugar, the latter having been bleached, filtered and exposed to various chemical agents to make it recognizable as we know it. Raw sugar is not the same as brown sugar which has been through all that same bleaching and refining, only to have molasses added back it at the end. I keep brown sugar in good supply but it is an abomination similar to the enriched white flour. "Enriched" is a just a nice way of saying that vitamins were added back to the flour after the refining process destroyed the grain's natural nutrients. I shouldn't shake my fist too hard at the sugar industry; until I develop cookie and toffee recipes that use unrefined product I'm going to be a part of the problem.

Anyway, back to raw sugar. Its brownish color comes from not having been bleached or stripped of every trace of molasses. On the tongue, raw sugar is more syrupy than white sugar, but it usually (depending on the degree to which its refined) doesn't have an overwhelming flavor. Both Sugar in the Raw and La Perruche are very mild flavored.

Having these sugar cubes on hand adds a very nice touch to coffee service.And when you use them you're one lump closer to the cane. It's not a man-on-the-moon step forward, but every lump counts, right??

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Where Do You Keep Your Cinnamon Sugar?

The kitchenware isle at Target has yielded a few of my favorite things. This morning's breakfast (oatmeal) reminded me of two such items: big glass storage jars, which are perfect for housing all the bulk items I lug home from Whole Foods (oats, rice, lentils, popcorn...) and my flip-cap cinnamon sugar dispenser.

Cinnamon sugar belongs in every pantry. In the Pinch kitchen it's used most frequently for crêpes. It's also dusted on sliced pears or apples for my children, or tossed into a fall fruit salad. Having cinnamon sugar ready-made and easily dispensed is a small convenience I greatly appreciate.

I've only had this dispenser for about two years. Up until its discovery in my Chicagoland Target, my cinnamon sugar was stashed in a recycled Horizon plain nonfat yogurt container. I can still picture the blue and white container, permanently stained with cinnamon.

Cinnamon sugar is a 4:1 sugar to cinnamon ratio. Make it 5:1 to tone it down a bit. But start with 4:1. You can always increase it.

Cinnamon Sugar

In a medium sized mixing bowl combine:
1 cup white granulated sugar
1/4 cup cinnamon

Whisk to combine. Pour into container for storage.

* The dispensers are also available at The Container Store.

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The Best Commercial Dilly Bean

Meet the best commercial dilly bean known to Pinch.

Hot and Spicy Pickled Crispy Beans have been a staple in the Pinch pantry for years. We first discovered them in Seattle when they were under the Hogue Farms label. Hogue Cellars, a Washington State winery, spun off the veggie business in 2002, selling it to the man who had been heading it up all along. So, same product, different label. And, bless us everyone, they are available nationally.

With the singular exception of trying to replicate Marija's Amazing Pickles, I don't put up veggies. I have great esteem for those who do. Nothing tops the goods from expert canners. Maybe someday I'll get my act together and put up my mom's green tomatoes, Marija's pickles and some spicy dilly beans. For the latter, a recipe via The Crispy Cook looks promising.

Until the genesis of Pinch Canned Goods, I'm with Jack; I'll trade my cow for these beans any day.

fin.

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On Loving Kick Butt Peppers Lots of Ways

Frances is one of my all-time favorite characters from a children's book. She is a young badger who finds herself in many common childhood predicaments - being a picky eater, being taken advantage of by a friend, not being able to fall asleep at night. She usually learns a lesson - eating different foods is nice, my job is to sleep, a sister can be a friend - and she always sings a simple song to complement the story.

In Bread and Jam for Frances, Frances sings a cheerful dirge to eggs:

I do not like the way you slide,
I do not like your soft inside,
I do not like you lots of ways,
And I could do for many days
Without eggs.

I love how the song just ends - splat! - but I do not share Frances' opinions on eggs. I like eggs lots of ways. I especially love eggs with peppers or hot pepper sauce. Toast, a great neighborhood breakfast spot, makes killer Pepper Eggs with green, yellow and red peppers. Pepper Eggs are great on their own and even better after Sally Albrighting (here a verb) them to include jalapeño, the omission of which, given the name of the dish, is patently unforgivable.

Mama's Lil's Kick Butt Peppers have been a staple in the Pinch kitchen ever since my Seattle days when Son of Lil hand delivered jars to the cooks in a restaurant where I worked. They. Are. Awesome. On the advice of my co-workers I added them to scrambled eggs. Then Kick Butt Peppers made their way into pasta salads and turkey sandwiches. On the advice of Jessica, I'm going to try them in tuna. To quote another beloved children's book:

Try them! Try them! And you may. Try them and you may, I say!

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In the Pinch Pantry

The Pantry 

Asian
With these things in your cupboards and fridge you can make a variety of Asian-inspired meals.

1. Fish sauce
2. Thai Kitchen red curry paste
3. Mae Ploy chili sauce
4. Reduced fat coconut milk
5. Soy sauce
6. Eden Organic Tamari
7. Tamarind paste
8. Rice Vinegar
9. Mirin
10. Toasted sesame oil
11. Hot chili oil
12. Essential produce: fresh garlic and ginger, green onion, bell peppers and cilantro.

General

1. Barilla Penne and Thin Spaghetti
2. Beretta Arborio rice
3. Organic Basmati Rice
4. Organic Wild Rice
5. Muir Glen Whole Peeled Tomatoes and Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes
6. Albacore tuna in spring water
7. Pimento-stuffed jumbo green olives
8. Giardinera - Hot and Mild
9. Tillen Farms Hot and Spicy Beans
10. Imagine Organic Chicken Broth
11. Mama Lil's Kick Butt peppers
12. Noh Hawaiian BBQ sauce - tied here with Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce
13. Organic Garbanzo beans
14. Tahini
15. Cholula
16. Anchovies
17. Horseradish
18. Mustards: Dijon, country dijon, Pommeray, spicy

The Baking Cabinet
Vestiges of my professional life are evident in my pantry: I buy the largest tupperware containers that will fit into my cabinets and dump several bags of flour into them (this method is also less messy as paper flour bags are no good for storage). And now I label them so everyone knows what's what.

1. All-purpose flour. I buy the organic 365 label at Whole Foods and have a container that holds about 15#.
2. Cake flour. Soft as Silk or Swansdown are often available in regular grocery stores. It's in a 2# box. My container holds about 6#.
3. Whole wheat flour. I spend a little more here, as there's more depth of flavor in the smaller batch flours. Whole Foods has a nice selection. I'll provide an update soon on the order I've got coming in from Ireland. Mmmm...brown bread! My stainless steel canister holds 5#.
4. Pure extracts: vanilla, almond and peppermint
5. Sugars: white granulated, superfine, light brown, powdered. Also: Sugar in the Raw (well-priced at Target - look for the 2# bulk box); rustic but still chic La Perruche cubes; coarse white crystal sugar for sprinkling atop scones.

The Spice Drawer

1. Milwaukee Iron seasoning (from The Spice House in Chicago)
2. Hometown blended seasoning (from Town & Country market on Bainbridge Island, WA. They're kind enough to ship me several jars once a year).
3. Ancho Chili Powder
4. All the basics from The Spice House - a fantastic purveyor

The Fridge

1. Beef base, chicken base (Better than Bouillon is great)
2. Kalamata olives
3. Grana Padano
4. Gruyere
5. Buttermilk
6. Bell pepper
7. Fresh ginger
8. Fresh herbs: cilantro, parsley, basil
9. Green onions
10. Jalapenos
11. Leeks
12. Lemons
13. Limes

The Freezer

1. Tilapia or Dover Sole - these both thaw nicely and are great for a dinner of fish and chips.
2. Meatballs. I buy 1# packages of lean veal and pork at Whole Foods, and the leanest ground beef (96/4)at Trader Joes and make a big batch of meatballs a few times a year. Save some for that night's dinner and freeze the rest on a baking sheet. Once frozen, transfer to a big ziploc bag. Prepare straight out of the freezer: brown the sides in olive oil, add some tomato sauce, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 20-25 min until cooked thru.
3. Uncooked shrimp - deveined, tail on. At Whole Foods and Trader Joes.

The Root Cellar

1. Yellow onions
2. Red Onions
3. Garlic
4. Shallots
5. Russets
6. Red New Potatoes (seasonally)

What Other Sites Are Saying:
Mark Bittman's Must Haves for the Pantry
Gluten-Free Girl's Pantry Essentials
101 Cookbooks: Building a Natural Foods Pantry

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