Thai Red Curry With Tofu & Vegetables

Thai curries are famous for their distinct flavors and the coconut base. And I love the fact that you can create beautiful variations by using different types of curry pastes or spice blends to make a red, green or yellow curry. This Friday night, we experimented with the Thai Red Curry made with Tofu and vegetables. What better way to get some protein, vitamins and loads of nutritious juices into our system than make a fulfilling curry! The best part, it was so easy to make, did not need much preparation, as we used a ready-made paste, and it tasted great with hot Jasmine Rice. Perfect for Vegans too! Flavored with lemongrass, basil, kafir leaves and laden with veggies, tofu and bamboo shoots, this Thai Red Curry is surely something that will please your palates!

Ingredients
Adapted from original recipe over at Epicurious

1 medium onion, halved lengthwise, then thinly sliced crosswise
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large garlic clove, chopped
2 teaspoons bottled Asian red-curry paste such as Thai Kitchen brand
1 (14-oz) can unsweetened coconut milk (not low-fat)
1 teaspoon salt
1 (1-lb) package frozen mixed vegetables such as broccoli, corn, and red peppers
1 (14- to 16-oz) block firm tofu, rinsed, patted dry, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce (optional, omit for vegetarians)
1/4 cups water

Method
Cook the onion in oil in a wide 4-quart heavy pot over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until pale golden, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to moderate, then add garlic and curry paste and cook, stirring, 1 minute.

Stir in coconut milk, salt, and remaining 1/4 cup water and bring to a boil. Stir in vegetables and return to a boil. Cover pot, then reduce heat and cook at a brisk simmer, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes. Gently stir in tofu and simmer curry, partially covered, until vegetables are tender, 7 to 8 minutes.

Remove pot from heat and stir in fish sauce and salt to taste.

To make Jasmine Rice, rinse rice briefly in a sieve and drain, shaking sieve to remove excess water. Bring rice and 1 1/2 cups water to a boil in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart heavy saucepan over high heat, then cover pan with a tight-fitting lid and cook rice over low heat until water is absorbed and rice is tender, about 15 minutes.

Transfer the delicious Thai Red Curry with Tofu in a serving bowl, garnish with some basil and lime wedges, and serve hot with Jasmine Rice.

Need more Thai inspiration? Then check out these basic Thai sauce recipes and Thai Pineapple Fried Rice recipe

Kiwi-Mango Jam

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups sugar
4 cups cubed kiwi
2 cups cubed mango (about 3 large mangos)
juice and zest of 1 lime
juice and zest of one lemon
1 box liquid pectin (6 oz, 2 packets)

Directions:
Prep jars/lids. Set aside. Place the sugar, juice/zest, kiwi and mango in a pot. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Boil for 15 minutes. Stir in both packets of the pectin. Boil for 1 minute. Ladle into jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Process for 10 minutes in a hot water bath.

Note: A great source for canning information is the Blue Book guide to preserving. I highly recommend it for learning how to can.

My thoughts:

It is that time in the winter when I am really craving something fresh and summery. Luckily I have few qualms about buying non-local produce in the winter because nothing is growing locally. Normally, I'd make jam with fruit I picked myself but hey, buying some truly lush kiwi and mangos was easy and made for a satisfying quick project. A little bit of sunshine in January if you will. Mango is a fairly low acid fruit so I added citrus just to make sure the acidity was at a safe level for boiling water canning. I also think it helped the jam maintain an attractive color, kiwi tends to turn sort of yellowish when cooked.

Peppered Oranges

Ingredients:
3 Cara Cara oranges
3 navel oranges
2 tablespoons golden syrup
2 tablespoons tangerine or orange juice
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper



Directions:
Peel the oranges as if you were going to supreme them but instead of sectioning, slice them horizontally into 1/4 inch slices. Arrange in bowls. In a small bowl, whisk together the pepper, juice and golden syrup. Drizzle over the fruit.

My thoughts:

I almost hesitated to share this recipe because it so simple, but it was so good I had to share. Citrus is at its peak right now and Cara Cara and navel oranges are so juicy and flavorful they scarcely need adornment. But I couldn't help making a simple syrup to drizzle over them. Not too sweet but pretty peppery, it brings out the oranges' sweet-tartness even more. A refreshing change from the usual. Great alone or over yogurt or (I bet) ice cream.

Minestrone Soup

Ingredients

1 medium onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
3 medium carrots, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups chicken, beef or vegetable stock
15 oz canned fire roasted diced tomatoes
15 oz canned kidney beans, drained
15 oz canned chickpeas, drained
28 ounces canned crushed tomatoes
6 oz tomato paste
2 tablespoons minced basil
2 tablespoons minced oregano
2 tablespoons minced Italian parsley
2 (fresh) bay leaves
1 1/2 cups shredded cabbage
1 cup frozen or fresh green beans, diced
2 small to medium zucchini, diced
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

8 ounces small, cooked pasta

Directions:

For the slow cooker:

Add the garlic, tomato, celery, stock, tomatoes, beans, tomato paste, and spices to a 4 quart slow cooker. Cook on low heat for 6-8 hours. Add shredded cabbage, green beans and zucchini and turn to high for the last hour. Stir in the pasta before serving.

Stovetop: Saute the onions, garlic, carrots and celery until soft. Add the remaining ingredients and heat though.

My thoughts:

Around this time of year I always get a lot of requests for healthy meals. Soup is always a great choice because it is easy to add lots of vegetables. There are a lot of different ways to make minestrone (I even posted a different one here about six years ago) but this one is I think my favorite. I like the combination of chickpeas and kidney beans and the green beans and cabbage (especially when added towards the end in the slow cooker version) really make it taste fresh. While this is a vegan soup, I like to serve with a tiny hunk of sharp, aged cheddar in the bottom of a bowl. It melts and adds a tasty ribbon of cheese to each bite.

Apple Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:
12 oz whole cranberries
1 small apple, peeled and diced (I used Stayman Winesap)
1 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons rye or bourbon

Directions:
Bring the cranberries, water, apple, sugar and lemon juice to a boil. Reduce heat then simmer until thickened, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, stir in rye. Serve hot or cold.

My thoughts:

I think I must make cranberry sauce more often than anyone on the planet. My husband really likes it and we make it many times over the whole year. I stock up on cranberries when they are cheap and then freeze them. Anyway, I make cranberry sauce so often, it is some times a challenge to keep it interesting. Sometimes it is easy when I have a flavor theme for the meal in mind but let's face it, more often I am serving it with a plain old roasted chicken or turkey. In this case, I added one of my favorite apples to the mix and enjoyed it so much, I thought I'd post it. The apple got soft but held its shape well. I really liked the contrast between the flavors and textures, cranberry sauce can be a bit one dimensional.

Grapefruit Segments in Vanilla Bean & Star Anise Syrup

Ingredients:
5 Texas Rio Star (red) grapefruits
1 cup sugar
2 vanilla beans, sliced along the seam
water
4-6 whole star anise


Directions:
Sterilize your jars. Keep them warm until ready to use. Supreme the grapefruit. As you work, place the segments in a large measuring cup. Squeeze the membranes and peels into the measuring cup. Discard the peels and membranes. Carefully remove the segments to a heavy sauce pan using a slotted spoon or mini strainer. Add water to the juice in the measuring cup to equal 2 cups (I only needed to add one cup). Add to the sauce pan. Add the vanilla beans and sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally but very gently. Remove the vanilla beans and star anise. Ladle the mixture into prepared jars. Cut the vanilla beans to fit and add them and the star anise to the jars if desired. Seal. Process for 5 minutes in a hot water bath.

Yield: 4-5 8 oz jars

Note: It is important to sterilize the jars prior to filling for this recipe due to the very short processing time. Do not over process the filled jars.


Tip: A great source for canning information is the Blue Book guide to preserving. I highly recommend it for learning how to can.

My thoughts:

I recently was lucky enough to come in possession of a bunch of truly fragrant Texas grapefruit. I had high hopes of finally tackling marmalade making but when I cut into them, about half, while delicious, had very, very thick skin (lots of pith) and I wasn't eager to spend all that time prepping the fruit and making marmalade only to yield a couple of 1/2 pints. We were getting ready to go on vacation so I knew I didn't have time just to eat them one by one and I am not a terribly big grapefruit eater anyway. I looked up tons of grapefruit recipes and none really seemed appealing until I came across a recipe for a poached grapefruit made with lots of fresh mint. It sounded tasty but again, my short deadline and amount of grapefruit I had didn't make this a practical solution. So I took the idea of poaching the grapefruit one further and canned the segments in a very light syrup. In the future I will use it just as I would poached grapefruit: over ice cream, yogurt or panna cotta or even in drinks. The vanilla bean and star anise add interest (and spice of course) to the syrup and keep the grapefruit from being puckeringly overpowering.

Figgy Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:
12 oz whole cranberries
6 dried figs, quartered
1 cup orange juice
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 inch knob ginger, grated


Directions:
Bring the cranberries, ginger, figs, sugar and lemon juice to a boil. Reduce heat then simmer until thickened, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, stir. Serve hot or cold.

My thoughts:

We make cranberry sauce a lot during the months when cranberries are in season. I like them to tie into the central dish and I hate making the same thing again and again so I added figs to this one to coordinate with the fig glazed turkey I make this year. They added a fun texture contrast (love the seeds) and tempered the cranberries' tartness. The leftover sauce keeps for weeks in the fridge and is awesome on sandwiches, either turkey or PB&J. Or of course, cranberry ribbon cake, triple ginger cranberry sauce bread, oatmeal cranberry sauce muffins or cranberry cheesecake squares.

Slow Cooked Sauerkraut

Ingredients:
28 oz sauerkraut
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons yellow mustard seed
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
1/2 tablespoon minced fresh sage
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon charnushka (aka black caraway or kalonji)
1 1/2 teaspoon light brown sugar
1 small onion, thinly sliced

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a 2 or 4 quart slow cooker. Stir to evenly distribute all ingredients. Cook on low 8 hours or 4 hours on high. Stir. Serve hot.

My thoughts:

I know I've mentioned it before but it wasn't until I was in college that I realized not everyone has sauerkraut at Thanksgiving. It really is a Baltimore thing, probably the result of the large number of German immigrants that settled here although other areas with similar populations did not adopt the sauerkraut tradition. I guess I am biased, but sauerkraut is perfect for Thanksgiving. It goes great with turkey and cuts the sweetness of the cranberry sauce and some side dishes. In recent years, I've started to make it in the slow cooker, which is I think is one of my more clever holiday ideas. While sauerkraut is easy to make on the stove, it does take up an extra burner and is prone to scorching if you don't keep an eye on it. No worries in the slow cooker. Last year I made a porky version but this year I created a vegetarian (well, vegan, actually) recipe that I think might be even better. The other one was still very, very good but I am not sure if it is the absence of pork or the addition of new spices but this was great; pickle-y but not too sour and with just the right amount of fresh herbs and spices to keep it from tasting too flat and one dimensional.

As an aside, here is a Mencken story that mentions Baltimore's love of sauerkraut at Thanksgiving.

Hot Pepper Butternut Squash

Ingredients:
1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed
2 jalapenos, minced
1 shallot, minced
3 tablespoons minced fresh thyme
1 tablespoon yellow mustard seed
1 teaspoon pepper sherry
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1/2 cup chicken stock or water
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

for the seeds:
seeds from the squash
1/4 cup sea salt
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
olive oil


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Saute the shallot, peppers and squash until the shallot is translucent. Add the remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer until the squash is fork tender.

Meanwhile: Place the butternut seeds in a large pot. Fill halfway with water. Add salt. Bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes. Drain. Sprinkle lightly with olive oil, then the spices. Stir to evenly distribute spice. Place in a single layer on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Stir the seeds then bake for an additional 5 minutes or until they no longer look wet are instead toasted and crunchy looking.

Sprinkle the seeds over the squash and serve.

My thoughts:

Butternut squash is perhaps the most popular of the winter squashes to make at home. It is easy to make it the same way over and over again but I wanted to try something completely different than the usual. Rather than giving into the natural sweetness, I went with contrasting flavors that were inspired by Caribbean cuisine. It was a big hit with everyone.

I love roasted butternut squash seeds (possibly even more than pumpkin!) because they puff up a bit and have a great "pop" when you bite down on them. They make a great garnish.

Tips: Make it easy on yourself and cube and peel the butternut squash the day before you want to use it. You can roast the seeds ahead of time too.

Keep an eye on the squash as it cooks and add more water if needed, the sugars in the squash can caramelize quickly which can turn into the cubes sticking to the pan.

Herbed Purple & Wax Beans

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb mixture of wax and purple beans
1 shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons minced thyme
1 teaspoon minced parsley
olive oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
In a skillet, saute the garlic and shallot in olive oil until translucent. Add the beans, lemon juice and zest. Cook until the beans are tender, just a few minutes. Sprinkle with herbs and spices. Stir to coat.

My thoughts:

This is one of those recipes when less is really more. I love when wax and purple beans come back in season in the fall because it lets me put off switching to squash as my sole local fruit for vegetable for a couple of weeks. Not that I dislike squash but that's pretty much all that is available until April, so I like to take advantage of whatever is still in season. Plus they are just so fresh and crisp, I don't know anyone who could resist them. Purple beans do lose their color as they cool so if they are tender enough, I just barely heat them through so they stay as purple as possible. I don't think they need much more than a simple dressing of lemon juice and herbs to make them sing. Just take care not to over cook.

Stayman-Winesap Apple Butter

Ingredients:
10 Stayman Winesap apples, sliced
1 cup apple cider
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 stick cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a 4 quart slow cooker. Cook on low for 10-12 hours. Vent by placing the lid on askew and cook on low for an additional 10-12 hours or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove the cinnamon stick then pour the mixture into the food processor and puree. Cool completely and refrigerate up to 3 weeks or ladle when warm into prepared jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace and process in a hot water canner for 10 minutes.

Note: A great source for canning information is the Blue Book guide to preserving. I highly recommend it for learning how to can.

My thoughts:

Stayman-Winesap apples are my absolute favorites. When I was growing up my grandpop could buy a bushel and store them on his (enclosed) basement steps. This year I decided to follow in his footsteps and we bought a bushel of apples at our local farmers market. Stayman-Winesaps normally show up on "cooking" and "baking" apple lists but I like them out of hand and spread with peanut butter or topped with sharp cheddar. I'd be content with that but since I have so many, apple butter seemed to be the thing to make. I came up with the 24 hour slow cooker fruit butter method a few years ago and it is by far many favorite method. No stirring, no scorching, no hands-on work needed except for the apple slicing (made easy with an apple slicer) and it makes your house smell amazing for a whole day. I made a batch of pear butter (recipe to come) at the same time and it really felt like fall. Try apple butter on muffins, rolls, toast, pancakes or as an ingredient in sauces, sandwiches, or baked goods. So versatile and so delicious.


Yield: about 5 8oz jars.

Apple Cider Jelly Candy

Ingredients:
1.75 oz powdered fruit pectin
1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup*
3/4 cup apple cider
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

extra sugar for dredging

Directions:
Warning: this is a two day project. Oil a flat sided loaf pan. Whisk together pectin, apple cider and baking soda in small pan. Cook on high heat. At the same time, bring the sugar and corn syrup to a rolling boil, stirring occasionally. When it reaches boiling, add the pectin/cider mixture. Cook for about 1 additional minute stirring constantly. Pour into the prepared pan and allow to cool, loosely covered with plastic wrap, overnight. The next day invert the pan on to a plate full of sugar. If you have trouble unmolding the candy, use a knife to loosen it from the perimeter of the pan and carefully slide your fingers underneath the candy to gently peel the candy out of the pan. Press both sides of the candy into the sugar. Use a pizza cutter to cut the candy into 1/4 inch slices, then cut each slice into cubes. Roll each cube in sugar.

*I use HFCS-free corn syrup.

My thoughts:

Last winter I had this dessert plate at Woodberry Kitchen which had a variety of miniature sweets including one that seemed to be a homemade apple cider jelly candy. Every since then it has been on my "to make" list. I had to wait until I could buy apple cider at the farmers market but it was worth it. This might be my new favorite fall candy, it tastes just like cider in solid form.

Black Mission Fig Jam

Ingredients:
2 1/2 lb Black Mission Figs, quartered & stems removed
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup bottled lemon juice*
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon bergamot extract

Directions:
Prep jars/lids. Heat the sugar and water in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved. Add the lemon juice and figs. Bring to a simmer and let it cook for a hour, stirring occasionally and mashing up any big bits. Add the halfway point add the extract. Ladle into jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Seal. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Yield: about 4 8-oz jars

Note: A great source for canning information is the Blue Book guide to preserving. I highly recommend it for learning how to can. Or check out this online guide.



*I used bottled lemon juice instead of fresh because figs are a low acid fruit and I wanted to make sure that the acid content was high enough to safely use the hot water method. The acidity of fresh lemons can vary but the acidity of bottled lemon juice is constant.

My thoughts:

I am really into figs this year. We planted two fig trees this year and while I don't expect too much of a harvest from them right away, I've been practicing making things with figs lately. I've noticed that Black Mission figs are the most common variety found in grocery stores around here. I actually made two different types of fig jam using two different varieties but since Black Mission will probably be the easiest to find, I thought I'd share this recipe first.

I'm excited about this jam because it was the first one I made without using commercial pectin. I had noticed that the Black Mission figs thickened well when heated while making a different recipe so instead of adding pectin, I just kept cooking the fruit until it turned jammy. It took less time than I thought and honestly didn't require too much hands on time which I appreciated. I added bergamot extract (if you are unfamiliar with bergamot, it is a dominant flavor in Earl Grey tea) which added a slightly bitter citrus note that tempered the figs sweetness. Orange or lemon extract could be substituted for the bergamot if necessary but honestly, it is bergamot extract is well worth seeking out.

Persimmon Lime Sorbet

Ingredients:
4 cups peeled, cubed fuyu persimmon
juice and zest of 2 limes
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 to 1/2 cup water

Directions:
Place all of the ingredients in a blender (I used my Vita-Mix) and pulse until very, very smooth. If possible, refrigerate the mixture overnight. Pour into an ice cream maker and churn until smooth. Serve immediately or freeze in a freezer safe container.

My thoughts:

It is persimmon season! I honestly haven't eat persimmons often, while they do grow here in Baltimore, they are not terribly common or I would think, popular. Weather fluctuates a lot this time of year. One day it seems like it is the hottest day in August then the next day it is like Thanksgiving is right around the corner. On one of those hot days, I took these persimmons and made them into an insanely creamy sorbet. It is not hyperbole when I say this sorbet is insanely creamy. It must be the persimmons (which I had never had frozen before) but this sorbet is as creamy rich tasting as ice cream despite basically being water + fruit + juice. It is absolutely the best sorbet I have ever had.

Note: Persimmons are pretty sweet. Add extra lime juice/zest as needed.

Seedless Blackberry Vanilla Bean Jam

Ingredients:
8-10 cups whole, picked over blackberries
4 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 box liquid pectin (3 oz., one of the little packets in the box)
1/4 cup lemon juice
zest of one lemon
3 vanilla beans, scraped


Directions:
Mash the berries through a sieve (use a whisk to get more juice out) or a food mill to remove the seeds. It should yield about 6 cups of pulpy berries. Add the sugar, vanilla bean scrapings and blackberries to a large pot. Tie the vanilla beans together with kitchen twine and attach them to the side of the pan or cut them up and stuff them into a tea ball. Allow to the beans to float in the pan. Prep jars/lids for canning. Bring to a boil. Boil for about 10-15 minutes. Stir in the pectin and lemon juice. Continue cooking at a low (rolling) boil for 5 minutes. Discard the beans. Fill the jars leaving 1/4 inch headroom. Process in the hot water bath for 10 minutes.


Note: A great source for canning information is the Blue Book guide to preserving. I highly recommend it for learning how to can. Here is a bunch of other canning books and equipment I find useful.


Yield: about 7 8-oz jars (I ended up with 3 pint jars and 8 4-oz jars)

My thoughts:

I made this a little earlier in the summer but just opened a jar of it for the first time yesterday. I love the combination of blackberry and vanilla so I was extra interested to see if my jam experiment worked and I was excited to see that it had. I would say the jam is 70% blackberry-y and 30% vanilla-y, which I think is the perfect ratio.

Normally, I don't bother removing the seeds from jam but blackberry seeds are pretty big. I actually sort of like the seeds when I am eating a berry fresh from the bush but in jam, they sort of just make everything crunchy and stick in your teeth. It only took a few minutes to run it through the food mill. I had my husband do it while we watched British television on DVD. Alternately, I think you could mash them through a mesh strainer but that would take quite a bit more muscle. If you don't mind some seeds, de-seeding 50-70% of the berries and leaving the rest whole is another option. So, go hunt down some late summer blackberries and make this jam!

Hot Slice (of Pickle)

Ingredients:
4 lb pickling cucumbers, sliced
3 cups water
2 cups white vinegar
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup pickling salt
6 teaspoons peppercorns
6 dried pili pili peppers
3 teaspoons crushed red pepper
3 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds
1 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 large shallots, minced


Directions:
Bring the water, vinegar and salt to a boil. Prep the lids/jars. Evenly divide all of the spices, shallot and garlic between 6 pint jars . Add the cucumber spears. Pour in the vinegar mixture. Close the jars and process for 10 minutes in a hot water bath. Allow to sit 2 weeks before eating.

Yield: about 6 pints

Note: A great source for canning information is the Blue Book guide to preserving. I highly recommend it for learning how to can. Or check out this online guide.

My thoughts:

Can you stand more canning? I have done so much canning this year, I barely have any non-canning recipes saved up to post. I am actually a little annoyed that it is suddenly so cool and I have nothing to can right now. I did a ton of canning during the long stretches of high heat and humidity we've had recently and it was pretty brutal, even though I was canning late at night so I could go to bed and escape the hot kitchen and downstairs. Anyway, these pickles are really good. I wanted to make a sandwich slice that was different than the spears I had made and came up with the idea of a hot and spicy pickle. They are so good on a hamburger and I can't wait to have them in the middle of a grilled cheese sandwich. YUM!

Tip: It is a little harder to gauge how many slices fit in each jar since they are sliced and not always evenly so make sure you prep a couple of extra jars just in case.

Triple Dill Pickles

Ingredients:
4 lb pickling cucumbers, quartered length-wise
3 cups water
2 3/4 cups white vinegar
1/4 cup pickling salt
6 teaspoons yellow mustard seed
6 tablespoons dill seed
3 teaspoons dillweed
6 bay leaves
6 cloves garlic
1/2 cup minced dill

Directions:
Bring the water, vinegar and salt to a boil. Prep wide-mouth pint lids/jars. Place 1 bay leaf, 1 teaspoon mustard seed, 1 tablespoon dill seed, and 1/2 teaspoon dillweed in each jar.



Add the cucumber spears and one clove garlic to each jar. Evenly divide the dill among the jars. Pour in the vinegar mixture. Close the jars and process for 10 minutes in a hot water bath. Allow to sit 2 weeks before eating.

Yield: about 6 pints

Note: A great source for canning information is the Blue Book guide to preserving. I highly recommend it for learning how to can. Or check out this online guide.

My thoughts:

Pickles! I sent my husband to buy pickling cucumbers the other day and he came back with 15 lbs. He helped cut up the cucumbers (thank goodness!) and I ended up canning 22 jars of pickles in three varieties. These are the first ones I've opened. To my delight they stayed pretty crisp and have wonderful but not overpowering dill flavor. I was a little worried that using dillweed, dill and dill seeds would end up being too much but it really wasn't. There was just a depth of flavor that one normally doesn't find in a pickle. I hope the other ones I canned turned out just as well! After a while, I felt like I was living in a pickle factory and I think I developed "pickle wrist" from trying to really pack the cucumbers in there. But it really wasn't difficult at all, just a little time consuming.

Kiwi-Lemon-Galangal Ice Pops

Ingredients:
4 cups peeled, halved kiwi
juice and zest of 1 (large) lemon
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh or ground galangal root or ginger

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a blender and pulse until smooth and well combined. Pour into ice pop molds. Freeze until solid.

Yield: about 12 ice pops, depending on the size of your molds

My thoughts:

I sometimes hesitate about posting such simple recipes but the combination was so surprisingly good, I didn't want to keep it to myself. Ice pops are great for using up fruit, I recently had a ton of kiwi on my hands, enough that I made jam and a pie and these ice pops and still had some leftover. That is a lot of kiwi! Kiwi has a high water content so you don't need to add any juice (I just added the lemon juice for flavor) or water or anything to make it the right consistency for a superior ice pop. The lemon added just a bit of tartness to my very sweet kiwi and the galangal added a background note of spice that kept it from being just another boring ice pop.

Seven Spice Broccoli Slaw

Ingredients:
12 oz packaged broccoli slaw mix*

for the dressing:
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons mirin
1 teaspoon Japanese seven spice powder
1/4 teaspoon sugar
salt
freshly ground black pepper


Directions:
In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients until smooth. Toss with shredded vegetables.

*or an equivalent amount of home shredded broccoli stems & carrots

My thoughts:

Broccoli slaw is a fun alternative to regular coleslaw. It it is generally a little crisper and the flavor is milder then you'd expect. I also like it because it can be made nearly 24 hours in advance to serving and little to no ill effect which makes it the perfect side dish when having company. Just refrigerate it until you need and give it another toss.

The flavors in this are Japanese inspired but in no way do I think this is a traditional Japanese salad! The flavors are a perfect blend of tart and spicy and there is just enough to mayo to bind the dressing together.

Zydeco Beans

Ingredients:
3 lb French green beans, ends trimmed (also called haricots verts)
3 cups water
3 cups white vinegar
1/3 cup pickling salt
1/2 cup minced fresh dill
1 head garlic, peeled
1 1/2 tablespoons yellow mustard seeds
1 1/2 tablespoons dill seed
1 tablespoon red chile flakes
1/2 teaspoon celery seed

Directions:
Prep 6 pint jars and lids. Whisk together the spices in a small bowl. Set aside. Bring the salt, vinegar and water to a boil. Meanwhile, stuff the warm jars with the green beans. The easiest way to do this is to lay them on their sides and fill them horizontally. Drop in one or two cloves of garlic. Evenly distribute the spices among each jar. Sprinkle with dill. Lightly shake the jars to help distribute the spices. Pour the boiling liquid into the jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Process in a boiling water bath for 8 minutes. Allow to pickle for one week (at least!) before opening.


Note: A great source for canning information is the Blue Book guide to preserving. I highly recommend it for learning how to can. Or check out this online guide.

My thoughts:

I honestly had never had zydeco beans until I made these. I had first heard about them in a novel and they sounded great (Spicy pickled green beans? Yes, please!) but there aren't exactly a staple here in Baltimore. So of course I had to make my own. I am not 100% sure these are 100% authentic but they are so delicious. Seriously, the best pickle I have ever had. I may or might not have eaten 2 whole jars in less than a week. I'm working on my third and honestly, I was sort of hoping that my mom wouldn't like the jar I gave her so she'd give it back to me and I could eat them. Isn't that horrible? Next time I am doing two batches. Or three. Maybe more.

So, what are you waiting for? Go make these pickles! They will keep for a year on the shelf but I hardly think they will last that long. They are great as a snack or as a drink or salad garnish. You can even use the prepped French green beans that some supermarkets sell and save yourself the hassle of cutting off the ends.