Giardiniera

 I love giardiniera mix. I've been wanting to make some for a long time now, so I figured that it was as good of a day as any to do it since I had taken advantage of a local farmers market for some awesome produce.

At first, I thought I was going to make that chunky mix that I like to buy occasionally from the supermarket. I read up about it and found out that there were two different types. There is the original Italian version, which I do love, and there is a Chicago-Style, which is more of a condiment.
If you know me, you know I love condiments. I usually have no less than 15 in my fridge at one time. I have an entire shelf dedicated to my condiments and, all I can say is that it's a good thing that we have a spare fridge in our outdoor kitchen! This is supposed to be spectacular on a hot dog. In a month or so, I'm going to get some really good hot dogs and I'm going to try it.

I found a recipe for a small batch. I didn't want half of a leftover head of cauliflower, because I'd be the only one eating it and, while I do like cauliflower, I don't like cauliflower enough to eat half a head of it by myself. I chopped up the whole thing. It was tedious, but I think it will be worth it in the end.
The beauty of this recipe is that it will utilize most all of your garden produce harvest! Celery, onions, carrots, eggplant, cauliflower, red peppers, hot peppers...it's all in there! Since I decided to use the whole head of cauliflower, I used 1/2 cup of kosher salt and just over 5 cups of water to brine. You want the veggies to be covered by salt water. I left to soak, refrigerated, overnight.

While my jars were getting sterilized in boiling water, I drained and rinsed the veggies off. I split them in half into my two bigger sized pots and I used vinegar, sugar and spice in each pot and boiled for about 15-20 minutes. 

I made exactly 3 quarts. Ideally, this can be canned up in pints, but I'm saving those for other things that need to be consumed quickly after opening. This stuff can last in the jar for months, so this was just the way that was logical for me. 

I processed these quarts for 20 minutes to be on the safe side. I don't think I'll use that particular pot to can quarts in anymore. It's great for pints and half pints but not for quarts. That's why I processed for 20 minutes...better safe than sorry.

Viola! Enough giardiniera to use for the whole year!

Giardiniera
*makes 3 quarts or 6 pints

Ingredients

Day 1-cut all vegetables into small-dice sized pieces, enough to make 3 quarts. There are no measurements because these ingredients are all to an individual's preference.

• Cauliflower
  
• Red bell pepper
  
• Sweet onion
  
• Celery
  
• Carrot
• Hot peppers (optional)
  
• Eggplant

Other veggies can be used, too: zucchini, green olives, banana peppers, etc. 

 

Day 2-cook vegetables in brine. I split between 2 pans and split the brine in half, as well.

• 8 c white vinegar
• 2 Tbsp sugar
  
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
• 1 tsp each celery seed and fennel seed
  
• 
  
  On the first day, chop all vegetables and place in a large bowl. Sprinkle salt over veggies and stir to combine, then add water until veggies are submerged. Let set for 12 hours or overnight.
  
  On day two, rinse the veggies well under cold running water. Combine all the Day 2 ingredients in a large pot with the veggies and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Place into sterilized, hot jars. Seal. (Please look at the safe canning guidelines. Click here for link.) Process 15 minutes for quarts, 10 minutes for pints. Let cool thoroughly. 
  
  
  

Harvest Refrigerator Pickles

Yesterday, I decided to do a bit of harvesting out of the garden. I wanted to make some room to grow some more beets for a fall crop. Now, I grow beets exclusively in a black tote. It's 2x4 feet, but it's deep. I do not put any sort of filler in the bottom. I use it for root vegetables. Upon looking at my beets, I saw that I had taken them about as far as I could and it was time to pull most of them. I grew three different types this year: Golden and Chioggia, both of which, I bought the seeds from Baker Creek. I also grew a new variety, which I obtained in a seed trade called Yellow Mangel. They are the longer yellow ones. I also thinned out some of the Longue Rouge Sang carrots (Baker Creek) and some of the bigger onions.

Golden beets from Baker Creek. These are always a favorite and a huge hit with us.

 

Chioggia beets from Baker Creek. This was a new variety for me this year as I tend to stick with the Golden variety exclusively. I am sure glad that I branched out! These have a really cool white bullseye pattern inside. They are pretty stunning to look at.

I opted to boil the beets to loosen the skins. The thing when cooking beets is that, yes, you want to rinse the majority of the dirt off of them, but you want to leave an inch or two of the greens and the long roots on them, otherwise they will bleed the color onto everything.

I managed to fit them all into one pot, thankfully!

I knew I wasn't going to have quite enough veggies to fill my half-gallon Mason pickle jar, so I peeled up 3 carrots that I had in the fridge.

The carrots and onions are packed raw into the jar. I do not cook them first. If I did that, the texture would be gross. I did not peel the Longue Rouge Sang carrots, either. I just scrubbed them well.

When the beets were fork tender, I drained them and then let them soak in cold water in the sink to cool enough to be able to comfortably handle them.

Then I started slicing the beets up and layering everything into the jar.

It's quite pretty to look at. Behind the jar are 2 dozen farm eggs that were a bonus for Bob helping out one of the old volunteers from Fences For Fido. That is a great organization that puts up fences for dogs for people who qualify.

You bring the brine up to a boil.

Those are pink peppercorns. Pink peppercorns are interesting. They are not a member of the pepper family. They are actually a member of the cashew family. They impart a delicate taste and it's hard to describe it. You'll have to try them...try them on a bit of vanilla ice cream. I'm not even kidding!

All set! I use a wooden chopstick and poke it down in several spots to make sure there are no air bubbles and to work the peppercorns and mustard seed down to the bottom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Harvest Refrigerator Pickles

Enough veggies to fill a half-gallon container (I used beets, carrots and onions. If you use beets, make sure to peel them first before slicing)
1-1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
1-1/2 cups water
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds
4-5 whole cloves
1-1/2 teaspoons pink peppercorns

Pack veggies into the jar.
Meanwhile, bring all the ingredients, except for the pink peppercorns, to a boil and stir until sugar and salt have dissolved.
Add pink peppercorns to the top of the jar on the veggies.
Pour hot brine over the veggies and use a wooden chopstick to make sure there are there are no air bubbles and to disperse the peppercorns and mustard seeds to the bottom of the jar.
Let cool.
Seal and refrigerate.
This will last up to 4 weeks in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Asian Chili Oil...As Promised

I promised everyone on Facebook that if they would help me get this blog up to 20 followers, I'd cut loose with my chili garlic oil recipe. This recipe is something that I keep in my fridge at all times because I drizzle it on everything. I do not buy chili oil from the store. Making my own tastes so much better. I start out by toasting some sesame seeds over low heat until they start to turn brown and get a nutty flavor. As a matter of fact, since it's raining out, today would be a good day to simply toast up a batch of sesame seeds to just have on hand.

Here are the aromatics that will get infused into the oil. It is not simply chilis, oil and garlic. Nope. There's much more flavor in there. Let's talk about some of these aromatics.
First, there are Szechuan peppercorns. What these do is give your tongue a numbing sensation. I use them quite often when cooking spicy Asian dishes and they are something that I always have on hand.
I also use green cardamom pods. These are optional, as are the whole cloves. You don't have to add them, but since I have them on hand, why not? The rest of the must have aromatics are star anise, a stick of cinnamon and a couple of bay leaves.

This was the ingredient that I was waiting on. I order it from Amazon because there are no supermarkets, in my area, that carry gochugaru. Gochugaru is Korean red pepper flakes. These are delicious.

You use any neutral flavored oil. I chose to use avocado oil.

The aromatics, along with a couple of scallions and a couple cloves of smashed garlic get infused into the oil, over super low heat for as long as it takes for the onion and garlic to get quite brown. It can take up to an hour.
After that, you pour the oil through a strainer to strain out all of the aromatics leaving you with just the flavored oil.
Pour the oil very slowly over the gochugaru in a heat proof container (I use a stainless bowl) as it will bubble up. After that, stir in the toasted sesame seeds and sea salt to taste.

Store in the refrigerator. This oil will last up to 6 months when properly stored.

Asian Chili Oil

1-1/2 cups avocado oil (or any other neutral flavored oil, like canola or vegetable)
4 whole star anise
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon Szechuan peppercorns
5 green cardamom pods
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
2 scallions, white parts only
2 cloves garlic, smashed
3/4 cup gochugaru
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon French grey salt (or whatever salt you like)

Combine the first 9 ingredients in a heavy bottomed saucepan and cook, over very low heat, until the garlic and scallions are quite brown and fragrant.
In the meantime, add the gochugaru into a heat proof bowl. Measure out the salt and sesame seeds into a small bowl and set aside.
Once the oil has been fully infused and is very fragrant, pour S-L-O-W-L-Y through a fine mesh strainer over the top of the gochugaru. This will bubble up very vigorously. Once you've poured all of the oil in, add in the sesame seeds and salt. Stir well (I use a chopstick for this). Cool to room temperature, pour into a container with a tight-fitting lid and store in the refrigerator for up to 6 months. Use whenever you need a kick of chili flavor.