I wanted to can pickles this year and I’d tried to grow pickling cukes in my garden, but they didn’t really flourish. I ended up with many small ones, useful (& yummy) for one or two salads apiece, but not really appropriate for pickling, and I neglected to buy a bushel from a local farm. Ah well. Still, these were all nummy and quite popular at potlucks.

Both of these can be scaled as far up as you want to go and keep quite well, assuming you can keep them from getting et.

Sour Refrigerator Pickles (from this recipe)

• 1 1/2 lb cucumbers, sliced into rounds
• 8-12 cloves garlic
• 4 sprigs fresh dill

• 1 Tbsp mustard seed
• 1/2 tsp celery seed
• 1 Tbsp dill seed

• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups white distilled vinegar
• 3 Tbsp kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp sugar

1. Divide dill, garlic, and cucumbers among wide-mouthed pint or quart jars.

2. Mix the next four ingredients (spices) in a small bowl, crush slightly to release flavors, and divide amongst the jars.

3. Mix together the water, vinegar, salt, and sugar in a large bowl or measuring cup and fill each jar, allowing the liquid to fill the caps and topping off and carefully topping off.

4. Cap the jars, shake ‘em up, and refrigerate for at least two weeks before eating — the longer the better!

Notes: When you eat all the pickles, you can also refill the jars with more cucumbers and that works fine, too. Another option when making them is to heat the liquid (with the spices in it) to get things going a little faster. Despite the fact that I sliced them, these are NOT bread and butter pickles, and are quite sour, but I like it that way. In addition to munching on their own, they made very yummy additions to a grilled veggie dog or brat on a bun.

Sweet Swedish Refrigerator Pickles (from this recipe)

• 1 English cucumber or a comparable number of the regular kind
• 1 Tbsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/2 – 1 cup sugar (depending on just how sweet you want these to be)
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 allspice berries

1. Slice the cucumbers very thinly (I used my food processor slicing disk), toss in a colander with the salt, and let them it while the rest of the dish is prepared, or up to 30 minutes.

2. Combine water, vinegar, sugar, bay leaf and allspice in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil, remove from heat, and allow to cool.

3. Rinse the salt off the cucumber slices and squeeze out as much moisture as possible, using paper towels to blot them dry.

4. Put the cucumbers in a medium bowl or jar along with the liquid, making sure the slices are completely submerged. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.

On the left is Chipotle Corn Soup (or maybe it needs a better name?) and is something I came up with. The first time, I just processed the corn raw, which was great, but I felt that roasting would really add depth so I wanted to try it that way, too. Then the second time, I didn’t roast because I was in a hurry. But after that, I took the time to grill the corn and really love the added smokiness. It’s great either way, though.

On the right is a Bean, Corn, and Chili Soup from DD’s Stillman CSA newsletter that Mark made while they were both over. The recipe called for pinto beans, but he also used Great Northern. All the vegetables except garlic were from my or DD’s share (the cilantro and celery I’d frozen), with tomatoes and basil from the garden. Very different from the first soup, it was still delicious.

Chipotle Corn Soup

Ingredients

• 6-12 ears of corn (use what you got)
• ~1/2 cup light coconut milk
• 2-3 cloves of garlic or 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 chipotle chilis or 1/2 tsp chipotle powder (or to taste)
• 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 tsp agave nectar (optional)

If you are roasting the corn, do that first, either in or out of the husk. Grill over medium-high flame until it starts to blacken. De-cob the corn, going over it twice with a knife to get all the creamy corn goodness. Meanwhile, if using fresh garlic, roast the cloves in the toaster oven.

Put the corn and garlic in a blender or food processor and pulse, adding enough coconut milk for the mixture to blend and shoving with a spoon or spatula as needed. Add salt and chipotle, tasting for desired level of spice. If using chipotle in adobo, the agave nectar is useful to counteract the vinegar, but not necessary when using dried or powder if your corn is naturally sweet.

Using a sieve or a food mill, strain the soup to remove the corn skins, then heat in a saucepan, again adjusting seasonings as desired. Garnish with cilantro (I didn’t have any handy) or tortilla chips as desired.

Bean, Corn, and Chili Soup (from Stillman’s Farm’s newsletter)

Ingredients

• 2-3 cans pinto beans (we used one can pinto & one can Great Northern)
• 1 mild hot chili
• 3 gloves garlic
• 4 medium tomatoes, chopped (~2 cups)
• 2 medium carrots, chopped (~1 cup)
• 1 stalk celery with leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 ears corn, de-cobbed
• 2 Tbsp chopped basil
• 2 Tbsp chopped cilantro

In a dutch oven or heavy stock pot, cook onion, garlic, and chili over medium heat 5 minutes or until tender. Add tomatoes and cook 15 minutes or until tomatoes break down, stirring often.

Add drained beans, carrots, celery, bay leaf, salt, and about 4 cups water (or more) to cover all the veggies. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until the veggies are very tender, ~30 minutes or more.

Remove the bay leaf, and with potato masher (or immersion blender), mash the mixture to desired consistency. Stir in corn, basil, and cilantro, and simmer 5-10 minutes more until corn is tender, adding more water if you prefer a thinner soup.

Baba Ghanoush (based on RecipeZaar)

Ingredients

• 1 large (or two medium) eggplant
• 2-3 tbsp tahini
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced (roasting the garlic first works, too)
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (I used lime because I’d just used up my lemon canning tomato sauce)
• A few shakes ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
• olive oil, black olives, and parsley (from the garden!) for serving

Brush the eggplant with a little olive oil and salt, pierce several times with a work, and roast in a 375° oven for 45 minute, or until the skin blackens and the insides are very soft. The skin should come off easily.

Mash the eggplant innards in a bowl with the tahini, garlic, lemon juice, and seasoning. Taste, and add more of each as desired.

Baba can be eaten immediately or refrigerate a few hours to overnight to allow the flavors to marry and deepen.

Serve with olives and parsley. Drizzle with olive oil if desired.

Focaccia (multiple sources)

I can’t remember exactly how I made this, so some of these numbers may be off.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 2.5 cups flour
• 2-3 tbsp olive oil
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
• caramelized onions

Combine the water, yeast, and sugar and let sit for a few minutes to foam, then mix with the flour, salt, and half the olive oil. Knead the dough until it is smooth and slightly sticky, then cover and allow to rise until doubled (about an hour).
When the dough has risen, punch it down and knead briefly, mixing in 2 tsp of the rosemary, then stretch or roll it on a parchment-line baking sheet. Cover and let it rise for 30 minutes.

Using your finger, poke holes all over the dough, then sprinkle with remaining olive oil and rosemary, some coarse salt, and as much of the caramelized onions as you can fit.

Bake in a 400° oven for 30-40 minutes until golden brown and as crispy as you like it.

Caramelized Onions (improvised)

Ingredients:

• onions (as many as you like)
• olive oil for the pan
• maple syrup to taste
• 2 splashes red wine, more or less
• pinch salt

Cut onions into thick slices and sauté in a little olive oil over medium heat with pinch of salt. When the onions have softened, add a drizzle of maple syrup and continue to cook. Once everything is nicely browned, use some red wine to deglaze and you’re done.

This particular batch, which I made with DD, used a mix of tomatoes from my farm share (red) and my garden (yellow) as well as basil from the garden. I have never measured anything for this dish, in part because a lot depends on the tomatoes. Go with what feels right.

Tomato Bruschetta

Ingredients:

• tomatoes (chopped)
• garlic (minced)
• olive oil
• red wine
• Spike all-purpose seasoning and/or salt
• basil (chiffonade)

Over medium-low heat, sauté the garlic in olive olive. Add a few splashes of red wine and a few shakes of Spike (or a bit og salt) and cook until garlic is soft. Turn down the heat and add the tomatoes, stirring gently until they just begin to sweat (this will happen very quickly!).  Remove from heat and stir in the basil.

It’s that simple. I love it warm or cold over toasted sliced of crusty bread.   You can also remove it from heat before adding the tomatoes, but I prefer them cooked just that teensy bit.   You can drain off the liquid if you like and use it in something else but I soak it into the bread. Yum!