Pickles Galore

While life continues to be busy, better busy than bored I say!





My father, Nick, was down over the weekend and we had our noses to the grindstone renovating the Hotel's loft to make it both more fun and a bit safer.  It was a hard weekend's work, but between framing, drywalling, crib assembly there was time for a little bit of fun in the kitchen.  Nick brought five generous quarts of organic Nova raspberries from Pat Brooking's Annan Way Nursery outside of Owen Sound.  Some ended up in our bellies, some frozen for winter, and some became one of Aija's favourites, raspberry jam.  A trip to market turned up some lovely things, particularly white cucumbers from Potager du Kanada.  An experimental Greek-themed fritatta turned out to be a huge hit, and the fresh pickles were finished off.  We also had a nice roast chicken dinner with Suzy's folks on Saturday night to add a convivial turn to the weekend.



White cucumbers finely sliced and arranged.
Delicious with salt, and with none of the bitterness
in the skin one expects in a larger cucumber.



Greek fritatta - olives, tomatoes, feta, red onion, and parsley



Suzy was in particular thrilled by big effort of the past few days; decanting the fermented pickles.  No more would the house smell like pickles...  better than sauerkraut admittedly, but it does wear on a soul.     Fermented food can be quite lovely, but I always feel a bit trepiditious as I pull it out, particularly after a batch of whole heads of cabbage went off last year.  The resulting mess was a disgusting experience, and I probably would have required professional counselling to help deal with the shock if I wasn't made of sterner stuff.

They pickles had been in the pot for three weeks, and they smelled like... pickles.  A quick inspection showed that they were still sufficiently firm, and had turned a lovely variegated olive green, so out they came.  The canning gear got set up with a little help from Aija, and then after she was off bed Suzy and I laid up a dozen jars -  thirteen litres in total.  A yeoman's work on a school night, but you have to do it on the pickle's schedule.  This morning all the jars showed a firm seal, so we're holding to a 100% success rate so far this year. 

The bad news is that Ben Sosnicki's cucumbers didn't turn out, and we're going to have to find another source to make sure we can get up to target...

Fennel Failure

It was Taste of the Danforth weekend here in Riverdale, and most residents of the neighbourhood were doing their best to avoid the insanity going on in Greektown.  By insanity I mean a street packed with humanity waiting in line to pay three dollars for a traditional Greek cob of corn dipped in butter... At least I hope it's butter...

But around the edges life goes on, and as usual there were many nice and colourful things to be had at the market for about the same price as the aforementioned cob of corn, including purple potatoes from Dave at Haystrom farm, garlic and black  tomatoes from Ben Sosnicki, Purple Haze carrots from the Singhs, a perfectly white eggplant (in a beautiful display of three year old logic Aija asked if she could have some eggs the eggplant laid despite knowing all about chickens), a summer sausage from the Webers, and last, but not least, some green and yellow zucchini and young fennel from Laurel at Small Potatoes.

My Saturday dinner plan was pork chops marinated in lemon and fennel, and I was going to experiment and make up a fennel, lemon, and caper topping for the chops, with sides of baked zucchini with balsamic vinegar and parmesan cheese, and a fresh cucumber and tomato salad. 

Despite a kitchen witch to help ensure everything turns out, it was a troubled day from the start.  The tupperware with the marinade turned out not to seal terribly well, and I spilled olive oil and lemon juice all over the kitchen table.  After, despite some misgivings my friend Christian and I were going to join two other friends at Taste dressed as hoplites to advertise the upcoming re-enactment of the 2500th anniversary of the battle of Marathon in Marathon, Greece.  We and our daughters kitted up and marched off only to find that due to some mix-up the others had been escorted off by the police, and we made a strategic retreat to settle Aija down for a rest and eat fresh pickles and drink lemonade.

The third and final failure was the fennel, lemon, and caper topping.  I botched the lemon quantity, and it was quite honestly dreadful.  A sad waste of some lovely fennel.  Fortunately, everything else turned out well, and we had a lovely dinner to wrap things up for the day.

Family Recipe Crunchy Dill Pickles

Leo Strubbs once told my mother's best friend that if she wanted crunch she should eat celery.  Strubbs Kosher Dills are of course fermented and soft, and there is something to be said for a nice fermented pickle.  There is also something satisfying about a crunchy dill pickle as well, a memory of that summer freshness that isn't there in a soft pickle.

Suzy's Aunt Trish is a celebrated cook and professional caterer, and her crunchy dills are perhaps the best I have ever tasted, as well as incredibly simple to prepare.  With her permission here is her recipe reveealed to the world for the first time. 

Wash and soak overnight in ice water:
4 pounds small pickling cucumbers
The next day sterilze jars (the number will vary depending on the size of the cucumbers, have six ready).  Prepare a brine of:
4 cups water
2 cups of white vinegar
1/4 cup of pickling salt
And bring to boil.  One at a time, remove a jar from the pot or oven and place in the bottom:
2 cloves of peeled garlic
2 stems of dill
Pack the jar with:
Cucumbers
And put on top:
2 more cloves of peeled garlic
2 more stems of dill
Fill with the boiling brine to a quarter inch from the top, place a hot lid on the jar and seal fingertip tight with a ring. Place on a wire rack immediately to cool overnight, check the seals, and store in a cool place for at least one month before eating.

Note: that the brine allows you to get away without processing the pickles and maximizes the crunch.  That said, in any pickle there is the risk of contamination.  If a jar shows mold, fizzes, or smells like anything other than pickles discard it.  That said, over the past few years we've only lost one jar out of the hundreds we've prepared using this method.

Clearing the Decks



Cucumbers anyone?

 It's amazing how quickly the time slips by! Between work, getting over the family cold, and a extended long weekend up in Owen Sound visiting my folks, it's been over a week since I've been able to post.  That doesn't mean things have been idle.   As we'll be travelling in September, the pressure is on to get quite a bit of pickling and canning done before be leave for Greece.

The pickles on to ferment

Last week saw the delivery of a bushel of pickling cucumbers from Haystrom Farm, and let me say a bushel is a lot of little cukes! Sorting them by size, washing, and preparing them took a fair bit of Thursday afternoon.  By the evening we were ready to go with three kinds of pickles: twenty-odd pounds were set to ferment in a big bucket, another 5 pounds of little ones were stored in the fridge for doing dills when we got back, and the ones that were too big for either were quartered and put in the fridge in a brine for a quick pickle.

Fresh salsa for a summer feast

The next few days in Owen Sounds were a bit of a break on the shore for us  despite Nyls deciding that he wasn't going to sleep for longer than two hours the first two nights.  Fortunately there was nothing for us to do; my folks had everything planned, and we feasted on pork chops, ribs, roast beast, and lots of local vegetables, expecially corn on the cob..  Aija did take the time to make French toast one morning with her Momo and she and I whipped up a batch of fresh salsa from leftovers when old friends of the family joined us for dinner one night.

Aija's helping hands

Nyls decided to sleep a little better Sunday night, so we returned to the Hotel Cavell with a plan to clear the decks in the cold cellar and freezer for the new stock that will be coming in over the coming weeks.  Six jars of canned whole San Marzano tomatoes and six bags of frozen paste came up from last years stock to be made into a giant batch of Marinara sauce for freezing.  Suzy, Aija, and I worked hard though the afternoon to get it done, and enjoyed a lovely dinner of sphaghetti with meatballs as a reward.

The fruits of our labours

When all was cleaned up and squared away the fermenting cukes were skimmed, the fresh pickles shaken, and the rest of the pickling cucumbers put in ice water for pickling this evening.  The jars are washed, lids are on hand, and we're ready to begin a marathon session of pickling!