pickles

Pickled Vegetables aka Curtido

February 11, 2016

Pickled vegetables or “curtido” as this particular version is called, are so quick and easy to make. Which is good, because that need for a vinegary bite of something strikes me fairly often.

I have been waiting for this supposed “cauliflower shortage” to work itself out because I have been craving these pickled vegetables and I was not about to pay $7 for a head of cauliflower… Call me crazy.

I had completely resigned myself to the idea that I was not going to fulfill my craving anytime soon because the price of cauliflower was not budging and i just could not bring myself to pay three times the normal price. However, that little (ever-present, annoying, extremely loud) nagging voice in the back of brain said “Hey, let’s just walk over there and check”. Gah, I hate when she’s right… well, maybe just this once it’s okay.

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A Peck of Pickled Peppers

June 17, 2013

My banana pepper plants have been rather prolific and for this I am grateful. As most of you who are regular visitors to this little space already know, I went a little overboard in planting. I have a tendency to overdo things and this was no exception.

Spending so many years living in an apartment with zero outdoor space, I may have gone a little crazy when I realized that I could grow some of my own food. This had been a goal of mine for a very long time (growing food, not going crazy… that ship has sailed).

I am fascinated by the entire process of planting a seed, taking care of it and watching it grow into something that will actually feed you.

The very first time I had a banana pepper was on a pizza, my Freshman year in college. A small group of us had descended on the pizza place next to campus. We were there under the pretense of “studying” I’m sure. There were pool tables, dart boards (which I became quite skillful at playing), air hockey tables; all the things one thinks of when looking for an appropriate place to “study”.

Anyhow, there we were and one of the guys went to order our pizza and when the waitress came to the table and set it down in front of us, I noticed that it had peppers on it. Not wanting to draw any attention to myself, I dug right in but in my head was this little voice shouting “are you nuts?!”.

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In a Pickle…

October 5, 2011

In the Midwest, and certainly other parts of the country, the end of summer marks canning season at it’s height. This is when the air smells of ripe tomatoes being “put up”, jars of preserves and jams lining the kitchen counter like a glass army of winter provisions… cabinets and cellars receive the summer’s bounty before colder temperatures bring the first frost.

Canning may be a lost art form in other parts of the country, but if you’re near an agricultural area you are very familiar with the process.

My step-dad & I used to do this as a two man operation… It was a bit of an elaborate set-up. There were two stoves working simultaneously, I was at one cooking the fruit and he was at the other sterilizing jars.
We’d meet at the halfway point for the hand off:
He’d sterilize the jars, bring them to me piping hot, I’d fill them and put the lids on then take them back out to him to process and seal. We ran our operation like a well-oiled machine (he IS German, so there’s really no other acceptable way).

Bread and butter pickles have always been my favorite. They are sweet and yet have a little bite from the vinegar and they remind me of my Grandfather, they were his favorite too. I sometimes feel obligated to “Chef” it up a bit, but at the end of the day I’m just a girl from Ohio and the simple, familiar things are what I crave.

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pickles