A Day of Pickling: Homemade Dills, Pickled Radishes, and Sauerkraut

Every once in a while, I get hit with this wave of "DO ALL THE THINGS!"  On this particular day, I had tiny cucumbers--so when I started the day, my only plan was to make pickles. I've made my garlic dill pickles plenty of times--pretty easy peasy.

Maybe too easy.  Because then I was like, "hrm...I still have more free time, and the kid is still asleep....what else can I make???"

We had some red cabbage that needed to be used up, so I thought, "how hard is it to make sauerskraut?"

The answer?  Not hard at all.  Pretty ridiculously easy, actually.

Step 1: Chop up cabbage & add some salt.
Step 2: Give it a massage.

Step 3: Put it all into a sterilized jar, cover it with a full cabbage leaf, press it down, and put it in a dark place for 3 days. Vent once a day so the jar doesn't explode.  

Step 4: Stick it in your fridge and enjoy!

Step 5: Nom on various things, but mostly brats.  Or, just eat it with your hands, like our kid does.

Lil' Man decided to help himself while I was doing my photo shoot.

Then, once I had my jar o' cabbage tucked away in the pantry, I still had some time left (and some random jelly jars), so I thought "well...those radishes in the crisper really need to get used up too."

Turns out, pickling radishes is also stupid-easy.

And they're amazing.  Especially with something that's fatty or sweet (or both) to add a nice contrast of bite.  I made some garlic beef & broccoli lo mein earlier this week and served these on the side. A perfect compliment.

So now we have a fridge full of pickled things.  It's a pretty tasty place to be.

Jalapeno Bacon Deviled Eggs

Our friends recently decided to host a throwback 50s style cocktail party, and it was SERIOUSLY fun.  We got a babysitter for the evening so we could live it up like some wild & crazy kids! 

As part of the plan, all attendees were required to dress in their 50s finery, bring an appetizer, and a bottle of booze so we could craft classic cocktails (more on that later...probably on a Thursday?) 

I'm so proud of my group of friends--we went all out with the period-appropriate appetizers.  There was a pineapple-shaped cheese ball, puffed pastries, a crock full of meatballs, even a seafood aspic terrine (aka "meat jello").  

One of the tastiest cheeseballs I've ever had.

We were all a bit intimidated by the terrine--myself because I'd sworn off aspic after working with them at Martin's in New Orleans.  However, I decided to be brave--and I'm glad I did because it was a truly tasty work of art.

Be brave, H & C!

For our part, I used my mom as inspiration--and deviled eggs are always her go-to.  But, we decided to mix it up a bit, and make jalapeno bacon deviled eggs.  NOTE: We have a few friends who are vegetarian, so I made half the batch sans bacon, and topped these with sliced pickled okra to separate them from the bacon-laden ones.

Seriously wish I had one of those old-skool deviled egg trays!  Might have to see if I can track one down at the thrift shop.

We got a ton of compliments on these, so I'm thinking it might now my MY go-to gathering fare.  Our recipe was "pinspired" by this recipe, but I tweaked it a fair bit so my recipe is below.

INGREDIENTS:
1 dozen large eggs, hard-boiled, cut in half
3/4 cup Light Miracle Whip
1/4 cup yellow mustard
8-10 pickled jalapeno rings, seeds removed, minced
1-2 tsp brine from pickled jalapeno jar
1/2 tsp sugar
6 pieces bacon, cooked (I used thick cut applewood smoked bacon) NOTE: If you decide to make half your batch vegetarian friendly, only use 3 slices of bacon.
1/2 tsp smoked paprika, plus more for decoration
1 thin/young green onion, minced for decoration (I used a young shoot from my windowsill green onion jar)
2 pickled okra, sliced (optional, use for decoration if you're making half the batch vegetarian)

DIRECTIONS:
Remove the yolks from the halved eggs, and place into a small bowl.  Then add the Miracle Whip, mustard, brine, sugar, and paprika, and whip until smooth. Tweak spices to taste--I like my deviled eggs to have a good "twang" from the mustard.  Now add in the minced jalapenos and stir until well combined.

Cook the bacon, pat off any excess grease, and then crumble, saving 12-24 larger crumbles for decoration (depending on whether you make the full batch with bacon or not).

If you're making only half with bacon, then at this point, scoop half of your mixture into a ziploc bag, and then snip off the end to use it as a piping bag.  Pipe the mix into half your egg halves.  If there's any leftover in the bag, place it back in the bowl.

Now add in the crumbled bacon (except what's reserved for decoration) and mix well.  Place all of the remaining mix into the piping bag, and finish filling the rest of the eggs.

Now top the bacony eggs with a piece of bacon (you could also add an extra slice of pickled jalapeno if you like), and top the non-bacon eggs with the slices of pickled okra.  Dust the entire tray with paprika and minced green onions.

If you don't have a fancy deviled egg tray, you can use a 8x8 or 9x11 pan and place paper towels in the bottom.  The towels will absorb any excess moisture and keep them from slipping around in the pan.

P.S. A bonus shot of that seafood aspic...because I know you wanted a close up. ;P

Crab, shrimp, corn, tomato, avocado and cilantro.  It tasted similar to ceviche so I actually loved it.

Refrigerator Pickled Banana Peppers

Some of our friends recently moved into a house with a small garden.  It's currently overflowing with tomatoes, jalapenos, banana peppers, basil, cantaloupe, and some really randomly huge cucumbers (we're still not sure if they're SUPPOSED to be that big or if they just sat on the vine too long without being picked).  

We GENEROUSLY volunteered to help them get rid of some of the peppers (because we're good friends like that).  First, I used a modified version of my Garlic Dill Pickle recipe to make a small jar of pickled jalapenos (left out the dill, but the rest of the recipe is the same).  I also made some pepper jelly (we'll discuss that next time--it's a whole adventure worthy of it's own post), and then diced & froze the rest of the jalapenos for future cooking.

The banana peppers we decided to pickle as well--but The Hubs requested a "no frills, just basic" pickling recipe for those.  So we kept it super simple.  Also, I LOVE that the peppers started to turn colors a bit before I had a chance to slice & pickle them---these colors are so beautiful & just SCREAM early fall!!!

We had about half a pound of peppers and it made about one quart-size jar.

INGREDIENTS: (makes 1 quart jar)
1/2 lb of sweet banana peppers, sliced
1.5 cups white vinegar
1 cup water
1 Tbsp salt (kosher if you have it--if not the pickling liquid can get a little cloudy)
1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 clove garlic, minced (if you have pre-minced jarred garlic, rinse the oil off first)
1/4 tsp citric acid (helps keep the pickles crisp)

DIRECTIONS:
Sterilize your jar(s) and lid(s)--we use EasyClean just because we have it & it's quicker than doing hot sterilization.
Once clean & dried, add the sliced peppers, garlic & citric acid to the jar.
In a small pot, heat the vinegar, water, salt and sugar just until the solids are fully dissolved--you don't need to boil it.  Then let the liquid cool to room temp.
Pour the pickling liquid over the pickles--it should come up to about 1/4-1/2 inch from the rim of the jar.  Add the lid and shake to distribute the garlic & citric acid.  Then place in your fridge!  

Let them brine for at least 24 hours before eating, but the longer they sit in the fridge, the better they'll taste!

Garlic Dill Refrigerator Pickles

I have a genetic affinity for pickles.  Seriously, it’s in our DNA.  My grandmother (whose house was the primary congregation point on weekends) would buy dill pickles by the case because my cousins & I went through them so fast.  Granted…there were a lot of us.  My mom is the middle of 15 (yes, FIFTEEN) kids, a good ol’ Midwestern farm family, and there’s currently (roughly) about 100 of us cousins (when you include cousins’ kids, since we’re getting…*ahem* mature…now).  On any weekend, there were at least ten kids running through the house, eating everything in sight.  But MAINLY pickles.  We even made games out of daring one another to drink the pickle juice…which is a pretty lame dare given that we were all more than game to do it.

Family reunion, circa 1986. I’m in the middle-ish, with the barely-there set of bunny ears. As opposed to Primo, who has two sets of bunny ears.

Since I’ve been old enough to have my own paycheck and own refrigerator to raid, there are typically no fewer than 3 jars of pickles or picked items in the door.  At the moment, I have 2 jars of olives, 1 jar of pickled okra, dill spears, dill ovals, sweet midgets…and these.

This was my first attempt at making pickles, so I didn’t want to go too crazy, lest they all turn out awful.  So I paired down the recipe to make two pint jars.  I also decided to make refrigerator pickles, rather than shelf-stable pickles, because a) I was planning to reuse some store-bought pickle jars, rather than buying mason jars, and b) I didn’t want to deal with the extra hassle of proper canning. 
I reviewed recipes, comparing differences & trying to figure out what would suit our tastes.  And I have to say, I was really pleased with the result!  Very crisp, tart, and just a hint of heat…and plenty garlicky.
I’ve portioned out this recipe so you can make as many jars as you like.
INGREDIENTS: (per pint jar)
Approx. 2 pickling cucumbers (will vary based on size), sliced into fat coins*
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vinegar
1 tsp pickling spice
2 tsp pickling salt
2 cloves garlic (I used minced, but you could use whole cloves with slits cut in to help release the garlicky goodness)
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp dried dill (or one dill head)
1/2 tsp peppercorns  (can omit if your pickling spice already has peppercorns in it)
1/4 tsp citric acid (this will help with the crispness)
*When you slice the cucumbers, be sure to dispose of the “blossom end” of the cucumber, as there’s an enzyme present that will cause the pickles to end up soft.
DIRECTIONS:
First off, sterilize your jars.  We use Easy Clean since we have it on-hand for The Hubs’ home brewing.  But you can also boil the jars, or use an oven at 275F for a minimum of 20 minutes.  If you boil or use the oven method, make sure the jars cool before filling them.
In a sauce pan, combine the water, vinegar, pickling spice and salt.  Bring to a simmer.
Place the garlic, red pepper, dill, peppercorns, and citric acid into the jars, and then add the cucumber coins.
Pour the brine over the top, leaving about 1/2 inch of headspace in the jar.

Add the lids, and if you’re making refrigerator pickles, you can stop now!  Label the jars, let cool to room temp, and place in the fridge somewhere that you can not be tempted by them for a while.  They’ll take about 3-4 weeks to make a proper pickle, so be sure to include the date. About once a week, shake the jars to mix up the spices, lest your bottom pickles hog all the garlic.
If you’re planning on storing these in your pantry, check this “how-to”.  They can be stored for up to a year (either in fridge or pantry).
Enjoy on their own, on a sandwich, or as part of a relish tray!

Oven “Fried” Pickles & Okra!

I LOOOOOOOVE pickles.  I’m told my mom gave me cold dill pickles and raw potato pieces to teeth on when I was young.  When we went camping, I would use a hot dog bun to make myself pickle & potato chip sandwiches, since it was the only thing I could “cook” for myself.  Apparently it’s a genetic thing, since my entire mom’s side of our family also loves pickles.  My grandma would buy Vlasic jars by the case.  No joke.

And because this is AMERICA, we also love FRIED FOOD.  Ergo, I love fried pickles.

Ooh, you know what else is good fried?  Okra. It’s a staple side dish in Louisiana!  Just give me some fried okra & a bottle of ketchup, and I’m a happy camper.

But anymore, my stomach really can’t handle all that grease.  Nor can my waistline.  Not to worry, though.  With a crunchy, kicked up breading, we can make some out of this world “FeauxFried” (aka oven-fried) pickle chips & okra.  How does a big pile of crispy okra & pickles sound?  Sound even better at only NINETY-FIVE CALORIES a serving?  Yeah, I thought so.  The nice thing about pickles & okra is that they’re already low calorie.  So you get some calories from the breading, but once you knock out all that frying oil, you’re golden!

Golden brown & delicious, that is.

Ingredients: (makes two servings, but you can easily upscale this recipe for more servings)

About 20 Dill pickle chips (we had a bunch of large kosher dills & just sliced them up ourselves)

1 cup sliced okra, fresh or thawed

1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs

1/4 cup Louisiana-style fish fry cornmeal

1/4 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 tbsp dried parsley

1 large egg

olive oil spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450F.  Lightly spray a cookie sheet with olive oil spray.

Allow your pickle chips & okra to sit for a while on a paper towel to help absorb some of the excess moisture.

Then mix together the bread crumbs, fish fry, paprika, and parsley in a container with a lid.

Mix the egg & the chili powder together in a separate bowl and beat well.  Drop the pickle chips & okra into the egg wash & coat completely.  Use a fork to lift out of the egg mixture and let the excess drop off.  Then drop into the breading mixture & toss (with lid on) to coat.  Press additional breading on if they don’t get fully coated.

Place the breaded pickles & okra on the cookie sheet. 

Lightly spritz them with olive oil (this will help them brown nicely and get even crunchier) and place in the oven for 10 minutes, then flip them over, lightly spritz with olive oil again and then place back in the oven for another five minutes.

Serve with light ranch dressing and chow down!

NutriFacts: (makes two servings of 10 pickle chips & 1/2 cup of okra each)

  Calories 95.8

  Total Fat 2.4 g

  Saturated Fat 0.6 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 0.5 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 0.8 g

  Cholesterol 68.5 mg

  Sodium 1,019.7 mg

  Potassium 264.2 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 15.1 g

  Dietary Fiber 3.8 g

  Sugars 4.3 g

  Protein 5.1 g