Pickling Day

I know for certain I imprinted on my mother as surely as a mallard chick imprints on Mama Duck.  I can envision how it must have happened some 50 years ago.  My dad had waited patiently for hours as I took my sweet time coming into the world.  Finally, the doctor sent him away to get some lunch, assuring him it would be awhile.  But while he was away, things began to happen rather quickly and I made my entrance.  My mom says back in 1960 they anesthetized the mother so completely she just woke up and was handed a baby, somewhat unsure of how it all came to be.  My mother may have been a little woozy when she was handed her first born daughter, but I am sure I was wide awake when they put me in her arms.  I can imagine that when I looked into her face, all the synapses fell into place.  Something must have been birthed in me at that instant that would compel me to follow her, watch her, learn from her and begin to develop an affinity for all the things she did and loved.  As soon as I was old enough to stand, my favorite place to be was on a chair beside her in the kitchen watching her cook.  Or in a chair behind her with my hands on her shoulders as she sat at the sewing machine.  I loved all her "motherly" pursuits and began to putter alongside her as soon as I was able.

Fifty years later we are still puttering side by side.  Today, it is pickling day.  I bought a big sack of cucumbers at Allegri Farm Market before I left Baldwin County, thoughts straining ahead anticipating the aroma of warm sugared vinegar spiced with cloves and allspice and cinnamon that would soon fill my mother's homey kitchen. She makes what she calls "Summer Crisps" about this time every year, a small batch recipe for refrigeration.  I simply adore eating them with sandwiches or burgers, and truth be told, I am most happy to lob them onto my plate as if they are a side dish unto themselves.  Needless to say, a quart or two won't last very long with my appetite for this sweet sour concoction.


And just as I love sweet sour pickles, Paul put in his request for a kosher dill version.  And to help things along, he found a recipe with his name on it in this month's Men's Health Magazine.  So now we have three quarts of pickles beautifully made, just waiting on a taste test.  Unfortunately, they have to mellow in the brine for awhile before we can issue our report.  The Summer Crisps are tried and true, but the dill pickles will have to be duly sampled before we can declare them a part of our regular repertoire.  Tonight, I offer these recipes and pictures for your perusal.  Check back tomorrow to hear whether or not they are an unqualified success!

Quarts 1 and 2 are Summer Crisps; on the far right are the Dill Pickles

Cucumbers in salt and ice bath

Summer Cucumber Crisps
12 pickling cucumbers or 7-8 regular cucumbers
1/1/2 Tbs. table salt
1 pint white vinegar
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 Tbs. whole cloves
2 Tbs. whole allspice
2 bay leaves
2 sticks cinnamon
2 Tbs. celery seed
1 Tbs. peppercorns
1 tsp. ground ginger


1.  Thinly slice cucumbers and put in a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and toss with some ice.  Cover with water and allow to soak for about an hour.  Drain. 
2.  Combine all other ingredients (vinegar through ginger) in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Cool and strain.
3.  Pack sterilized jars with cucumbers (makes about 1-1/2 quarts.)  Cover with strained marinade.  Let stand for an hour and refrigerate.  READY TO EAT!!

Note:  After an afternoon of pickling on Meatless Monday, we found ourselves starving at about 8:00 pm and loathe to heat up the kitchen again.  Served alongside egg salad sandwiches, these were perfection!

Basic Quick Dill Pickles 
6-8 pickling cucumbers, cut in quarters lengthwise
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1-1/2 cups white vinegar
3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 tbs. Kosher salt
1-1/2 Tbs. sugar
1-1/2 Tbs. pickling spice
15 peppercorns
5 sprigs dill


1.  Place cucumbers in a bowl sprinkled with salt.  Add some ice and cover with water.  Let stand for an hour and drain.  Pack cucumbers into a sterilized quart jar.  
2.  Put next 6 ingredients (vinegar through peppercorns) in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.
3.  Pour over cucumbers.  Add dill sprigs, pushing down into jar.
5.  Let cucumbers come to room temperature and refrigerate 24 hours before serving.


Note:  I will add an update tomorrow night with a taste test report on the dill pickles.


Update:  I had one of the kosher dills after breakfast this morning.  Although not the best time to stick your hand in the pickle jar, I couldn't wait any longer to taste.  These are quite good!  Very crunchy and garlicky and dilly.  Just bought more cucumbers at the market to make another batch.

This Little Figgy Went to Market

I must confess that I have been unfaithful. I had been waiting so patiently for the local fig crop to come in. Why, just this past Saturday, I cornered the folks at Allegri Farm Market and DEMANDED to know when the first Baldwin County figs could be expected. I was urged to be patient a bit longer and expect them to arrive around the middle of July--such a very long time to wait. I have big plans for figs this year! Last year was going to be my inaugural run at making homemade fig preserves. The attempt was a complete and utter disaster. I will write more about that when I accomplish a successful run at the task later on this summer. I WILL not let this age old art beat me--I shall be victorious over the vat of boiling figs and sugar, rest assured.

But alas, during a recent visit to Publix, there in the produce section, flaunting themselves in the very first bin so I couldn't miss the subtle winks and posturing, were the black mission figs from California. How dare they flirt with me so blatantly, knowing I am counting the days and trying with all the self control I can muster to be faithful to the local crop. I looked surreptitiously all around me, and seeing no locavore sentinel standing close by to approve or disapprove of my actions, I lost all willpower and added them to my cart. I never looked back. I smiled all the way home, knowing what I had to do. Ripe and succulent figs would be making an early appearance at our house! I could hardly wait to get them home.

Figs are great prepared about a thousand different ways. And I intend to try all thousand over the next few weeks. One of my favorite things to do is toss them in a salad. Better yet, use them to make salad dressing AND toss some fresh figs in the salad! Give this a try:

Fresh Fig Vinaigrette

1 large, fresh ripe fig, quartered

1/4 tsp salt

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 small shallot, quartered

1/3 cup olive oil

This recipe needs to be made in a small food processor or a blender. Pulse together the fig, salt, shallot and vinegar until combined. Add the olive oil in a slow and steady stream while the blender or food processor is running until all is emulsified. The resulting vinaigrette will look a bit like a strawberry milkshake.

For the Salad

For each individual serving, arrange one quartered fig over your choice of salad greens. Next, drizzle with the dressing. Goat cheese is wonderful sprinkled over the fig pieces, however, when I took my fresh goat cheese out of the refrigerator, it resembled gorgonzola. While a slight bluish green tint on gorgonzola is expected, it is most unexpected and unwelcome on goat cheese so that container went straight into the lovely receptacle under the sink awaiting such refrigerator surprises. So I went rambling in my refrigerator and found a wedge of nicely aged Italian Parmesan. As long as I am NOT eating local, I might as well go all the way. I added a few shavings of Parmesan to each salad and served! Toasted walnuts would be right at home on this salad, as well.

To assuage all guilt, I have rationalized this rendezvous with California figs as good practice for the local crop yet to come. Look for much more on figs later!

The Nectar of Heaven

Most of what we know of heaven ultimately gives way to pure mystery. In my humanity, I ponder what it will be like. I wonder what that first glimpse will reveal. I crave the reassurance of the familiar, believing I will readily recognize the ones I have loved. And eternity seems so, well, LONG, and I am infinitely curious to know exactly how we will while away the hours. The Bible says we will be praising God and worshiping perfectly, but do you know what that means? It sounds like a beautiful culmination of our relationship with our Creator and I am honing those worship skills every chance I get, but will that take up all our time? Will we have jobs or assignments there? "Toil" is supposedly part of our earthly existence, so the idea of work as we know it seems highly unlikely. And even pondering the concept of time in heaven shows how earthbound I am. One of the things that will make heaven heaven is that there will be no more watches or time clocks or waiting in line or making appointments. (Freed from the bonds of procrastination? No more being five minutes late? Yahoo!!) I am convinced there will be singing in heaven since that is intricately woven into the fabric of worship, so I have beseeched God to give me a beautiful resurrection voice. Those who sit near me in church will find that most gratifying if we are seated close together in the heavenly choir! Singing with gusto has never been an issue for me--just singing on key!

And what of food? That is something we really all want to know, isn't it? Will we eat in heaven? The pious might say we will want for nothing in heaven and will no longer be slaves to our mortal bodies, so why would we need food? But, truly, to the person who loves to eat, the desire for food has so little to do with what we need and everything to do with what our taste buds desire. Some of my friends (who are women) allow that they cannot imagine an afterlife without chocolate. But given a choice between a morsel of silky, sumptuous dark chocolate and a bite of a perfectly ripe summer peach, I'd choose the peach any day. And just one bite would never do.

Peach season is fully upon us here in coastal Alabama and is a reminder of God's immense love for me in the here and now. The Creator who would allow me this brief interlude of true gastronomic joy must surely care about what makes me happy. When at its best, a single bite of peach yields itself to a subtle symbiosis of sweet and tart, and the careful observer might just detect a little trail of peach juice making its way toward my chin. Ah, the beauty of the summer peach. I somehow feel it an act of reverence this time of year when I give careful consideration to the peach and all the accompanying culinary opportunities such consideration affords.

Our travel schedule during the month of June kept me away from both kitchen and farmers' market. Although I wouldn't have traded a moment of time spent with family, my tiny Fairhope kitchen beckoned jealously upon my return, asking me to focus my attention entirely on what we can accomplish together with the summer's bounty now entirely at our disposal. Trips to Windmill Market here in Fairhope and Allegri Farm Market in Daphne have been "fruitful" to say the least. (Please pardon the very bad--yes groan aloud--pun.) The trick is to buy a basket or so of peaches at varying degrees of ripeness so as to maximize their availability over the ensuing days. And then when your best efforts fail and they all seem to be ripe and ready and begging to be used at once, time to make cobbler!

I was raised on the classic style of peach cobbler where the peaches are sliced, mixed with sugar and dumped raw into a prepared batter awaiting them in a buttered baking dish. I wondered if there was a better way. After some studious searching, I found a style of cobbler that called for the peaches to be cooked stove-top ahead of time in a little water and sugar. This preparation allowed the flavors to meld a little more fully. Another thing I found quite by accident is that multiple sifting of the flour makes the texture of the batter a bit more complex. I stumbled upon this when I decided to forego buying self-rising flour and instead add my own leavening to the all-purpose flour already in my pantry. Also, I was not seeking to feed the masses peach cobbler. Most of the recipes I found were big enough to take to the church pot-luck when all I wanted was to feed two to four people for one meal. Let's face it, cobbler needs to be eaten warm, right out of the oven. Day old and microwaved is NOT cobbler at its best. So here is a recipe for four that takes very little time and turns a weeknight dinner into a celebration of summer at its best. Add a bit of almond flavored whipped cream for something really special.

Peach Cobbler

2 1/2 cups peeled, sliced peaches

1 cup sugar, divided

1/4 cup water

1/2 stick butter (4 tablespoons)

3/4 cup flour

1-1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

dash of cinnamon and sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine the peaches with 1/2 cup sugar and the water. Bring to a boil in a saucepan and reduce to a simmer for about 8-10 minutes.

3. Sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Then sift 2-3 times more for good measure.

4. Combine flour mixture with 1/2 cup sugar and 3/4 cup milk and whisk together until somewhat bubbly.

5. Put butter in an 8X8 baking dish and allow to melt in the heating oven. Watch carefully so the butter doesn't scorch.

6. Pour batter into the melted butter.

7. Use a slotted spoon to distribute the peaches evenly across the batter, and then pour the syrup carefully on top of the peaches. Sprinkle a bit of cinnamon over the peaches.

8. Allow to bake for about 20 minutes until batter has begun to cover the peaches. It will look slightly foamy as it bakes. At this point, sprinkle about a tablespoon of sugar across the top of the batter.

9. Allow to bake for another 15- 20 minutes (cobbler requires a total baking time of 35-45 minutes) until slightly browned. Bubbly peaches will peak through the batter in some places when done.

10. Allow to cool some before eating, but try to time this so you can enjoy it warm. Top with a bit of freshly whipped heavy cream with a bit of sugar added along with a drop or two of almond flavoring. Take this cobbler to yet another level with a sprinkle of toasted sliced almonds.

And, if the masses are truly begging for peach cobbler, double this recipe in a 9 x 13 pan and the masses will not complain!