Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Links: Pickles, peach pits, roasting cauliflower, and waiting for zucchini

Zucchini antipasto and orecchiette with zucchini, tomatoes, and ricotta: Waiting for zucchini....  And soon, I likely will have too much zucchini.  It's a very fine line.

Refrigerator pickle recipe from Smitten Kitchen that claims to be the easiest ever.  I have been making refrigerator pickles by heating equal parts of seasoned rice vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan over low to medium heat until the sugar melts (1/2 cup of each works well with about 3-4 large cucumbers or 6-8 pickling cukes).  While that cools, layer sliced cucumbers in the container you'll be using for pickling (often a large Tupperware bowl, because we go through them quickly) with salt, pepper, and fresh dill (or dried dill, or other spices, if you'd like to try something different).  Cover with the vinegar and sugar mixture, then refrigerate overnight.  As mentioned in the Smitten Kitchen recipe, you'll find that the cukes throw off a lot of water, so don't worry if all of them aren't covered to start.  I've found that you can use the pickling liquid a second time, adding more sliced cucumbers, but don't try for a third, as the pickles get too weak.

Also in the pickling vein, lots of canning recipes from Martha Stewart.

I read recently about a chef at the French Laundry needing to open bowls of peach pits, which I had not heard of before.  This post from Food52 describes what the centers of stone fruits can be used for.

A recipe for roasted cauliflower with tahini sauce.  No cauliflower in the boxes yet, but I'm looking forward to roasting or grilling some.  (Tamar: I think you said that you tried something similar months ago.  Can you post a link to your recipe in the comments?)

3 comments:

  1. My favorite cauliflower prep method is super easy. The link to the recipe is in Hebrew, so I'll explain here, but I'm also including the link because her pictures pretty much tell the story of what to do:

    http://www.bazekalim.com/2013/01/26/eyals-extra-special-cauliflower/#
    Preheat oven to 480F. Stick the whole head of cauliflower, as is, into a pot, cover with water, heat. When the water boils, add 1tsp salt, let boil for about 10 minutes, until the cauliflower is tender when poked with a knife. It should not be falling apart.
    Take it out of the water (you now have cauliflower broth, which the recipe suggests is good to boil lentils in) and drain it. Put it on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, drizzle olive oil on it (the recipe suggests 1tbsp, I do more), season with salt and pepper. Stick it in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until it is browned and the leaves are blackened. We eat the whole head as is, with forks if we're feeling civilized. Can be served with a tahini sauce on the side.

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  2. Just made the pasta with zucchini/tomato/ricotta. It was quite good and super easy! We made it with some fancy pasta we had hanging out in the cupboard.

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