10 Minute Recipes: Summer Fridge Pickles

A special shout out and Happy Father's Day to my dad - the guy who taught me everything there is to love about pickles and photography. Here's to combing both in dedication to you :). 

The seasons are definitely starting to change here in San Diego - we're exiting the days of May Grays and June Glooms and hitting our desert heat waves. This weekend brought one with vengeance. I know, for those of you who live in places where it's 98 F and 100% humidity, I shouldn't complain. But, 95 F in a city that doesn't believe in A/C is no fun. Especially if you need or want to get in your kitchen and cook. 

Summer is one of those seasons that seems to bring foods that need (or rather, deserve) pickles, but with soaring temps, the last thing you want to do is heat up your kitchen with boiling vinegar and a canning water bath. Well, here's your perfect solution - a pickle that you can prep in 10 minutes, set in the fridge, and do nothing else but enjoy it the following day. No heat, no turning your kitchen into a steamy sauna, and no need to make 10 jars at a time. This recipe yields one perfect pint jar of summery pickles. And, if you use watermelon radishes, they may even have a delightful pink hue by the end. 

An added bonus to not using heat - the full nutritional value of the vegetables and apple cider vinegar is maintained. I would recommend using a good quality vinegar (Bragg's is my personal favorite). The acidity of these pickles is somewhat mild. If you prefer a more pungent pickle, add additional vinegar and 1 tsp sugar and 1/8 tsp salt per ounce of added vinegar. 

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SUMMER FRIDGE PICKLES

• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/8 tsp of each: fennel seeds, celery seeds, minced ginger
• 1/4 tsp of each: peppercorns, mustard seeds, dill seeds (or 1 dill flower)
• 2 cups sliced cucumber, radish, and/or summer squash
• Several chives or chive blossoms
• Chili pepper, optional
• Filtered water

In a glass pint jar or container of similar size, add vinegar, sugar, salt and spices. Secure the lid and shake vigorously for 30 seconds. Remove the lid and add the sliced vegetables, chives, and chili pepper, if desired. 

Fill the jar with filtered water up to 1/2" below the brim. Secure the lid again, gently shake a few times, and place in the fridge overnight (or for at least 4 hours). These pickles will keep in the fridge for up to two months. 

Yield: 1 pint jar

Warm Winter Slaw

Ok, ok. I know it isn't winter anymore, but what we affectionately call "winter greens" are still very much so flooding the markets right now. This Warm Winter Slaw is a perfect supporting actress for any meal, or flatter it by making the slaw a main star and throwing some protein and additional veggies on top - now that sounds like a delicious salad bowl... Packed with flavor and nutrients, this slaw is made up of butternut squash, radicchio and kale. The dressing is simmered and poured over the greens with just enough heat to tenderize them (we've all had that kale salad that feels like you're eating thin sheets of rubber...no thanks). You can find the recipe on Bonnie Plants' website or by clicking the image below.  

(Also, it's equally delicious cold and as leftovers.)

Roasted Strawberry + Fennel Scones

Featured: Strawberries
When ripe, strawberries should have a strong sweet aroma, rich coloring, and a sweetness that virtually melts in your mouth. I like to look for smaller berries, as they tend to be sweeter than the large ones. A hint for looking for a well ripened strawberry - look to see if the flesh is red all the way to stem's base. Many times when you purchase strawberries in the supermarkets out of season, they will be mostly white at the top. This is a sign that the berry likely doesn't have much flavor and will be white through most of the inside.

Nutrition: Rich in Vitamin C, dietary fiber and manganese. Also a good source of potassium and folate. 

Season: Depending on climate/region, harvest can begin as early as March and go into November. 

We officially ushered in Spring yesterday, with the weather in San Diego being it's "perfect" 72 and sunny. While I'm personally mourning the passing of my favorite weather seasons, I'm gleefully rejoicing in the arrival of my favorite food seasons, Spring and Summer. And the best way to celebrate the arrival of these wonderful food seasons? By eating. Duh. 

Strawberries are one of the first fruits to arrive in our markets in the spring and boy do I get excited over them. The sweet, melt-in-your-mouth goodness of a ripe strawberry compares pretty much to...well, nothing. So, to celebrate this Spring goodness, tastebud party inducing berry of deliciousness, I've put them in one of my favorite breakfast items - the (can't ever just eat one) scone. Being honest with you upfront, scones take a little time (and get a bit messy), but they are much easier to make than most people think and are 100% worth it. 

Now, some of you might be unsure about the idea of fennel being in a scone, or maybe anything you eat, but trust me on this one. The fennel flavor won't knock your socks off from licorice-ness. Instead, you'll be delighted with a lightly flavored, highly aromatic, very yummy piece of Springtime breakfast heaven. Oh yeah, and roasting the strawberries will make your kitchen smell AMAZING. 

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Roasted Strawberry + Fennel Scones

• 1 pint fresh strawberries
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1/4 cup cane sugar + 1 Tbsp 
• 2 cups all-purpose flour + some for dusting
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 Tbsp ground fennel 
• 6 Tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup half & half or whole milk + 1 Tbsp set aside
• Fennel Sugar (1/2 Tbsp cane sugar + 1/2 tsp ground fennel, mixed)

Preheat oven to 425 F. 

Hull and cut the strawberries into roughly 1" chunks. Toss them with 1 tablespoon cane sugar and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract. Spread out on a lined baking sheet, giving the strawberries as much room between each other as possible.

Roast for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer the strawberries to a bowl to cool. Drop the oven temp to 375 F. 

In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredient, minus the butter and fennel sugar, and stir to throughly combine. Add the butter and work it into the flour using a pastry cutter, or two butter knives, until no large pieces remain. The texture should resemble large bread crumbs (about 3-5 minutes using a pastry cutter). 

Mix the ricotta and milk together until the texture is mostly smooth. Add to the flour mixture and begin gently folding everything together with a fork. Fold about 8 times, just until the wet and dry ingredients are beginning to come together. Add in the strawberries. Mash with the fork or switch back to the pastry cutter as you mix them in to break the strawberries up, and blend 6 to 8 times. At this point, the dough will be sticky but crumbly. 

Lightly flour a smooth surface or large cutting board. Carefully empty the scone mixture onto the floured surface. At this point, you will finish the process with your hands (things will get a bit messy, but that's part of the fun). Gently fold and press the mixture together, working the bits of dry goods into the sticky areas of dough. Be cautious that you aren't kneading the dough - your dough should come together after 6 to 8 gentle folds. Sprinkle the top with additional flour as needed to help keep the dough from sticking to your hands or the work surface. The dough will look a bit cracked and flakey when finished, but you'll know it's done with the dough is holding together as one mass. 

Gently press the dough into a 1.5" thick circle. Cut into 8 pie shaped pieces and transfer them to a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush the top of each scone with the remaining milk. Generously sprinkle them with fennel sugar and place the pan in the middle of your pre-heated oven. 

Bake the scones for 14 - 16 minutes or until the edges just begin to brown. Remove from the oven and transfer the scones to a cooling rack. Let them cool for at least 10 minutes - you may have to reach in deep for some self-restraint (or maybe that's just me...). Serve warm as is, or with butter and jam.  

Makes 8 scones

Lavender Upside Down Cake

You know those times when you're just moving along through your days, then something really great happens and you don't totally know why but you don't question in it - instead, you just ride the high? Well, I've been riding a high for the past several months as I've had the pleasure of developing and testing recipes for Bonnie Plants. Basically, the dream. 

If you follow my blog, I'll be posting links to original recipes featured on their site. I'm excited to share not only this work with you, but also help you get to know a pretty wonderful company. Bonnie grows vegetable and herb (and a few fruit) transplants - baby plants that you can buy in local stores to grow at home! They sell tomatoes, basil, strawberries, peppers, lavender, mint....the list goes on. So, get to know Bonnie Plants, grow something of your own and make some good food. 

The first recipe I'd like to share is one I had a lot of fun developing - Lavender Upside Down Cake. This cake is delicately flavored with lavender flowers, has a spongey but dense texture, and is perfectly balance with a fresh fruit top (eh, bottom?). What I love most about this cake is that it's adaptable for all seasons - try strawberries in the spring, blue or blackberries in the summer, raspberries in the fall and citrus in the winter. You can even mix up the cake's flavor by subbing the lavender for other spices. And.....it's really easy to make. Find the recipe on Bonnie's website by clicking the picture below. 

10 Minute Recipes: Homemade Butter

What's better than butter? BETTER BUTTER. You may be asking yourself, ‘how do you possibly improve the creamy deliciousness of butter?’ Make it at home! Homemade butter seems like a thing of the past; the stuff of bedtime stories your great-grandmother told you about growing up on ‘the farm.’  It's become such a staple of our corner-store and super-market dairy cases that recipes are written using the ubiquitous measurement of "sticks" - those perfect little rectangles of solid dairy gold.

Making butter at home isn’t just a quick way to get the smug sense of culinary self satisfaction, it’s incredibly easy. It takes about 10 minutes (really...) from start to finish, and it’s easy to freeze so you always have butter on hand. And as if that weren’t enough, it also gives you the opportunity to add flavors right from the start (lavender-honey butter, anyone?). So, save your tastebuds and skip the extra packaging by making your own butter. I'll explain the technique below, and a few findings I discovered along the way. 

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Homemade Butter

• Heavy whipping cream
• Salt (optional - 1/4 tsp per 1 pint cream)

Pour the heaving whipping cream into the bowl of a stand mixer or a medium size mixing bowl, if using a hand mixer. Beat at medium speed (#4-5 setting on a KitchenAid stand mixer) until the desired consistency is reached. 

ADDING HERBS AND SPICES

To flavor whipped butter: Add most herbs or spices with the salt. If adding something delicate like roasted strawberries (because, YUM), wait to add until desired consistency of butter has been met, then gently mix in and store. 
To flavor solid butter: Add most herbs or spices with the salt. If you want to keep the buttermilk plain for another use, wait to mix in flavorings until you've strained the solid butter from the liquid. Gently mix in with a fork or spatula and store. 

Below are three different stages - soft-whipped, hard-whipped and solid butter. In the first two, the whey doesn't separate, so the flavor is sweeter than your typical hard butter. It will also spoil sooner, so be sure to use it quickly (which, trust me, won't be a problem). Also, at any stage, you can remove a portion of the butter. So, for instance, say you want some whipped butter and some hard butter but not a pint's worth of either. Remove any amount of butter at the first or second stage and then continue whipping until you've reached solid butter.

Soft-Whipped

Whip time = about 9 min*

• Basically like a very stiff whipped cream (similar to what restaurants serve on the side with pancakes)
• Sweet and fluffy
• Ideal for spreading cold or at room temperature without tearing up your muffins or banana bread

Add salt at the 8 minute mark and continue mixing. Store in an airtight container for 1 - 2 weeks. 

Suggest Flavors: Orange Zest, Roasted Strawberries, Vanilla Bean

Freezing: Surprisingly, the texture only changes slightly. Because the butter still contains both solids and liquids, the texture gets just a little grainy, but remains creamy and fluffy. Freeze in an airtight, freezer proof container. For best quality, use within 3 months.

 

Hard-Whipped

Whip time = about 9 1/2 min*

• Still soft, the fat is beginning to separate giving it a slightly firmer more 'buttery-slick' mouth-feel
• Easy to spread at room temperature but harder than 'Soft-Whipped' when cold - perfect for crusty breads

Add salt at the 8 minute mark and continue mixing. Store in an airtight container for 1 - 2 weeks. 

Suggested Flavors: Lavender-Honey, Cinnamon, Garlic Powder 

Freezing: Same observation here as with the 'Soft-Whipped'. Freeze in an airtight, freezer proof container. For best quality, use within 3 months.

Solid Butter

Whip time = about 10 min*

• Fat and liquid totally separated
• Hard but spreadable at room temperature
• Hard and not spreadable when cold - same consistency as store-bought sticks

Around the 9 minute mark, scrape down the sides, add salt and continue mixing until the butter is fully separated from the liquid (whey) - congratulations, you just made buttermilk, too! Strain through a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth. Squeeze the pieces of butter together, forming one mass and helping to remove any excess buttermilk. Place in an airtight container and refrigerate up to 3 weeks. 

Use the salted buttermilk to add a mild creamy flavor to soup stock or sauces.  Or leave the salt out to use the buttermilk for coffee or baked goods, and use the butter in your pie crusts!  You can always add salt to hard butter by gently folding it in with your fingers. 

Suggested Flavors: Honey-Herb, Fresh Dill, Black Pepper and Garlic

Freezing: Freezes excellently. Wrap well in parchment paper and put in a freezer safe container or bag. For best quality, use within 3 months.

*Please note the whipping times are approximate and may vary depending on your machine. Use them as a guide but determine your finished product by sight and personal taste.