Isn't it hard to make pickles??

A couple weeks ago I was at work at the restaurant. I was doing my morning opening duties and I noticed that our giant jar of Spanish Queen Olives that we use for martinis was almost gone. "Ooohhh", I thought. "That would be good for pickles". So I put a note on the jar for the other girls to save me the jar when it was empty. A couple of them asked me, "isn't it hard to make pickles???" Heavens no. Couldn't be simpler. And pickles aren't just cucumbers. You can use any hard vegetables. Cauliflower, carrots, green beans, zucchini, summer squash, cabbage, turnips, kohlrabi, what have you. What's great about this recipe is that they are ready in 1-2 days and they can stay  in the fridge for 3 months! If they last that long. Due to the massive size of my jar, I doubled this. Just make sure the vegetables are completely submerged in the brine.

YAY PICKLES!

Crispy Pickled Vegetables
recipe from: The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen by Peter Berley

4 cups water
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup coarse sea salt
1 Tbs finely chopped garlic
3 bay leaves
2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric (optional)
8 cups assorted hard vegetables, but into bite-sized pieces
3 or 4 sprigs fresh dill

1. To make the pickling brine, combine the water, vinegar, salt, garlic, bay leaves, mustard seeds, and turmeric in a saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

2. In a 3 quart glass or ceramic bowl, combine the vegetables and dill - or pack the vegetables into clean mason jars. Cover with the cooled  brine and refrigerate for 24 hours before serving.

Before

After

What should I make with that stock??

How about this?

In most of the country (though not here in Los Angeles) the days are getting chillier. How about warm up with this yummy Indian inspired soup...

Indian Spiced Cauliflower Soup

2 Tbs Coconut oil
6 cups cauliflower, cut up into florets
2 carrots, cut into a large dice
3 cloves garlic, diced
1 small onion, diced
1" pice of ginger, peeled and finely minced
1 bay leaf
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp curry powder
1 quart vegetable stock
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tsp tamarind paste (if you don't have this/don't feel like buying it, you can use the other half of the lemon's juice)
sea salt

Melt the coconut oil into a soup pot over medium high heat. Add the cauliflower, carrots, garlic, onion, ginger and saute until the onion starts to soften. Add all spices and saute, stirring often to toast the spices. Add the stock and cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until cauliflower and carrots can be broken up with a wooden spoon, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from the heat and puree' the soup with an immersion blender (or in a conventional blender) until smooth. Be careful, it's hot. Add tamarind paste, the juice of half a lemon, and sea salt to taste.

Mmmm, spicy comforting goodness

Secret weapon

I'm about to let you all in on my secret weapon, and it's made from garbage. That's right, garbage, waste, refuse, what have you. I started doing this years ago and it still proves to be one of my greatest innovations, though I'm SURE I'm not the first to do this. As we all know, stock imparts far more flavor  than water, but it can get expensive. So I started saving all of my veggie scraps (of which I always have many).  I throw them in gallon sized freezer bags and let them freeze till I have 2 bags full, then I make a great stock with all items that would have ended up in the trash. The last batch I made gave me 4.5 quarts! What a money saver! The following recipe is sort of a throw together. The measurements are approximate and according to taste. Some people don't salt their stock so they can have more control of the seasoning of their soup etc. Me, I like to season it. Also, I add tomato paste (which I also always have in the freezer. I mean who uses a whole can?) because I find it adds a nice richness. If you like a lighter stock, just leave it out. This is very much up to your own taste. Also, I make this in 2 large stock pots because I don't have one that's big enough. If you're lucky enough to have one of those MASSIVE Ina Garten, feed a crowd sized ones, lucky you ;) 2 great things about this stock: 1. It's basically free 2. It has practically no fat at all. WIN! WIN!
Happy stocking...

Veggie Stock

2 galon sized freezer bags worth of veggie scraps: Leek tops, butternut squash peels and seeds, the outside cap of fennel bulbs and their fronds, herbs that are starting to wilt, the woody ends of asparagus, kernel-less corn cobs, tomatoes that have gone soft (but not moldy), carrot peels, kale ribs, potato peels, pretty much you name it.

a few fresh carrots, broken in half

a few fresh celery stalks, broken in half

1 large onion, cut in quarters (no need to peel it)

3 cloves of garlic, smashed

small handful of whole peppercorns

2 bay leaves

combination of fresh/dry herbs of your choice

5 Tbs tomato paste

5 Tbs sea salt

1/2 lemon (optional)

Remove the veggie scraps from the bags and combine all ingredients except for tomato paste and salt into your stock pots (doesn't matter if they're still frozen). Top everything with water up to a few inches above the veggies. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling reduce to a simmer and cook 30 minutes, or until carrots are soft and falling apart.

Next is the straining. This is done twice. The first strain I do is through a colander. I do it in batches and squeeze the veggies with a wooden spoon to get out as much of the stock as I can. Discard the scraps after this. Next I strain it again through a fine mesh strainer to get out anything the colander missed and combine all the strained stock back into one of the pots (assuming it fits).  Now it's time to add the tomato paste and turn the heat back up to high.

Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer and cook another 30-45 minutes, uncovered. Add salt and taste. If using, squeeze in the juice of half a lemon. Pour into quart sized freezer containers and freeze. This batch made 4.5 quarts.