Gotta have my Dills

Dill pickles that you buy at the store are awful. Most of them have oodles of vinegar and taste unnatural.

Solution........... Make you own

Start with growing picking cucumbers, they grow real well especially in grow boxes. I have about 5 plants, and can get a batch within 4 or 5 days enough to make them. If I have too many I make a batch and give them away to people that have the hankering for sour pickles.

Here is what to do.

Get some small to medium cucumbers, scrub and wash real good in clear water. Pour in 1 gallon of water into a stock pot add a 3/4 cup of Kosher salt, heat until dissolved.
Let cool completely, while water is cooling take skins of garlic cloves or smash with wide chefs knife until skins fall off.
Pack the cucumbers tightly into wide mouth jar, add garlic and spices, distribute the spices evenly through out the jar, pour on the cool salted water and be sure all the pickles are covered with at least a half inch of head room.
Leave in cool place for at least 3 to 4 days, you can skim off the foam daily. After 3 or 4 days you can then place them in the refrigerator and enjoy.
I like mine with lots of garlic, so you can adjust it for your preference. They will last in the refrigerator for about 2 months. ( But they never last that long)



Stuff you will need.

20-25 small cucumbers ( choose only firm, fresh, unwaxed) better grow your own!
3/4 cup Kosher Salt
15 whole garlic cloves unpeeled
1 Bunch of fresh dill
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons whole black pepper
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
6 Bay leaves
1 or 2 hot dried small peppers
1 gallon of water.


The end result

Zukes that's good!

This is a spin an old Russian recipe which was called "Poor Man's Caviar" It is usually done with eggplants, onions and tomatoes.

Well when you have tons of zucchini, squash, eggplant, onions you can only do so much zucchini bread and sauteed vegetables.

So when you want to use up a dozen or so squashes give this one a try.

This one, used up about half dozen crookneck squashes, 3 green zucchinis, 4 Japanese eggplants and about a half a dozen doorknob squashes, I don't remember the real name for them (maybe, pan squash) but they look like doorknobs anyway.

Wash and cut the squashes, dice into 1/2 inch cubes, if round squash, slice into 1/4 inch rounds.

Chop onion into same size pieces.

Heat up 2 TBS of olive oil in large skillet, toss in onion and cook until soft, ( 5 minutes )
add all the zucchinis etc.
Add ketchup,
Add salt and pepper, stir to cover all the cut veggie's with the ketchup.
Cook over medium to low heat for about 1 hour, then take the lid off, check to see that the pieces are soft. Stir with the cover off until some of the liquid is evaporated. Taste and season.
Remove from heat, cool, and that's it!

It is good both hot, room temperature and cold!


Stuff you will need.
1- 1 1/2 cup ketchup
12-16 cups of chopped squashes
1 large yellow onion chopped.
2 tomatoes chopped.
3 to 4 cloves of garlic minced or crushed.
Salt and Pepper

Sourdough Starter

Starter is simply a growth of the yeast culture which develops first with just plain old bread yeast but it develops it's own unique taste because of the bacteria in the air and water in your own locale.
That is why the sourdough in San Francisco has a unique taste as opposed to a sourdough from Poughkeepsie.

The starter will give you the flavor not necessarily the rise, so for example on the bread recipe before where you let it sit for 18 hours, you would add lets say one cup of the starter to the beginning mix anyway, for the flavor not for really anything else. Ok, a little rise but not much.

You can take out one cup of the dough that has bubbled for 18 hours, that essentially is a starter. It went through all the work to grow and mature, or you can make some starter by scratch to use as starter and not part of the bread reciepe.
Here is a way to make starter, which you could use into the bread reciepe as part of the mix to bring to the table the flavor which keeps on devopoing.

Keep in mind that when you replenish the starter with the milk and flour, use the same kind as before to keep it consistant and not inroduce something you will not be able to recreate.

1 package of active yeast (1/4oz or 7 grams)
1 cup warm (105 -115) water
1 cup warm (105 - 115) non fat milk
2 cups flour

Sprinkle the yeast over water in a bowl, stir until mixed, then mix in the warm milk.
Add the flour, mix to blend, the beat with spoon until smooth.
Transfer the mixture to a 2 quart glass, enamel or stainless steel container. Cover tightly and let stand at room temperatrue (75 to 85) until mixture smells sour. (Usually 24 to 48 hours). Stir it down frquently, it is now active and will be bubbly.
This is starter.

To use it, you stir it down again and remove one cup, add the cup to your bread reciepe. You now need to replenish what you took out. For example if you used 1 cup of hte starer in a reciepe, blend in 1 cup of flour and warm milk, Cover the starter and let it stand in a warm place for several hours or overnight until it is active and bubbly again.
Between uses, refirgerate the starter in a tightly covered container. Always bring the starter to room temperature beore usin git again. Leaving it out overnight before you will need it for baking is usually the easiest.
If you use your starter regualrly, at least ever 10 to 15 days, it should last indefinitely. Some sourdough starters are passed on from one generation of a family to another. I worked in a restaurnat that had a bubbling 5 gallon eartheware crock that was the starter for all the breads they made. It was the job of the new guy to feed it all the time, interesting task to say the least.

I hope that sort of answers the starter question, you will get a hang of it, it's not hard once you figure it out and start using it.
Have fun!

Simple Sourdough Bread, Real Simple perfect for me!

I would have loved to have had the opportunity to be a intern at some bakery.
There are nuances and feel of the dough an pastry that I just would have enjoyed getting the experience on. My whole education of baking was about 4 days, between portion control and special dietary requirements and allergic reactions....

You can feel the correct elasticity of the dough, you can see that it has risen sufficiently to put in the oven.

You know how to roll out the dough just right, or you know and are not afraid to tackle stretching dough in order to make strudel......

Over the years I have been somewhat successful at making bread, but I do not have the patience to make it turn out to be consistent, time over time over time.
Until I found this one recipe.

This is so simple that it would really take somebody real special to screw it up. But it did take me two times to get it right....or shall I say to get it perfect!

There are only 3 ingredients, not counting water...how simple can you get?
And you don't have to kneed it or process it in any way!

Stuff you will need.......get it? Knead!......

17 oz of bread flour
2 1/2 teaspoons of Kosher Salt
1/4 teaspoon of active dry yeast
3 - 4 tablespoons cornmeal ( optional )
12 oz water.


Get a big bowl and toss in 17 oz of flour. By weight.
add the salt and yeast, and mix to homogenize
add the water and stir into a dough.

If need be you can add just a tad, like a teaspoon or two of water if you need to incorporate all the flour into one mass. This may or not be required depending on your moisture content of your flour. Humid climates may require less water. The whole result should be a dough ball, just wet enough to have picked up all the dry flour. If you still have some flour in the bowl with the 12 oz of water, just a tiny bit, to pick it all up. The other way to accomplish the same, is to hold back a little of the flour and add it at the end. It is quite easy and don't be intimidated by it! The end result is worth it!

After you have made a ball and there is no more dry flour to be absorbed, remove the mixing spoon and cover the bowl with some plastic wrap.
Set aside in a draft free or semi warm place. Room temperature ( 70-95 )
Wait
Wait
Wait
Wait
after 18 hours, yep 18 hours, remove the plastic and flour your hands and punch down the down, flour the dough as you are punching it down , using the flour will allow your hands not to become too sticky, and let it rest for about 15 to 20 minutes.


After you come back, flour your hands remove the dough from the bowl and fold it down on itself folding the seam to be on the bottom , sort of making a nice dough ball while squeezing any trapped air, sort of massaging the dough ball, if it is sticky add a little more flour.

Meanwhile find a kitchen tea towel and lay it out on a flat surface and dust it with half the corn meal, place the dough ball on the middle of the dusted towel, the dust the top of the bread with a little more, fold the towel over on top gently as not to totally trap the soon to expand dough. Set it back into the old bowl with the towel wrapped around it.

Set it in a warm place, room temp. for about 2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.
One hour into the waiting process fire up your oven to 425.

Get a sheet pan or if you have a baking stone even better, and put some parchment paper on the sheet pan, sprinkle some corn meal on the stone.

When the dough has doubled in size, remove it from the resting bowl, you will now have the bread in sort of a towel sling. Gently roll it out of the towel onto the sheet pan or stone.
Wait for about 45 to 60 minutes until the crust has become dark golden brown and if you thump the loaf it sounds hollow.

Cook in the oven until your desired doneness.

I like mine about an hour long.

Remove , let cool on a raised wire rack for 20 minutes.
Turn the oven off.

Get some room temperature butter,
slice, butter and enjoy.....


The hardest thing about this recipe is figuring out the time you need to start it so you have the finished product at your desired time......

Enjoy!

Also, I might add. This has worked at both 8500 ft and sea level. It takes a little less time to do the 2nd rise at higher elevation. But still a no brainer!

Note: The picture of the dough in the bowl, is how it will look after 18 hours of fermenting.
Also be sure the water does not have any chlorine in it, with the small amount of yeast being used, it will kill the yeast! ( use non-chlorinated or spring water, bottled or distilled water)

Roasted Rack of Lamb, with basil mustard crust

I love lamb and although a little bit hard to ferret out sometimes , the Morelia Costco has it from time to time.
Never when we have someone invited for dinner, seems like always a couple of weeks later.
I hate twice frozen anything, being spoiled having fresh lamb a lot.This is a very common recipe, but for you who would like another one, and may not have it here it is.
You can add or subtract your own particular favorite spices and herbs
This one I load up with basil and garlic, you could substitute rosemary and thyme for it or add it in.... it is pretty foolproof, especially if you have a instant read thermometer or a remote probe one, otherwise you can tell when there is some juice sizzling in the pan or the meat has folded back a tad.
Once you cook this a few times you will be able to know it is ready by touching and felling the spring back of the meat.

Preheat your oven to 450

One thing to cooking or roasting anything is to be sure it is room temperature before tossing it into your oven. If it is something from your fridge, it is usually around 40 degrees (or at least it better be), when you put it in a hot oven it will not cook correctly no matter what you do, so always let the product come up to room temperature. Don't let it sit there all day, but you don't want to have it too cold.

Wash and dry the rack, If it is already Frenched, then take a knife and slit the membrane on the back between the bones or if you are real handy remove it completely. This lets the herbs and spices flavor the meat better.
Take some two day old bread, toss into the food processor along with a hand full or two of fresh basil leaves and 5 or 6 cloves of garlic, unpeeled.,Put in the salt , pepper and any other seasonings at this point.

Pulse the food processor until the bread crumbs are the consistency you corn meal or something manageable for you.

Coat the rack with your favorite mustard, NOT plain yellow mustard, use some stone ground Dijon or spicy mustard something with a flavor. You don't want the lamb to have the flavor of a ball park hot dog do you?

Ok, maybe you do, but DON'T

After you have put a nice even coating of the mustard sprinkle the bread mixture on the bottom and gently form the bread , pushing as you go until the whole thing is covered in the bread mixture.

Take a little olive oil and lightly sprinkle it on the top so it will brown even better. Put the meat in or on a Pyrex dish or oven proof dish of some sort.

Gently slide it into your hot oven.

Reward yourself with a nice drink.

For rare you will want to look at it somewhere abouts 15 to 17 minutes, Medium rare 18 to 25 minutes, medium 25 to 30 minutes.
Or jab a instant read thermometer into a center portion about half way in. For medium rare you want to see about 135.
Pull it out, tent with some aluminium foil and let rest for at least 8 minutes.
Cut, into servings and enjoy


Stuff you will need:

One 7 or 8 bone rack of lamb.
3 -4 TBS mustard
1 tsp Kosher Salt
1/3 tsp onion power
1 hand full of basil leaves
6 cloves of garlic, skin removed
1/2 tsp coarse ground salt
1-2 TBS olive oil
450 degree oven
plates, knifes, appetite

Short Ribs Braised with Chile

One of my favorites easy, make and forget dish that is easy and makes for great warm up left overs and freezes well is Short Ribs.
The flavor actually gets better a day or two after the initial cooking. This recipe can be modified if you like to make the dish more astringent, simply add some apple cider vinegar and a little more sugar, but not too much otherwise it will turn out like a sweet BBQ style.
I like the heat from the chipotles, of you are sensitive to heat, just leave them out!

To Start

Soak the Ancho chile's for 20 minutes in some boiling hot water. Clean by removing the stem and and seeds then coarsely chop. Toss into the food processor the carrots, onions, garlic, tomato paste, chipotle. Quickly pulse 5 or 6 times until you come up with a thick paste.

You may have to add some water to the mix to homogenize. .

Cost the ribs with salt and pepper. Take your dutch oven and put on the stove, crank up the heat and some oil and brown the ribs. Remove and save.

Fry the bacon in the pan you browned the ribs. When the bacon has rendered most of it's fat put in the seasoning paste you just made.

Cook for about 5 minutes then add the rest of the water, cumin, molassess or piloncillo ,salt and pepper.

Now add the seared ribs, Cover and stick into a preheated oven at 325 for about 5 hours..

Remove from heat, let cool on the counter until it is cool enough to put into fridge so that the fat will solidify on top for easy removal. They are better the next day anyway. If you must, go ahead and skim the fat off the top and use the same day.

I usually service this on some exotic rice like jasmine or basmati.

Stuff you will need:

3-4 medium dried ancho chiles
1 large onion chopped
2 carrots chopped
5 garlic cloves chopped
2 tablespoons of chipotles en adobo plus 1 tablespoon of adobo sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons molasses or one piloncillo crushed
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 cups of water
2 slices of bacon chopped
1 cinnamon stick
6 pounds of short ribs

Sopa De Platano

My wife's staple is Plantain, so this is a soup I made that even I enjoy now and then. As all soups it is pretty easy to make, and after the first serving, you can add stuff to it and have it transform itself into a totally new taste, until you finally run out of it!

Heat your pot, drop in the olive oil and sweat the onions, carrots , celery and garlic until they become a little soft.
Add the chicken stock, the plantain , cumin and your mandatory bay leaf.
Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer, and let it go for about an hour or until the plaintains are soft.
Remove from heat, let it cool down a little, if you have an immersion blender, you do have an immersion blender don't you?
They are much better and faster than a blender, less to clean and make a great noise while you swirl away inside the pot. OR you can use it as a light saber if there are any kids around.....
Remove the bay leaf, and puree to your desired consistency. Touch up with salt and pepper to your taste and serve with some of the chopped cilantro. If you use a really expensive serving bowls and zigzag some diluted sour cream or creama it will take a whole bunch better........guaranteed!

Stuff you will need:

2 Large Plantains or Platanos machos peeled and cut into 1/2 rounds.
1 TBS olive oil (without Popeye) Anyone younger than 50 will not get that!
1 large carrot , chopped into 1/4 inch dice
1 small yellow onion, chopped fine
1 cup of chopped celery
5 cups of home made chicken stock, remember the lesson a few weeks ago?
1 handful of fresh cilantro chopped fine, try and remove the thicker stems
1 Bay Leaf (remove the Bay leaf just before you blend the whole shebang)
1 tbs cumin
Salt and Pepper