Spring Plant Swap 2014 Food PotLuck Discussion

Thanks-you both! Maybe some others will jump in and share their recipes??

No one asked--but here is my Pickle recipe--a bit lengthy in explanations-
as usual.


Gita’s Refrigerator Garlic-Dill Pickles


Need: 3 wide-mouthed jars (pickle type), or Mayo. Jars
One BIG bunch of fresh Dill
5-6 cloves Garlic (or to taste)—diced or thinly sliced.
10-12 pickling cucumbers--(such as Kirby). Fresh is best!
Store cucumbers are WAXED, and no way you can remove it! If you
must use store cukes, score them through the skin with a fork
and slice them thickly. They also have more seeds! But…it will
work if no others are available.
Lately—I have been using the long, English, seedless cucumbers.
They work very well.

To Do: Stuff jars ¼ full of fresh dill, stems and leaves! Sprinkle a gene-
rous amount of the chopped garlic on top. Mix up a bit.

Stuff jars as full as you can with speared/sliced cucumbers, inter-
spersing them with some more Dill and a bit of garlic.
For MY taste---I usually have too much garlic in these.
Some love it!


Prepare the Broth: In a 2Qt. saucepan, combine the following:
2 and a half cups water….3/4cup white vinegar (can be part
Apple Cider vinegar)…1 rounded, regular Tbs. KOSHER, or
Pickling salt (DO NOT use regular, iodized salt!!!).
1 regTbs. Sugar, 1tsp mustard seed, 1tsp. Pickling
Spice….or--1-2 Bay leaves…6-8 pcs. Whole Allspice,
And about 1/2tsp. Hot pepper flakes.

Bring broth to a boil. Lower heat and simmer all, stirring often,
For about 10-15 minutes. Keep VERY hot until ready to use!

Filling Jars:
Stirring constantly, to distribute spices, ladle hot broth
evenly into jars until all contents are covered. Seal jars. Invert
each jar a couple of times to mix contents.
Let jars cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate.

Pickles are ready to eat in 2-3 days! They will be delicious and
crunchy! Use them up in about 2-3 weeks, as they will soften
with time, but will still be good.

Enjoy! Gita

Gita, Darcy said she really enjoyed your pickles! She said last night that she forgot to tell you so I said I'd let you know on here :)

Thanks, Jeff---

Maybe Darcey will grow her own pickling cukes and make these pickles.
I have a bunch of them growing...

Nothing beats fresh! The ones I had to use were store-bought, no flavor
cucumbers... Bummer!

The long English Cukes go on sale often--at $1 each. They are the next best
to fresh grown.
G.

Gita's pickles are legendary!

Sally: Do you drain the cabbage mixture (and if so, do you rinse it) before adding the other ingredients?

Nope happy, do not drain, you need the sugar to offset the vinegar. I have not tried halving the dressing amounts, including halving the sugar. My son about croaked when he saw me put all that sugar in. I had to lie and tell him I never put sugar in our usual mayo coleslaw- I add a tiny bit of sugar and vinegar)

Not all cabbage is created equal. Sometimes they are rock hard and so hard to eat I don't like them. My favorite kind is ;Korean cabbage; from the Asian market, it is a flat head type. My friend has also read that flat head cabbage is best for slaw.

And the very thin preshredded stuff sure makes it easy.

Napa cabbage?

Speaking of easy, Costco has started carrying a Kale salad "kit," shredded kale and other goodies, plus a little packet of dried cranberries & pumpkin seeds to sprinkle in. It comes with creamy poppyseed dressing. Instead, I use the juice of 2 lemons, some sugar (maybe 1/4 cup? not sure; do it to taste), good pinch of salt, and some olive oil. The "trick" is to let it sit for several hours, preferably overnight, with the citrus on it, until the kale gets tender and far less bitter. Drizzle a little of the included creamy dressing on top as well if you like.

What we do is put the dressing on and then "massage" the kale. We don't use any sugar - just a regular vinaigrette with basil and thyme. The last time we had it we shredded the kale, massaged it with the dressing, and then added artichoke hearts, hearts of palm, pumpkin seeds and dates -- it was really extra good.

What I am talking about is not napa. Napa would be tall, I am talking short- less tall than it is around, and looser leaves. Like this
http://parkseed.com/tropic-giant-hybrid-cabbage-seeds/p/05729-PK-P1/

Had kale salad from Whole Foods once, it was really too tough and chewy for me, I think they used mature leaves and not enough dressing, or not massaged, or something. What a workout it was just to eat salad.

I added some sugar because I used a lot of lemon juice! Massaging the kale... good tip, and I can just envision how to do it, just a little more involved than tossing it with the dressing!

I had a hard time imagining it until I did it, and then it seemed obvious. I just knead the whole mess of salad (I vaguely julienne the kale first). Just 90 seconds or so. The whole mass reduces in size significantly.

Aargh! I don't know why I just tortured myself reading about all of the delicious food I couldn't eat. Note to self: no oral surgery before next swap.
I've never had kale salad; that sounds great! I make kale chips sometimes, though - after massaging the kale with olive oil and a little salt - and sometimes eat almost all of the chips from an entire head of kale. Talk about addictive!

Tell me more about kale chips. The one time we made them, they were a big disappointment. We couldn't figure out what the fuss was about.

Well, some kinds of kale are better than others. I categorize kale as curly and curlier. Less curly kale is usually better. The kale should be dry before it is rubbed with oil and baked so that the chips aren't soggy. The proper amount of salt is key. I tend to use too much. Over-baking them definitely lessens their appeal. And they have to be eaten straight out of the oven.

This message was edited Jun 4, 2014 8:20 PM

Ah -- I am sure I used very curly kale when I did the chips. I'll try it with the flatter kale.

good to know!

I know what I'll be looking for when I go shopping today!