We Can Pickle That!

I know it's been a while since we've posted anything, but once again, work and life has gotten in the way.  We've been sticking to old standby recipes that we can whip up in a flash.  Plus, the polar vortex has limited the amount of produce we've been receiving in our share, so we haven't had much to work with on that front either.

Nonetheless, we've got a quick an easy way to spice things up during these cold winter months.  A few months back, we got a bunch of jalapenos in our share.  With no immediate use for them, we decided to pickle them, following this recipe by Michael Symon.

Start by poking a few holes in each pepper, and placing them in your jar.  This will allow the brine to get inside the peppers, and pickle them from the inside out.

For your brine, bring to boil equal parts water and vinegar, some sugar and salt (in equal proportions), and your aromatics; bay leaves, whole coriander seeds, a few garlic cloves, and black peppercorns.  We didn't have any peppercorns on hand, so we just used our coarse ground black pepper instead.  We also didn't have whole coriander seeds, as the recipe called for, so we used ground coriander.  That's why our brine looks a bit muddy.  We also decided to throw in some mustard seeds for good measure.

Once your brine begins to boil, turn down the heat, and let it simmer for about 5 minutes.  Pour the brine over your peppers, place the lid on, and let it cool.  Once cooled, put them in the fridge, and let the brine work it's magic.  Let them sit in the fridge for about a week before using them.  This will give the peppers time to pickle.

Then you can slice them up and serve as you see fit.  Ours have a nice sweetness to balance out some of the heat.  They're great on top of nachos or tacos.

Fun With Buns!

We're both big fans of burgers, and we thought it was about time we try our hand at making some brioche buns to go with our summer cook-out favorites.  You know by now that we're not into baking as much as we are cooking, but if we're ever going to improve so we have a shot at winning MasterChef, we need to practice!  You can't discount the importance of the bun to a good burger.  While some opt for potato, kaiser, or Portuguese rolls, nothing really makes a burger like a light, airy, malty, perfectly browned brioche bun.

We found this recipe online, and since we'd had some success with Smitten Kitchen recipes in the past, we knew she wouldn't steer us wrong.  Start by mixing together warm water, milk, yeast and sugar, and let it stand for about 5 minutes.  The warm water helps activate the yeast, while the sugar acts as food for it.  After about 5 minutes, this mixture will be foamy, and ready to mix into your dough.

While your yeast is standing, you can start to mix your dough.  For the dry ingredients, whisk together your bread flour, all-purpose flour, and salt.  Rub the butter between your fingers, and mix with the flour mixture, forming crumbs.  Ours didn't really form crumbs, per se, but once the butter was incorporated as much as it could be, we added the yeast mixture and a beaten egg.

We don't have a dough scraper, so we just used a rubber spatula to mix the wet and dry ingredients together.  Within minutes, we had a nice ball of dough.

Here's where some of the manual labor comes into play.  On a floured surface, you'll have to knead your dough.  We followed the recipe, which suggested using a scooping/slapping method.  You scoop your dough up from the counter and then slap it down.  In 8-10 minutes, it should be smooth and elastic.  Be careful not to add too much flour to the dough, as this will leave you with tougher buns.  Our dough was a bit tackier than it probably should've been, but we didn't want tough buns.  Once you've kneaded your dough, place it back in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rise until it doubles in size.  This took about an hour for us.

Once your dough has risen, divide it into 8 sections.  We only made half the recipe, so we ended up with 4 buns.  Roll them into balls, and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Spray some plastic wrap with some nonstick spray and loosely cover your buns to let them rise again.  We didn't have any nonstick spray on hand, so I just brushed a little vegetable oil on it.

Like I mentioned earlier, our dough was still fairly tacky, so it was a bit difficult to roll them into balls.  Instead we shaped them as best we could, and let them rise again.  When you're ready to bake, place a dish of water in the bottom of your oven, and heat the oven to 400 degrees.  Beat another egg and brush it on top of each bun, and if you want to add sesame seeds, do that now.  Pop 'em in the oven, and let them cook for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown, turning the pan about halfway through.

And voila!  Golden brown buns!  Let them cool completely before you cut into them.  At first, they seemed kind of tough on the outside, but once they cooled, and we cut into them, they were pretty light and fluffy on the inside.

For our burgers, we used Polyface Farms ground beef from our share, and simply seasoned them with salt and pepper.  We had some humboldt fog leftover from our grilled cheeses, that got nice and melty on the warm, grilled burgers.  We also caramelized some onions with port wine that topped the patties, along with some fresh arugula.  Add one of our dill pickles, and we had the perfect burger.

That's a Dilly of a Pickle!

Hi diddily ho bloggerinos!    We're both huge fans of pickles, and since we got a few kirby cucumbers in our last share, it seemed like the perfect time to try to make them. We searched the interwebs for some recipes and settled on this one and this one, plus we added a few of our own spices.

Start by washing your cucumbers, and making sure they don't have any dirt on them. Since our jars are still full of kimchi and saurkraut and we don't have canning supplies, we just used a plastic container with a lid.  Any airtight container should work, as long as it's been sterilized.

For the pickling liquid, we mainly followed Alton Brown's suggestions...mixing up a brine, though we did add a splash of vinegar.  For spices, we roughly chopped up about 6 cloves of garlic, and added in red chili flake, mustard seeds, carraway seeds, black peppercorns and a whole bunch of dill.

Once your spices are in your container, stuff your cucumbers in there.  You want to make sure they are nice and snug in the container.  Then, pour in your brine so the cucumbers are completely submerged.  If the cucumbers are nice and snug, they're less likely to float to the top when you pour in your brine.  Then just place your lid on the container, and make sure you get as much air out of it as possible.

Now you'll have to be patient, and let your cucumbers pickle.  Store them in a cool dry place.  We just placed ours in one of the kitchen cabinets, away from the stove.  After about 3 days, you'll notice bubbles rising to the top of your container.  This is proof that fermentation has begun, and you're on your way to having pickles!  If you notice any scum forming in the top of your pickling liquid, wipe it off immediately.  We noticed some white film on one of our pickles, so we wiped it off with a paper towel that was soaked in a little vinegar.

Fermentation should be complete in about 6-7 days, once the bubbles stop rising and your pickles taste sour.  Then transfer them to the refrigerator, and start to enjoy them!  If any of the pickles get soft or start to smell funny, you should discard them.  Ours came out nice and garlicky, with a slight heat to them.  They're the perfect snack or or sandwich companion!