Posts Tagged: mfp
Refrigerator Avocado Pickles--just a little bit of different for your fridge
Vinegar jug courtesy BobVila.com. Avocado courtesy pachd.com
I get e-mail newsletters and the following recipe was an interesting recipe for a quick refrigerator pickle. I had never heard of pickled avocados before. The link to Avocado Pickles is here and I have added the recipe below.
In this article, "A Trick for Transforming Unripe Avocados in Just Two Hours" at Food52.com, they talk about the difference between hard avocados pickled for days versus the same pickled for about 2 hours. The days-pickled ones were vinegary, while the 2 hour pickles not only softened but still tasted like avocados. I think tasting like avocados is important!
Probably I would try it if I had a tree, or was desperate for an avocado and could not find a ripe one. In any case, I think these would be a nice change of pace on sandwiches or in burritos, or on baked potatoes . . . Maybe you could whiz 'em up with a little mayonnaise for a good spread for bread or to use as a sauce--like eggs benedict with pickled avocado sauce!
Avocado Pickles--Serves 2 to 6 (recipe from TheKitchen.com)
1 cup distilled white vinegar or rice wine vinegar
1 cup water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 firm avocados
Optional flavoring ingredients:
Garlic
Mustard seeds
Coriander seeds
Caraway seeds
Fresh herbs
Place the vinegar, water, sugar, salt, peppercorns, red pepper flakes, and any additional flavoring ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar and salt. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool to room temperature.
Meanwhile, prepare the avocados. Peel and pit the avocados, then cut into 1/2-inch-wide slices or cubes. Place them in 2 (18-ounce or larger) canning jars. Pour the cooled brining liquid into the jars, completely covering the avocado pieces, and seal the jars. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.
Recipe Notes:
Storage: Store pickled avocados in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
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Upcoming Master Food Preserver and Master Gardener Co-Classes
TWO upcoming FREE Classes with Master Food Preservers AND Master Gardeners!
Grow Your Own Seasoning and Use It
I was cruising the Agriculture and Natural Resource (ANR) blogs and found this nice article about growing saffron crocuses in your yard: Grow Your Own Saffron! Such a pretty flower with delightfully tasty seasoning included!It is a little late to plant these little beauties around here, but you could put an order in for some corms and plant them when shipped to you, which is usually in the fall.
How about a recipe to use some home canned broth and home grown saffron?
Quite a while back I bought one of those little boxes of Sahara Brand Rice Pilaf. We all liked it but it was expensive. My sister and I got together to try to concoct our own version. The following is what we came up with and we like it much better than the boxed stuff. It is now one of our family's favorite recipes it is as follows.
A few tips for this recipe: make sure to toast the rice, then the pasta, almonds and you will get a great flavor and texture to your pilaf. Have you made any home canned chicken broth? It will serve you well in this recipe.
You can make this without the saffron, but the spice adds a very nice, rather exotic aroma and a wonderful color to the dish. Try to find some real Spanish saffron and use it--you won't be sorry.
Rice and Orzo Pilaf with Saffron--Use some Home-Canned Broth here!
Recipe may be doubled if you wish.
1 cup chicken broth, home canned if possible
1-1/4 cups warm water
10 strands or so of Saffron (a small pinch; be careful, too much or it may be bitter)
1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup rice
1/4 cup orzo or broken vermicelli (if using vermicelli, break it into little pieces into the measuring cup)
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1/2 cup finely diced onion
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for adjusting seasoning when pilaf is finished
Mix the broth and warm water then sprinkle the saffron over the top. Set aside.
Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. Pour in rice, stirring constantly to avoid burning until it loses its translucency and all the rice is opaque, much more white and some of the grains are beginning to get browned.
Add the orzo/vermicelli and almonds and continue to stir constantly until the pasta browns; this should happen pretty quickly.
Place the onion and salt in the pot and stir until the onion is translucent and soft.
Add the broth, water and saffron and give everything a quick stir. Cover, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 15-20 minutes. Test for doneness of the rice; it should be firm, but not chalky or hard; if it is, add tablespoon or so of water and cook for a few minutes. Remove from heat and let stand about 5 minutes. Taste for final seasoning then add salt if needed, stir lightly but thoroughly to fluff and serve.
Smoking Meats: A Very Informative Continuing Education Class
Last night was our continuing education class for Master Food Preservers. It was well attended, informative and entertaining.
Master Food Preserver (MFP) Laura Simpson ran last night's show-she talked to us about Smoking Meats.This class included discussion about meat curing at home, with emphasis on curing BACON (a personal favorite of this author and MFP). Hot smoking of meats (the safe way to do it at home) sounded easy enough to do safely and deliciously. It was also great to hear that the home-smoker can make some cold smoked things like smoked mozzarella.
A rough-and-ready barrel smoker from the Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.20732/
MFP Simpson also discussed types of smokers. Tips on smoking with these were given. You can smoke on a kettle-type grill, a water smoker, barrel barbecue or even a gas grill using the appropriate techniques. These barbecues and grills that are commonly found at home were illustrated.
Did you know that there is not much difference in the flavors of different woods' smoke? Wood chips don't need to be soaked, and smoke penetrates meats more easily when the surface is kept wet? With the info she gave, the good reference books and the handout provided, well I feel ready. I don't know about you other attendees, but I want go out and smoke some bacon myself, right now.
Maybe I will try that bacon recipe I have been thinking about. And mmm, smoked mozzarella, smoked provolone. It was a great class!
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Citrus-a-Vating with the Household Blood Oranges
Interesting fruit, no? Our blood oranges were supposed to be Cara Cara Navels, but we got a dark, dark blood orange; it is mostly darker than the one pictured here. Ours definitely has a "red" taste to it, sorta like berries or raspberries, and are generally much darker than the orange at right--that pigment is what gives them that berry flavor.
Now is the time of year a lot of citrus comes ripe all over southern California. That's when the significant-other-hubby-type-person starts to gently urge (read "nag"here) me to do taste the blood oranges and do something with them. For a semi-dwarf tree, it sure bears well. And for some reason, the wildlife ignores the fruit, so we always have plenty.
He usually picks them a little too early. When I taste them they have flavor but are much too sour to eat right then. If I wait, they never seem to get so ripe that I really want to eat them out of hand, but they make a great jelly or marmalade. I think they would make a great syrup too.
Here is a recipe from the National Center For Home Food Preservation for some spiced orange jelly. I leave the spices out so the flavor of my blood oranges shines through.
Spiced Orange Jelly with powdered pectin (Omit items below and will have plain Orange Jelly)
http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_07/orange_jelly_spiced.html
Yield: About 4 half-pint jars
2 cups orange juice (about 5 medium oranges)
1/3 cup lemon juice (about 2 medium lemons)
2/3 cup water
1 package powdered pectin
2 tablespoons orange peel, finely chopped (omit for plain orange jelly)
1 teaspoon whole allspice (omit for plain orange jelly)
½ teaspoon whole cloves (omit for plain orange jelly)
4 sticks cinnamon, 2 inches long (omit for plain orange jelly)
3½ cups sugar
Procedure: Sterilize canning jars and prepare two-piece canning lids according to manufacturer's directions.
To make jelly. Mix orange juice, lemon juice, and water in a large saucepan. Stir in pectin. Place orange peel, allspice, cloves, and cinnamon sticks loosely in a clean white cloth; tie with a string and add to fruit mixture. Place on high heat and, stirring constantly, bring quickly to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Add sugar, continue stirring, and heat again to a full rolling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Remove spice bag and skim off foam quickly.
Pour hot jelly immediately into hot, sterile jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened clean paper towel; adjust two-piece metal canning lids. Process in a Boiling Water Canner.
Process in a boiling water canner, for half pints or pints:
At 0 to 1000 ft. -- 5 minutes.
At 1001-6000 ft. -- 10 minutes.
Over 6000 ft. -- 15 minutes