Piccalilli - Pickles

Piccalilli.

Pickles, Piccalilli or chow chow, this delicious condiment is called different thing, in different places. Growing up it was a weird sour mustardy thing my dad loved, but as an adult I realized it was a delicious, sweet & sour, curry, mustard sauce with lovely crunchy vegetables. It’s pairs very well with meats, especially with a pariserbøf. But I also like piccalilli as a condiment with grilled sausages.

Previously I’d bought piccalilli, but after trying the homemade version, I won’t go back. The flavors are great, and the part of knowing what’s in it, is really nice.

Makes 8-10 small jars.

Ingredients:

1000 g vegetables, diced small

• 300 g cauliflower

• 100 g summer squash

• 100 g carrots

• 100 g fennel

• 100 g shallots

• 120 g green beans

• 130 g red bell pepper

• 50 g celery

• 50 g salt

Pickling juice:

• 320 ml vinegar

• 200 ml water

• 150 g sugar

• 40 g honey

Spice Paste:

• 50 g corn starch

• 3 teaspoons curry

• 1 teaspoon turmeric

• 4 teaspoons Colman’s mustard powder

• 1 teaspoon ground coriander

• 1 teaspoon cumin

• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

• 100 ml vinegar

Makes 8-10 small jars.

Directions:

Depending on how coarse you like your piccalilli, you can dice the vegetables in about ⅕-⅖ -inch (½-1 cm) pieces, or blitz them in a food processor. I like to be able to se what kind of vegetables I’m eating, so I do a coarser chop.

Wash and peel the vegetables, before chopping them. Mix the chopped vegetables with salt, and place them covered in refrigerator over night.

Prepare the jars and lids by cleaning them and scolding them in boiling water. Rinse them in a conserving agent, (I used a Danish conserving agent called Atamon, sodium benzoate) or rinse them in a 100 proof vodka.

Rinse the vegetables thoroughly in lots of water, drain them well. You can dry the vegetables on kitchen towels.

Make the paste in a bowl or a mini food chopper, making sure to get a homogeneous mixture. Set aside.

Heat the vinegar, water, and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Mix in some tablespoons of the warm vinegar in the spice paste, two times, before adding all of the paste to the warm vinegar. Bring the vinegar to a boil while whisking. The vinegar will now thicken to a sauce, and let it boil for about 5 minutes. Add the vegetables to the sauce and let them get about 1-2 minutes of heat, before jarring.

Keep the piccalilli in the refrigerator for about 6 weeks before serving, giving the flavors time to mellow out and blend.

The Piccalilli will keep 6 months in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Caramelized Root Vegetables

Caramelized Root Vegetables

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 3 large carrots

• 4 parsnips

• 3 sun chokes (Israeli artichokes)

• 1 small root celery

• 3 small beets

• salt

• a splash of oil for the baking

• sugar and butter for the caramelizing

Direction:

Preheat the oven for 400℉ (200℃). Peel the root vegetables and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Keep the beets separate even during baking, to prevent all the vegetables from turning red. Dress the vegetables in oil and season with salt. Bake the vegetables in ovenproof dishes for about 30 minutes until tender, but not soft. Cool the vegetables. Just before you are ready to serve, heat a large skillet over high heat, pour in the sugar and melt it. When the sugar has turned the color of light amber, add the butter and stir with a wooden spoon. Carefully pour the vegetables into the hot caramel. Lower the heat and make sure the vegetables get covered in the caramel and get heated through. Serve immediately, otherwise the vegetables looses the shine.

Enjoy!

Pickled Cucumbers

Pickled Cucumbers

My parents grew their own vegetable in their large vegetable garden, and of course my mom made sure to preserve the large amount of produce by pickling and freezing. We all loved my moms pickled cucumbers, with our dinner or on the open faced sandwiches. Especially on liverpate. So when I found crown dill and pickling cucumbers at my local grocery store, I had to try my moms old recipe. I have a hard time learning that the pickled cucumbers in my world are called pickles here in the States, but eventually I might learn to accept it. 😉

5-8 jars.

Ingredients:

Brine:

• 200 g salt

• 2 liters (68 oz) water

Pickling:

• 1500 g pickling cucumbers

• 1250 ml vinegar

• 780 g sugar

• 13-15 slices fresh horseradish

• 5 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds

• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds

• 2 teaspoon black peppercorns

• 8 crown dill (1-2 in each jar)

• 6-8 dried red chilies

Direction:

Combine the salt and water in a pitcher and stir until the salt has dissolved. Rinse the cucumbers thoroughly and snip off the blossom end stem. Prick cucumbers with a table fork. Set aside. Pour the salt water over the cucumbers. Place a plate on top to keep the cucumbers submerged. Let stand 12 hours in the refrigerator. Drain the cucumber and place them in scolded* jars. Add horseradish, dill and the spices to the jars.

I sliced 4 of the cucumbers in thick slices for some more spicy pickles. I placed the slices in 2 smaller jars with 1 fatalii chili in one and 1 habanero chili in the other. HOT HOT HOT  🌶 🌶 🌶  

Boil the vinegar with the sugar, and pour it in the jars, making sure to cover the cucumbers completely. Place the lid on the jars, not tightening them completely.

After 2 days, drain out the vinegar and let it come to a boil, maybe adding more vinegar and sugar. Pour the vinegar over the cucumbers again, adding new horseradish and/or sodium benzoate. Seal the jars tight. Do not boil the horseradish.

*You need to clean the jars and sterilize them by soaking them in boiling water. Same goes for the lids. Submerge the lid for a few minutes in a bowl of boiling water. Rinse jars and lids with alcohol like strong vodka or cognac. 

These will keep for a few months at room temperature, but you can keep them in the refrigerator  too. In my house they won't last long.

Grilled Portobello Mushrooms

Grilled Portobello Mushrooms

I love almost all thing mushroom, and grilled portobello mushrooms is right up my alley. It's a quick side for a backyard BBQ. Adding the parmesan make a perfect flavor combination.

The sesame seeds on the photo, is an accidental 'cross contamination' from the chicken on the grill.

Ingredients:

• 2 portobello mushrooms
• ½ cup (1 dl) freshly grated parmesan
• about ¼ stick (ca 30 g) butter, salted and soft
• a splash of olive oil, for brushing the top of the mushrooms 
• A sprinkle of chopped parsley

Directions:

Preheat the grill.

Clean the portobello mushrooms with a damp paper towel and remove the stems. Brush the caps with olive oil and set aside gills side up.

Mix butter and parmesan, and divide it evenly over the mushroom caps. Grill over hot grill for about 10 minutes. You want the mushrooms to be soft, but not mushy.  Let the mushrooms rest for a few minutes, to soak up the butter.

Enjoy!

Warm Asian-Style Slaw

I love a crunchy slaw. Normally I use napa cabbage and a spicy asian-style dressing, like I used in the angry tacos. But adding the peanut butter to this warm slaw, gives the slaw a nice creaminess. 

This slaw will be perfect for a weekend BBQ, or served with tacos with an asian twist.

Serves 3-4.

Ingredients:

Dressing:

• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons grated ginger
• 2 teaspoons grated Serrano pepper
• 4 tablespoons creamy peanutbutter

Slaw:

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 carrots, julienned
• ½ small red cabbage
• ¼ green cabbage
• ½ english cucumber, julienned
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced
• some fresh coriander, chopped
• season with salt

Directions:

Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing, set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok. Sauté carrots while stirring for about a minute,  add the cabbage and keep stirring, while cooking for about 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and add the rest of the ingredients and dressing, tossing well to coat.

Serve immediately. 

Enjoy!