Pickles! Simple Dill Recipe

I absolutely love pickles, especially cucumber pickles, and my husband loves to experiment with different flavours. I thought, since anyone growing Zukes or Cukes would be drowning in them right now, I would share a traditional dill and garlic recipe. So, no need to foist the extras on the neighbours! (Unless you want to, of course)

Ingredients
Anything you want to pickle!
- Cucumbers
- Broccoli stems
- Asparagus
- Carrots
- ect...

4 cucumbers ( 3 - 4 inches)

4 cloves garlic
1 cup Fresh Dill, chopped
1 tsp Coriander seeds
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Whole peppercorns
1 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1 cup Water
1 tbsp Sea Salt
Optional:
1 Lime (juiced)

Any glass container with a lid that seals, regular glass tupperware works great!

 
Directions

Pour water into a large bowl, about 2 cups, then mix in and dissolve the salt. Once salt is completely dissolved add the apple cider vinegar. Then, add all of your other herbs and spices. Let this mixture sit while you prep your cucumbers.

(I've added lime juice as optional, since the hint of citrus is really nice to add to pickles during the summer and the price just dropped back to something reasonable this week.)

Give them a quick wash to remove any excess dirt residue, then cut them into quarters. If you prefer whole cucumber pickles, then be aware that they will take a bit longer to "cure" before being ready to munch on.

Bathe your cucumbers in the pickling liquid for about two hours (three hours for whole cucumbers). If they start floating, just set an upside down pot lid on top to submerge them.

Afterwards, separate the cucumbers into your glass containers, then pour the pickling mixture into each container to fill it. Seal it up and refrigerate.

The usual wait time is about 2 days for really lightly flavoured pickles and 1 week for a good strong flavour. They keep for about 1 month.

Enjoy!

Easy Sushi at Home

A number of years ago now, a couple of friends of mine went "WWOOFing" (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms – an organization that connects volunteers with farms all over the world in need of assistance, often in exchange for room and board) in Japan. One of the farms they stayed with introduced them to a way of preparing sushi for a large, busy family without someone having to spend hours assembling all the rolls or cones. When they came home, they introduced this technique to our group of friends:

First, get your sushi rice cooking. For how to make the sushi rice, see this recipe.

Sushi ready for assembly: Steam broccolini stems, avocado, baked sweet potato sticks, cucumber sticks, and homemade tamago.

Second, prepare all the ingredients you like to have in sushi rolls. We like veggie rolls of various kinds, so we cut tofu, avocado, and cucumber into sticks and grate a bit of carrot and/or radish. We also lightly steam asparagus or broccolini/broccolette stems and bake yam sticks. You may also want to get more adventurous and add raw or cooked mushrooms, spinach, bell peppers, mango, green onions, baked squash, homemade tamago, tofu (plain or marinated), or, of course, shrimp, crab, and sushi-grade fish. For condiments, in addition to soy sauce or tamari, you may want wasabi, pickled ginger, mayonnaise, cream cheese, toasted sesame seeds or gomasio. Check out the online menus of sushi restaurants for inspiration.

Third, cut your sheets of sushi nori into square quarters.

Finally, when your rice and other ingredients are cooled, lay out all the ingredients on the table. Just like having a taco night, everyone grabs some nori squares, add some rice and their favourite ingredients and condiments, roll it in their hands into a rough cone shape or just hold it like a taco, and eat!

Add in bowls of miso soup to complete the meal.

Springtime Asparagus Quiche

Feel free to cut back on mushrooms or use a little less asparagus if you'd like to add a little ham or leftover turkey.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 to 3/4 lb asparagus, trimmed, chopped
water
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
4 green onions, with green, thinly sliced
1 small tomato, peeled, seeded, diced
1 1/2 cups shredded Havarti cheese or Swiss, about 6 ounces
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups half-and-half or whole milk
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
dash nutmeg

DIRECTIONS

In a saucepan, cover asparagus with water. Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce heat, cover, and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

In a skillet, heat butter over medium-low heat; add mushrooms. Saute until mushrooms are tender; add green onions and cook for 1 minute longer. Set aside.

Line a 9-inch or 10-inch pie plate with pastry; bake at 375° for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and reduce oven temperature to 350°.

Arrange vegetables and shredded cheese in pie pastry.

Whisk together the eggs and half-and-half; add salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Pour egg mixture over the vegetables. Place the filled pie shell on a large cookie sheet or jelly-roll pan. Place in the oven and cook for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Serves 6 to 8.

Grilled Asparagus

INGREDIENTS

1 lb fresh asparagus spears, washed and trimmed
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 cloves of minced white garlic
Black pepper
Sea salt

DIRECTIONS

Mix the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, minced garlic, pepper and salt in a dish.

Pour the olive oil mixture over the asparagus spears and marinate for about 2 hours.

Thread the spears on to bamboo skewers and grill on the barbecue at a medium heat setting for a total of about 5-6 minutes.